BusinessHow I Built This
FIGS co-founders Heather Hasson and Trina Spear share how they transformed medical apparel from uncomfortable, baggy uniforms into a multi-billion-dollar direct-to-consumer brand. They discuss selling scrubs out of a ca…
- In 2015, Vancouver-based Campfire Capital invested in FIGS and later attempted to remove co-founders Heather Hasson and Trina Spear from executive leadership. Read →
- Heather Hasson and Trina Spear pitched between 300 and 400 venture capitalists before finding investors who understood medical apparel. Read →
- Hasson first recognized the psychological weight of clothing while watching students in Kenya build confidence simply by wearing clean school uniforms. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Guy Raz and Insomnia Cookies founder Seth Berkowitz advise three business owners facing critical growth inflection points, covering inventory rationalization, overcoming product education barriers, and marketing when pu…
- Seth Berkowitz built Insomnia Cookies toward a target of 1,800 company-owned locations by rejecting franchising and waiting for proven demand before signing leases. Read →
- Tara Gillman founded Sauna Société to sell wool sauna hats rooted in Finnish and Russian banya traditions, but struggled with an online customer education barrier. Read →
- Kahindo Mateene watched annual revenue crash from $268,000 in 2023 to $50,000 after wholesale cancellations from accounts like Anthropologie, Nuuly, and Shopbop. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Loren Castle shares how surviving cancer at 22 inspired her to create clean-ingredient cookie dough and build Sweet Loren's into a major refrigerated dough brand. After years of slow regional growth and $350,000 in annu…
- Castle won her first Whole Foods purchase order at Columbus Circle without packaged dough or an active manufacturing plant. Read →
- Working the counter at Levain Bakery proved to Loren Castle that cookies, not artisan breads or brioche, generated the highest volume and profit margins. Read →
- Sweet Loren's was stuck at $350,000 in annual sales across regional accounts before customer emails revealed unaddressed demand for nut-free and allergen-free dough. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
SmartSweets founder Tara Bosch joins Guy Raz on the Advice Line to counsel early-stage entrepreneurs on scaling their ventures. The hosts advise Lindzi Shanks on moving gourmet marshmallow brand XO Marshmallow into groc…
- Lindzi Shanks discovered through customer interviews that XO Marshmallow buyers actively reject protein and fiber additions; they want clean sweetness, not functional supplements… Read →
- Lindzi Shanks built XO Marshmallow to nearly $5 million in direct-to-consumer sales over ten years before deciding to expand into physical grocery stores. Read →
- Ali Aguilar, founder of Romanticize Collective, faced an operational crossroads: continue spending capital to market monthly physical boxes or transition the brand into offline co… Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Tim and Karrie League discuss the founding and growth of Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, starting from a failed arthouse movie theater in Bakersfield to renovating an Austin parking garage into an iconic dinner-and-a-movie des…
- Alamo Drafthouse expanded across more than 40 locations with heavy commercial leases and debt, leaving zero margin when theaters closed in March 2020. Read →
- In 2004, Tim and Karrie League sold Alamo Drafthouse franchising rights to John Martin and Dave Kennedy while keeping Austin creative control. Read →
- Tim and Karrie League raised roughly $250,000 through family loans, personal credit cards, and a bank loan to secure a second-floor downtown Austin parking garage. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Guy Raz and Thrive Market co-founder Nick Green take calls from early-stage founders facing critical growth crossroads. They advise Mercedes Smith of Black Strad Concert Attire on balancing product perfection with manuf…
- Nick Green faced skepticism from early investors who assumed ethical standards and business growth were a zero-sum trade-off. Read →
- Early ignorance protects momentum: Nick Green notes that if founders knew every coming catastrophe across a 12-year run, they would never start. Read →
- Mercedes Smith delayed product restocks at Black Strad Concert Attire because constant pattern tweaks created inventory bottlenecks. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
In this special 10th anniversary episode, host Guy Raz and Ring founder Jamie Siminoff reflect on a decade of interviewing over 600 entrepreneurs on How I Built This. They revisit defining clips and timeless lessons on…
- Tom Campion built Zumiez on the belief that luck plays almost no role, arguing success comes entirely from measured discipline and relentless work ethic. Read →
- Banana Republic co-founder Mel Ziegler once veered into oncoming traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge after working three straight days without sleep to print a catalog. Read →
- Jim Koch left a secure consulting role at Boston Consulting Group to build Boston Beer Company after realizing his comfortable job was an existential hazard. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
On this Advice Line episode, Boll & Branch co-founder Scott Tannen and Ring founder Jamie Siminoff join Guy Raz to answer business challenges from early-stage founders. They offer tactical guidance on bootstrapping vers…
- When you accept $1 million from an investor, you take on an obligation to return $5 million to $10 million in value. Read →
- Customer education is a silent killer for early-stage margins. If you must explain why your category exists before you can pitch your product, your unit economics will collapse un… Read →
- Scott Tannen explains that young brands should not just define their own category; they must actively de-position incumbent products by making legacy traits look outdated. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender recount the rise, near-collapse, and bitter co-founder split of eco-friendly brand Seventh Generation. Speaking together for the first time in decades, they explore progressive company…
- Alan Newman founded Magic Hat Brewing in Vermont after leaving Seventh Generation, carrying forward hard lessons about premature expansion. Read →
- Growth will not protect you: Seventh Generation reached $150 million in revenue and 50% year-over-year growth right before Jeffrey Hollender was fired. Read →
- Seventh Generation launched its bathroom tissue with a Wisconsin mill that thought the founders were out of their minds for selling scratchy, unbleached, 100% recycled paper. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Restaurateur Danny Meyer joins Guy Raz on the Advice Line to share management insights from his book What Could Possibly Go Right? and advise early-stage founders. Together, they coach founders of a canned bourbon cockt…
- Bar Bruhis sought to scale Booskous, a high-protein chickpea and lentil couscous, by pitching fast-casual chains like Cava and Sweetgreen. Read →
- Danny Meyer opened Union Square Cafe at age 27 in 1985 and thought his career was finished when Black Monday struck markets two years later in October 1987. Read →
- Calling your startup team a "family" backfires because you cannot fire a family member without triggering workplace grief. Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Guy Raz is joined by Kip Tindell, co-founder and former CEO of The Container Store, to take questions from early-stage entrepreneurs. They share tactical advice on zero-budget marketing for novel products, scaling B2B w…
- Kip Tindell deliberately capped The Container Store's annual revenue growth at 20% for decades to prevent operational strain. Read →
- David Hyam saw wholesale revenue pass 50% of total sales at Hazel Grove Customs because bulk orders remove the fulfillment drag of shipping individual $6 or $7 retail items. Read →
- Kaitlyn Kael generated $635,000 in revenue in eight months for Kaomi Sleep on zero outside capital, using a pre-order model fueled by 197 million organic social views for The Sher… Read →
BusinessHow I Built This
Kim Vaccarella shares how observing her children's Crocs at the Jersey Shore inspired her to design a durable, washable EVA foam tote called Bogg Bag. Despite early manufacturing catastrophes, personal financial devasta…
- Kim Vaccarella funded her initial production run with a $120,000 check for 25% equity from a colleague's spouse. Read →
- Kim Vaccarella put $30,000, her family savings and her kids' college fund, into an initial run of 1,200 Bogg Bags that arrived ruined with black streaks. Read →
- Bogg Bag generated $50 million in 2023 with five full-time staff and warehouse workers, none of whom had prior retail or corporate backgrounds. Read →