Inc. Uncensored

​​When she had the idea for an organization to elevate women in leadership roles and entrepreneurship, Cate Luzio didn’t even intend to start a company. Three years later, she’s built Luminary, a thousands-strong networking and career-coaching company that’s weathered the pandemic--and taken the opportunity to expand digitally and globally. She tells Christine Lagorio-Chafkin about the challenges she faced, and what she’s learned along the way.

On this episode, Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews Sarah LaFleur, founder and CEO of womenswear brand M.M. LeFleur.

Garry Tan is known for his investments in Coinbase and Instacart--but before cofounding and managing his fund, Initialized Capital, he was a partner at Y Combinator, where he advised more than 700 startups. He’d been down that road before--founding two of his own companies. Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews Tan--now a thought-leader with a popular YouTube channel, about his journey from food-insecurity in the Bay Area to student to founder to investor, and what he’s learned along the way to shaking up venture capital and managing the flow of early-stage money to young companies.

We’ve been thinking a lot about how companies responded to recent social events and wanted to dig into it some more on today’s episode. What's at the heart of it? What are companies going to do to show they have a point of view, that it's not all talk and they are doing something meaningful for everyday people?

Ryan Petersen founded Flexport in 2013, when he decided to break into and transform part of the global-shipping industry by bringing reliable data and tracking to even the smallest companies. Now he has more than $1 billion in revenue and 2200 employees globally--and the industry is facing an unprecedented challenge in the wake of the pandemic. Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews Petersen about what he’s learned this year--and through the early chaotic days of scaling his company fast--about finding a balance between too much order and too much disorder when starting up.

On today's episode, Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews Sallie Krawcheck. Sallie is the co-founder and CEO of Elle-evest, the digital financial advisor that focuses on the money needs of women. She founded it in 2016, after spending decades as an analyst and executive on Wall Street.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews Fawn Weaver, the CEO and founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, bestselling author, and serial entrepreneur, about how she built her brand and company after setting out to tell the remarkable story of Nearest Green, the first known African-American master distiller and man who taught Jack Daniel how to make whiskey.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews Melissa Bernstein, the co-founder of $500 million toy company Melissa & Doug and the author of a new book about mental health, LifeLines, about her own journey to building a company while suffering from depression.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks with Ashley Mills and Mark Mullett, the founders of Obé Fitness, about how the former adversaries founded their company--and how when the pandemic hit they reacted with creativity, sending the company into a period of wild growth.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks to Matthew Inman and Elan Lee--founders of Exploding Kittens--about how they founded their company, when to give up on a potentially good idea, and the $1 million dollar meow.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin interviews the founder of Crowned Marketing and Communications about how she turned $500 in pageant winnings into a thriving company that advises big brands on inclusive marketing. She’s also an expert on Gen Z, who has researched their consumption habits for her book FutureProof: The Blueprint for Building a Brand Gen Z and Millennials Love.

Christina Lagorio-Chafkin talks to Jack Dangermond, co-founder of ESRI, about starting his business with little over $1000 in personal savings and turning that into a billion dollar, privately held business.

Part 2 of Christine Lagorio-Chafkin's conversation with Jim Collins.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks with Jim Collins--author of best selling books Good to Great and Built To Last--about his three decades of research and writing about the skills and practices that make strong, lasting companies

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks to Eric Kinariwala--founder and CEO of Capsule--about disrupting the prescription drug industry.

A look back at some of the best moments of the year on What I Know

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin speaks with Blake Mycoskie, the serial entrepreneur best known for founding Toms Shoes, about the inspiration behind Toms' giving model, plus his mental-health struggles and the revelation that led to his new company, Madefor.

On today's episode, Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks to Phil Libin, the serial entrepreneur and investor known for co-founding Evernote, about starting what he's learned since starting his fifth company, Mmhmm. They also delve into the ills of the social-media ecosystem, and why Libin says he'll never touch an indirect-funding model again.

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks to Daina Trout, co-founder and CEO of Health-Ade Kombucha, about starting a company with her husband and best friend, running a company during the pandemic, and managing relationships with investors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Christine Lagorio-Chafkin talks to Matthew Prince, co-founder of Cloudflare, about transparency as leader, election security and how his company has grown over the past decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices