Best Max Chan Podcasts (2025)

1
#351: Fran Maier – BabyQuip, Match.com 43:01

Play Pause

5d ago43:01

43:01

Fran Maier, the Founder & CEO of BabyQuip and Co-Founder of Match.com, joins the show to share her journey from starting the 1st online dating site to creating the #1 baby gear rental service for traveling families. Hear how to keep your business simple, how to build a business powered by moms, how BabyQuip started partnering with Vrbo, how to defi…

1
Jeffrey Epstein, Israel, and Elite Power, with Murtaza Hussain – #100 1:03:14

5d ago1:03:14

1:03:14

Murtaza Hussain is a reporter for Drop Site News, which has broken important stories based on recently obtained Epstein emails. Hussain reports that Epstein had an “extensive relationship with Israeli intelligence, U.S. intelligence and the intelligence agencies of other countries, as well... He was a dealmaker and a fixer at a very, very elite lev…

1
UNLOCKED - Backpage, the fall of alt weeklies, and how Kamala Harris caused a suicide 1:04:38

6d ago1:04:38

1:04:38

Hello! Kempa here. Max and I are taking this week off, so we wanted to share one of our favorite early premium episodes that you might have missed. If you enjoy this one, there's plenty more where it came from--subscribe at patreon.com/thedrain. Here we go: Today Kempa is sharing the story of the misguided vendetta by former Vice President Kamala H…

1
Preview Timeshare grifter Cloobeck backs Swalwell for governor; Maviglio's legal defense fundraiser; Progressive Connie Chan joins race for Pelosi's seat 5:05

8d ago5:05

5:05

**This is a preview of our premium Saturday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Hey folks! We've got some spicy updates on a few stories we've been following the last few weeks: Remember that weirdo multimillionaire, Stephen Cloobeck, running to be California's next Democratic governor? Well, he's dropped ou…

1
Lady Bird Boys, with Peter Lucas 1:12:26

13d ago1:12:26

1:12:26

Today we're joined by our friend Peter Lucas, a Brooklyn-based journalist, avid Sacramento enthusiast, and former staffer for Zohran Mamdani's successful 2020 run for the New York state assembly--long before NYC's mayor-elect became a household name. We discuss Mamdani's surreal visit to the White House--where he positively charmed the pants off Pr…

1
#350: Emma Weinberg – Buttah 48:29

14d ago48:29

48:29

Emma Weinberg, the Co-Founder of Buttah and Best Maid of Honor in History, joins the show for a very special family edition during Thanksgiving week to be interviewed by her cousin's husband, Max Branstetter. Hear how she met her husband Ben from across the pond, her manufacturing trips to Turkey, how she successfully teased Buttah's first drop, th…

1
Preview Berkeley boots Turning Point USA 5:03

15d ago5:03

5:03

**This is a preview of our premium Saturday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Hello, Plug brothers and Drain maybes. Today we're discussing Turning Point USA's final stop on their American Comeback Tour, and the Berkeley students who made it clear that TPUSA is not welcome on California campuses. The late …

1
Jian Lian on China's Industrial Policy and Global Strategy – #99 1:12:43

19d ago1:12:43

1:12:43

Jian Lian is an expert on China's political economy, industrial development, and technological development. He graduated from Peking University with a bachelor's and master's degree in economics. Starting out as an industry analyst at a Chinese investment bank, he participated in the "Made in China 2025" initiative as a Chinese venture capitalist, …

1
Federal charges against Newsom and Becerra's former chiefs of staff, and SF Mayor Daniel Lurie's animal house bungle 1:01:43

20d ago1:01:43

1:01:43

Today we're starting with a quick hit on U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell's (D-CA) inexorable run for the California governor's office, and how he'll work to flank Katie Porter from the right. What else do you need to know about Swalwell? Well, he farts on national TV. He also made a name for himself alongside #Resist libs like now-senator Adam Schiff durin…

1
#349: Jamie Sonneville – 5th-Generation Farmer, Agri-Trak 44:25

21d ago44:25

44:25

Jamie Sonneville, the Founder & CEO of Agri-Trak, joins the show to share her journey from 5th-generation farmer to creating the farm labor tracking software. Hear what many people get wrong about farmers, what to do in your Pre-MVP stage, how to stop doing things the way you've always done them, The Apple Segment, and why Wegmans has such a diehar…

1
#348: Donna Letier – Gardenuity, Patio Gardens & Desktop Gardens 39:25

26d ago39:25

39:25

Donna Letier, the Co-Founder & CEO of Gardenuity, joins the show to share her journey from learning the science behind gardening to creating patio container gardens & indoor desktop gardens for all. Hear why gardening is good for your mental health, how she started offering food-inspired gardens, what to look for in potential employees, what she's …

1
San Francisco musical chairs, with the 48 Hills crew (Tim Redmond and Marke B.) 1:01:22

26d ago1:01:22

1:01:22

Today we're talking with two of our favorite San Francisco journalists in Tim Redmond and Marke B., founders of 48 Hills. Tim is a longtime political and investigative reporter of San Francisco politics, covering the scene for over three decades. He was also the longtime Executive Editor of the SF Bay Guardian. Marke B., our sweet baby boy, has bee…

1
Scaling Human Connection with AI with Sprinklr CIO Sanjay Macwan 28:34

27d ago28:34

28:34

On the 59th episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, hosts Evan Reiser (CEO and co-founder, Abnormal AI) and Saam Motamedi (Greylock Partners) welcome Sanjay Macwan, Chief Information Officer at Sprinklr. Sanjay explains how Sprinklr is using AI to enhance customer experience at scale by reducing friction, making engagement intuitive, and ensuring ever…

1
043 - AHNOLD goes AWOL, and Gavin's email collection scheme 50:30

1M ago50:30

50:30

It's a new day. California is now gerrymandered for the Democratic Party, and New York City is a socialist caliphate. All is right in the world. We're discussing how movie star/former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger created California's nonpartisan redistricting commission, how his legacy is going up in flames, and why he appears to be ch…

1
Scott Horton on the Russia Hoax and Ukraine War – #98 1:25:35

1M ago1:25:35

1:25:35

Scott Horton is the author of Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine. Horton is a libertarian and anti-war activist. He and Steve discuss the Russia Hoax and its connection to American foreign policy, in light of new evidence that has emerged since the first Trump term. Scott’s book: https://www…

1
#347: Christa Pitts – The Elf on the Shelf, The Lumistella Company 44:01

1M ago44:01

44:01

Christa Pitts, the Co-Founder & Co-CEO of The Lumistella Company, joins the show to share her journey from QVC host to creating The Elf on the Shelf. Hear how The Elf on the Shelf came to life, the moments that made it a hit, how to handle rejection as an entrepreneur, how she achieves work-life balance with her identical twin sister Co-CEO, and ho…

1
042 - ICE operations heat up, plus a California potpourri of updates 56:17

1M ago56:17

56:17

Hey all, we've been enjoying a boom in listeners, and so we'd like to remind you to like, subscribe, rate, comment, and tell your friends about the Drain. Many, many fun things to come! We're hitting you a couple days late, due to Kempa moving on up to a nicer part of town. He's also gonna be out east, but we'll be recording through ALL of that, so…

1
From Clean Data to AI-Driven Advantage with General Mills Chief Digital & Technology Officer Jaime Montemayor 31:45

1M ago31:45

31:45

On the 58th episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, hosts Evan Reiser (Abnormal AI) and Saam Motamedi (Greylock Partners) talk with Jaime Montemayor, Chief Digital & Technology Officer at General Mills. They’re reimagining what a food company can be by leveraging AI to reduce waste, tailor marketing, optimize supply chains, and accelerate product inno…

1
Preview 041 - Graham Platner face-plants 5:00

1M ago5:00

5:00

**This is a preview of our premium Saturday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Hey folks, we recorded this one about halfway through all of the unsavory stories coming out against Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner--and, boy, we were already pretty unimpressed with the guy. We discuss revelations of …

1
AIs Win Math Olympiad Gold: Prof. Lin Yang (UCLA) – #97 50:43

2M ago50:43

50:43

Lin Yang is a professor of computer science at UCLA. Recently, he and his collaborator built an AI pipeline using commercial models such as Gemini, ChatGPT, and Grok that performed at the gold medal level on International Mathematics Olympiad problems. Steve and Lin discuss this research, which relies on "verifier-refiner" LLM instances and large t…

1
040 - California's CARE Court failures, and MAGA Huntington Beach's soon-to-be progressive congressman 1:02:30

2M ago1:02:30

1:02:30

The new congressional lines for California's Proposition 50 are going to have a wonderful effect on coastal Southern California's richest MAGA city council, Huntington Beach: They're going to be represented by a gay, Peruvian immigrant Democrat who arrived in the country undocumented. Yes, the town known for its "MAGA-nificent 7" council, which not…

1
Preview 039 - USC v. Donald Trump 4:01

2M ago4:01

4:01

**This is a preview of our premium Friday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Hey folks, Today we're discussing President Trump's push to make USC (and a number of other universities) take on a wildly anti-trans, and anti-antifa, tack against their students. You can read it here at the LA Times. Please don't…

1
#346: Scott Porter – San Diablo Artisan Churros, Chief Churro Officer 40:37

2M ago40:37

40:37

Scott Porter, the Owner, Founder, and Chief Churro Officer of San Diablo Artisan Churros, joins the show to share his journey from starting an airline to revolutionizing the world of churros. Hear how he fell in love with churros, the secret recipe that changed everything, how to come up with new product ideas, how he got Charles Barkley to try his…

1
038 - Katie Porter's crash-outs, and Dr. Pan eyes a congressional seat 56:50

2M ago56:50

56:50

It's no secret that former Orange County congresswoman Katie Porter is leading the race to become California's next governor. But it's also no secret that she can be kind of a dick. You know, like Amy Klobuchar mean. So, inexorably, the Democratic establishment was going to trot out old clips of Porter yelling at her aides. What we didn't foresee w…

1
Turning Process into Product with Wolters Kluwer EVP & CIO Mark Sherwood 30:45

2M ago30:45

30:45

On the 57th episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, host Evan Reiser (Abnormal AI) talks with Mark Sherwood, EVP & CIO at Wolters Kluwer. Mark shares how his team is applying AI across internal operations and product development. From automating SOP creation to surfacing risk in contracts and predicting IT incidents, each project starts with a specifi…

1
Preview 037 - The ultimate man-cave grift 5:01

2M ago5:01

5:01

**This is a preview of our premium Friday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Today we're discussing the fascinating story of the southern California son of a billionaire real estate magnate who is facing a lawsuit from investors in his idea for the Ultimate Rich Guy's Man Cave, called "The Bunker," which ha…

1
#345: Goldie Chan – Personal Branding for Introverts, Warm Robots 49:58

2M ago49:58

49:58

Goldie Chan, the Founder of Warm Robots and Author of Personal Branding for Introverts, joins the show to share her journey from posting one of the first videos on LinkedIn to becoming The Oprah of LinkedIn and The Queen of Uncool. Hear how to create content for brands & personal brands, how to carve out Off-Brain Time, how to practice Ideal Daydre…

1
The Global AI Race: Z.ai and the View from Beijing — #96 1:06:35

2M ago1:06:35

1:06:35

Zixuan Li is Director of Product and genAI Strategy at Z.ai. He was educated at Renmin and Tsinghua University in China, and at MIT and Carnegie Mellon. Z.ai has released frontier open source LLMs but is largely unknown in the West except among AI experts. Steve and Zixuan discuss the AI race from the perspective of a startup in Beijing. https://ch…

1
036 - California's conversion therapy loophole, and Governor Newsom is grilled by ConnorEatsPants on Fortnite Friday 52:00

2M ago52:00

52:00

Today we're discussing Governor Gavin Newsom's hardest-hitting interview from the Left in ages, which was conducted by a Twitch streamer named ConnorEatsPants on Fortnite Friday. Listen to our discussion on their talk, but you'll definitely want to hop over to his YouTube channel and watch it as well. It includes a phenomenal discussion on a one-st…

1
Orchestrating the Global Warehouse through AI with DHL Supply Chain Global CIO Sally Miller 32:10

2M ago32:10

32:10

On the 56th episode of Enterprise AI Innovators, host Evan Reiser (Abnormal AI) welcomes Sally Miller, Global Chief Information Officer at DHL Supply Chain. Sally reveals how AI and robotics are reshaping the warehouse floor, the back office, and customer expectations at a company operating 2,500 sites across more than 50 countries. From early bets…

1
Preview 035 - Governor Newscum takes on economic nihilism and gamer culture 4:59

2M ago4:59

4:59

**This is a preview of our premium Friday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Today we're taking a look at Governor Gavin Newsom's podcast episode discussing economic nihilism, online communities, and gamer culture, with Brandon Ewing (a.k.a. @atrioc). If you don't know who that is, don't worry--Kempa didn't…

1
034 - The progressive push to oust California's neoliberal Congress members 54:30

2M ago54:30

54:30

It's no secret that Democratic voters are incredibly unhappy with their electeds. Throughout the country, they've been described as a "spineless" party that just "roll(s) right over" for the Trump administration. In total, about one-third of Democrats described their party negatively in an open-ended question on a recent national survey, with 15% u…

1
Preview 033 - SMUD narcs on its California customers 5:03

2M ago5:03

5:03

**This is a preview of our premium Friday show, The Plug. To listen to the full episode, go to patreon.com/thedrain.** Today, Max regales us with a chilling story about a California public utility--the Sacramento Municipal Utility District--sharing its power usage data with cops to help them find "illegal" marijuana grow operations in the region. D…

1
Seeking Truth From Facts: Weeks Where Decades Happen — #95 48:49

3M ago48:49

48:49

This episode is a co-release with the Seeking Truth From Facts podcast: https://substack.com/@seekingtruthfromfacts The theme of this episode derives from Lenin: “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks when decades happen.” ― Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Steve and Alf discuss: (00:00) - Introduction (01:32) - China Victory Day Parade…

1
#344: Rob Herzog – ZogSports & ZogCulture, Sports Leagues for Adults 53:49

3M ago53:49

53:49

Rob Herzog, the Founder of ZogSports & ZogCulture, joins the show to share his journey from a close call on 9/11 to connecting millions of adults through sports leagues in 6 major cities. Hear the Piña Colada Epiphany that changed Rob's life, how to meet increased demand for your product or service, the Building Block Strategy for adding clients & …

1
032 - Chuck remembrance and Newsom bills 59:05

3M ago59:05

59:05

Today, we discuss the loss of a California staple, our old punk/anti-fascist friend Ground Chuck. We also Discuss the passing of another Chuck , whom you may or may not have heard of: Chuck (Charlie) Kirk. Then we talk about some California bills coming to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk: “Anti-semitism” bill – AS UC BERKELEY SHARES 160 names with Tru…