For more than 20 years, Reza Satchu has been both a serial founder and a leading educator in entrepreneurship. He has built multiple high-profile companies and mentored hundreds of students and founders through the realities of starting and scaling ventures. Now, in this new video podcast from Harvard Business School Foundry, Reza breaks down what it truly takes to be a founder.
Reza interviews the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, showing the motivation and principles of the human behind the brand and their hero's journey. He dissects their underlying mindset, how they developed their judgment and committed to it — and thereby achieved the freedom they sought to make an impact. From childhood influences, to present day challenges and future impact.
Working With Elon Musk: How Jon McNeill Built Six Startups and Helped Scale Tesla
Host Reza Satchu interviews Jon McNeill, former Tesla president, about his experiences building six startups and scaling with Elon Musk, offering insights into founder resilience.
21 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
The Founder Is the Prize: Pitching Delta CEO Ed Bastian
Reza Satchu interviews Delta CEO Ed Bastian about the qualities of a winning founder, offering insights for entrepreneurs seeking to impress industry leaders.
14 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
Featuring the HBR IdeaCast: HBS Legend Nitin Nohria on the Biggest Surprises CEOs Face
Host Alison Beard interviews Harvard Business School legend Nitin Nohria about the surprising realities and challenges CEOs face, offering insights on leadership and time management.
7 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT
Not Born a Founder: How Brian Halligan Built HubSpot
Reza Satchu interviews Brian Halligan, co-founder of HubSpot, about learning to become a founder rather than being born one.
23 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Proven, Better, New: Mark Pincus on Control and Betting on Yourself
Reza Satchu interviews Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, about his "Proven, Better, New" framework for building successful companies by rigorously testing ideas.
16 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Introducing "The Parlor Room Presents: Hello AI": Linda Hill on Leading Through AI-Driven Change
Harvard Business School Professor Linda Hill and host Chris Linnane discuss how leaders must redesign work and build trust to effectively leverage AI for organizational transformation.
9 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Building What Outlasts Us: Demond Martin on Inclusive Capitalism
Reza Satchu interviews Demond Martin, founder of WellWithAll, about building an inclusive capitalist venture to close community health gaps.
2 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT
Introducing “Cold Call”: BrandBastion Mixes AI and Human Judgment to Build Trust at Scale
HBS Assistant Professor Julian De Freitas and BrandBastion co-founders discuss their AI-powered platform for managing social media comments and building trust at scale in this interview.
26 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Back at HBS: Michelle Zatlyn Tells the Story Behind a Silicon Valley Unicorn
Reza Satchu interviews Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of Cloudflare, about building a Silicon Valley unicorn by prioritizing internet safety and giving away the product.
12 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT
Oscar-Winner, Billionaire, Venture Capitalist: Inside David Fialkow's Mind
Reza Satchu interviews David Fialkow, Oscar-winner and co-founder of General Catalyst, about spotting and scaling founder conviction for lasting impact.
29 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT
From India to Harvard and Beyond: Naren Shaam's Unicorn Journey
Reza Satchu interviews Naren Shaam about building Omio into a global transport unicorn through audacious vision and unwavering resilience.
15 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT
Reinventing a Giant: How Galen Weston Employs the Founder Mindset in a Family Empire
Reza Satchu interviews Galen Weston about how he employs the founder mindset to reinvent a family retail empire into a national powerhouse.
1 Jul 2026TRANSCRIPT
Dissecting the Founder Mindset: David Deming and Reza Satchu
Reza Satchu interviews economist David Deming about the essential soft skills and insights that define the founder mindset.
17 Jun 2026
Shark-Infested Waters: How Kevin O'Leary Built a Brand on Brutal Honesty
What does it take to be a founder?
From a Toronto basement startup to a multibillion-dollar exit, Kevin O’Leary built his career by betting on himself and doing the hard things most people avoid. Now, after investing in hundreds of companies on Shark Tank, he shares what founders need to know about building, surviving, and what it really takes to win.
This is The Founder Mindset, with Reza Satchu.
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Foundry is Harvard Business School’s new AI-native platform that gives high-potential founders everywhere the tools, expertise, and guidance to build ventures that succeed.
Accepting HBS Foundry Bootcamp applications now. An 8-week, virtual bootcamp to take your idea to a funding-ready pitch. Apply here:
https://hbs.me/3y4h3kuf
*Open to founders based in the U.S. for now. Top participants are invited to Foundry Catalyst with the opportunity to later compete for up to $100K in funding.
3 Jun 2026
From Influencer to Founder: Alix Earle’s Next Chapter
What does it take to be a founder?
Alix Earle built one of the most powerful creator brands of her generation, gaining millions of followers and sparking what fans call the Alix Earle Effect, where a single post can sell out products overnight. Now she’s making the leap from influencer to founder as she launches Reale Actives, her very first company.
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Foundry is Harvard Business School’s new AI-native platform that gives high-potential founders everywhere the tools, expertise, and guidance to build ventures that succeed.
Accepting HBS Foundry Bootcamp applications now. An 8-week, virtual bootcamp to take your idea to a funding-ready pitch. Apply here:
https://hbs.me/3y4h3kuf
*Open to founders based in the U.S. for now. Top participants are invited to Foundry Catalyst with the opportunity to later compete for up to $100K in funding.
All podcast episodes and more info can also be found on Harvard Business School’s official site:
https://www.hbs.edu/foundry
20 May 2026
The Curse of Optionality: Tim Ferriss on Experiments, Risk, and Freedom
What does it take to be a founder?
Tim Ferriss turned experimentation into a competitive advantage — authoring multiple #1 New York Times bestsellers, launching one of the world’s most influential podcasts, and investing early in companies like Uber, Facebook, Shopify, and Duolingo. His playbook isn’t about reckless bets — it’s about calibrated risk, smart experiments, and learning faster than the competition.
This is The Founder Mindset with Reza Satchu.
--
Foundry is Harvard Business School’s new AI-native platform that gives high-potential founders everywhere the tools, expertise, and guidance to build ventures that succeed.
Accepting HBS Foundry Bootcamp applications now:
https://hbs.me/499vcs7z
*Open to founders in the U.S. for now
All podcast episodes and more info can also be found on Harvard Business School’s official site:
https://www.hbs.edu/foundry
6 May 2026
Rewriting the Script: Reese Witherspoon's Entrepreneurial Leap to Impact
What does it take to be a founder?
From one of Hollywood’s biggest stars to one of its most influential founders, Reese Witherspoon built her company, Hello Sunshine, to change who gets to own stories—and who gets to tell them. With a new blueprint for modern storytelling, Hello Sunshine turned projects like Little Fires Everywhere and The Morning Show into global hits, transforming the entire industry.
This is The Founder Mindset, with Reza Satchu.
--
Foundry is Harvard Business School’s new AI-native platform that gives high-potential founders everywhere the tools, expertise, and guidance to build ventures that succeed. Accepting Foundry Bootcamp applications now:
hbsfoundry.org
*Open to founders in the U.S. building in deep tech and related fields, and more industries coming soon!All podcast episodes and more info can also be found on Harvard Business School’s official site:
https://www.hbs.edu/foundry
22 Mar 2026
The Founder Mindset - Launching May 6, 2026
For more than 20 years, Reza Satchu has been both a serial founder and a leading educator in entrepreneurship. He has built multiple high-profile companies and mentored hundreds of students and founders through the realities of starting and scaling ventures. Now, in this new video podcast from Harvard Business School Foundry, Reza breaks down what it truly takes to be a founder. Episode 1 launching May 6, 2026.
Inside a recent episode
Working With Elon Musk: How Jon McNeill Built Six Startups and Helped Scale Tesla
Published 4 Nov 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] So like it's either the it's either the handful of things that can kill it or the one thing that could make it. Right. And and so he concentrates on those. And then the second thing he does is he does delegate. He delegates everything else. So it's super fun to work for him because you have full agency. […]
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