Episodes 61
Avg. Duration 1h
Activity Active
Apple Rating 5.0 (1)
Since Mar 2025
Latest Episode May 2026

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Schedule
Weekly
Format
Episodic
Consistency
78%
Hosting
api.substack.com

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About This Podcast

Going Direct explores the decentralization of the real economy and how new technologies can bring us closer to the products we buy and the people who make them.

goingdirect.substack.com

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Recent Episodes

S1E65 #65 Jay Acunzo: Storytelling & Becoming Irreplaceable in the Age of AI

May 26, 2026 1h 4m

I sat down with Jay Acunzo, author, speaker, and storytelling consultant, to discuss how to matter more and make people care in a world drowning in mediocre content.Jay shares his core philosophy of,…

S1E64 #64 Simon Owens: Business Of Content, $100 Billion Middlemen, & Future of Media

May 19, 2026 58m

I sit down with Simon Owens, an independent media industry journalist and specialist on the business of content.Simon breaks down the “Ozempic Effect” in AI-Generated content, why the “creator…

S1E63 #63 Duncan Young: Jobs Are Dead. Long Live The $10 Million Niche.

May 12, 2026 1h 12m

I sit down with Duncan Young to discuss an essay he recently published on Substack that went a bit viral: “Jobs are dead, long live the $10 million niche.”Duncan explains why AI is coming for…

S1E62 #62 Brian Morrissey: The Great Decentralization of Media & New Media Energy

Apr 29, 2026 1h 1m

I sit down with Brian Morrissey, and independent journalist and the founder of The Rebooting, to discuss a recent piece he wrote called, “New Media Energy” and our transition to a truly decentralized…

S1E61 #61 INSIDE GOING DIRECT: What, “Going Direct” Actually Means

Apr 21, 2026 2h 9m

I sit down with Rafik Kheffache, founder of Heliosand, for our first-ever in-person episode in Paris.This was a different kind of episode where Rafik asks me to pull back the curtain on Going Direct…

S1E60 #60 Aleks Gampel: America Needs High Quality, Affordable Homes

Apr 15, 2026 48m

I sit back down with Aleks Gampel, the co-founder and COO of Cuby, to talk about why construction has become less productive over time, why skilled labor shortages are getting worse, and why the…

S59E1 #59 Will Fry: The Great Wealth Transfer And Saving Small Business Ownership in America

Apr 07, 2026 1h 3m

I sat down with Will Fry, founder and CEO of American Operator, to talk about one of the biggest questions in the U.S. economy: who will own the next generation of small businesses?Among the topics…

S1E58 #58 Aaron Feigelman: A New Model for Food Distribution in America

Mar 31, 2026 1h 5m

I sit down with Aaron Feigelman, the head of food systems at Cultured Supply, to discuss the hidden monopoly of broadline food distributors and the need to reimagine wholesale food distribution from…

S1E57 #57 Scott Porter: America Runs on This $80 Billion Industry

Mar 24, 2026 1h 8m

I sit down with Scott Porter, founder of Dynamic Green Products (DGP), to unpack an overlooked, unsexy corner of the real economy that literally keeps everything moving: industrial lubricants.Nearly…

S1E56 #56 Andra Keay: 5 Ethical Laws of Robotics & The Future of Automation

Mar 17, 2026 53m

I sit down with Andra Keay, a researcher on human-robot culture and head of Silicon Valley Robotics. We discuss the importance of ethical design in robotics, why humans form deep emotional bonds with…

S1E55 #55 Toby Shorin: Financialization & The Death Of Culture

Mar 10, 2026 1h 6m

I sit down with Toby Shorin, a researcher, writer, and technologist, to discuss his popular essay “Life After Lifestyle.” We dig into why the lifestyle brand era has ended, how culture is being…

S1E54 #54 Saman Farid: America Doesn’t Have a Robot Problem. It Has a Deployment Problem.

Feb 24, 2026 1h 4m

I sit down with Saman Farid, founder of Formic, to get real about what it takes to deploy industrial robots in practice. We go deep into robotics-as-a-service, how we can make manufacturing more…

S1E53 #53 Jan Liphardt: The Battle Over Who Controls The Robots

Feb 17, 2026 1h 12m

I sit down with Jan Liphardt, founder of OpenMind and Stanford professor, to discuss an important question that will shape the future: who should control intelligent robots?As AI and robotics…

S1E52 #52 Meta Prime: Rebuilding The Social Structure in America

Feb 11, 2026 1h 15m

I sit down with Meta Prime, a writer and online network builder whose work I discovered on Substack. Meta Prime and I do a deep dive into a recent essay he wrote titled, “The Necessity of Rebuilding…

S1E51 #51 Sam Lessin: A VC’s Take On Why Decentralization Is Inevitable

Feb 03, 2026 55m

I sit down with Sam Lessin, Cofounder and General Partner at Slow Ventures, to unpack why he believes decentralization is inevitable.Sam is an original thinker and really fun to talk to. He and the…

S1E50 #50 Onye Ahanotu: Reinventing The World’s Oldest Wine

Jan 27, 2026 49m

I sit down with Onye Ahanotu, founder of Ikenga Wines, to unpack his wild idea of creating an entirely new beverage category in the U.S. Onye has invented a way to make palm wine, one of the oldest…

S1E49 #49 Oren Falkowitz: Moving The Farm, Not The Food

Jan 20, 2026 1h 2m

I sit down with Oren Falkowitz, co-founder and CEO of Area 2 Farms, to discuss how he’s working to fix America’s food system by building hyper-local, soil-based, automated indoor farms that bring…

S1E48 #48 Brett Bivens: Production Capital For The New Industrial Age

Jan 13, 2026 1h 13m

I sit down with Brett Bivens, an active angel investor and Research Partner at July Fund, a venture capital firm focused on backing new technologies that improve the real world. We unpack a recent…

S1E47 #47 Andy Hunter: Anti-Amazon Tech Platform Reviving Independent Bookstores

Jan 06, 2026 1h 8m

I sit down with Andy Hunter, founder and CEO of Bookshop.org, to unpack how their e-commerce platform operates as one big affiliate network to support independent bookstores. It’s the classic “David…

S1E46 #46 INSIDE GOING DIRECT: Diving Into Industrial Bio-manufacturing

Dec 23, 2025 1h

I sit down with my co-host Reiss to break down different decentralized production models - 3D printing, mini-mills, upcycling, and bio-manufacturing - and dive deeper into the world of…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Going Direct Conversations have?

Going Direct Conversations has published 61 episodes since March 2025, covering topics in Business, Entrepreneurship.

Is Going Direct Conversations still active?

Going Direct Conversations is currently active with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 1h.

How do I contact Going Direct Conversations for sponsorship or guest appearances?

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