The Burnouts with Phoebe & Sophia
The Burnouts with Phoebe & Sophia
Podcast Description
As former Stanford roommates and now business partners, Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni share their experience as startup founders and the complexities of being young professionals—from financial literacy, social impact, and navigating networking (ever been hit on through LinkedIn?). With exclusive access to top experts, they offer an inside look at their chaotic lives alongside career insights from their network of thought leaders. Watch The Burnouts pursue their dreams while trying to keep their lives from going up in flames. Will they burn out? We’ll find out.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast focuses on themes of entrepreneurship, financial literacy, social impact, and personal development, with episodes covering topics like the complexities of networking, the realities of startup life, and psychological aspects of burnout, including discussions on Stanford cheating rings and innovative yet humorous concepts like Bluetooth tampons.
As former Stanford roommates and now business partners, Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni share their experience as startup founders and the complexities of being young professionals—from financial literacy, social impact, and navigating networking (ever been hit on through LinkedIn?). With exclusive access to top experts, they offer an inside look at their chaotic lives alongside career insights from their network of thought leaders. Watch The Burnouts pursue their dreams while trying to keep their lives from going up in flames. Will they burn out? We’ll find out.
Alex Cooper breaks down the business side nobody sees: how she and her husband Matt built Unwell up from a scrappy startup, how podcasting revenue really works, and what rules she learned the hard way negotiating $60M and $125M deals.
Alex Cooper is the creator and host of Call Her Daddy and the co-founder of Unwell, a modern media company spanning podcasts, TV/film, live events, consumer products, and a fast-growing creative agency.
Chapters
00:00 – Alex on going “full circle” and revealing the CEO side
02:00 – Building Unwell from Host to Founder
02:45 – A day in the life
05:20 – How Unwell makes money
07:15 – The video ad revolution
08:10 – Live events, merch, and consumer products as revenue engines
09:05 – Launching the Unwell creative agency
10:50 – Which division is the “cash king” (and what’s catching up fast)
13:30 – Inside mega-deals: Spotify vs Amazon
16:15 – Why distribution mattered
18:30 – Agents, fees, and who should get paid first (her “wait—no” moment)
21:10 – The hard rule: keep incentives clean (and avoid cozy backchannels)
23:00 – The biggest mistakes: trust, documentation, and walking away from millions
26:20 – Hiring top operators and building a high-standard culture
31:40 – PE, acquisitions, and what it takes to go to the next level
34:25 – Incentives for execs
35:05 – How Alex and Matt split decision-making
39:25 – Handling narratives about ambition, success, and being misunderstood
🔗 FOLLOW US
https://www.instagram.com/phoebegates
https://www.instagram.com/sophiakianni
https://www.instagram.com/alexandracooper
https://www.instagram.com/callherdaddy
https://www.instagram.com/unwell
🔥 FOLLOW THE BURNOUTS
https://www.instagram.com/theburnouts
https://www.tiktok.com/@theburnouts
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-burnouts
📲 Support What We’re Building
Phoebe and Sophia aren’t just your hosts—they’re the founders of Phia, a fashion-tech app helping shoppers find the best prices across retail and resale. Download the app and help us grow → https://www.phia.com
About The Burnouts
The Burnouts brings you raw, unfiltered conversations with today’s top founders, creators, athletes, and culture-shaping entrepreneurs. Hosted by Stanford roommates turned startup co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, the show goes beyond the headlines to reveal the real stories behind ambitious careers.
Past guests include Paris Hilton, Chelsea Handler, Kris Jenner, Karlie Kloss, and more.
Subscribe for the insider playbook to build your dream career.
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Disclaimer
This podcast’s information is provided for general reference and was obtained from publicly accessible sources. The Podcast Collaborative neither produces nor verifies the content, accuracy, or suitability of this podcast. Views and opinions belong solely to the podcast creators and guests.
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