Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 42 with Michelle Phan. Michelle is a pioneer of the online makeup and beauty genre. Since joining YouTube back in 2006, Michelle has since become one of the top beauty content creator and amassed a following of over 8 million subscribers. She is also an active investor and runs her own cosmetic line named EM Cosmetics (https://www.emcosmetics.com/) In this episode, Michelle talks about her origin story, the ups and downs of being a content creator, as well as her personal philosophies. She also shares the story behind her sudden hiatus in 2015. Michelle's Links: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuYx81nzzz4OFQrhbKDzTng Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellephan/?hl=en Twitter: https://twitter.com/michellephan?lang=en TRY MAGIC MIND: Buy Now ► https://www.magicmind.co/justin Get 20% with My Discount Code ► JUSTIN20

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 40 with Henry Schuck. Henry is the founder and CEO of ZoomInfo, a go-to-market intelligence solution for more than 20,000 companies worldwide. The ZoomInfo platform empowers business-to-business sales, marketing, and recruiting professionals to hit their number by pairing best-in-class technology with unrivalled data coverage, accuracy, and depth of company and contact information. Henry got the idea for the company after working as a marketing analyst in college nearly two decades ago, a job he took to help pay his undergrad degree. In this conversation, Henry discusses how to maintain a high-growth company and how to deal with imposter syndrome as a CEO. Check out Henry’s LinkedIn ►https://www.linkedin.com/in/hschuck/ Follow Henry on Twitter ►https://twitter.com/henrylschuck The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest: Magic Mind: https://magicmind.co/

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 39 with Matthew Stoltz. Matthew is a curandero, healer, renegade anthropologist and world traveller with vast experience in the world of plant medicines. He first sat with ayahuasca when he travelled to Peru at the age of 19. He didn’t touch it again for 8 years. During that time he studied at Stanford, crashed and burned, struggled with addiction and experienced suicidal thoughts. It took a lot for him to rebuild himself. Part of that journey involved ayahuasca. Matthew has now sat in over 500 ceremonies, 300 of which he was responsible for caring for a group of people. He’s extremely knowledgeable about psychedelic drugs, psychoactive medicines and spiritual awakening. In this conversation, Matthew discusses finding freedom, connection and self-awareness with ayahuasca. The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest: Magic Mind: https://magicmind.co/ Check out Matthew’s Instagram ►https://www.instagram.com/matthewstoltz/

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 38 with Sahil Bloom. Sahil spent 7 years at Altamont Capital Partners, an investment fund managing over $3.5B. He is now a Partner at The Room Where It Happens (https://theroomwhereithappens.co/), a community designed to spark conversation and bring entrepreneurial minds together. Sahil is also an active angel investor in 35+ tech start-ups. To share his learnings and insights in business, finance and tech, Sahil runs a media platform with ~ 400K followers across his Twitter and newsletter, sharing insights into business, finance and tech. In this conversation, Sahil discusses his experience telling meaningful stories, the untapped potential of DAOs, writing Tweet threads and dealing with failure in public. The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest: Magic Mind: https://magicmind.co/ Check out Sahil’s LinkedIn ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/sahilbloom/ Follow Sahil on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/SahilBloom

It’s Balaji’s world, and we’re all just living in it. If you’ve been hanging out on tech Twitter long enough or listen to any other tech podcasts, then you’re probably familiar with Balaji. He is an angel investor, entrepreneur, and formerly the CTO of Coinbase and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. In this epic episode, you’ll hear topics ranging from decentralization, crypto, media tech, social networking, China, machine learning, digital privacy and much more. Balaji has one of the most incredible minds I have ever met, and I am excited to bring you along on this journey. You can find Balaji on Twitter, and read his personal blog here. The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest: Magic Mind (This episode was originally released as S2:E20 in 2021) 🎥 Watch the full episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/CHQi1HnCZGY 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 37 with Eren Bali. Eren was the founding CEO of Udemy, an open online course provider which now offers 180K+ courses to 40M students. He is now the co-founder and CEO of Carbon Health, a vertically integrated, tech-enabled healthcare provider which started in 2015 and was most recently valued at $3.3B. Eren started the company after his mother fell ill and the traditional healthcare system took several months to reach the proper diagnosis and treatment. It began as a mobile app enabling patients to communicate directly with doctors, store medical records and facilitate telehealth appointments. It now has 90 physical clinics located in 14 states within the US. In this episode, Eren talks about the up and downs of founding Udemy and Carbon Health, the importance of perseverance and many other valuable learnings. Check out Eren’s LinkedIn ► https://twitter.com/erenbali Follow Eren on Twitter ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/erenbali/

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 36 with James Beshara. James is the founder of Magic Mind (https://magicmind.co/) and co-founder of Tilt, an award-winning payments application acquired by Airbnb. He was also a seed investor in Gusto, Clubhouse, Bolt, Mercury and more. In this conversation, James and Justin open up about the bad habits they held as startup founders, which posed barriers to their productivity and success. They discuss sleep, diet, self-accusation, unrealistic expectations, lack of trust and substance dependence. More importantly, they discuss the impact these habits had upon their work life and how to go about eliminating them! Check out Jame’s LinkedIn ► https://www.linkedin.com/in/jjbeshara/ Follow James on Twitter ► https://twitter.com/jamesbeshara

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 2: Episode 35 with Scott Harrison: the founder and CEO of charity: water. After working as a nightclub promoter surrounded by drugs and booze, Scott wanted to find meaning in his life. He volunteered with a healthcare organisation in Liberia as a photojournalist, where he was exposed to one big issue: access to clean drinking water. He founded charity: water in 2006. Since this time, the organisation has provided fresh water to over 13.2M across 29 countries. In this conversation, we talk about starting a non-profit, innovating in charity work and finding purpose in life. Make sure to follow Scott on LinkedIn and Twitter! A huge shoutout to Magic Mind for making this podcast possible (use code JUSTIN20 to get 20% off). If you liked this episode, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter! THE QUEST MEDIA | CONTENT MEETS SILICON VALLEY | 📺 YouTube | 🍎 iTunes | 🎧 Spotify | 🗞 Print | 📌 Bio

Welcome to The Quest Pod Season 1: Episode 34 with Eric Glyman: a two-time fintech founder shares his advice for innovating in a crowded market. Eric Glyman is the co-founder and CEO of Ramp, the only corporate card that helps companies spend less. He also previously founded Paribus to help consumers get money back on their online purchases. Eric’s success reflects the power of customer-centric design: focus on building something that serves and created value for your market, instead of trying to extract as much money from your customers as possible. In this conversation, we talk about leaving a stable job to found a start-up, leading big teams and unlocking innovation. If you liked this episode, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter! A thank to our sponsors Universe and CashApp for making this podcast possible. THE QUEST MEDIA | CONTENT MEETS SILICON VALLEY | 📺 YouTube | 🍎 iTunes | 🎧 Spotify | 🗞 Print | 📌 Bio

Sriram Krishnan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He’s also the popular host of the Good Time Show, a late-night Clubhouse event that has featured guests such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Calvin Harris and more. Before getting into venture capital, Sriram spent more than a decade across Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Sriram has had an incredible journey: he grew up in India, came to the States and worked with Silicon Valley’s top 1%. In this conversation, we talk about what it’s like to be around people like Jack Dorsey and Evan Spiegel, his content creator learnings, tips for anyone hoping to break into tech and more. I’m a big fan of Sriram’s content. You can find his YouTube channel here and subscribe to the GTS Clubhouse show here. If you liked this episode, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter! A thank to our sponsors Universe and CashApp for making this podcast possible. THE QUEST MEDIA | CONTENT MEETS SILICON VALLEY | 📺 YouTube | 🍎 iTunes | 🎧 Spotify | 🗞 Print | 📌 Bio

Adam Jackson and Gabriel Luna-Ostaseski are the co-founders of Braintrust, a decentralized talent network connecting freelancers with organizations. The platform is 100% user-controlled, with the BTRST token being used as the incentive to vet talent and refer clients (BTRST is listed for public purchase on Coinbase). I knew both Adam and Gabe from their past life investing and building web2 marketplaces. This episode is a crash course for me understanding how a web3 startup works: we talk about the cold start problem when building a marketplace, token governance, letting a DAO vote on protocols and tips for aspiring founders building on blockchains. Adam and Gabe also inspired me to start my own crypto project, which I can’t wait to share with you soon. Check out Braintrust at https://www.usebraintrust.com! If you liked this episode, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter! A thank to our sponsors Universe and CashApp for making this podcast possible. THE QUEST MEDIA | CONTENT MEETS SILICON VALLEY | 📺 YouTube | 🍎 iTunes | 🎧 Spotify | 🗞 Print | 📌 Bio

Matt Mochary is an operator, investor and coach to top tech leaders at companies including Coinbase, Opendoor, Bolt and Clearbit. He is the best in the Valley at what he does, with a notable clientele spanning from Naval Ravikant to Sam Altman. After selling his startup in 1999 for millions, he surfed, made movies, worked with ex-cons then developed the Mochary Method to help tech CEOs excel. Matt was my CEO coach during my time at Atrium. My friend Steve Huffman, CEO at Reddit, said he helped Reddit “save millions”. When I was confronted with difficult feedback, Matt helped me navigate my emotions. He also coached me out of my pit, and showed me what an effective leader does in their “Zone of Genius”. In this conversation, we dive into the Mochary Method and his book “The Great CEO Within”. I ask him about tips that have transformed many into the world’s best CEOs, and actionable advice for personal growth. I also share a personal story of facing the anxiety from my past and overcoming it with an old friend. Check out the Mochary Method at https://mocharymethod.com and "The Great CEO Within" on Amazon. If you liked this episode, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter! A thank to our sponsors Universe and CashApp for making this podcast possible. THE QUEST MEDIA | CONTENT MEETS SILICON VALLEY | 📺 YouTube | 🍎 iTunes | 🎧 Spotify | 🗞 Print | 📌 Bio

Chris Best is the CEO and founder of Substack, an online publication platform that provides independent writers with distribution, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure. Chris represents an open challenge to both traditional media institutions and social media. I love the idea of empowering anyone to publish and monetize their ideas and own their audience. In this episode, Chris and I explore the origin story behind Substack, discuss the effects of social media on writing and publishing, how to effectively distribute your content, media outlets, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right people. Check out the full uncut episode on YouTube! A thank to our sponsors Universe and CashApp for making this podcast possible. THE QUEST MEDIA | CONTENT MEETS SILICON VALLEY | 📺 YouTube | 🍎 iTunes | 🎧 Spotify | 🗞 Print | 📌 Bio

Sasha Grey is one of the coolest personalities on the internet. While she is probably best known for her legendary tenure in the porn industry, she has since found success as an artist. Sasha has transitioned into a writer, musician, and popular Twitch streamer with almost 1 million followers. Something that really struck me about Sasha is her tenacity and grit, qualities that I think are exclusive to the greatest creators and founders. She went from bussing tables at a steakhouse, saving up a couple thousand dollars, and betting it all on moving to LA to pursue her dream. We discuss her rapid ascent to stardom in the porn industry, why she left it all behind, and the struggle to be taken seriously by people who dwell on the past. Enjoyed this episode? The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest Pod: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 📺 Watch this episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/k6wlWVuBS2I 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

Alexandra and Andrea Botez are my favorite content creators in the game right now. The sisters run BotezLive, one of the biggest chess-streaming channels on Twitch and YouTube with over 900,000 subscribers. Since the age of six, Alexandra has fought tooth and nail to earn her recognition and success. These experiences developed the resilience that fueled her professional chess career, and transitioned her into the content creation grind. In this episode we dive deep into the gritty reality of what it really takes to become a full-time streamer, lessons from failed startups, learning how to take constructive criticism, and figuring out how to bring authenticity to content creation. If you are an aspiring creator yourself, the Botez sisters have some extremely valuable takeaways - so stay tuned. Enjoyed this episode? The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest Pod: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 📺 Watch this episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/AphAW83yano 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

I’ve known Alexis Ohanian for almost fifteen years, ever since we were in the trenches together as part of the first Y Combinator cohort. He is best known as the co-founder of Reddit, a fellow former partner at YC, and the founder of his new venture fund, Seven Seven Six. Alexis and I became close friends during our time at YC together, and I witnessed the trials and tribulations he went through while building Reddit first-hand. I’ve had the pleasure of watching my friend grow into a great founder, leader, investor, and parent. In this episode, Alexis opens up about his personal struggles during the early days of Reddit, the challenges of modern parenthood, and the philosophy behind Seven Seven Six. I really appreciate Alexis for being so vulnerable in this episode, and I think it is a powerful message that all founders need to hear. Follow Alexis on Twitter here, and find out more about Seven Seven Six here. Enjoyed this episode? The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest Pod: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 📺 Watch this episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/k4x7fF6G2C8 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

Austen Allred is the founder and CEO of Lambda School, an online coding school that doesn’t charge students tuition until they get hired. Growing up Mormon, Austen worked as a missionary and lived out of a car before applying to Y-Combinator. These experiences taught him about resilience, which kept him laser focused on candidate success through media praise and controversy. Austen’s mission to democratize education really resonates with me. In this episode, we discuss moving to the Valley, going through Y-Combinator and being caught in the political tensions surrounding free education. We dive into the concepts of ISAs, the future of education and American Dream as a service. You can follow Austen on his Twitter, and check out Lambda School here. The Quest x Universe Site-Building Contest (until 17th August): The Quest Pod is partnering with Universe App to give away $1000 in cash, plus a chance to pitch me your worst startup ideas (and get roasted ) in a YouTube video! The rules are simple: Come up with the worst startup/product idea ever - the more unethical, inefficient, or useless it is, the better, Download the Universe app and build a basic landing page for your idea. Must clearly state what the product/company is, and its purpose, Follow me on Twitter, and submit your site URL and basic details on the attached entry form Keep an eye on your Twitter DM’s - I’ll contact you if you win. The entry form is available here. Enjoyed this episode? The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest Pod: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 📺 Watch this episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/Moyq4j4bKBg 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

Matteo Franceschetti is the CEO and co-founder of Eight Sleep, a smart mattress company focused on optimizing sleep quality, duration, and recovery through insights and analytics. The company has raised over $40 million since its inception in 2014. In this episode, we discuss practical advice on improving health and longevity through optimizing sleep, the importance of prototyping your product, and the unique challenges of scaling a hardware company. Matteo recounts the development of his intense competitive drive as a boy growing up in Italy, his pivot into startups coming from a career as a lawyer, the YC experience, learning to be an effective communicator and leader, and the laborious process of finding product-market fit. The Quest Pod x Universe Site-Building Contest: The Quest Pod is partnering with Universe App to give away $1000 in cash, plus a chance to pitch me your worst startup ideas (and get roasted ) in a YouTube video! The rules are simple: Come up with the worst startup/product idea ever - the more unethical, inefficient, or useless it is, the better, Download the Universe app and build a basic landing page for your idea. Must clearly state what the product/company is, and its purpose, Follow me on Twitter, and submit your site URL and basic details here Keep an eye on your Twitter DM’s - I’ll contact you if you win. Enjoyed this episode? The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest Pod: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 📺 Experience this episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/IOpF5W5ufjo 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

You are listening to Part 1 of the episode. The full uncut conversation is available on The Quest Youtube Channel. Conor White-Sullivan is the founder of Roam Research, a note-taking app that is taking the world by storm. Deeply curious about the ideas of ‘networked’ and structured thought, Conor spent nine months immersing himself and studying Evangelical Christian communities. The first part of our conversation revolves around the topics of Evangelical churches, anthropology and the paradox of choice. We talk about augmenting collective and individual intelligence, and the relationship between community, purpose, and truth-seeking. Stay tuned for Part 2 next week, where we dive into the philosophy behind Roam, networked thought, climate change, empowerment, and self-love. The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 🎥 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/polm57MvmRE 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media

Gary Vaynerchuck (aka GaryVee) is the truest sense of the word ‘entrepreneur’ and has established himself as one of the most dynamic and charismatic business personalities on the Internet. Gary is the Chairman of VaynerX and CEO of VaynerMedia; he runs a vastly popular YouTube channel with over 3 million subscribers, and has 20+ million followers across his social media platforms. One thing you can count on is Gary’s uncanny ability to recognize emerging trends in business: he was an early investor in Twitter, Uber, Tumblr, and Snap. As a fellow content creator, I really admire his passionate approach to empowering young entrepreneurs, and his vocalism on topics of consumer behavior and digital markets. In this conversation, Gary and I talk about everything from his childhood to the idea of living life in a ‘cocoon’. Beyond the intense and, at times, polarizing presence he has online, Gary shares the vulnerable moments, stories, and lessons that you won’t hear anywhere else. We share thoughts on materialism, happiness, the power of being an influencer, and the journey to finding what you truly love. The incredible stories on this podcast are made possible by our sponsors, check them out to support The Quest: Universe | The best mobile command centre for building your online business and content. Cashapp | Spend, save, invest in stocks and cryptocurrency easily 📺 Watch this episode in 4K: https://youtu.be/mx8KdSAAxK0 🍎 iTunes: https://apple.co/3lU3fZs 🎵 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3srzJwq ✍️ The Quest Pod in print: https://thequest.media 🌎 Everything Quest: https://bio.thequest.media