Adam Fishman (author of a top business newsletter on Substack with 10K+ subscribers) interviews executives, entrepreneurs, and company leaders in technology companies who are also fathers. They discuss the tough aspects of work, parenting, family, the mistakes made and lessons learned along the way.
Educating Your Kids In A Technology-First World | Jeremy Howard (Dad of 1, Fast.ai, Fastmail, Kaggle)
jeudi 20 mars 2025 • Durée 01:07:06
Jeremy Howard is a leader in the data science and AI communities. Along with his partner, Dr. Rachel Thomas, he is the co-founder of Fast.ai - a research lab studying how to make deep learning more accessible and widely applicable and the founder of AI R&D lab Answer.ai. He is a professor at the University of Queensland in Australia, a digital fellow at Stanford, founded Fastmail and sold it to Opera Software, was the president and chief scientist of Kaggle, the founder and CEO of Enlitic and has been chief scientist at multiple AI companies. Jeremy has been doing intense work in the field of AI and Machine Learning since before it was fashionable. He’s also a husband and the father of one daughter. We discussed:
* Founding a company with your significant other
* How science led him to believe he’d like having kids
* A deep-dive into the evolving patterns of education
* Homeschooling and maintaining social connections in a remote environment
* The modular learning strategy
* Navigating screentime when most learning happens on a screen
* Talking to kids about interactions with AI and what’s happening behind the scenes
Production support for Startup Dad is provided by Tommy Harron at http://www.armaziproductions.com/
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit startupdadpod.substack.com
The Unhappy Achiever Paradox | Mike Yan (Dad of 1, Co-founder/CEO, Manychat)
jeudi 13 mars 2025 • Durée 54:49
Mike Yan is the co-founder and CEO of Manychat, a chat automation tool for social platforms with over 250 employees, 1 million customers and growing 2x year over year. With his team, Mike has built the fastest growing platform on Whatsapp and the largest on Instagram. He’s also a husband and a new dad. We discussed:
* How he thought he was going to become a magician rather than a founder
* Starting a family as the founder of a fast-growing, 250+ person company
* How he prepared himself, his team and his board for paternity leave
* Advice he’d give to founders who are considering starting a family
* How becoming a Dad has changed him as a CEO
* Navigating the disruption of changes in childcare
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Raising Teenagers, Making Movies & Founding Companies | (Eric Colbert, Jay Chandrasekhar, Eli Szasz; Dads of 9 kids, VouchVault, SuperTroopers)
jeudi 6 mars 2025 • Durée 01:11:37
Eric Colbert, Jay Chandrasekhar and Eli Szasz are the co-founders of VouchVault, a new platform that helps you get trusted recommendations for products and services you need. Eric and Eli have worked together for years at creative agency, Spark6. Jay is a comedian, writer and actor best known for his movies Super Troopers and Beerfest. Collectively they’re the dads of 9 different kids along with being loving and supportive husbands (or so they told me). We discussed:
* How they all met and decided to start VouchVault
* How their new company helps busy parents
* Getting into trouble as young kids
* Raising teenagers and Eric’s “three pillars” of success
* How their relationships have changed as their kids have gotten older
* Advice they’d give the younger versions of themselves
* A raging debate on minivans
Where to find Eric Colbert, Jay Chandrasekhar and Eli Szasz
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Tidy Up Your Life | Tyler Moore (Dad of 3, TidyDad, Elementary School Teacher)
jeudi 27 février 2025 • Durée 01:07:01
Tyler Moore aka TidyDad is a school teacher turned internet sensation and best-selling author. Pushed to the brink of a breakdown after the birth of his second daughter, Tyler went on to tidy up his mind, his life and his household. In the process he built a massive following as Tidy Dad and recently published a USA Today best-selling book called Tidy Up Your Life. He has been featured on Good Morning America, The Washington Post, NYTimes, NYPost, Better Homes & Gardens, Apartment Therapy and the HGTV Podcast (among many others). In addition to his role as Tidy Dad he still teaches elementary school in New York City and lives in a 5 room, 750 square foot apartment with his wife and three daughters. We discussed:
* Tyler’s journey from mental breakdown to best-selling author
* How to tidy up your mind then your space
* The one-area-a-weekday cleaning method
* Involving your kids in the tidying process
* What “Just Enough” means
* The first step in de-cluttering
* The concept of Surthrival
* Many of the tidying frameworks discussed in his new book
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Four Companies And Three Kids | Pouyan Salehi (Dad of 3, co-founder Scratchpad, PersistIQ, Lera Labs, StackMob)
jeudi 13 février 2025 • Durée 49:46
Pouyan Salehi is the co-founder and CEO of Scratchpad—a company trying to take the busy work out of sales. He has founded three other companies, including PersistIQ (acquired by Wishpond) and Stackmob (acquired by PayPal). In addition to being a serial founder and entrepreneur he is also a husband and a Dad to three kids. We discussed:
* Coming to America from Iran and restarting his life with his parents
* Why there’s no perfect time to start a family
* How each kid is different and requires different parenting strategies
* Advice he’d give his younger self about how to relax
* Appreciating the new way your life comes together after kids
* Moving across the country to be closer to family
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Fighting For Better Paternity Leave | Alex Lloyd Hunter (Dad of 1, The Dad Shift)
jeudi 6 février 2025 • Durée 50:30
Alex Lloyd Hunter is co-founder of The Dad Shift—a group of men, dads and co-parents campaigning for better paternity leave in the UK. He has been a founder, a non-profit leader, and an organizer for the Labour Party. In addition to being an advocate for better paternity leave policies he’s also a husband and the father of a young son. We discussed:
* Just how bad paternity leave is in the UK
* What The Dad Shift is trying to achieve
* The biggest obstacles to better paternity leave policies
* How we can define men less by their professional lives and more by their participation at home
* How Alex’s views on fatherhood and parenting were shaped by his own father and the birth of his son
* How he proactively adjusted his career to better prepare for his son’s arrival
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
What It Means To Be A 'Lead Dad' | Paul Sullivan (Dad of 3, NY Times Columnist, Author, Founder)
jeudi 30 janvier 2025 • Durée 01:04:03
Paul Sullivan is the founder of Company of Dads—a community for Lead Dads which he created to provide more support for Dads who are also the primary caregivers at home. He is also the best-selling author of two books: Clutch: Why Some People Excel Under Pressure and Others Don’t and The Thin Green Line: The Money Secrets of The Super Wealthy. He has been a journalist for over 25 years and wrote the Wealth Matters column for the NY Times, the Money Game column in GOLF Magazine and has appeared in Fortune, Money, Barron’s, The Boston Globe and Food & Wine. In addition to being an accomplished writer and founder he’s also a husband and the Lead Dad for three daughters.We discussed:
* The need for a community like Company of Dads
* What exactly is a Lead Dad and why is it important?
* Building work around family rather than the other way around
* The need for more fathers to lead open communication at home
* A simple system for figuring out equitable participation in household logistics
* How fathers can be more vocal about their roles as Lead Dads
* Championing policies in the workplace to support all parents
* Lessons from Clutch on how parents can perform in high-pressure situations
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Your Family Is Your #1 Investor | Cory O'Daniel (Dad of 2, co-founder and CEO, Massdriver)
jeudi 23 janvier 2025 • Durée 01:18:50
Cory 'O’Daniel is the co-founder and CEO of Massdriver, a platform designed to simplify and streamline the management of cloud infrastructure and DevOps processes. Cory had been a software architect and engineer for 20 years leading up to the founding of MassDriver. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband and the father of two young kids.We discussed:
* Conversations he and his wife had had as he was borrowing from retirement to start Massdriver
* Why enterprise sales is like your kid pooping in the bathtub
* Time dedication - to yourself, your spouse and your kids, individually
* Why kids brains are much bigger than we typically think
* How he and his wife have become more anti-tech in their household
* The benefits of being present
* Practicing “over-the-top” play and fostering imagination
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Founding A Company As A Toddler Dad | Ben Lauzier (Dad of 1, co-founder/CEO, Nurra)
jeudi 16 janvier 2025 • Durée 51:23
Ben Lauzier is the co-founder and CEO of Nurra – an AI-powered health assistant that helps you navigate your healthcare and gives you a health advocate for your complex needs. Prior to that he was the VP of Product at Thumbtack and a long-time product leader at Lyft, where we first met. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband and the father of one daughter.We discussed:
* Leaning into fatherhood when your spouse has health challenges
* How his wife’s health issues led him to start his company
* Differences in parenting between France and the U.S.
* What it’s like to start a company with a two year old
* Advice for Dads on balancing self-care with fatherhood
* Remembering that change is constant in parenting
* Hopes for the future of technology with his daughter
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit
Be Gentle On Your Own Self-Criticism | Matt Martin (Dad of 3, co-founder and CEO, Clockwise)
jeudi 9 janvier 2025 • Durée 56:45
Matt Martin is the co-founder and CEO of Clockwise – an amazing product that optimizes your team’s schedules to create more time in everyone’s day. Prior to that he was an engineer and a lawyer. In addition to being an incredible founder he’s also a husband and the father of three kids, including a set of identical twins!We discussed:
* Changes in working style required when you become a parent
* The importance of clear communication - both at work and with your partner
* The most important aspects of communication to get right
* The need for focus in both work and parenting
* How to be gentle on your own self-criticism
* Reframing demands and expectations you have for yourself
* The support structures critical for his dual-working household
Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-blue-truck-board-book-alice-schertle/1120880415
Ada Twist, Scientists by Andrea Beaty: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ada-twist-scientist-andrea-beaty/1123236059
Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/iggy-peck-architect-andrea-beaty/1103278969
Dragons Love Tacos by Adam Rubin: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dragons-love-tacos-adam-rubin/1107389326
The Book with No Pictures by B. J. Novak: https://www.amazon.com/Book-No-Pictures-B-Novak/dp/0803741715
Pete The Cat by Eric Litwin: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-love-my-white-shoes-eric-litwin/1104911441
Baby University Complete "for Babies" Board Book Set by Chris Ferrie (Author), whurley (Author), Cara Florance (Author), Julia Kregenow (Author), Marco Tomamichel (Author), Sarah Kaiser (Author): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1728232309
Toot Toot Beep Beep by Emma Garcia: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toot-toot-beep-beep-emma-garcia/1009185692
Tap Tap Bang Bang by Emma Garcia: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tap-tap-bang-bang-emma-garcia/1018125516Ignition by R. Kelly: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCPdtMbw7zg
Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman: https://www.amazon.com/Bringing-Up-B%C3%A9b%C3%A9-Discovers-Parenting/dp/0143122967
Emily In Paris: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8962124/
[8:58] Decision to start a family/ how has your approach to work changed since becoming a dad
[15:53] Earliest memory of becoming a dad
[19:24] Communication
[21:26] Most important aspect of communication
[23:34] Stories of “getting it wrong.”
[28:24] Most surprising things about being a dad
[31:06] Advice for younger Matt
[33:34] Advice to ignore
[35:12] Favorite book to read to kids
[37:20] Navigating your internal critic
[39:14] Did being a parent change your leadership style
[41:35] Alignment challenges with partner
[43:27] Kid’s relationship to tech
[45:24] Playing w/ ChatGPT and kids
[45:56] Mistake as a dad
[46:57] Follow along
[47:57] Lightning round
[55:48] Thank you
—
Show references:
Clockwise: getclockwise.com
Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/goodnight-moon-margaret-wise-brown/1105127857
Mercy Watson Boxed Set: Adventures of a Porcine Wonder by Kate DiCamillo: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mercy-watson-boxed-set-kate-dicamillo/1100089011
Paletero Man by Lucky Diaz: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paletero-man-lucky-diaz/1137570171
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