Tech Brew Ride Home – (BNS) Susan Lyne Part 2 (Nov 28, 2025)

Episode Overview

In this episode, the host continues a riveting conversation with media and tech pioneer Susan Lyne, tracing her extraordinary career from television and magazines to founding and funding startups. The discussion explores career setbacks, reinvention, the evolution of media and fandom, leading through personal crises, the high-velocity challenge of startups, and her work advancing women and polycultural entrepreneurs through BBG Ventures. Susan’s resilience, candor, and sharp insights offer both inspiration and practical lessons for anyone interested in leadership, innovation, and the future of tech.

Key Themes & Insights

Navigating Career Setbacks & Reinvention

• On Being Let Go from ABC:

  • The episode opens with a reflection on Susan Lyne’s high-profile dismissal from ABC, despite her creative successes.
  • Her immediate response was to allow herself a brief period of grief and anger before viewing it as an opportunity for growth:

    "I did, as [my husband] said, spend a couple of days being really pissed off and very sad. But at the end of the day, I was relatively young. I was healthy...I knew I had learned enough...that now I got to rethink it and see where I could apply my skills next."
    — Susan Lyne (05:01)

• Moving to Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO):

  • Susan took the summer off for the first time since high school to recalibrate, then joined the board of Martha Stewart’s company, soon becoming CEO.

Building & Transforming Personality-Driven Brands

• Behind the Scenes at MSLO:

  • Martha Stewart built a unique organization by hiring sector experts (food, entertaining, weddings, etc.) who generated evergreen content and products.

  • "...at her story meetings, it was not editors who pitched what was going...It was these sector experts...And every single one of those stories would then become part of the library they could tap into to create products, books...a virtuous circle, right. But all based on her instincts about what American readers wanted to see and wanted to learn. She’s a teacher at her core."
    — Susan Lyne (06:43)

• Martha’s Legal Crisis and Resilience:

  • When Martha Stewart was indicted (and ultimately served prison time), Susan was at the helm.

  • The company’s revenue collapsed due to fleeing advertisers, not customers.

  • Martha used her prison experience to network and build new fan bases, and upon return, quickly moved to damage control and reinvention.

  • "...she was a model prisoner...made a lot of good contacts...came out five months later raring to go...we started doing dinners...for advertisers up at her house in Bedford so that she could start to kind of resell the company."
    — Susan Lyne (10:48, also recounted at [00:52])

  • Martha transitioned further into influencer territory, made retail deals beyond Kmart, and embraced live TV:

    "Honestly, I think that the combination of prison and doing live television set her up for what has been a huge, I would say, third act for her. She is very much an influencer now."
    — Susan Lyne (17:42)

• Martha’s Leadership Ethos:

  • Instructed Susan:

    "Don’t settle. Don’t think that you should sign off on anything that isn’t fantastic. We can’t let our standards down during this period of time."
    — Susan Lyne (20:24)

Leading Through Personal Loss

• Navigating Grief as a Leader:
  • Susan shares the profound loss of her husband to pancreatic cancer, how her work provided structure, and how they managed to preserve precious family time and closure.

    "Work for me became the one place in my life where I felt like I actually had control...But he wanted as much normalcy in his life during that period...I would not wish it on anyone. But he was amazing..."
    — Susan Lyne (22:25)

Entering the World of High-Growth Startups

• Culture Shock at Gilt Groupe:

  • Susan contrasts traditional corporate setups with the open chaos of a fast-growing tech startup.

    "...I had an office...you had to go through my assistant’s office in order to get into my office. Now I’m at Gilt. I’m sitting at tables like this...and no one thinking twice about the phone call they’re making or who can overhear it. And I was in my 50s, so definitely a culture shift for me..."
    — Susan Lyne (27:48)

  • The Early Gilt ‘Flash Sale’ Frenzy:

    • Gilt’s success came from recreating the urgency of in-person sample sales online: invitation-only, daily 'drop' of high-end brands, causing site crashes during sales like the Christian Louboutin event.

    • "It grew so fast...it became clear pretty quickly. It was built on Ruby, which was great for the early days, but ultimately it had to be rebuilt...the first Christian Louboutin sale...essentially broke the site."
      — Susan Lyne (30:08)

  • Gilt as a Hub for Women Entrepreneurs:

    • The company drew a network of young female founders. Susan created a breakfast series that grew to 100 founders, starting her journey as an angel investor.

    • "...there was an early and growing community of women who were building companies and I became an angel investor in many and an advisor to some as well."
      — Susan Lyne (33:08)

Founding and Funding at BBG Ventures

• Backing Underrepresented Founders:

  • BBG Ventures began with balance-sheet money from AOL before raising institutional funds.
  • The mission: fund women-led and polycultural founders, focusing on overlooked consumer needs.

  • "Was this thesis that a broader ecosystem of founders could build for many consumers who felt underserved? ...We were able to raise a $50 million first fund and then...a $60 million second fund."
    — Susan Lyne (37:47)

• What She Looks For in Founders:

  > "We talk internally about both lived and learned experience. So the founders we like best are founders who have some unique insight into either the customer that they are going after or the sector that they are going after...it’s who are you as a human being and what’s the unique insight you have...and then do you have the grit and...expertise..."  
  — Susan Lyne (41:25)
  

• The Uniqueness of NYC’s Startup Scene:

  > "So many industries call New York City home...so when the time comes to begin building for the application layer...you have a lot of people who really understand what’s possible...The foundational talent often comes from...Boston or, or the Valley. But the application layer, New York City is great."  
  — Susan Lyne (43:13)
  

The Next Wave: AI & Opportunity

• On the AI Revolution:
  • Susan sees AI as the next tectonic shift, similar in scale to mobile, opening opportunities for new consumer platforms and experiences.

    "There’s no question that AI has just transformed everything...every founder we meet with...are building something new that would not have been possible three years ago."
    — Susan Lyne (44:26)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Recovery from Setback:
  "You’ve got two days to really wallow in this, and then I’m coming out and we’re gonna go to this book festival..."
  — Susan Lyne quoting her husband (05:01)

• On Martha’s Standards:
  "Don’t settle. Don’t think that you should sign off on anything that isn’t fantastic."
  — Martha Stewart, via Susan Lyne (20:24)

• On Work During Grief:
  "Work for me became the one place in my life where I felt like I actually had control..."
  — Susan Lyne (22:25)

• On Startup Culture Shift:
  "Now I'm at Gilt. I'm sitting at tables like this... And I was in my 50s, so definitely a culture shift for me..."
  — Susan Lyne (27:48)

• On the AI Opportunity:
  "There’s no question that AI has just transformed everything...I honestly believe...there’s going to be a huge amount of turnover in companies and certainly in the way we do things."
  — Susan Lyne (44:26)

• On Lifelong Career Growth:
  "I am a deep advocate of the fact that we have chapters and you can do an enormous amount at any age, as long as you stay engaged. Right. As long as you still get excited about what’s possible."
  — Susan Lyne (47:18)

Important Segment Timestamps

• [02:22] – Picking up the pieces after ABC & transforming career setbacks
• [06:43] – Inside the structure of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
• [10:48] – Crisis management during Martha Stewart’s legal troubles
• [17:42] – Martha’s influencer evolution and retail reinvention
• [20:24] – Leadership lessons from Martha: “Don’t settle”
• [22:25] – Leadership during personal crisis: losing her husband
• [27:48] – Moving to Gilt: startup culture shock and flash sale model
• [33:08] – Gilt as a launchpad for women tech founders
• [37:47] – BBG Ventures’ history and thesis
• [41:25] – How Susan evaluates founders (lived & learned experience)
• [44:26] – The transformative promise of AI for startups and investing
• [47:18] – Advocating for lifelong engagement and career chapters

Conclusion

Susan Lyne’s career is a testament to resilience, curiosity, and the power of reinvention. Whether responding to seismic professional setbacks, navigating crisis at the helm of iconic brands, immersing herself in the chaos of hypergrowth startups, or backing the next generation of diverse founders, her story is one of purposeful adaptation. With characteristic candor and insight, she encourages listeners to embrace the constant evolution of both technology and personal/professional growth—at any age and every stage.