Decoder with Nilay Patel

JibJab CEO Gregg Spiridellis talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Chorus CEO Dick Costolo about how the company has adapted to the ever-changing internet over the past two decades. JibJab was on the verge of shutting down when it released “This Land,” an animated viral video sensation that parodied the 2004 U.S. Presidential race between George W. Bush and John Kerry. JibJab later moved into personalized greeting cards and apps for messaging platforms, which Spiridellis says is a low-risk way to make comedy scale. He says it’s harder than ever to justify the production costs of “mass funny” digital videos, because creators are now competing against the entire history of comedy, available for free on YouTube. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

17 Jan 20181h 2min

David Friend, Vanity Fair’s editor of creative development, talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher about his new book, “The Naughty Nineties: The Triumph of the American Libido.” Much of today’s social and political unrest can be traced back to the sea change in who Americans voted for and how they consumed entertainment in the 1990s — and it’s no accident that the world wide web was born in that decade. He explains why today’s #MeToo movement owes a debt to Anita Hill, who unsuccessfully tried to stop Clarence Thomas’s nomination the Supreme Court in 1991, and how everyone from Bill Clinton to Lance Armstrong ushered in an “age of lies” that paved the way for Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

15 Jan 20181h 1min

Comedian Sarah Cooper talks with Recode’s Kara Swisher and Chorus CEO Dick Costolo about why she left a career in the tech industry to become a stand-up comic. Cooper has made tech a central part of her comedy and has written a book based in part on her time at Yahoo and Google called “100 Tricks To Appear Smart in Meetings.” The group debates whether people who work in tech are funny (on purpose) and whether depictions of them in popular culture, on shows like HBO’s “Silicon Valley” or CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory,” are really hitting their mark. Plus: Cooper previews her next book, “How to Be Successful Without Hurting Men’s Feelings,” which will include tips such as “be authentic by hiding yourself." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10 Jan 20181h 8min

Patty McCord, the former chief talent officer at Netflix and author of that company's famous "culture deck," talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about her new book, "Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility." McCord recalls how CEO Reed Hastings convinced her to work at Netflix and how they developed the principles of the company's culture over many years — which Hastings unilaterally published online, generating millions of downloads. She also talks about the common mistakes companies make when hiring and firing, why coddling employees with Google-style perks is overrated and how businesses can make lasting change in the aftermath of the #MeToo movement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

8 Jan 20181h 7min

Chorus CEO Dick Costolo, the former CEO of Twitter, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about why he loves comedy and why his peers in the tech community are so infrequently "in on the joke." Before he was a tech entrepreneur, Costolo wanted to be a comedian, taking improv classes at Second City in Chicago in the hopes of one day making it to "Saturday Night Live." Today, he explains, more people than ever have the ability to succeed in comedy because they can make and distribute their comedy online, rather than needing to go to Second City or be a touring stand-up comic. Costolo also talks about what happened when he left Twitter and how he became an advisor to the writers of HBO's "Silicon Valley" during that show's third season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3 Jan 20181h 4min

The host of the Longform Podcast, Evan Ratliff, interviews Recode’s Kara Swisher in front of a live audience in San Francisco about how she got started in journalism and how she does her job today. Downloading a book for the first time convinced Swisher of the power of the internet, which led her to cover AOL and countless other early digital pioneers. Plus: How she convinces sources to keep talking to her even after she has grilled them onstage at Code or written critically about them online. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

1 Jan 201856min

Recode's Kara Swisher and The Verge's Casey Newton talk with Zach Stafford and Trish Bendix, the editor in chief and managing editor of Into — a queer lifestyle magazine published by the dating app Grindr. They talk about why LGBT people have historically been early adopters of tech, why Grindr was more readily adopted by men than women and how the company is trying to change that as it branches out into media. Stafford says Into has been able to tap into Grindr's killer feature, knowing the location of its users, to push out regionally-specific stories to the people who will be most affected by them. Bendix, who recently joined Into after ten years at After Ellen, says she is working to make sure the magazine is more inclusive to women, nonbinary people and trans people; Into needs to reach them as well, she says, to tell stories about everything "through a queer lens." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

27 Dec 20171h 4min

Recode's Kara Swisher talks with former attorney general Eric Holder, who led an investigation into Uber's management earlier this year, and the company's new Chief Legal Officer, Tony West. They discuss how Uber is evolving in the wake of the Holder Report and what it can do to empower lawyers, as well as employees and riders. Holder explains why non-disclosure agreements are common, arguing that there are broader cultural problems limiting women's ability to share stories of sexual assault. West also talks what happened when the company disclosed a major data breach on his first day on the job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

25 Dec 201733min