The Exit. Liquidity. Acquihire. Merger. No matter the name, it’s a milestone in any entrepreneurs life. Today we take a look at the real stories behind acquisitions, when people aren’t always “killing it” and when the outcome isn’t quite what you read about in Techcrunch with stories from Andy Sparks, former COO of Mattermark, Courtland Alves VP of Product Mentorship at Bloc and Morris Wheeler, DrummondRoad Capital founder and principal. Sponsors: CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

In Part Two of our look at Diversity in Tech we hear from how Stripe increased their percentage of underrepresented candidates in their internship program from 10% to 40% in one year. How Crowdfunder fixed their gender pay gap problem and how VC Arlan Hamilton is investing millions into underrepresented founders at Backstage Capital. Sponsors: Vervoe Vervoe seamlessly automates the interviewing process, and allows all candidates to show their skills and style through online simulations. With Vervoe, hire the right candidates in 4 days, not 40. Go to http://vervoe.com/rocketship and get 50% off your first 3 months. CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

Diversity can be a difficult issue to discuss, but the truth is the tech industry has a problem. Even a brief look at the data collected by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reveals huge racial disparities in the tech workforce compared to the private sector overall. Tech companies and investors should be concerned: Evidence strongly suggests that a racially diverse tech sector could translate into stronger financial performance. A McKinsey report on diversity showed a correlation between racial and ethnic diversity and a company’s financial performance. “For every 10 percent increase in racial and ethnic diversity on the senior-executive team,” the report stated, “gross earnings rose 0.8 percent.” So why aren’t our workforces more diverse?  Why is it so hard for companies like Apple and Microsoft to build a workforce that better represents the customers they’re selling to? Sponsors: Jumpchart. Jumpchart takes the pain out of website planning. Get on the same page with the whole team. Clients, designers, copywriters, devs, and project managers. Where’s the stuff we need to build the website? It’s in Jumpchart. Go to http://www.jumpchart.com/rocketship to get started absolutely free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

We look at the changing music industry and how it's effecting the most important people involved, artists. We bring you three stories today, from Denver Colorado's the Simulators, Soundcloud darling Oliver Tank and Jazz Funk legend Galt MacDermot about their experiences with music and the music industry, it's decline, and how it's evolved with the internet. Sponsors: Vervoe Vervoe seamlessly automates the interviewing process, and allows all candidates to show their skills and style through online simulations. With Vervoe, hire the right candidates in 4 days, not 40. Go to http://vervoe.com/rocketship and get 50% off your first 3 months. Jumpchart. Jumpcart Jumpchart takes the pain out of website planning. Get on the same page with the whole team. Clients, designers, copywriters, devs, and project managers. Where’s the stuff we need to build the website? It’s in Jumpchart. Go to http://www.jumpchart.com/rocketship to get started absolutely free. CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

In the second part of our look at the weird world of fantasy sports, we dive deep into the journey's of Draft Kings and FanDuel, two of the biggest DFP apps on the market today. If you thought Fantasy Sports was high stakes, wait till you throw venture capital behind it. And find out what happens when two behemoths join forces to lobby for their right to exist, together. Sponsors: Jumpchart. Jumpcart Jumpchart takes the pain out of website planning. Get on the same page with the whole team. Clients, designers, copywriters, devs, and project managers. Where’s the stuff we need to build the website? It’s in Jumpchart. Go to http://www.jumpchart.com/rocketship to get started absolutely free. CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

It’s draft day.  The day when even the most miserable sports teams have a glimmer of hope.  Make the right pick for your team — and you can turn around the entire franchise.  It doesn’t matter if you’ve gone winless the entire year and can never seem to right the ship. Today, things can change.  Anything can happen. We're  talking about fantasy sports.  Fantasy football, to be more precise.  And as far as fantasy football drafts go, Mike Belsito is a wily veteran.  Trading up.  Trading down.  Making high stakes picks and sometimes, big letdowns as well.  Today we dive deep into the weird world of Fantasy Football. Sponsors: CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

Laird Hamilton is known as one of the greatest big wave surfers in the world. He's the co-inventor of tow-in surfing, and an occasional fashion and action-sports model. In this episode we dive into the circumstances in his life that allowed him to achieve greatness. It's a fascinating look at the early days of the surfing industry as we know it today and the sacrifices and dedication it took Laird to accomplish what he has so far in life. Sponsors: CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

We would all love to achieve greatness, if only in one skill in our entire life. Most of us will fall into the realm of expert in something in our lifetime – but what differentiates the good from the great? The experts for the masters? In his book Outliers, Malcom Gladwell examines the work of K. Anders Ericsson, a Swedish psychologist who wrote the paper The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance which inspired the book. In the paper K. Anders Ericsson states that in order to achieve greatness in a field, one must put in 10,000 hours of deliberate practice – thus the phase 10,000 hour rule. In this episode, we take a look at the stories behind the 1000 hour rule and the sacrifice it takes to achieve greatness. Sponsors: Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial. Slidebean. Pitch deck templates for startups. Create a deck in minutes. Track investor activity on your slides. Professionally curated templates are the fastest and most stunning way to present your ideas: deliver powerful messages that stand out. Go to http://www.slidebean.com/rocketship to get started for free.

In the second and final episode of our look at Books.com, we discover what happens when Charlie Stack is faced with competition from Amazon.com and a multi-million dollar buy out offer on the table. We also learn more about what Charlie is up to currently and how the Books.com legacy has lived on. Sponsors: CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial.

The year was 1992. The location… Cleveland, Ohio. The birthplace of online commerce. That’s right. Cleveland Ohio. Not Silicon Valley, Not San Francisco. Not even Seattle Washington. This is the story of Books.com, the internet’s very first e-commerce store, its founder, Charlie Stack, a lawyer-turned-self taught software developer — and what happened when they created internet history… and later… faced a new entrant in Jeff Bezos and Amazon.com. Sponsors: Freshbooks. The all-new FreshBooks is the #1 cloud accounting solution specially designed for small business owners. Join 10 million people using FreshBooks and spend less time on accounting and more time doing the work you love. Go to http://www.freshbooks.com/economy to get a 30 day unrestricted trial. CloudSponge. CloudSponge is the easiest way to import your users contacts into your app. Used by AirBNB, Yelp, Nextdoor and many more. Deploy CloudSponge into production you'll be entered to win a free Parrot SWING Minidrone plus you get a 3 month extended trial. Go to http://www.cloudsponge.com/rocketship to get started for free. Slidebean. Pitch deck templates for startups. Create a deck in minutes. Track investor activity on your slides. Professionally curated templates are the fastest and most stunning way to present your ideas: deliver powerful messages that stand out. Go to http://www.slidebean.com/rocketship to get started for free.