
David Rusenko interviews the founders of companies like Airbnb, Y Combinator, and Twitch, alongside the people who first believed in them. A mom. An early boss. A college roommate. Together, they reveal the intimate, unpolished stories of how successful companies actually get built, and why it rarely looks the way you might expect.
| Publishes | Twice monthly | Episodes | 11 | Founded | 5 months ago |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Listeners | Categories | EntrepreneurshipBusiness | |||

This summer, Leap Forward is going on a short break. We’ll be back this fall with more episodes.
Listen for a look back on Season 1 and a taste of what’s next, including a family crisis over a wiped thesis, and some very big ambitions to change the... more
Live streaming feels inevitable now. But it started as what Michael Seibel called a "dumb idea."
In this episode, Michael traces the unlikely path from a post-Yale road trip to a 24-hour streaming experiment called Justin.tv. Years of pivots and spi... more
When Sean Duffy was a medical student interning at IDEO, he came face to face with a hard truth: millions of Americans with chronic disease weren’t getting the support they needed to actually get healthier. In this episode, Sean tells the story of ho... more
Scribd took off fast - then hit a wall that nearly broke the company. In this episode, Trip Adler tells the story of building the “Netflix for books,” only to face the moment every founder dreads: when everything comes tumbling down, as growth stalle... more
People also subscribe to these shows.




How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.
Apple Podcasts | #75 | |
Apple Podcasts | #112 | |
Apple Podcasts | #233 |
Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.
Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.
| Listeners per Episode | |
|---|---|
| Gender Skew | |
| Location | |
| Interests | |
| Professions | |
| Age Range | |
| Household Income | |
| Social Media Reach |
This show centers on founders, investors, and early believers who helped build iconic tech companies. Across episodes, listeners hear intimate origin stories, the pivots, challenges, and mentorship moments that shape successful startups—from scrappy beginnings in dorm rooms or apartments to scaling and navigating fundraising, crises, and growth. Guests often bring a founder's perspective, hands-on product thinking, and human-interest context—from family influence to culture and trust in building trusted brands. The format tends to blend personal anecdotes with practical lessons, offering listeners a backstage view of startup journeys, leadership mindset, and the human side of scaling businesses.
Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Leap Forward. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Leap Forward and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.
Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Leap Forward, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.
Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Leap Forward, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.
To see how many followers or subscribers Leap Forward has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.
These podcasts share a similar audience with Leap Forward:
1. The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
2. Uncapped with Jack Altman
3. Big Take
4. Are We Doomed?
5. The Red Flags Podcast
Leap Forward launched 5 months ago and published 11 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.
Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.
Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Leap Forward from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.
View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.
Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Leap Forward. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.
Recent guests on Leap Forward include:
1. Michael Seibel
2. Justin Kan
3. Sean Duffy
4. Trip Adler
5. John Adler
6. Laura Modi
7. Chip Conley
8. Jimmy Douglas
To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.