With a Side of Knowledge is a podcast produced by the Office of the Provost at the University of Notre Dame. It brings listeners informal interviews with fascinating scholars and professionals from both Notre Dame and elsewhere that take place over brunch.
The 15th episode of season two, “On Lowering Barriers and Double Rainbows,” was released Thursday, May 2, and features Charles Adler, co-founder of the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter. He visited Notre Dame as part of the Mendoza College of Business’s Ten Years Hence Speaker Series, which explores issues, ideas, and trends likely to affect business and society over the next decade.
Kickstarter, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in April, was created by Adler, Perry Chen, and Yancey Strickler to help “artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators find the resources and support they need to make their ideas a reality.”
Host Ted Fox started by asking Adler about the company’s founding and his experience there as head of design. They then covered how designing the site’s rewards system was and was not like a scene from the movie The Social Network, his influences as a designer, and whether or not he considers himself a “disruptor.” Adler also talked about his memory of watching the first two Kickstarters to hit a million dollars—and a much smaller campaign whose final product brought him to tears 30,000 feet in the air.
You can visit provost.nd.edu/podcast to learn more about With a Side of Knowledge, which is available through iTunes/Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher or by searching “With a Side of Knowledge” in your favorite podcast app.
You can also listen to the episode with Adler using the player below.