Podcast with Ilia Papas, Founder and Former CTO of Blue Apron

On Season 4 Episode 8 of the Think Like A Founder podcast, Maureen Taylor speaks with Ilia Papas.

Ilia Papas is the Founder and Former CTO of Blue Apron––a meal delivery service. Ilia left Blue Apron in 2019 and has since been on a journey to start something new, this time as a CEO.

Prior to founding Blue Apron, Ilia was a director and technical architect at Optaros. He also helped architect, build, and launch RueLaLa.com, a private-event retail site.

Podcast with Ilia Papas - Founder and Former CTO of Blue Apron

One of my friends and and one of our very early investors in Blue Apron, when I had my first child pulled me aside and said, ‘Make sure you set up a regular date night because you are not going to find time. You’re just going to be totally exhausted and you’re not going to want to go out. So you have to put it in the calendar ahead of time.’ And luckily we took his advice and did that because we definitely would not have done it. When you’re a new parent and you’re exhausted and working really hard, you just don’t feel like you have time for anything. It’s amazing to just get out and feel like a human again.

– Ilia Papas

On this episode of Think Like a Founder, SNP’s Co-Founder & CEO, Maureen Taylor gets Ilia Papa’s thoughts on…

  1. Being in position when opportunity strikes
  2. How people are the most powerful tool out there
  3. What it’s like for a founder to leave their company

Think Like A Founder is produced by SNP Communications in San Francisco, California. Visit the Think Like A Founder website to learn more about the podcast and curriculum or connect with Maureen Taylor on LinkedIn to continue the conversation there. 

Series Producer: Mike Sullivan

Sound Design: Marc Ream 

Content and Scripting: Jaselin Drown

Production Coordinator: Natasha Thomas

Thanks also to Róisín Hunt, Selena Persiani-Shell, Jordan Bailey, Matt Johnson, Eli Shell, John Hughes, and Renn Vara.

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