# Building Zipline: From launch disaster to drone-delivery giant | Keller Cliffton (Co-founder, CEO)

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680/building-zipline-from-launch-disaster-to-drone-delivery-giant-keller-cliffton-co-founder-ceo
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680/building-zipline-from-launch-disaster-to-drone-delivery-giant-keller-cliffton-co-founder-ceo.md
Podcast: [In Depth](https://stenobird.com/podcast/in-depth-1318680)
Published: 2026-03-12T16:16:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/FRCH2496821484.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/FRCH2496821484.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/in-depth-1318680/episodes/building-zipline-from-launch-disaster-to-drone-delivery-giant-keller-cliffton-co-founder-ceo
Duration seconds: 4250

## Resource

Keller Cliffton is the co-founder and CEO of Zipline, the world's largest commercial autonomous delivery system, which today serves 5,000 hospitals across multiple countries and saves an estimated 17,000 lives per year. In this episode, Keller breaks down his extreme hiring philosophy that has powered Zipline for over a decade. He also walks through Zipline’s full origin story: from a near-dead home robot startup to a scrappy bet on drone blood delivery in Rwanda, to 135 million autonomous miles flown. In today's episode, we discuss: Why Zipline hires teenagers over PhDs Why the best startup employees are "heat-seeking missiles for pain" The 5 leadership attributes Zipline has never shared publicly The brutal firing advice that shaped Keller’s leadership How Rwanda’s health minister changed Zipline’s trajectory References: Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com Alfred Lin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linalfred/ Amazon: https://www.amazon.com Apple: https://www.apple.com Brian Chesky: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/ Cleveland Clinic: https://my.clevelandclinic.org Netflix: https://www.netflix.com Paul Kagame: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkagame/ Reflect Orbital: https://www.reflectorbital.com Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacapital.com SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com Sphero: https://www.sphero.com Tesla: https://www.tesla.com University of Washington: https://www.washington.edu Walmart: https://www.walmart.com Zipline: https://www.zipline.com Where to find Keller: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellerrc/ Twitter/X: https://x.com/Keller Where to find Brett: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/brettberson Where to find First Round Capital: Website: https://firstround.com/ First Round Review: https://revi…

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