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How I Built This with Guy Raz
<p>Guy Raz interviews the world’s best-known entrepreneurs to learn how they built their iconic brands. In each episode, founders reveal deep, intimate moments of doubt and failure, and share insights on their eventual success. <em>How I Built This </em>is a master-class on innovation, creativity, leadership and how to navigate challenges of all kinds.</p><p>New episodes release on Mondays and Thursdays. Listen to How I Built This on the Wondery App or wherever you listen to your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/wondery.com/links/how-i-built-this__;!!Iwwt!TPYC72r8s6g5pqTAymU1ff7EC87P552W_4_wwb1hYkwqLWwoiq0XxR27x2hcIAdeJRTr8YNlIUrHpA$" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wondery.com/links/how-i-built-this</a> now. </p><p>Get your How I Built This merch at <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/wonderyshop.com/HowIBuiltThis__;!!Iwwt!TPYC72r8s6g5pqTAymU1ff7EC87P552W_4_wwb1hYkwqLWwoiq0XxR27x2hcIAdeJRTr8YPBl1-VVw$" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">WonderyShop.com/HowIBuiltThis</a>.</p>
All 40 notes
Advice Line with Shazi Visram of Happy Family Organics
Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Guy Raz interviews Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop, the make-your-own stuffed animal retail chain. Clark previously served as president of Payless Shoes, a $4.5 billion division of May …
Advice Line with Christina Tosi of Milk Bar
Guy Raz hosts the Advice Line with Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar, who stepped down as CEO to focus on creative development from her Nashville garage kitchen. Tosi built Milk Bar from a 2008 bake…
Advice Line with Sarah LaFleur of M.M. LaFleur
Sarah LaFleur, founder and CEO of MM LaFleur, joins Guy Raz to help solve business challenges from three entrepreneurs. LaFleur built her women's professional clothing brand starting in 2011 after exp…
NVIDIA: Jensen Huang. From near collapse to becoming the world’s biggest company
Jensen Wong, co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA, sits down with Guy Roz to discuss how a graphics chip company for gamers became the world's most valuable company and the cornerstone of the AI revolution. W…
Advice Line: New Offerings, Bigger Markets
Guy Raz hosts this advice line mashup featuring three returning guests: Che Wang (Boxed founder), Hernan Lopez (Wondery founder), and David Nealeman (JetBlue founder among five airlines). Each guest c…
Room & Board: John Gabbert. A Broken Deal, a Family Rift, and the Birth of a Furniture Giant
John Gabbert, founder of Room and Board, left his family's traditional furniture business Gabberts to create a modern American-made furniture brand inspired by IKEA's vertical integration model. Born …
Advice Line with Jonah Peretti of Buzzfeed
Guy Raz hosts the advice line with Jonah Peretti, founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, who originally appeared on the show in 2017. Peretti started BuzzFeed in 2006 and also co-founded HuffPost, which BuzzFee…
Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company
Greg Renfrew is the founder and CEO of Beauty Counter (now Counter), who built a clean beauty empire to nearly $400 million in annual sales before losing control to private equity, then buying it back…
Advice Line with David Neeleman of JetBlue
Guy Raz hosts the How I Built This advice line with David Nealman, founder of five airlines including JetBlue (founded 1998), Azul (South America's largest), and current CEO of Breeze Airways (launche…
Shep and Ian Murray: Vineyard Vines. A Stale Product Transforms into a Lifestyle Brand.
Shep and Ian Murray are the co-founders and co-CEOs of Vineyard Vines, the lifestyle brand built around New England summer culture. Both brothers started their careers in Manhattan - Shep at advertisi…
Advice Line with Eric Ryan of Method returns
Guy Raz hosts the How I Built This Advice Line with returning guest Eric Ryan, serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Method, Ollie, Welly, and other consumer brands. Eric recently transitioned from en…
Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed
Guy Raz hosts the advice line with returning guest Che Wang, co-founder of Boxed, the online bulk retailer that went public in 2021 before filing for bankruptcy in 2023. Wang now runs Pelgo, an AI-foc…
iRobot: Colin Angle. How The Roomba Became a Household Icon
Colin Angle co-founded iRobot in 1990 alongside MIT professor Rodney Brooks and fellow student Helen Grainer, launching from a robotics lab with no clear business model or capital. The company survive…
Advice Line with Steve Ells of Chipotle
Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle, joins Guy Roz to advise entrepreneurs facing business challenges. Ells previously appeared on the show in 2017 to share Chipotle's origin story and returned in 2023 to…
Wingstop: Antonio Swad. A Brilliant Idea — And a Nail-Biting Exit
Antonio Swad grew up in working-class Columbus, Ohio in the 1960s-70s with a truck driver father and waitress mother. After high school, he worked at Ponderosa Steakhouse and Smuggler's Inn before mov…
Advice Line with Angie & Dan Bastian of Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP
Guy Raz hosts the advice line with Angie and Dan Bastion, co-founders of Angie's Boom Chickapop Popcorn, who built a multi-million dollar business from a kettle corn side hustle starting in 2010. Thre…
diapers.com: Marc Lore. The ecommerce visionary who lost to Amazon but still made billions (2021)
Mark Lori is the serial entrepreneur behind Diapers.com and Jet.com, two major e-commerce ventures that directly challenged Amazon's dominance. A former derivatives trader at Bankers Trust who became …
Advice Line with Marcia Kilgore of Beauty Pie (June 2025)
This Advice Line episode features serial entrepreneur Marcia Kilgore, founder of Beauty Pie, Bliss, Soap and Glory, and FitFlop, advising three early-stage founders. Marcia brings expertise in beauty …
Vital Farms: Matt O’Hayer. How a serial entrepreneur re-branded the egg
Matt O'Hare, founder of Vital Farms, joins Guy Raz to discuss building a nearly $1 billion egg company from a scrubby Texas farm. O'Hare's journey spans multiple entrepreneurial ventures including car…
Advice Line: What’s Your Value?
This special mashup episode of the Advice Line features Guy Raz helping three entrepreneurs with positioning and growth challenges, joined by four former How I Built This guests: Miguel McKelvey (WeWo…
Scrub Daddy: Aaron Krause. How a Failed Experiment Became a Billion-Dollar Sponge
Aaron Krauss, founder and CEO of Scrub Daddy, joins Guy Raz to share how a failed hand scrubber for auto mechanics became one of the most successful Shark Tank products ever. Aaron started as a car de…
Advice Line with Hernan Lopez of Wondery
Guy Raz hosts the advice line with Hernan Lopez, co-founder of podcast network Wondery, which was acquired by Amazon. Lopez recently concluded a six-year legal battle where he was falsely accused of b…
Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business
Beryl Stafford, founder of Bobo's Oat Bars, shares her journey from divorced single mom to building a $100+ million natural foods brand. At age 40, with no business experience and needing to support h…
Advice Line with Miguel McKelvey of WeWork
Miguel McKelvey, co-founder of WeWork, joins Guy Raz to provide advice to entrepreneurs facing growth and marketing challenges. McKelvey co-founded WeWork with Adam Neumann in 2007, growing it to a $4…
Kettle Chips: Cameron Healy. The Wild Bet That Made a Brand
Cameron Healy, founder of Kettle Foods and co-founder of Kona Brewing Company, built a $300 million potato chip empire through unconventional geographic expansion and entrepreneurial intuition. Starti…
Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post
This episode features Alexa Hirschfeld, co-founder of Paperless Post, the online invitation company that has sent hundreds of millions of invitations over nearly 20 years. Alexa discusses how AI can a…
Square: Jim McKelvey. He Lost a $2,000 Sale, Then Built a $10 Billion Company
Jim McKelvey, co-founder of Square and author of The Debugger's Handbook, joins Guy Raz to discuss how a failed glass art sale led to revolutionizing credit card payments. McKelvey, a former glassblow…
Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps
Guy Raz hosts the Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali, co-founders of grass-fed meat stick brand Chomps. The duo previously appeared on How I Built This in 2023, sharing their journey from …
Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M
John Osher is a serial entrepreneur who sold three companies to major corporations, culminating in the $475 million sale of Spin Brush to Procter & Gamble in 2001. Born in Cincinnati in the mid-1940s …
Advice Line with Julia Hartz of Eventbrite
This episode features Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite, the ticketing and events platform that competed against giants like Ticketmaster. Julia recently announced Eventbrite's acquisition…
Netflix: Reed Hastings. “We’re Not a Family.” The Provocative Idea That Helped Build a Streaming Giant
Reed Hastings, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, built a company that transformed home entertainment from a DVD-by-mail service starting in 1997 to a global streaming giant. Before Netflix, Reed f…
Advice Line with Jon Stein of Betterment
This episode features John Stein, founder and chairman of Betterment, the pioneering robo-advisor platform that manages over $60 billion in assets for more than one million Americans. Stein left his C…
HOKA: Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolas Mermoud. The “Clown Shoe” That Became a $2B Bonanza
This episode features Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolai Mermoux, co-founders of Hoka, the revolutionary running shoe brand known for its ultra-cushioning technology and distinctive rocker system. The convers…
Advice Line with Serial Entrepreneur Mark Cuban
This episode features serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban, best known for his early software and streaming companies, ownership of the Dallas Mavericks, and role on Shark Tank. Cuban now runs Cost Plus Dru…
Taylor Guitars: Kurt Listug and Bob Taylor. From $3,700 Shop to Global Icon
Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug co-founded Taylor Guitars in 1974 after buying a struggling guitar repair shop in San Diego for $3,700. Bob, 18, was the guitar maker who had developed innovative thin-neck …
Advice Line with Monica Nassif of Mrs. Meyers
Guy Raz hosts the advice line with Monica Nassif, founder of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day cleaning products. Monica built her brand after an epiphany in Target, launching Caldrea in 2000, then creating Mrs.…
Gymboree: Joan Barnes. How Building a Beloved Brand Nearly Destroyed Its Founder
Joan Barnes founded Jimboree, transforming a simple playgroup concept into a national franchise phenomenon that defined childhood experiences in the 1980s and 90s. Starting as a young mother seeking c…
La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti. A Brotherhood Built on Coffee (2020)
Todd Carmichael and Jean-Philippe Iberti are the co-founders of La Colombe Coffee Roasters, one of the pioneering companies in America's third wave coffee movement alongside Intelligentsia and Counter…
Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon (December 2024)
Guy Raz hosts the advice line with Jack Conti, co-founder and CEO of Patreon, the content creator platform that supports over 250,000 creators and has generated billions in revenue for them. Conti, or…
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