How I Built This with Guy Raz
About this creator
How I Built This with Guy Raz shares founder stories, company-building lessons, and practical insights from entrepreneurs behind iconic businesses.
Why they're in the library
Included for practical lessons from founder stories, company-building decisions, and candid reflections from entrepreneurs behind iconic businesses.
Showing 222 digests for How I Built This with Guy Raz.
Jamie Siminoff of Ring gives advice to three early-stage founders
How I Built This with Guy Raz
August 21, 2025
Niche selection
8
MVP & prototyping
7
Growth hacking
6
- Why a product that does everything is hard to sell to anyone
- Pricing premium ethical chocolate: start high, earn the brand
- Entrepreneurship is a dark tunnel — you rarely see the full light
Founder interviews
Podcast
Madison Reed: building a hair color brand from scratch at 56
How I Built This with Guy Raz
August 18, 2025
Founder interviews
10
MVP & prototyping
8
Branding
6
- Starting a venture-backed consumer brand at 56 with a clear edge
- Why free trial (Groupon) failed but paid customers stayed forever
- Four co-founders became zero — the cost of hiring for liking
Founder interviews
Podcast
Daniel Humm on reversing Eleven Madison Park's plant-based experiment
How I Built This with Guy Raz
August 13, 2025
Founder interviews
9
Pivoting
8
Iteration & feedback loops
5
- Why the world's best restaurant went fully plant-based — and nearly broke
- First plant-based restaurant to earn three Michelin stars, then pivoted again
- Strict creative constraints built a new culinary language that outlasts the experiment
Founder interviews
Podcast
How Crumbl cookies scaled to 1,000 stores in eight years
How I Built This with Guy Raz
August 11, 2025
Founder interviews
10
Business models
7
Social media
7
- A/B testing cookie recipes like a tech product unlocked rapid scale
- Weekly rotating menu with Sunday drops engineered viral FOMO
- Zero outside investors until $1B revenue — franchising funded everything
Founder interviews
Podcast
Mei Xu on co-founders, channels, and breaking into institutions
How I Built This with Guy Raz
August 7, 2025
Founder interviews
9
Hiring & recruitment
8
Business models
7
- A co-founder search may be solving the wrong problem entirely.
- No single sales channel is enough — meet customers everywhere they shop.
- Free-lesson freemium can't crack school district RFP bureaucracy alone.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Simon Cowell: from mailroom hustler to global music mogul
How I Built This with Guy Raz
August 4, 2025
Founder interviews
10
Business models
7
- Why blunt honesty early in a career beats false encouragement
- How Power Rangers and wrestling records funded a comeback
- One near-miss with the Spice Girls, one accidental TV empire
Founder advice on pricing, distribution, and brand naming for early-stage businesses
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 31, 2025
Pricing strategy
8
Niche selection
7
Growth hacking
7
- Grandparents, not moms, are the real buyer for kids' products
- Low prices kill your marketing budget before you start
- Raise money from banks first — investors take your business when it rains
Founder interviews
Podcast
From crack addiction and food trucks to $300M taco empire: Mike Rypka of Torchy's
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 28, 2025
Founder interviews
10
Resilience & grit
7
Processes & SOPs
6
- Sober at 15 after crack, car theft, and $40K in spent savings bonds
- No paycheck for two years; a landlord cut power mid-lunch with bolt cutters
- Private equity grew the brand too corporate — Mike came back and cut it back
Advice line: scaling, influencers, and brand-building for early-stage founders
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 24, 2025
Branding
9
Niche selection
8
Resilience & grit
6
- The cheap digital ad era is over — earned media wins now.
- Pilot nearby markets before scaling; protect brand experience first.
- Advisory shares beat transactional influencer deals every time.
Founder interviews
Podcast
How Will Ahmed built Whoop by obsessing over recovery, not steps
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 21, 2025
Founder interviews
10
MVP & prototyping
7
Niche selection
6
- Measuring recovery — not steps — is the real competitive edge in wearables.
- Getting elite athletes to wear your product beats any ad budget.
- Subscription over hardware sales saved the company when nothing else could.
Justin McLeod of Hinge on market expansion, word of mouth, and brand storytelling
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 17, 2025
Growth hacking
9
Branding
7
Niche selection
6
- Why organic growth never auto-replicates in new markets
- Design specific moments that make customers talk about you
- Your in-person hook must be visible in seconds online
How Hamdi Ulukaya built Chobani from nothing into America's top Greek yogurt brand
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 14, 2025
Case studies
10
Business models
7
Bootstrapping
6
- Kraft abandoned the factory Hamdi bought for $700k and turned profitable.
- Zero outside investors — Chobani hit $1B in revenue funded entirely by sales.
- One night away from bankruptcy before a bank call saved the company.
Norma Kamali's advice on brand story, customer growth, and investor pitching
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 10, 2025
Branding
9
Pitching investors
8
Niche selection
6
- Sharpen your brand story before opening more locations or raising money.
- Bone broth in a coffee cup could make soup a grab-and-go habit.
- Wholesale distribution kills margins — find a strategic investor, not just cash.
Founder interviews
Podcast
Rick Steves: building a $100 million travel brand by giving everything away
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 7, 2025
Founder interviews
10
Business models
9
Content marketing
7
- Free TV and content is the entire advertising budget — tours pay the bills
- Growth without strategy: a volcano, not a plan, built $100M
- Giving away secrets makes people more likely to buy, not less
Jim Koch on brand story, capital discipline, and premium pricing
How I Built This with Guy Raz
July 3, 2025
Niche selection
9
Branding
8
Pricing strategy
8
- Find 100 true believers first — volume follows their evangelism
- Early investor money is the most expensive capital you can take
- Lead with your price premium — hiding it repels the wrong customers