Breaking Precedent

Leah Solivan
  • 5.0 (17)
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to Breaking Precedent, the podcast that dives deep into the stories of trailblazers, innovators, and game-changers who are redefining societal precedents. Join us as we sit down with extraordinary individuals who are pushing the boundaries of social norms, challenging precedents, and setting new ones in their fields. Whether it’s in technology, art, social justice, or beyond, Breaking Precedent is your source of inspiration for understanding how precedents are broken and new paths are forged.

  1. Summer Break: Broken By Design - The People Inside Healthcare's Hardest Problem

    4d ago

    Summer Break: Broken By Design - The People Inside Healthcare's Hardest Problem

    During our summer break, we're revisiting a compilation of previously released episodes about a healthcare system that is at once the most advanced in the world and one of the most broken. Hear Halle Tecco on why healthcare can't absorb its own innovation, Dr. Thomas Fisher on a system that's working exactly as designed, Lynn Jurich on the research gap that overlooked women's bodies, Kevin Caldwell of Ossium Health on prevention at the cellular level, and Andy Dunn on why mental health is health.  Together, these stories trace why the system stays broken and introduce the people working to change it.  Broken System: Halle Tecco on What it Takes to Build Massively Better Healthcare Listen here: Apple | SpotifyEmergency Break: A Doctor's Case for Rebuilding the System, Not Just Treating the Symptoms Listen here: Apple | SpotifyShattering the Grid: Lynn Jurich on Electrifying Homes and Extending Women's Lives Listen here: Apple | SpotifyBreaking Bad: Kevin Caldwell and Ossium Health is Banking on Bone Marrow for Curing Cancers and Transforming Longevity Listen here: Apple | SpotifyThe Breakdown: Andy Dunn on Building Bonobos, Battling Bipolar, and Baking Pie Listen here: Apple | Spotify Halle Tecco Halle Tecco is a healthcare investor, operator, and educator who founded Rock Health, the first venture fund dedicated to digital health. An angel investor and longtime voice in health innovation, she frames healthcare around the "iron triangle," now four aims of better outcomes, greater access, lower cost, and a better experience, and argues the industry has "an implementation problem, not an innovation problem." In this episode she draws on case studies from her work, including PillPack and the cautionary tale of uBiome, to explain why the system so often rewards incumbents over better ideas. Connect with Halle Tecco on LinkedIn and at halletecco.com Dr. Thomas Fisher Dr. Thomas Fisher is an emergency physician and the author of The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER. Writing and practicing from inside an overwhelmed emergency department, he makes the case that the system is "working as designed," built to step in when things go wrong rather than to keep people well, and that its true moral purpose is to protect us when we are most vulnerable. In this episode he shares the story of a COVID-era patient he couldn't save, and how the same metrics that hide problems can be used to close equity gaps. Dr. Fisher is now a candidate for U.S. Congress in Illinois, carrying his case for rebuilding the system into public office. Connect with Dr. Thomas Fisher on LinkedIn and learn about his campaign at Thomas Fisher for Congress Lynn Jurich Lynn Jurich is a serial entrepreneur best known as the co-founder and former CEO of Sunrun, which she led for 16 years and took public as the largest residential solar company in the U.S. After a health scare in her early forties, she turned her attention to female longevity, building a new standard of precision, prevention-first care for women. In this episode she confronts how little research exists on women's bodies, noting that before 2016, 80% of NIH studies were conducted only on men, and what it would take to change that. Connect with Lynn Jurich on LinkedIn Kevin Caldwell Kevin Caldwell is the co-founder of Ossium Health, which is building the first large-scale bank of bone-marrow stem cells for cell therapies, and a Bridgewater Associates alum. Convinced that rising healthcare costs are better solved through biotechnology than through politics, he champions proactive, preventative medicine: banking your own stem cells while you're young and healthy, the way you might fund a 401(k). His guiding line, borrowed from Virgil's Aeneid: "the greatest wealth is health." Learn more about Ossium Health and connect with Kevin Caldwell on LinkedIn Andy Dunn Andy Dunn is the co-founder and former CEO of Bonobos, the menswear brand acquired by Walmart, and the author of Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind, a memoir about building a company while living with bipolar disorder. A leading voice on founder mental health, he speaks candidly about diagnosis, a second manic episode at the height of his success, recovery, and the conviction that mental health is not separate from physical health. Connect with Andy Dunn at andydunn.com and on Instagram Resources: Rock Health PillPack Outlive (Peter Attia) Sunrun The Emergency (Thomas Fisher) Burn Rate (Andy Dunn) Bonobos NIH Show Notes: 00:00 – The most advanced system in the world, and one of the most broken00:25 – Welcome to Breaking Precedent00:35 – Halle Tecco: growing up on Medicaid, the haves and have-nots01:10 – Where you live predicts how long you live02:13 – It's not effort: the incentives don't match02:28 – "Death by pilot": an implementation problem, not innovation03:40 – The system is rigged: incumbents, PillPack, and the DC lobby04:33 – From the iron triangle to four aims: follow the evidence05:23 – Founders carry the full stack06:00 – Venture timelines vs. healthcare, and the uBiome cautionary tale08:01 – Nobody knows what anything costs08:25 – Built for emergencies: why inefficiency is a feature08:56 – Dr. Thomas Fisher: "working as designed"10:13 – The story that keeps him up at night12:33 – Health is economic13:03 – Misinformation, vaccines, and losing sight of the stakes14:48 – Juking the stats, and using metrics to close the gap17:02 – Lynn Jurich: from sick care to health span17:43 – Neck surgery at 41 and the women's-health research gap19:45 – Precision, prevention-first care for women21:22 – Kevin Caldwell: prevention at the cellular l...

    33 min
  2. Breaking the “Best Practice” Myth: Eric Ries on The Lean Startup to Incorruptible Companies

    May 28

    Breaking the “Best Practice” Myth: Eric Ries on The Lean Startup to Incorruptible Companies

    What if the real value in a startup is not the code you write, but the learning you earn? Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup and Incorruptible, joins Leah Solivan on Breaking Precedent to talk about the painful lessons behind the Lean Startup movement, why AI does not replace human learning, and how founders can build companies designed to stay mission-driven over time. Eric shares the IMVU story that shaped his thinking: after months of engineering work, the team realized they had built around the wrong customer behavior. That experience led him to the core insight behind The Lean Startup: progress in uncertainty should be measured by validated learning, not by how much product has been built. Leah and Eric also discuss the Long-Term Stock Exchange, the short-term incentives of public markets, and Eric's new book, Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad...and How Great Companies Stay Great. Eric argues that many companies are not truly mission-driven; they are mission hopeful. To endure, companies need structures that protect trust, purpose, and long-term value when the pressure to optimize for transactions, growth at all costs, or conventional "best practices" gets loud. Key Insights Failure taught Eric lessons that theory could not.The IMVU pivot showed him that building more code is not the same thing as creating more value.If you do not know who the customer is, you do not know what quality means.AI should help founders learn faster, not outsource the learning that creates startup value.Public markets often reward transaction volume rather than long-term company building.Mission-driven companies need governance, culture, and business models that protect the mission from corruption.Trust is a real business asset and can create a durable competitive advantage.Founders should question "best practice" advice when it pushes the company away from long-term value.Timestamps 00:00 Coordinating the episode with Eric's book release00:38 Welcome to Breaking Precedent00:58 Leah and Eric's early connection through Floodgate and TaskRabbitEric Ries on Voluntary Exchange, Lean Startup Lessons, and Building the Long-Term Stock Exchange Host Leah Sullivan (TaskRabbit founder and VC) interviews Eric Ries, creator of The Lean Startup and the Long-Term Stock Exchange (LTSE), discussing how voluntary exchange creates wealth when transactions are voluntary and informed, and how exploitative systems undermine trust. Ries reflects on growing up in San Diego in a family of Holocaust-survivor doctors, discovering programming and the early internet, and learning from a failed dot-com startup and the different attitudes toward failure on the East Coast versus Silicon Valley. He recounts IMVU’s early mistake—building for existing friends instead of new-friend discovery—leading to the insights behind MVPs, pivots, and validated learning. Ries explains LTSE as an SEC-regulated exchange designed to reward long-term, stakeholder-oriented governance, critiques transaction-volume incentives, and previews his book Incorruptible, a manual for building and protecting mission-driven companies, citing examples like Patagonia, IKEA, Costco, and Novo Nordisk and challenging “best practices” such as quarterly reporting. 00:00 Voluntary Exchange Magic00:31 Meet Leah and Eric02:02 Old Friends and Investors03:15 Downturn Business Ideas05:17 Barter and Fair Rules07:24 Recession Policy and Power08:56 Early Life and Family Roots11:08 Programming and Internet Escape13:26 Yale Choice and Dotcom Era16:24 First Startup Failure Lessons19:46 IMVU Pivot Births Lean23:49 Minimum Viable Learning25:33 Building the Lean Framework27:12 Explaining Lean at IMVU28:48 Truth Over Convention30:09 Lean Startup in AI31:59 Why Build LTSE37:10 How LTSE Works39:36 Incorruptible Mission Companies43:27 Examples That Break Rules51:01 Kroger vs Costco Governance54:43 Closing Reflections About the Guest Eric Ries is an entrepreneur and the author of The Lean Startup, The Startup Way, and Incorruptible: Why Good Companies Go Bad...and How Great Companies Stay Great. He is the founder of the Long-Term Stock Exchange and has worked with startups, large companies, nonprofits, and government organizations on innovation, validated learning, and long-term company building. Eric RiesIncorruptibleLong-Term Stock Exchange Resources Incorruptible by Eric RiesSimon & Schuster: IncorruptibleThe Long-Term Stock ExchangeThe Lean StartupIMVUTaskRabbitIKEANovo NordiskCostco Connect with Leah Website: breakingprecedent.comInstagram: @leah_solivanX: @labunleashed

    55 min
  3. Breaking the Pattern: Paige Hendrix Buckner on Leadership, Access, and Building What’s Missing

    May 14

    Breaking the Pattern: Paige Hendrix Buckner on Leadership, Access, and Building What’s Missing

    What if talent was never the real differentiator, but access was? Paige Hendrix Buckner, CEO of All Raise, joins Leah Solivan on Breaking Precedent for a conversation about who gets access to opportunity, who gets trusted with capital, and what it actually takes to change an entrenched system from the inside. Paige's path runs through education, public service, startups, venture capital, and now All Raise, where she is focused on increasing the power and influence of women and non-binary investors. She traces the throughline from her father's early lesson that relationships shape opportunity, to her years as a Teach For America educator, to her own experience as a founder trying to raise venture capital without understanding the rules of the game. What emerges is a clear argument about power: venture does not only reward talent. It rewards proximity, pattern matching, trust, and access. Paige and Leah unpack why representation is not enough if decision-making power does not move with it, why titles can obscure who actually controls capital, and why changing venture means changing the stories investors tell themselves about who gets to build the future. Key Insights Access can shape outcomes before talent ever gets seen.Relationships are not just networking; they are how people build trust, sponsorship, and opportunity.Teaching taught Paige to design with the person in mind, a lesson that later translated directly into startups and systems change.Venture capital is a black box for many founders because the rules are rarely made explicit.Representation is not the same as power. A title does not tell you who controls capital, leads deals, or wins board seats.Structural change requires focus, data, community trust, and the willingness to let go of work that no longer serves the mission.The future Paige is building is not just more women in venture, but more women and non-binary investors with real influence, capital, and gravity.Breaking precedent sometimes starts with an internal shift. For Paige, that meant allowing creativity to become part of her definition of success.Timestamps 00:00 Access versus talent01:34 Welcome to Breaking Precedent01:48 Paige's early lesson about relationships03:36 Growing up in a family built on humor, support, and ambition 05:57 Coach Who Changed Everything 06:56 College Curiosity Path 09:39 Teach For America Lessons 12:27 Opportunity Gaps In Schools 16:57 Portland Reset And Service 19:35 Startup Weekend Spark 20:56 Founder Gym And VC Basics 21:39 Pitching Lessons And Narrative 27:43 Underrepresented Founder Patterns 28:41 Spotting Structural Bias 29:01 Bias in Venture 30:26 Network Over Talent 32:07 Choosing to Change 33:50 All Raise and 2 Percent 35:09 Power Beyond Titles 38:26 Big Firms vs New Funds 42:15 Making Change Stick 52:09 Vision for 2035 55:02 Redefining Success 56:52 Creativity and Closing About the Guest Paige Hendrix Buckner is the CEO of All Raise, a nonprofit working to accelerate the success of women and non-binary investors and founders in venture capital and technology. Her career spans education, public service, entrepreneurship, founder education, and venture ecosystem building. Before All Raise, Paige worked with Founder Gym, supporting underrepresented founders learning how to raise venture capital. Today, she leads All Raise's work to shift not only representation in venture, but real power, influence, and access to capital. Paige Hendrix Buckner on LinkedInAll Raise Resources All RaisePaige Hendrix Buckner on LinkedInFounder GymTeach For AmericaUrban League of PortlandTaskRabbitFloodgateStitch FixSunrunForbes: All Raise CEO Paige Hendrix Buckner On Why Investors Should Bet On Women

    1 hr
  4. Breaking Orbit: Eiman Jahangir - Fly Me To The Moon

    May 7

    Breaking Orbit: Eiman Jahangir - Fly Me To The Moon

    What does it take to chase an impossible dream for sixteen years without becoming someone who cannot let it go? Dr. Eiman Jahangir has spent his adult life inside two systems that rarely sit beside each other: medicine and spaceflight. A cardiologist, professor, and commercial astronaut, he applied to NASA five times across sixteen years, was rejected each time, and finally flew with Blue Origin in August 2024 when commercial space cracked the door open. His first book, A Heart for Space, is now available for preorder. You can also preorder through Eiman’s author site and get a free first chapter. Eiman returns to Breaking Precedent for a follow-up conversation with Leah Solivan, with new updates from his time as an astronaut trainer at Blue Origin and the release of his first book, A Heart for Space. What emerges is not a story about luck or grit, but a clearer framework for pursuing seemingly impossible goals: be firm on the vision and flexible on the details, treat every rejection as feedback you can act on, and recognize that stability is both the platform that makes risk possible and the gravity that keeps most people from taking it. Eiman and Leah unpack the immigrant calculus of risk, the difference between persistence and delusion, why we are finally returning to the moon, how AI will reshape engineering and deep-space life, and what an astronaut does when the dream he organized his entire adult life around finally happens. Key Insights • Playing safe is rarely the conservative choice it pretends to be. For high-performers, it can be the slowest form of opportunity cost.• Vision and execution are different layers of a goal. The vision should be rigid; the path should be a draft you keep editing.• Markets create doors that institutions cannot. Commercial space made Eiman’s flight possible because NASA’s gatekeeping no longer defined the category.• Immigrant stability is double-edged. The same foundation that lets a person take a public risk also makes that risk feel disloyal to the people who built the foundation.• Persistence without feedback is delusion. Eiman kept applying because he kept evaluating why he was being passed over and adjusting what he could control.• Achieving the dream is not the end of the work. After the flight, the question becomes who else you can pull through the door behind you.• The most durable goals braid identity and craft. The book title is not a metaphor. He is a heart doctor with a literal heart for space. Timestamps 00:00 Welcome back to Breaking Precedent01:00 When playing safe became the bigger risk03:00 Firm on the vision, flexible on the details04:30 What A Heart for Space actually means05:11 Pursuing space wholeheartedly06:30 Why we are finally going back to the moon08:00 How AI will accelerate space exploration10:30 Immigrant stability and the right to risk13:00 Telling your parents about your dream14:00 Persistence, stubbornness, or delusion15:00 The post-flight mission and Blue Origin chapter17:00 Where to preorder A Heart for Space About the Guest Dr. Eiman Jahangir is a cardiologist, professor, and commercial astronaut. After applying to NASA five times across sixteen years, he flew to space with Blue Origin in August 2024 with the endorsement of the MoonDAO community. In 2025, he joined Blue Origin as an astronaut trainer, supporting research projects, payload work, and crew preparation. His first book, A Heart for Space, is a memoir and field guide for pursuing seemingly impossible goals and includes interviews with eight astronauts, including NASA administrator Jared Isaacman. He speaks internationally on persistence, leadership, and breaking precedent. Eiman’s WebsiteEiman’s LinkedInEiman’s Instagram Resources A Heart for Space — Author site preorder, with free first chapterBlue OriginNASAMoonDAOProject Hail Mary by Andy WeirArtemis IIJessica MeirJared IsaacmanScott and Mark Kelly NASA Twins Study Leah Solivan is the host of Breaking Precedent, a podcast that explores the stories of innovators who are pushing societal boundaries and setting new precedents in their fields. Leah is General Partner at Fuel Capital, where she invests in early-stage companies across consumer technology, hardware, education, marketplaces, and retail. Leah has 15 years of experience building and creating technology products that have reached millions of people around the globe. She started her career at IBM as an engineer in the software group, working on Lotus Notes and Domino. In 2008, Leah founded TaskRabbit, the leading on-demand service marketplace in the world. Connect with Leah Website: breakingprecedent.comInstagram: @leah_solivanX: @labunleashed

    17 min
  5. Breaking Orbit: Newly minted Astronaut, Dr. Eiman Jahangir, on the future of space travel [Replay]

    Apr 30

    Breaking Orbit: Newly minted Astronaut, Dr. Eiman Jahangir, on the future of space travel [Replay]

    This is a replay of one of our most extraordinary conversations, recorded just before and immediately after Dr. Eiman Jahangir’s journey to space. What does it mean to pursue a dream so relentlessly that you’re willing to rewrite the path entirely? Dr. Eiman Jahangir didn’t become an astronaut through NASA. He applied multiple times, made it to the final rounds, and still didn’t get selected. So he found another way. In this episode, Leah sits down with Eiman, cardiologist, professor, and one of the few civilians in history to travel to space, just days before his Blue Origin launch, and again immediately after he returns. The result is something rare. A before-and-after look at a lifelong dream in motion. You hear the anticipation, the doubt, and the improbable chain of events that led him there, from repeated NASA rejections to Web3 communities, DAOs, and a literal lottery ticket to space. Then you hear what happens after, the physical experience, the emotional impact, and the shift in perspective that follows. This is not just a story about space travel. It is about persistence, identity, and what happens when you refuse to let the approved path define the outcome. Key Insights  The dream doesn’t always change. The path often has to  Rejection is not always a signal to stop. Sometimes it is a signal to reroute  Systems are built to filter, not necessarily to find the most committed  The “overview effect” is real. It begins the moment you leave Earth  Extreme experiences amplify who you already are  Risk tolerance is often shaped by upbringing, not ambition  Decentralized systems are creating entirely new access pathways  Some of the most meaningful breakthroughs come from non-traditional routes Timestamps 00:00 Introduction and why this story matters01:40 Growing up between war and possibility03:00 The origin of a lifelong obsession with space03:30 Applying to NASA and getting close multiple times05:20 Inside the astronaut selection process08:30 When rejection turns into fuel09:40 Discovering alternative paths to space10:30 NFTs, DAOs, and the unexpected opportunity12:00 The lottery that changed everything15:40 Getting the call. You’re going to space17:00 Preparing mentally for the mission18:30 Writing goodbye messages before launch21:00 Risk, family, and choosing to go anyway22:00 Breaking precedent vs maintaining stability 24:20 Launch and liftoff25:30 Returning to Earth26:00 Training and preparation for the flight28:00 Emergency scenarios and safety protocols30:00 Zero gravity and what actually happens inside the capsule32:00 The reality of space vs expectations35:00 Crew dynamics and the “Blue Steel” team38:00 The emotional weight of liftoff41:00 Seeing Earth from space44:00 The darkness of space and the intensity of the sun46:00 The overview effect and perspective shift48:00 What the crew experienced differently50:00 Re-entry and physical forces52:00 Landing and returning to Earth53:00 Gratitude and emotional processing54:30 Would he do it again? About the Guest Dr. Eiman Jahangir is a cardiologist, professor at Vanderbilt University, and one of the few civilians to travel to space. After applying multiple times to NASA and reaching the final rounds, he ultimately found a non-traditional path through decentralized communities and a lottery-based selection tied to a Blue Origin flight. He is also the author of A Heart for Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Achieving the Impossible, a memoir and practical guide that traces his journey from immigrant beginnings to spaceflight, offering a framework for pursuing ambitious goals despite rejection, uncertainty, and unconventional paths.  Resources Get the book: A Heart for SpaceEiman's Website Space for HumanityMoondao About the Host Leah Solivan is the host of Breaking Precedent, a podcast exploring the stories of innovators who are pushing boundaries and setting new precedents in their fields. She is a General Partner at Fuel Capital and the founder of TaskRabbit. Connect with Leah Website: breakingprecedent.com Instagram: @leah_solivan X: @labunleashed

    1h 5m
  6. Boardroom Break-in: Stacy Brown-Philpot on Power, Leadership, and Playing the Long Game

    Apr 16

    Boardroom Break-in: Stacy Brown-Philpot on Power, Leadership, and Playing the Long Game

    What does it take to build institutions that scale without flattening the people inside them? Stacy Brown-Philpot has spent her career inside systems that shape markets, culture, and opportunity, from Goldman Sachs and Google to TaskRabbit, SoftBank, and now Cherry Rock Capital. In this conversation, she traces the throughline from her upbringing in Detroit to leading one of the defining companies of the gig economy and then stepping into venture as an investor focused on underinvested founders.  What emerges is not a career retrospective but a leadership framework: resilience is built by doing hard things before you have language for them, trust must be designed into both culture and product, and capital still misreads too many founders by treating them as impact stories instead of return engines. Stacy and Leah unpack the painful TaskRabbit model shift that saved the company, the difference between scale and commoditization, and why the next generation of leaders should reject burnout as a badge of seriousness. Key Insights  Resilience is not abstract. It is formed by repeated exposure to difficulty and learning you can survive it.  In rooms where you are underestimated, legitimacy comes less from approval and more from contribution.  Strong culture is not perks alone. It is shared rituals that create trust across teams.  Platform businesses built on human trust break when efficiency starts erasing uniqueness and accountability.  The harder strategic decision is often the one that preserves the company’s future, not the one that feels best in the moment.  The gap for underrepresented founders is not a pipeline problem. It is a market structure problem, especially at Series A.  Great investors do more than allocate capital. They provide candor, accountability, and operating judgment.  Leadership should not require self-destruction. Burnout is not proof of seriousness. Timestamps00:00 Welcome to Breaking Precedent 01:44 Boardroom karaoke and Detroit energy 03:29 Detroit Roots And Family 05:42 Owning Your Seat 08:49 Love Of Learning 11:24 Choosing Wharton 12:44 Goldman Vs Google Culture 14:59 Resilience Meets Perspective 17:03 Dont Shortchange Students 19:36 Leadership Before CEO 21:06 Scaling TaskRabbit Early Days 23:03 Culture Building With Food 25:53 Trust In The Gig Economy 29:07 Rebuilding the Model 30:10 London Launch Gamble 31:11 Conviction Under Fire 32:43 TaskRabbit 3.0 Vision 35:09 IKEA Sale Vote 38:59 Operator to Investor 41:06 SoftBank Opportunity Fund 45:10 Cherry Rock Strategy 47:02 Investing With Values 50:36 Backing Great Founders 54:49 Leadership and Legacy 56:53 Closing Reflections About the Guest Stacy Brown-Philpot is a trailblazing tech executive and investor. Raised in Detroit, she earned degrees from The Wharton School and Stanford GSB before building her early career at Goldman Sachs and Google. She is best known for her leadership at the gig-economy pioneer TaskRabbit; joining initially as COO and later becoming CEO, she guided the company through a critical business model pivot and its ultimate acquisition by IKEA. Stacy's LinkedIn Cherryrock Capital Website Resources Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi TaskRabbit SoftBank Opportunity Fund Leah Solivan is the host of Breaking Precedent, a podcast that explores the stories of innovators who are pushing societal boundaries and setting new precedents in their fields. Leah is General Partner at Fuel Capital, where she invests in early-stage companies across consumer technology, hardware, education, marketplaces, and retail. Leah has 15 years of experience building and creating technology products that have reached millions of people around the globe. She started her career at IBM as an engineer in the software group, working on Lotus Notes and Domino. In 2008, Leah founded TaskRabbit, the leading on-demand service marketplace in the world. Connect with Leah: Website: breakingprecedent.com/  Instagram: @leah_solivan X: @labunleashed

    58 min
  7. Breaking and Enterprising: Austin Allison on Rebuilding Ownership from the Ground Up

    Apr 2

    Breaking and Enterprising: Austin Allison on Rebuilding Ownership from the Ground Up

    What happens when the systems that define ownership are designed to exclude most people from participating? Austin Allison, founder of Pacaso and former co-founder of Dotloop, has spent his career inside one of the most entrenched and resistant industries: real estate. From growing up in a household where ownership was aspirational but constrained, to building and exiting a $100M+ proptech company, his perspective is shaped by both lived experience and system-level insight. This episode explores the structural barriers that make real estate slow to change, from incentive misalignment to regulatory friction and cultural inertia. It also examines what it actually takes to shift an industry where participants are independent, resistant to control, and deeply tied to legacy processes. At the center is a deeper tension: ownership as both a wealth-building engine and a gated system. Austin unpacks how Pacaso emerged from this tension, aiming to expand access without eroding value. The discussion moves beyond entrepreneurship into power, incentives, and the hidden mechanics that determine who gets to participate in wealth creation. References & Resources • Books: Switch by Chip and Dan Heath • Companies: Dotloop, Pacaso, Zillow, Keller Williams • Concepts: Network effects, change management, ownership as wealth creation, independent contractor incentives • Platforms: DocuSign Show Notes  00:00 Introduction to breaking precedent 03:16 Ohio Roots and First Deal 05:56 Ownership and Second Home Epiphany 08:45 Ambition and Vulnerability 12:50 Selling Homes at 18 Lessons 16:34 Dotloop Breakthrough and Passion 19:34 Changing Real Estate Adoption 29:28 Zillow Exit and Picasso Calling 32:40 Retirement Reality Check 33:40 Eleven Month Problem Study 35:01 Beating Timeshare Stigma 36:35 Venn Diagram Conviction 41:10 Second Home Magic 43:32 Fixing Underuse And Hassle 45:11 NetJets For Houses 46:16 Housing Affordability Impact 49:43 Reframing The Ownership Dream 54:26 Policy Fixes For Mobility 58:22 Ownership And ROE Leah Solivan is the host of Breaking Precedent, a podcast that explores the stories of innovators who are pushing societal boundaries and setting new precedents in their fields. Leah is General Partner at Fuel Capital, where she invests in early-stage companies across consumer technology, hardware, education, marketplaces, and retail. Leah has 15 years of experience building and creating technology products that have reached millions of people around the globe. She started her career at IBM as an engineer in the software group, working on Lotus Notes and Domino. In 2008, Leah founded TaskRabbit, the leading on-demand service marketplace in the world. Connect with Leah: Website: breakingprecedent.com/  Instagram: @labunleashed X: @labunleashed

    1h 3m
  8. Breaking the Script: Tony Award-winning Rachel Sussman on Turning Art into Action

    Mar 19

    Breaking the Script: Tony Award-winning Rachel Sussman on Turning Art into Action

    What does it take to build something meaningful when the system is designed for most efforts to fail? Rachel Sussman is a Broadway producer known for bringing socially driven, culturally relevant work to the stage, including the Tony Award winning musical Suffs and the play Liberation. Raised in a family immersed in the arts, she developed an early fascination with storytelling, eventually shifting from performance to producing after discovering the power of shaping creative work behind the scenes. This conversation explores producing as a systems discipline. Rachel breaks down Broadway as a high-risk startup model where only about 10 percent of shows recoup their investment. She shares how meaningful art is built at the intersection of storytelling, capital, and cultural timing, and why hope is not passive optimism but a strategic choice that requires action. The episode reveals how great producers do more than create shows. They design systems that influence how audiences think, feel, and engage with the world. Show Notes 00:00 Welcome to Breaking Precedent! 02:11 Books That Shaped Her 03:53 Family Theater Roots 07:05 Competitive Dance Years 08:37 From Performer to Dramaturg 11:05 NYU and Finding Producing 13:03 Producer as Show CEO 16:08 Broadway Risk and Recoup 17:47 Suffs Origin Story 22:16 History That Haunts 24:25 Great American Bitch 26:56 Truth Over Whitewash 28:00 Ida B Wells Spotlight 29:22 Breadcrumbs For Research 31:18 Designing For Action 33:16 Art Shapes Politics 35:38 Clinton And Malala 37:54 Liberation On Broadway 40:29 Motherhood And Rights 43:01 Hope Requires Action 43:55 Broadway Money Pressures 49:50 Audience As Participants 51:48 Stories Still Missing 52:50 Next Gen Engagement 55:30 Beyond Female Labels 56:44 Closing Reflections

    58 min
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About

Welcome to Breaking Precedent, the podcast that dives deep into the stories of trailblazers, innovators, and game-changers who are redefining societal precedents. Join us as we sit down with extraordinary individuals who are pushing the boundaries of social norms, challenging precedents, and setting new ones in their fields. Whether it’s in technology, art, social justice, or beyond, Breaking Precedent is your source of inspiration for understanding how precedents are broken and new paths are forged.

Information

  • Creator
    Leah Solivan
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    50
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Leah Solivan

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