Zach Braff on how one podcast led to 'Alex, Inc.' and a media empire

NEW YORK -- Alex, Inc. is about more than just podcasting, it's about one man's quest to chase after the American dream.

Zach Braff says he became enamored with the podcast StartUp by Alex Blumberg.

"I couldn't stop listening to it," Braff said, "I was binging, binge-listening this podcast."

So Braff and a friend created a family sitcom around Blumberg's real-life experience of quitting his job and creating a podcast while managing his home life with his wife and children.

In the premiere, you see Alex Schuman make a disastrous business pitch to Chris Sacca - and that really happened!

"His concept was good because, spoiler alert, in real life the company became really, really successful. It became Gimlet Media, which is one of the biggest podcast companies there is," Braff said.

Braff added that Blumberg's story reminded him of the families he so often sees go onto Shark Tank to pitch their products and he just "really liked it a lot."

The show features a bi-racial family which made the parts of the children very hard to cast, according to Braff. "They had to be really good actors and believably be our children."

On tonight's episode, Alex has to manage his work relationship with his cousin Eddie who starts to go rogue, while his wife Rooni (Tiya Sircar) deals with a crazy field trip experience with their daughter.

Don't miss Alex, Inc. Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET| 7:30 p.m. CT on ABC.