In IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast series, IVP investors talk with CEOs from the fastest growing companies to understand the ins and outs of company building in the hyper-growth environment.
In our seventh episode, IVP's Somesh Dash sits down with Arianna Huffington, founder and CEO of Thrive Global, to talk about her humble beginnings, how the uncharted territories of her life gave her character through her discoveries, and how burnout has led to her success with Thrive.
Arianna's influence in the space of wellness is unparalleled. She launched The Huffington Post in 2005 and has since been named to Time Magazine's list of the Worlds' 100 Most Influential People, as well as Forbes Most Powerful Women in Business, all while serving on the boards of Uber (Nasdaq: UBER) and Global Citizen. Her vision with Thrive is uniquely positioned to change behavior by reaching people at home, at work, and through the technology, they already use to encourage success in modern work.
IVP led a $30M Series B investment in December 2017 to help catalyze the company's growth prospects. Listen to Somesh and Arianna's discussion and a few high points from their discussion below:
UNDERSTAND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN WELL-BEING AND PERFORMANCE. THEN PRACTICE IT TO OVERCOME ANY FAILURE. I think we are aware of a turning point because of the amazing contributions of science and the fact that more and more people are realizing that, in fact, well-being and performance are closely connected. That's why we don't use the term work-life balance at Thrive because it's not a balance. The two things rise or fall in tandem.
Arianna then goes on to discuss the challenges for iconic founders like Elon Musk. Elon's created a whole company based on new uses of energy for cars. Even though he's a great visionary and entrepreneur living and working in a scientific way, he's misusing human energy, and it does damage to his brand. As a leader or entrepreneur, it's critical to take pulse on your people, their well being, and how that's creating a company culture.
She also speaks to failure, which she sees as a stepping stone to success, helping entrepreneurs be more realistic and comfortable with the ebbs and flows of their path.
Arianna's journey took her into writing and her first book, The Female Women, published when she was just 23, launching her writing career. Her second book was rejected by 36 publishers because it was a controversial book on the crisis in political leadership that nobody wanted to publish. This led to self-doubt, partly causing her to believe that her first book may have been a fluke. However, her instincts told her to keep writing, finding a loan, and continuing on her path.
Arianna's origin story behind Thrive Global: trying to be a supermom and also a founder-led to her collapsing from exhaustion, sleep deprivation, and burnout, hitting her head on her desk and breaking her cheekbone.
Her hope with Thrive is to create a behavior change platform that helps entrepreneurs go from knowing what to do to actually doing it as she acts as a mirror and cultural shapeshifter.
CREATE A POSITIVE COMPANY CULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY BOUNDARIES. At Thrive, we say that a company's culture is the company's immune system. If you don't protect it, then the culture is not strong enough to withhold and to withstand, you know, that toxic human behavior.
When Arianna gave her first speech at an Uber all-hands after the well-documented cultural crisis, she made sure that the board promised the employees no brilliant jerks will be allowed in the future. This theme is something that companies need to embrace if they want to create a thriving and moral culture.
Arianna believes we should celebrate technology while at the same time learn to set certain boundaries around it in order to protect our humanity.
Here's an example: Let's say you're having dinner with your family and you don't want to be interrupted. If somebody texts you, they'll get a text back that you are in Thrive mode until a certain time. And it also gives you a dashboard of your social media and game consumption so you can moderate the amount of time you're spending. Thus, the app helps entrepreneurs create boundaries that can help. And this behavior should extend beyond her app into the mindset of founders creating boundaries with tech and their employees.
Lessons learned from Arianna: be open with employees, embrace honest conversations, and create change through reinforced values and honest human stories.
People are much more likely to change their minds and be convinced by honest human stories than by data. The microcosm of the individual entrepreneur sets the tone and blueprint for the company culture or macrocosm, and that starts with the individual embracing wisdom, balance, morality, and humanity, setting the broader tone that impacts the company at large.
Full transcript below.
To hear more, listen on iTunes or SoundCloud.
TRANSCRIPT Narrator: Welcome to IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast. In this series, we talk with CEOs of the fastest-growing companies and discuss the ins-and-outs of company building in the hyper-growth environment. If you like what you hear, consider following us on SoundCloud or subscribing to our podcast on iTunes. Thanks, and enjoy the show.
Narrator: Today's episode of IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast is recorded in front of a live audience. IVP's Somesh Dash interviewed Thrive Global founder and CEO, Arianna Huffington. Arianna has a remarkable background, including launching The Huffington Post in 2005, one of the most frequently cited media brands on the Internet that won Pulitzer Prize for national reporting. She has been named to Time Magazine's list of the Worlds' 100 Most Influential People and
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
14/11/2026
Newest Lenses, Horizon Anamorphic Seminar & Guided Lens Character Experience Highlight Creative Possibilities
At the 2026 Toru CAMERIMAGE Film Festival, ZEISS...
14/11/2026
Sonnet Announces Black Friday Sale on Select Products
Brie Clayton November 14, 2026
0 Comments
WHAT: Sonnet Technologies is having a sale on a select...
14/11/2026
Berklee Alumni Shine at the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards This year's winners included songwriters, engineers, and performers who contributed to acclaimed reco...
13/11/2026
The UIM E1 Series wraps its third season this week with the Bombay Sapphire E1 Miami GP, Nov. 11-14, on Biscayne Bay at the Miami Seaplane Base on Watson Island...
13/11/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
13/11/2026
Singer-songwriter Benson Boone will headline entertainment for the Discover NHL Winter Classic between the Utah Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche at Rice-Eccles St...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design has announced the Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone, a 7th order ambisonic microphone array that captures spatial audio for immersive video prod...
13/11/2026
SMPTE has announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infrastructure and communications technology for the Solutions Hub at t...
13/11/2026
The Hollywood Professional Association (HPA) has announced the theme and program focus for the 2027 HPA Tech Retreat, which takes place Feb. 14-18, 2027, in La ...
13/11/2026
Football Manager 27 Touch is available on Apple Arcade starting today. The game ...
13/11/2026
MotoGP has announced a two-year media rights agreement with ESPN covering the Un...
13/11/2026
Apple Sports, the free iPhone app, has added the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to its lineup of supported sports, in time for Saturday's UFC 334. The...
13/11/2026
The NBA and Fanatics Studios, the joint venture between Fanatics and entertainme...
13/11/2026
ESPN held its annual EDGE Innovation Conference last night and offered up an ove...
13/11/2026
Regional sports network gives Ithaca College, SUNY Cortland students a platform to thrive
One of the biggest games in Division III college football will be pla...
13/11/2026
Studer-inspired 500-series PWM compressor unveiled
The HLabs range already includes a couple of Studer-inspired offerings in the form of the PRE169 and EQ16...
13/11/2026
Download Now!
To view the white paper, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* First Name
Company*
Country* Please select your countryA...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Blue Lucy, the workflow orchestration and integration platform for broadcasters, rights owners and localisation companies, today announced an integration with c...
13/11/2026
Krotos announces Black Friday offers on Studio Pro and Studio Max
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
First-year annual plans start at US$195.99...
13/11/2026
Blackmagic Design Announces Blackmagic Ambisonic Microphone
Brie Clayton November 12, 2026
0 Comments
New 7th order ambisonic microphone with 108 MEMS...
13/11/2026
Meet the Berklee Student Setting Planetary Motion to Music With his compositional platform SoniKosmos, Javier Roqueni aims to make the universe the ultimate i...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , er...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Share
{alert(Link copied)}).catch(err => {console.error(Failed to copy: , err)}) data-platform=copy_link data-action= class=font-ui-heading py-2 text-sm tex...
13/11/2026
Amagi, the media industry cloud company, today announced a partnership with Golden Times Media Technology (stock code 920021.BJ), a Beijing-based media and tech...
13/11/2026
CGI (TSX: GIB.A) (NYSE: GIB), one of the largest independent IT and business consulting services firms in the world, together with its Malaysian partner, Cedar ...
13/11/2026
SMPTE, the home for media professionals, technologists and engineers, today announced that The Studio B&H and Riedel Communications will provide the video infra...
13/11/2026
iWedia, a global leader in connected TV software solutions, will present its software-first approach to DRAM optimization at Android TV APAC Summit 2026 in Bang...
13/11/2026
Beginning today, November 13, Apple HomeView is available for purchase at Apple Store locations, on the Apple Store online, and in the Apple Store app in select...
13/11/2026
From pediatric research to smart hospitals, AI is helping care teams spend less time on routine tasks and more time with patients.
Health systems and startups...
12/11/2026
Industry leaders examine how Dynamic Media Facility, Media eXchange Layer, and c...
12/11/2026
The junior Tar Heel is embracing the technical and creative challenges of live production while emerging as a leader and mentor in the control room...
12/11/2026
Gracenote, Nielsen's content intelligence business, has released its fifth a...
12/11/2026
RTL Deutschland will bring the NHL to free-to-air TV in Germany starting Nov. 30...
12/11/2026
Clear-Com supported On Air 2026, a 24-hour student-led broadcast connecting 45 u...
12/11/2026
uniqFEED has opened a Remote Operations Center (ROC) in Madrid, Spain. It is already operational, delivering virtual advertising for LaLiga matches. The ROC is ...
In IVP's Hyper-Growth Podcast series, IVP investors talk with CEOs from the fastest growing companies to understand the ins and outs of company building in the hyper-growth environment.
