Curious Customer - the Consumer Podcast. – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to Curious Customer – the podcast for anyone fascinated by the ever-changing world of consumer brands, products, and behaviour. Whether you're deep in the trenches of marketing, building the next big startup, or simply love decoding what makes people buy what they buy, you’re in the right place.

Hosted by venture capital investor Matt, this show goes beyond surface-level chatter to uncover stories, trends, and strategies shaping today’s consumer industries. From brand-building and design to the rising impact of AI, you’ll hear from founders, marketers, and creative minds who are rethinking how we connect with customers—and where the next big opportunities are coming from.

If you’ve ever wondered what’s next in the world of consumer—or just want smart, sharp conversations in bite-sized episodes—Curious Customer was made for you.

🎧 Subscribe now and join the conversation at curiouscustomer.co.

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

Before he was revolutionizing fast food delivery by air, Yariv Bash was literally shooting for the moon. As the co-founder and CEO of Flytrex, Yariv is now leading the largest drone food delivery service in the U.S.—but his journey began with building the first private spacecraft to (almost) land on the moon. That project raised over $100 million in donations and sparked Yariv’s belief in what’s possible when ambitious ideas meet relentless execution. 

In this episode, Matt sits down with Yariv to explore how his experience in aerospace laid the groundwork for transforming suburban food delivery—and why he thinks the real challenge isn’t the tech or the regulations, but beating the humble Toyota Corolla.

Flytrex has already completed over 140,000 drone deliveries and raised $75 million to make the promise of hot, fast, and affordable food by air a reality. But the story behind those numbers is anything but simple. From battling regulatory hurdles to engineering drones specifically for burritos, Yariv shares what it takes to build a consumer experience that feels like magic—at least the first time. Whether you're a curious technophile or just someone who’s tired of soggy fries, this conversation uncovers what it takes to reshape an industry grounded in centuries of tradition.

 ”There’s a saying which is the future’s already here, it’s just not evenly spread. And in the areas we’re servicing we’ve done over 140,000 deliveries. ” — Yariv Bash

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how Yariv’s lunar ambitions shaped his mindset for building a drone company from scratch.
• Discover why Flytrex focused on food delivery after testing drones in five countries.
• Understand how regulatory frameworks and economics—not just tech—are the biggest barriers to mass adoption.
• Explore why drones may be a quieter, cleaner, and even safer alternative to cars in your neighbourhood.
• Hear what customers really think about receiving their meals from the sky—and how quickly the novelty wears off.

Tune in to hear how drones could reshape how we think about convenience, competition, and the future of everyday services. Whether you’re in Texas or just dreaming of a faster lunch, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Connect with Yariv:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

From the top ranks of Ford and General Motors to launching one of the world’s fastest-growing car brands, Alain Visser has seen the auto industry from every possible angle. With nearly four decades of experience, including leadership roles at Opel and Volvo, Alain grew increasingly frustrated with the industry's lack of real change. That frustration became the fuel for something bold. In 2015, he founded Lynk & Co—a brand built not just to sell cars, but to rethink what car ownership should be altogether. With a belief that consumers no longer need to own cars full-time, Alain set out to build a business model that prioritises usage, flexibility, and sustainability over outdated dealership models and marketing fluff.

In this refreshingly honest conversation, Alain doesn’t hold back. He breaks down the entrenched habits of an industry stuck in its ways and explains why true innovation rarely comes from the big players. If you’ve ever wondered why all car ads look the same or why new car brands struggle to stand out, Alain’s perspective is a must-hear. He also lifts the curtain on what it really took to build a new kind of brand—and why he thinks the future of mobility looks very different from what most of us imagine.

“In an industry where the difficulty to differentiate is the greatest, the effort to do so is the lowest.” — Alain Visser

In this episode, you will:

• Discover why Alain believes most car marketing is lazy—and how budget size can kill creativity.
• Learn how Lynk & Co flipped the traditional car sales model by embracing subscriptions, peer-to-peer sharing, and club-style showrooms.
• Understand why owning a car might soon be as outdated as owning a CD player.
• Find out what Alain really thinks about Tesla’s rise and why he sees it as a product revolution, not a business model shift.
• Explore how brands like Volvo have managed to maintain a unique identity—and why most new entrants fail to do the same.

Listen to this episode to hear why Alain thinks the car industry needs to think less like engineers and more like service designers—and why the most disruptive ideas might come from outside the automotive world altogether.

Connect with Alain:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

As the Senior Director of Marketing at LEGO, Madelaine Edwards carries a huge legacy on her shoulders - and does so with clarity and purpose. In this episode of Curious Customer, she joins Matt to share how a 90-year-old brand continues to evolve without losing sight of its origins. Starting from a small Danish carpenter’s workshop in 1932, LEGO has become one of the world’s most recognized and loved brands. But it’s not just about bricks anymore. Madelaine explains how the company’s approach to creativity, play, and innovation keeps LEGO relevant for kids, adults, and families across generations. From navigating shifts in digital entertainment to pushing for sustainability, Madelaine offers a behind-the-scenes look at how LEGO stays playful while building for the future.

 ”Our hope as a company is that through Lego Play, and through building and rebuilding, it becomes a bedrock for creative confidence and courage and self-belief.” — Madelaine Edwards

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how LEGO balances its timeless core product with constant innovation, releasing over 800 new sets each year.
• Discover how LEGO collaborates with global brands like Nike, Fortnite, and Formula 1 to stay relevant to today’s younger audiences.
• Understand the importance of marketing in shaping both consumer perception and product development—especially when engaging different audiences like girls and adult fans.
• Explore how LEGO is tackling sustainability, including using recycled materials in products like tyres made from old fishing nets and engine oil.
• Hear what Madelaine thinks LEGO will look like ten years from now, and why physical play still matters in a digital world.

Tune in to hear how a classic brand stays fresh without losing its sense of play.

Connect with Madelaine:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

As the Founding Designer of Lovable, Nad Chishtie isn’t just building another web tool—he’s helping reimagine who gets to build software in the first place. With a mission to flip the 1% of people who can code into the 99% who can create, Lovable is already turning heads with its impressive $60M run rate in under a year. Nad brings years of product and design thinking to the table, but it’s his ability to blend deep technical abstraction with intuitive simplicity that truly sets him apart. In this episode, Nad opens up about the bold thinking behind Lovable, why friction isn’t always a bad thing in user experience, and how AI can be your toughest design critic—or your best creative partner.

“The way that we see things is that today less than 1% of the planet can create, deploy, and maintain full stack applications.” — Nad Chishtie

In this episode, you will:

• Learn why Lovable chose to build for a broad audience first—before narrowing in on specific user types.
• Discover how early user reactions helped shape key design decisions and why emotional responses like empowerment and speed became the team’s guiding compass.
• Understand how Nad uses AI not just to design faster but to think better—leveraging GPT as a critique board rather than a shortcut tool.
• Explore why the team has intentionally avoided complex onboarding and stuck with a simple chat interface to build anything.
• Hear how real users—from indie founders to romantic partners—are using Lovable to create everything from SaaS businesses to marriage proposals.

Tune in to hear how Nad and the team behind one of Europe’s fastest-growing startups are rethinking what it means to design, build, and launch in the age of AI. Whether you're a designer, founder, or just curious about the future of digital creation—this one’s worth a listen.

Connect with Nad:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

What happens when a young lawyer realizes that adult friendships are slowly fizzling out because time becomes a luxury? Neil Tanna found himself watching his social connections fade as the demands of professional life took over, and instead of accepting this as inevitable, he decided to build a solution. 

As CEO and co-founder of Howbout, Neil has created something that's resonating powerfully with Gen Z – a social calendar app that's attracted 5 million users in just five years. Unlike traditional social media platforms that have become entertainment feeds filled with strangers and brands, Howbout brings the focus back to what really matters: your actual friends and the time you spend together. Neil's journey from frustrated lawyer to startup founder offers a fascinating look at how one person's personal pain point became a platform that's changing how an entire generation maintains their friendships.

“We have lowered the barrier of entry to maintaining friendships, which is why our platform is so powerful and it doesn't need to be performative.” – Neil Tanna

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how Neil identified the "Chief Friendship Officer" persona in every friend group and used this insight to solve the cold start problem that kills most social apps
• Discover why Gen Z is surprisingly comfortable sharing their private calendars with close friends, despite older generations' concerns about privacy
• Understand the clever growth hack involving Instagram meme pages that helped Howbout acquire their first 1,000 users without traditional advertising
• Explore how calendar data from 100 million user entries is being used to understand what Gen Z actually does with their time, from date night debriefs to Sunday planning sessions
• Uncover why Howbout's retention rates doubled after shifting focus from utility-first planning to social-first engagement, and what this means for the future of friendship apps

Neil's story challenges the assumption that successful social platforms need to be entertainment-focused or rely on performative content. Instead, Howbout proves that authenticity and genuine connection – even in small, private networks of 5-15 close friends – can drive massive engagement and growth. With ambitious plans to reach 40 million users by 2026, Neil's approach to building "a world where friendships never go on pause" offers valuable lessons for anyone interested in consumer social products and the evolving nature of digital relationships.

Tune in to hear how one lawyer's frustration with fading friendships became a social calendar revolution that's redefining how young people stay connected.

Connect with Neil:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

What happens when you combine a gorilla, Phil Collins, and chocolate marketing genius?

Phil Rumbol joins us to share the story behind one of advertising's most memorable campaigns. With an impressive career spanning from InBev's award-winning Stella Artois work to his groundbreaking tenure at Cadbury, Phil knows what it takes to build brands that stick. At Cadbury, he faced a critical challenge: the iconic chocolate brand had lost an entire generation of consumers, with anyone under 40 showing less affinity for the brand than their older counterparts. His solution? A seemingly random but strategically brilliant advert featuring a gorilla playing drums to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight" – a campaign that would become a cultural phenomenon and demonstrate the power of emotional marketing over rational messaging.

Key topics you'll explore in this episode:

• Learn why brands live in consumers' minds, not in company boardrooms, and how this fundamental truth shapes successful marketing strategies

• Discover the six-month internal battle Phil fought to get the gorilla advert approved, including how he convinced risk-averse executives after a major product recall

• Understand how to measure brand building ROI using econometrics – a statistical modeling approach that only 20% of marketers use but can prove marketing impact over time

• Explore the balance between staying authentic while remaining relevant, and why brands need to work harder than ever to earn consumer attention in today's crowded marketplace

• Uncover practical advice for startup CMOs on building charismatic brands from scratch, including when to use agencies versus building internal marketing capabilities

Phil doesn't just tell war stories – he breaks down the strategic thinking behind seemingly creative decisions. From understanding that chocolate triggers actual endorphin releases to recognizing Cadbury's "Willy Wonka" brand essence, every choice was rooted in consumer psychology and business logic. He reveals why the song choice was everything, how early social media shaped their viral strategy, and what it really takes to shift from short-term sales activation to long-term brand building. Plus, he shares his current brand crush and explains why mathematical modeling should be every marketer's secret weapon.

Tune in to discover how one of advertising's most talked-about campaigns came together, and walk away with practical frameworks for building brands that people actually care about.

Connect with Phil:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

Maxime Barbier’s journey is anything but typical. A serial entrepreneur from Paris, Maxime built his first business at just 22, later selling it to national television in France. But what came after was even more transformative. Faced with the question of “what's next?” after a successful exit, he took 100 coffees with 100 strangers - an experiment that reshaped his view of purpose, connection, and what people truly crave. This quest ultimately led to Timeleft, a social dining platform that has already brought half a million people together across 300 cities worldwide. In this episode of the Curious Customer podcast, Maxime shares the emotional, surprising, and sometimes messy path that led him to turn simple dinners into powerful social experiences.

“We are like a dating app who sell you love, but only give you first date.” — Maxime Barbier

In this episode, you will:

• Learn how a list of 100 personal dreams and 100 coffees with strangers sparked the birth of a global platform.
• Discover why Maxime believes loneliness isn’t the real problem - it’s a lack of meaningful, in-person connections.
• Understand how Timeleft’s unique group matching algorithm uses age, personality type, and even conversation dynamics to build strong social tables.
• Find out why Timeleft's users - whether in Tokyo, London, or São Paulo - keep returning not for love, but for authentic friendship and emotional connection.
• Hear how Maxime’s own father, facing post-accident isolation, found healing and friendship through the very platform his son created.

Tune in to hear how Maxime and the Timeleft team are proving that sharing a meal with strangers might just be one of the most meaningful things you do this week.

Connect with Maxime:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

What happens when a tech investor decides to revolutionize travel during a global pandemic? Meet Cat Jones, founder and CEO of Byway, who launched her flight-free travel company in 2020 while on maternity leave. Unlike traditional travel that treats the journey as a means to an end, Byway focuses on making the journey itself the destination—connecting travelers across Europe through trains, boats, and buses in carefully crafted multi-stop adventures. What started as a personal passion for overland travel has evolved into a rapidly growing business that's challenging how we think about holidays, combining sophisticated routing technology with deeply human customer service to create trips that customers describe as "magical."

In this episode, you'll:

• Discover how Byway's technology learns from human experts to create personalized routes that optimize for enjoyment rather than speed, and why it took 18 months before their system could beat human-planned trips
• Learn why WhatsApp support became their secret weapon—starting as a way for the founder to gather feedback but evolving into the most praised aspect of their service, with customers sharing holiday photos and building genuine connections with the support team
• Understand the psychology behind why customers are shifting from multiple short breaks to longer, more immersive journeys, and how this trend reflects a broader reaction against the pace of modern life
• Explore the infrastructure and policy challenges facing sustainable travel, from train systems designed for commuters rather than leisure travelers to government subsidies that artificially make flights cheaper than rail travel
• Uncover Byway's ambitious vision to make flight-free travel mainstream, including their expansion across Europe and North America, and how they're building both a brand and a movement that could reshape the entire travel industry

Cat's story reveals how combining technology with genuine human connection can create experiences that customers not only love but actively promote to friends and family. Her insights into customer behavior, the role of delight in business strategy, and the future of sustainable travel offer valuable lessons for anyone building consumer experiences in today's market.

Tune in to hear how one founder's belief that "if only we make it easy and tell people about it, more people will want to do it" is transforming an entire industry and inspiring travelers to rediscover the joy of the journey.

Connect with Cat:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!

Meet Max Marchione, a remarkable entrepreneur who's already built a quarter-billion-dollar company before hitting his thirties. As president and co-founder of Superpower, Max has transformed his personal health struggles into a mission to democratize premium healthcare. After spending a decade battling chronic migraines and mysterious health issues that stumped over a dozen doctors, he discovered what he calls a "10x doctor" who changed everything. This experience sparked his belief that there's a massive gap between the healthcare available to billionaires like Jeff Bezos and what everyone else can access—and he's determined to close it using AI and technology.

What You'll Discover:

• Learn how Superpower's $42-per-month membership delivers concierge-level healthcare, including home nurse visits and 100+ blood biomarkers—five times more comprehensive than a typical annual physical
• Discover why Max believes AI doctors will soon outperform human physicians and how his company is already using artificial intelligence to create personalized health reports that make everything "click" for members
• Understand the fascinating shift in consumer behavior that made health the new status symbol, replacing traditional luxury goods as people seek to optimize their bodies and minds
• Explore Max's unconventional philosophy on building authentic personal brands, independent thinking, and why he believes most things around us are "four out of ten" when they could be perfect
• Uncover his bold vision for the future, including helping people get eight hours of sleep in just five hours and why he thinks energy healing will eventually become hard science

Max shares candid thoughts on everything from why healthcare brands should inspire the same love as Nike or Apple, to his advice for young people navigating an AI-disrupted job market. His approach to business centers on an empowering mindset: taking 100% responsibility while building something genuinely good for the world. Whether you're interested in the future of healthcare, entrepreneurship, or personal optimization, this conversation offers a fresh perspective on how technology can solve real human problems.

Tune in to hear how one young entrepreneur is revolutionizing healthcare by making the medicine of the elite accessible to everyone—and why his approach might just change how you think about your own health journey.

Connect with Max:

• LinkedIn

Connect with Matt:

• LinkedIn
• Curious Customer Website

Don't miss an episode! Follow Curious Customer on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to get notified whenever we drop a new episode. Your curiosity deserves the latest insights!