his is a big moment for us. The premiere of Small Empires with Alexis Ohanian. It's a new weekly show that visits rising New York City startups and provides never-before-seen access to the men and women building our future. This week? We visit ZocDoc. The company was founded in April 2007 to support the health care industry — to make it as easy to schedule a doctor's appointment as, say, ordering a pizza. Host: Alexis Ohanian Senior Producer: Stephen Greenwood Executive Producers: Joshua Topolsky, Chad Mumm, Kyle Kramer Directed by: Billy Disney, Jordan Oplinger Associate Producer: Adam Scigliano Edited By: Billy Disney Additional Editing: Jordan Oplinger Camera Operators: Stephen Greenwood, Billy Disney, Jordan Oplinger Editorial Publish Lead: Ross Miller Publishing Assistant: Evan Rodgers Audio Engineer: Jose Ochoa Audio Mixing: John Lagomarsino Production Assistant: Cosmo Scharf Branding: Cory Schmidt Rights & Clearances: Samantha Mason Featuring: Cyrus Massoumi, Dr. Kamal Ramani, Matthew Murchison, Katie Ghelli Special Thanks To: Jessica Aptman, Marty Moe, Jim Bankoff

Rap Genius (née Rap Exegesis) began as a quest to understand Cam'ron lyrics. It has since blossomed from a destination for understanding and critiquing rap lyrics to an annotation-fueled machine with a quest to "explain everything" — including current events, terms of service agreements, and poetry. Small Empires is our new weekly show that visits rising New York City startups and provides never-before-seen access to the men and women building our future. Join Alexis Ohanian as he takes a look behind the curtain at the company's Brooklyn-based headquarters and later visits poet Joshua Mehigan about his experience as a "verified" user.

Gaming is addictive. Working out? Not so much. Cue Fitocracy. It's the product of two people unhappy with their own body image, trying to figure out some way to motivate themselves getting in shape, and putting those efforts into a company. Small Empires is our new weekly show that visits rising New York City startups and provides never-before-seen access to the men and women building our future. Join Alexis Ohanian as he talks to cofounders Brian Wang and Richard Talens at their office near Union Square - and later gets trained by a Fitocracy user.

Discover, rent, maybe purchase. It's a business model we've seen in various forms for video, audio, and even games. But what about one of the most timeless creative endeavors — art? Small Empires is our new weekly show that visits rising New York City startups and provides never-before-seen access to the men and women building our future. Join Alexis Ohanian as he talks to cofounders Alex Tryon (formerly of American Express) and Scott Carleton (formerly a nuclear engineer), as well as Brooklyn-based artist Dan Bina.

"A company within a company." That's the story of Shapeways, a startup that began in an incubator within Dutch conglomerate, Philips. And Shapeways itself is something of an incubator — a 3D-printing marketplace that allows for others to make a business out of their work.

Small Empires is back! Join Alexis Ohanian as we give you a never-before-seen look at the world of New York startups. This week, we check out OkCupid, the dating site with a propensity for data research. Alexis sits with Christian Rudder about how he and the SparkNotes founders went from study guides to an online dating network — and from there, how the startup functions after being purchased by Match.com owners IAC. Next week? A software company that's helping you make better sketches — online and off.

Small Empires turns a new page and takes a look inside the colorful world of FiftyThree, makers of the hit app Paper. Founded by a group of ex-Microsoft Research veterans that worked on the secretive Courier project, FiftyThree develops design-minded software that aims to help regular humans communicate their ideas effectively and beautifully. In this episode, meet the minds behind FiftyThree and an educator that is using Paper to both present ideas and encourage students to develop theirs, through the art of digital drawing.

For small business owners and entrepreneurs, finding factories and sourcing facilities is not a trivial task. People bringing products to life have to pay substantial directory fees or know someone in the industry. Enter Maker's Row: a new approach to cataloging, organizing and representing the best American manufacturers so designers & entrepreneurs can go from concept to prototype without going overseas or over budget.

Hiring a private chef is typically considered a luxury reserved for only the wealthy, but one Brooklyn startup aims to change that. Headquartered in Gowanus, Kitchensurfing is opening the private cheffing industry to the masses by creating a new platform for undiscovered chefs to build up their own personal brands and enrich the diets of their customers. Whether users are looking to learn how to prepare new styles of cuisine, host a party with friends, cater an event, or simply eat differently in their own homes, Kitchensurfing is connecting people with better food.

Making a website is hard. Making one that supports a business is even harder. When Anthony Casalena started Squarespace in early 2004, these were some of the problems he endeavored to solve. After 10 years of development, Casalena and the Squarespace team have perfected the art of designing within constraints, and they've fostered a growing enterprise by applying that principle to the businesses and passion projects of their customers. In this episode of Small Empires, see how Squarespace made the jump from solo founder to startup success and how the company continues to push the boundaries of online entrepreneurship both for itself and its customers.