The power of online communities and healthful habits

In this episode of Product Hunt Radio, I'm in the sunny hills of Los Angeles at the home of Sophia Amoruso with Suzy Ryoo. Sophia Amoruso is an incredible entrepreneur who I've gotten to know over the past year. She got her start very young, when at 22 she founded NastyGal, selling vintage clothing on eBay. It turned into a massive company with hundreds of employees, until a decade later the company filed for bankruptcy. She's the author of the New York Times bestseller GIRLBOSS and more recently founded Girlboss, a company focused on bringing together and helping women professionals. They put on community events, publish a daily newsletter and host a wildly popular podcast. Suzy Ryoo is a very special person to me (full disclosure: She's my SO). We met at Coachella in 2015 just before she transitioned her career from entertainment and media to venture capital. At Atom Factory, she works with entrepreneur, artist manager, and investor, Troy Carter. They manage the Prince Estate and are investors in companies like Lyft, Uber, Warby Parker, Spotify, and Girlboss. She is also a partner at Cross Culture Ventures, a seed stage fund in Los Angeles. In this episode we talk about: * The best tools and techniques we've used to build healthy habits, whether it's getting more exercise, meditating more frequently (even for five minutes at a time) or just having a calmer mind. We also talk about the ways that being part of a non-judgmental online community — yes, those do exist online — can help everybody involved reach their goals. * Sophia talks about her journey as an entrepreneur, including building a huge company like Nasty Gal “by accident” and the lessons she's taking from her time at Nasty Gal as she starts Girlboss, which, as she likes to say, is the first company she's started “on purpose.” * Why Suzy is still a power user of location-based check-in apps like Swarm and Foursquare. We also talk about some of the unappreciated merits of what sometimes seem like “creepy” products. * The ups-and-downs of investing, and why sometimes you can make a sound decision at the time that you later come to regret. Of course, we also chat about some of their favorite products, including a $40 (!) astrology app, apps that promise “a vacation for your mind,” as well as startups that deliver the best vitamins and probiotics. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also, big thanks to our sponsors, Airtable, GE Ventures, Intercom and Stripe for their support.