Nirav Tolia - Nextdoor Co-Founder & CEO | The Man Who Connected 100 Million Neighbors Says AI Is About to Make Us All Lonelier

➡️ Join 321,000 people who read my free weekly newsletter: https://newsletter.scottdclary.com ➡️ Like The Podcast? Leave A Rating: https://ratethispodcast.com/successstory Nirav Tolia is the co-founder and CEO of Nextdoor, the hyperlocal social network he built to connect neighbors and that now spans more than 100 million verified users worldwide. He originally led the company from its founding in 2010 through 2018, stepped away, then returned as CEO in 2024 to lead a turnaround that brought Nextdoor to profitability ahead of schedule. Before Nextdoor, Nirav was employee No. 84 at Yahoo and co-founded Epinions.com during the first dot-com boom — a company that eventually went public and sold to eBay for $620 million. He's also a guest Shark on ABC's Shark Tank. ➡️ Show Links https://www.instagram.com/niravtolia/ https://x.com/niravtolia https://www.linkedin.com/in/niravtolia/  ➡️ Podcast Sponsors Hubspot - https://hubspot.com/   Huel - https://huel.com/scott (Code: scott) NetSuite - https://netsuite.com/scottclary/  Framer - https://framer.com/design (Code: SuccessStory) LinkedIn Ads - https://linkedin.com/scottclary  Cohesity - https://www.cohesity.com/datacloud  Whatnot - https://www.whatnot.com/ Monarch - https://www.monarch.com/ (Code: success) Cash App - https://cash.app/ (Code: cashapp10) MyFitnessPal - https://podcasts.myfitnesspal.com (Code: SCOTT) Plaud - https://plaud.ai/success (Code: success) Odoo - https://www.odoo.com  ➡️ Talking Points 00:00 – Intro   02:21 – The Age of Intelligence Needs Human Connection   10:22 – Why Online Communities Don’t Create Real Connection   16:42 – Is AI Fueling a Loneliness Epidemic?   19:08 – Sponsor Break   23:37 – How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Addicted to Screens   33:55 – Why Nextdoor Chose Trust Over Growth   38:27 – The 20–60–20 Rule for Using AI   44:02 – How to Balance Trust, Privacy, and Growth   50:06 – Sponsor Break   53:25 – Building a Company That Can Survive AI   1:01:30 – Why Leaving Nextdoor Was So Hard   1:13:58 – The #1 Lesson for Every Founder   1:15:07 – Nirav’s Advice to His 20-Year-Old Self