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
14 episodes since 2023
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...
August 01, 2024
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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...
July 01, 2024
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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...
June 03, 2024
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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...
May 01, 2024
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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...
March 11, 2024
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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. <...
February 26, 2024
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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...
February 01, 2024
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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...
November 01, 2023
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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...
October 02, 2023
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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...
September 05, 2023
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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 ...
August 01, 2023
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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...
July 01, 2023
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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41:13
Episode 1: Stu Wall, Setpoint
Welcome to the first episode of the Idea Maze, where our host Rob Go sits down with Stu Wall. Stu is the CEO and cofounder of Setpoint.io, a residential fintech platform. A repeat founder, he walks us throug...
June 01, 2023
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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32:02
Welcome to The Idea Maze
Welcome to The Idea Maze. Stay tuned for our first episode, dropping on June 1. 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 l...
May 15, 2023
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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2:18