David Senra cover art

David Senra

David Senra

By: Scicomm Media
Listen for free

About this listen

 Conversations with the greatest living founders.© 2025 Senra Show LLC Economics
Episodes
  • Jason Fried, 37signals (makers of Basecamp, HEY and ONCE)

    Jason Fried, 37signals (makers of Basecamp, HEY and ONCE)
    Feb 15 2026
    Jason Fried is the co-founder and CEO of 37signals, the software company behind Basecamp, HEY, and ONCE. Fried is widely regarded as one of the most influential voices in modern product development, remote work, and business philosophy. He founded 37signals in 1999 as a web design consultancy, initially creating websites for clients while developing strong opinions about simplicity, clarity, and user-centered design. In 2004, the company pivoted to product development, launching Basecamp as a project management tool born from their own internal needs. The product's success led 37signals to transition entirely from consulting to software. Under Fried's leadership, 37signals became known for challenging Silicon Valley orthodoxies. The company remained bootstrapped and profitable, rejected venture capital, embraced remote work decades before it became mainstream, and advocated for sustainable growth over hypergrowth. In 2014, the company rebranded as Basecamp Inc. to focus exclusively on its flagship product, before returning to the 37signals name in 2022 as it expanded its product line. That same year, the company launched HEY, a reimagined email service, and later introduced ONCE, a new approach to software licensing that allows customers to buy rather than rent software. His accomplishments include co-authoring multiple influential business books with David Heinemeier Hansson: Getting Real, REWORK, which became a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, Remote: Office Not Required, and It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work. Fried has been a prominent voice advocating for calm companies, reasonable work hours, and building businesses that prioritize profitability and sustainability over valuation and exit strategies. He writes and speaks extensively about product design, company culture, and the future of work, influencing a generation of entrepreneurs to question conventional startup wisdom. Show notes: https://davidsenra.com/episode/jason-fried Made possible by Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠ HubSpot: https://hubspot.com Function Health: https://functionhealth.com/senra Chapters (00:00:00) Build Products for Yourself (00:01:40) Low Costs, Small Company, Enough Customers (00:03:06) Your Only Competition Is Your Costs (00:05:25) How 37signals Stays Lean (00:09:43) Rewriting Basecamp & Fighting Software Bloat (00:13:42) Why "Enough" Beats Growth (00:17:44) Product People vs. Business Shells (00:22:41) The "So What?" Mindset (00:27:45) Staying Close to Customers (00:34:43) The Reward for Good Work Is More Work (00:39:57) Six-Week Horizons & Compounding Decisions (00:45:20) Anti-Fragile Business With Tiny Units (00:50:55) Galápagos Product Design (00:52:44) Radical Authenticity Over Marketing Tricks (01:27:39) Rick Rubin & Intuition-Driven Building (01:42:25) Lightning in a Bottle & Knowing When to Stop (01:50:29) Defining Success: Pride in the Work (01:53:58) Independence Through Profitability (01:59:23) When Tech Adds Friction Instead of Value (02:04:11) Ruthless Editing & What Never Changes (02:08:14) Longevity as the Moat (02:17:28) Building by Intuition Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 21 mins
  • Jimmy Iovine, Interscope Records & Beats by Dre

    Jimmy Iovine, Interscope Records & Beats by Dre
    Feb 1 2026
    Jimmy Iovine is the co-founder of Interscope Records, Beats by Dre, and the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy. Iovine is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the modern music industry. Growing up in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Iovine was raised in an Italian working-class family. He began working as a recording engineer in the early 1970s, and went on to engineer landmark albums including Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and John Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll and Walls and Bridges, before transitioning into production with Patti Smith's Easter, Tom Petty's Damn the Torpedoes, Stevie Nicks' Bella Donna, and U2's Rattle and Hum. In 1990, Iovine co-founded Interscope Records with Ted Field. Under his leadership, the label became one of the most dominant forces in popular music, launching or elevating the careers of Dr. Dre, Tupac Shakur, Nine Inch Nails, No Doubt, Eminem, 50 Cent, Lady Gaga, and Kendrick Lamar. He rose to become chairman of Interscope Geffen A&M Records. In 2006, he and Dr. Dre co-founded Beats by Dre, which Apple acquired in 2014 for $3 billion — the largest acquisition in Apple's history at the time. Iovine subsequently helped launch Apple Music in 2015 before departing Apple in 2018. His accomplishments include being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022 with the Ahmet Ertegun Award, being honored by the Recording Academy's Producers & Engineers Wing during Grammy Week 2012, co-founding the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy in 2013 with a $70 million donation alongside Dr. Dre, launching the Iovine and Young Center high school program in Los Angeles in 2022 with additional locations in Atlanta and Inglewood, and donating to the city of Compton during the COVID-19 pandemic to fund medical supplies, testing, and meals for residents. https://davidsenra.com/episode/jimmy-iovine Made possible by Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com⁠ Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/senra Function: https://functionhealth.com/senra Chapters (00:00:00) Introduction: The Corny World of Fame (00:00:54) The Impact of Social Media on Fame (00:01:27) Chasing Greatness: Personal Reflections (00:02:10) Technological Shifts in the Music Industry (00:03:24) The Streaming Service Dilemma (00:05:34) The Artist's Perspective on Streaming (00:06:39) Early Career and Influences (00:09:40) The Importance of Humility (00:11:19) Working with the Best: A Career Retrospective (00:13:07) The Role of Brutal Honesty (00:15:00) Navigating the Music Industry (00:33:50) The Birth of Beats by Dre (00:46:14) The Music Industry's Customer Problem (00:46:44) Vertically Integrating Culture and Fashion (00:47:13) Building Beats: From Music Videos to Headphones (00:48:03) Marketing is Empathy (00:50:28) The Journey of Beats Music (00:59:09) The Future of the Music Industry with AI (01:14:40) The Bend in the Pipe: Harnessing Fear and Obsession (01:29:12) Comparing Work Approaches with Dr. Dre (01:30:50) The Tortured Path to Success (01:32:41) Balancing Happiness and Ambition (01:35:22) The Importance of Peace and Therapy (01:49:30) Learning from Legends (01:55:57) The Influence of Bono and Dre (02:00:15) California Dreams and Career Milestones (02:07:20) Final Thoughts and Reflections Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 8 mins
  • Tobi Lütke, Shopify

    Tobi Lütke, Shopify
    Jan 18 2026
    Tobi Lütke is the co-founder of Shopify, where he has served as the company's CEO since 2008. Under his leadership, Shopify grew from an online snowboard shop in Ottawa, Canada in 2004 to the world's leading e-commerce platform, powering over 4 million merchants in more than 175 countries. The company went public in 2015 at a $1.27 billion valuation and has since grown to a market capitalization exceeding $200 billion. After dropping out of school following the tenth grade in Germany, Lütke completed an apprenticeship in computer programming at the Koblenzer Carl-Benz-School. He moved to Canada in 2002 and launched Snowdevil, an online snowboard shop, in 2004 with Scott Lake and Daniel Weinand. Frustrated with existing e-commerce solutions, Lütke built his own platform using Ruby on Rails, which became Shopify in 2006. He became known for pioneering accessible e-commerce tools, contributing to the Ruby on Rails open-source community, and championing the idea that entrepreneurship should be available to everyone. His accomplishments include building Shopify into one of Canada's most valuable companies, being named "CEO of the Year" by The Globe and Mail in 2014, receiving Canada's Meritorious Service Cross in 2018 for his contributions to the technology industry, launching Shopify's Sustainability Fund in 2019 to invest in climate solutions, co-founding the Thistledown Foundation with his wife Fiona McKean to support healthcare and environmental causes, and serving on Coinbase's board of directors since 2022. Episode show notes: https://www.davidsenra.com/episode/tobi-lutke Survey: https://forms.scicommedia.com/t/mw83tpmsRzus Made possible by Ramp: ⁠https://ramp.com Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/senra Function Health: https://functionhealth.com/senra Chapters (00:00:00) Companies as Social Technology (00:05:27) The Value of Reading Books: Cheat Codes for Life (00:07:28) Post-IPO Crisis: Cosplaying as a CEO (00:07:54) Competition vs Rivalry: The Power of Healthy Competition (00:16:02) COVID as a Turning Point: Rebuilding the Executive Team (00:18:21) Hiring Founders: Building a Team of High-Agency People (00:26:49) Shopify OS: Engineering the Company from First Principles (00:36:48) Compensation Innovation: Giving Employees Full Agency (00:40:41) The Psychology of Identity and Affirmations (00:48:43) Differentiation Over Perfection: Making It Your Own (00:50:31) Context Podcast: Documenting Decision-Making (01:26:36) The IPO Decision: Going Against Silicon Valley Orthodoxy (01:35:08) Building a Company Worth Working For (01:41:50) Hiring for Spikiness: Finding Non-Conformists (01:48:28) Office Design Philosophy: Creating Space for Excellence (01:58:54) Video Games as Business Training: StarCraft Lessons (02:07:06) AI Revolution: 2026 and Beyond (02:11:44) Focus on Craft: The Unquantifiable Elements of Excellence (02:21:08) Survivorship Bias: The Importance of Entrepreneurial Exposure (02:23:22) Closing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 24 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.