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➡️ About The Guest
Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire, and dot.LA, Pacaso, Recon Food, Queue, and Supernova, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. Spencer is an active angel investor and is starting new companies through his Los Angeles startup studio “75 & Sunny.” Spencer is co-chair of Supernova, a family of Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) which have raised over $1 billion in capital. He is also on the Board of Directors of Varo Money. In spring 2022, Spencer was a Visiting Professor. He taught Harvard College’s first-ever startup class “Startups from Ideation to Exit,” and in the Fall of 2019, co-created and co-taught the Harvard Business School course, “Managing Tech Ventures. Spencer is the host of "Office Hours,” a podcast featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups.
Sophia Rascoff is co-founder and CEO of Recon Food, the vertical social media app where people can reconnect over a shared love of food. Sophia is a student at Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles, where she is a leader in the entrepreneurship and creative problem-solving organization; a leader in the Latin American/Hispanic Student Organization; a recipient of the presidential volunteer service award.
➡️ Show Links
https://www.instagram.com/spencerrascoff/
https://twitter.com/spencerrascoff/
https://www.instagram.com/spencerrascoff/
https://twitter.com/sophiarascoff/
➡️ Podcast Sponsors
HUBSPOT - https://hubspot.sjv.io/successstorypod
➡️ Talking Points
00:00 - Intro
04:16 - Sophia Rascoff's origin story
07:45 - Spencer Rascoff's origin story & his starting a company with his daughter
11:23 - Starting up a social media app
13:52 - Vertical-driven social media
20:23 - Some ways of growing and building up a community
23:06 - Turning a community into a successful business model
25:24 - What are the benefits and drawbacks of working in a family?
30:16 - Managing her studies and her business at the same time
33:16 - Sophia’s future education plans & Spencer’s thoughts on them
36:17 - Learning to code at such a young age & Sophia’s role at the company
38:49 - The most important traits to be a successful entrepreneur
41:37 - How did the Rascoffs find the founder-product fit?
45:28 - How did Sophia accomplish all that she did at a young age and how did social media affect it?
54:16 - Where can people connect with Sophia Rascoff and Spencer Rascoff?
55:08 - The biggest challenges faced by Spencer and Sophia Rascoff
57:08 - The most impactful person in Sophia’s and Spencer’s lives
59:44 - Sophia and Spencer’s book or podcast recommendations
1:01:04 - What would Spencer and Sophia tell their younger selves?
1:02:47 - What does success mean to Sophia and Spencer Rascoff?
