The Idea Maze
The Idea Maze is a podcast that asks the question: where do great entrepreneurial ideas really come from? Many of us have heard the origin stories of larger-than-life successes, but by the time a company becomes a household name, these stories have been revised to sound more like legend than history. In this podcast, we will be speaking with founders who are still very much in the Idea Maze, and are willing to share the mistakes, false starts, u-turns, and reboots that led from having zero idea to where they are today.
Hosted and created by Rob Go, founding partner of NextView
Episodes
16 episodes
Episode 14: The Indie Path: Bryce Roberts and his alternative to the VC Industrial Complex
In this episode of "The Idea Maze," Rob Go sits down with Bryce Roberts, Founder of Indie Enterprises. Bryce Bryce discusses his shift from a corporate setting to focusing on investments that prioritize customer needs and sustainable cash...
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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48:14
Episode 13: Following Your Curiosity with Didero's Tom Petit
In this episode of "The Idea Maze," Rob Go sits down with Tom Petit, one of the co-founders of Didero, an AI company focused on automating supply chain management. Born in Belgium and spending early years in Texas, Tom's unique childhood has sh...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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37:02
Episode 12: Social Entrepreneur Gabor Cselle on Building in Public
On this episode of "The Idea Maze," we're joined by Gabor Cselle, a serial social entrepreneur known for founding companies like reMail, Namo Media, and T2. Gabor discusses the inspirations, challenges, and key lessons from his ventures, emphas...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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45:27
Episode 11: Wendy Tsu on Innovating Fertility Care with Branch Care
On this episode of The Idea Maze, we're joined by Wendy Tsu, CEO of Branch Care. Wendy leads us through her journey from a tech-savvy upbringing in the Bay Area to founding a company aiming to democratize fertility care across the US. Wendy...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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42:58
Episode 10: Michael Karnjanaprakorn on Skillshare, Otis, and The Psyche of a Founder
On this episode of The Idea Maze, we are joined by serial founder, Michael Karnjanaprakorn. He shares his honest and challenging experiences founding both the popular learning community, Ski...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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27:46
Episode 9: Appy People's Aaron White on Building with Confidence
This episode of The Idea Maze, we're joined by Aaron White, co-founding CTO of multiple venture-backed startups and now CEO of Appy People. He's also spent time as the VP of VC firm Venrock and as the co-founder of Boundless. Rob and Aaron disc...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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43:26
Episode 8: Ariel Diaz: 4x Founder on the Artistic Approach to Business
This episode of The Idea Maze, we have a very different conversation. Rob is joined by Ariel Diaz, 4x Founder/CEO (most recently of Blissfully), to dive into his unique and fascinating approach to start-ups. They discuss everything from unpacki...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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41:46
The Idea Maze: Five Key Takeaways from Year 1
After our first year of The Idea Maze, we wanted to share five key takeaways that we have distilled from these conversations. Listen to host Rob Go break down the most significant lessons he learned from past episodes. <...
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3:57
Episode 7: General Assembly and Common Living's Brad Hargreaves
Welcome back! These next several episodes will feature terrific founders that are still in the midst of the idea maze themselves. We'll explore how their prior founder experiences have shaped their approach and the things they are looking...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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43:15
Episode 6: Brian Long, Author of Problem Hunting: The Tech Startup Textbook
On our sixth episode of The Idea Maze, Rob sits down with Brian Long, a serial entrepreneur who started two venture funded companies so far. TapCommerce scaled quickly and was sold to Twitter for $100M, and Attentive is a large scale independan...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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47:02
Episode 5: Jesse Pujji, Gateway X
On this episode of The Idea Maze, Rob is joined by Jesse Pujji, co-founder of Ampush and founder of Gateway X - focused on launching startups that can become self-sustaining businesses without the need of venture capital. They dive into Jesse's...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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41:14
Episode 4: Mike Salguero, ButcherBox
On this episode of The Idea Maze, Rob sits down with Mike Salguero, CEO and founder of ButcherBox. It's unlike any other story we've heard so far, a bootstrapped business that all started from a s...
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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41:08
Episode 3: Zach Shefska, CarEdge
In this episode, Rob is joined by Zach Shefska, the founder of CarEdge. This is a story of a "distribution first" startup created by a father-son team. Zach set out to reshape the consumer experience in the auto industry but started first with ...
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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37:25
Episode 2: Jessica Kim, ianacare
On our second episode, Rob Go is joined by ianacare Co-Founder, Jessica Kim. Jessica shares her experience as an EIR (Entrepreneur in Residence) before pivoting to care for her mom. Jessica's grief and frustra...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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41:13