The podcast · weekly · free · since March 2021
Liftoff with Keith
Former journalist turned Silicon Valley dealmaker Keith Newman talks with founders, innovators and investors about how their companies really got built: the success, the pain and the impact, with a bit of humor and nostalgia mixed in.
- Apple Podcasts
- 4.6from 40 ratings
- Conversations
- 150since 24 Mar 2021
- Guests
- 144founders, funders and operators
Figures as of 9 October 2026
Guests on the show
- Mark Cuban
- Guy Kawasaki
- Nolan Bushnell
- Gary Kusin
- Ron Conway
- Ann Winblad
- Mitch Kapor
- Steve Blank
- Heidi Roizen
- Roger McNamee
What you’ll hear
Every episode is one conversation, usually 25 to 45 minutes, between Keith and someone who has built, funded or run a company worth learning from. Keith asks the questions a reporter would: how it actually happened, what went wrong, and what they would do differently.
The guest list runs from the people who built the first wave of personal computing, like Nolan Bushnell of Atari, Mitch Kapor of Lotus and Gary Kusin of GameStop, to the founders and investors shipping today: AI infrastructure, fintech, robotics, consumer brands and the funds behind them.
New episodes land every week on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube, and they are free. The Liftoff Community is where Keith works on your company with you.
Inside the show
Four kinds of episode
Founder conversations
The core of the show: one founder, funder or operator, one story, told straight.
Founder Fables
Shorter spotlights on startups worth watching and the pivot that made them.
Unicorn conversations
Founders who took a company from a first hire to an IPO, like ZoomInfo’s Henry Schuck.
On location
Interviews recorded at industry events, including the AI Infra Summit with leaders from AMD, Supermicro, Inflection AI and Microsoft.
Episodes from 2021 to early 2025 were published under the show’s earlier name, The Look Back with Keith Newman. Same host, same archive.
Latest
Recent episodes
- RaoufBuilding Hardware That Refuses to Die: The Future of Repairable Batteries 23 min
- Brian L. FielkowSafety Is a Leadership Strategy: Building Companies That Perform Under Pressure 29 min
- Harvey LiuFrom Technical Founder to Crypto CEO: Harvey Liu on Building LeveX 28 min
- Mike LinkScaling Physical AI: From Demo to Real-World Deployment 29 min
- John BrennardThe Overlooked Opportunity in Timberland: Playing the Long Game 25 min
- Damon FlowersYour Business Can Only Grow as Far as You Do 38 min
Guests
144 people have stopped by
Where to listen
Pick your app
Follow the show wherever you listen and new episodes arrive on their own. Prefer a feed reader or a podcast app we haven’t listed? Use the RSS address.
https://anchor.fm/s/1ef8fde0/podcast/rss
Your host
Keith Newman
Journalist, then Silicon Valley dealmaker, then entrepreneur. Keith has advised startups on storytelling, growth and go-to-market for decades, and has hosted the show since 2021.
Don’t just listen to Liftoff. Be part of it.
Join the community of founders, investors and operators building what’s next.
$100/year
Join the Liftoff CommunityBilled yearly through Substack. Cancel any time. Full refund in the first 14 days.