Stay ConnectedGuy 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. How I Built This is a master-class on innovation, creativity, leadership and how to navigate challenges of all kinds.
New episodes release on Mondays and Thursdays.
In 1970, George Zimmer was a college graduate with no real job prospects and little direction. That's when his father, an executive at a boy's clothing company, asked him to go on an important business trip to Asia. It was that trip that propelled him into the world of men's apparel. In 1973, the first Men's Wearhouse opened in Houston with little fanfare, but by the mid-80s, George Zimmer managed to carve out a distinct niche in the market—a place where men could buy a good quality suit, at "everyday low prices," along with all the shirts, ties, socks, and shoes they need.
With George as the face of the brand, Men's Wearhouse became a multi-billion dollar empire with hundreds of stores across the U.S. But then, in 2013, a bitter battle forced him to give it all up.
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Pierre Thiam was robbed within days of arriving in New York City. It was 1989, and he had just traveled to the U.S. from Senegal to study chemistry and physics. This chance incident, however, set Pierre’s life on an entirely different course. Today, he’s a renowned chef, restaurant owner, cookbook author, and co-founder of Yolélé – a company working to introduce the world to an ancient West African grain called fonio.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Pierre talks with Guy about his company’s work to circulate this nutrient-dense and drought-resistant food source. Pierre also shares how he overcame cultural norms to embrace his cooking career, and his take on the connection between colonization and the vulnerability of our global food systems.
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As a girl in 1970s London, Jo Malone learned how to make face creams by going to work with her mom at a private skin care clinic. By the time she was in her 20's, Jo was running her own skin care and cosmetics business, which eventually grew to include bath oils, scented candles, and fragrances under the brand Jo Malone London. Jo sold the brand to Estée Lauder in 1999 and then left the business after a life-changing diagnosis. She now has a fragrance company called Jo Loves, where she innovates with new kinds of scents and explores new ways to present them.
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Growing up, Andrew Rea dreamed of becoming a Hollywood filmmaker. But the special effects production job he landed after college left him feeling…uninspired. After a series of creative defeats and mounting relationship troubles, his therapist suggested he find a new creative outlet. Andrew decided to make a short cooking video inspired by an episode of Parks and Recreation and uploaded it to YouTube...
This week on How I Built This Lab, Guy asks Andrew about his journey from TV and movie buff to YouTube cooking sensation. His channel, Babish Culinary Universe now has nearly 10 million subscribers. Plus, Andrew candidly shares how his struggles with mental health have shaped his career.
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In 2003, David Baszucki wanted to go viral. He had already sold a company that made educational software, and now he wanted to build something with mass appeal; with build-your-own avatars and myriad opportunities for users to compete and connect online. So in 2006, he and his co-founder Erik Cassel launched Roblox, a platform where you can play millions of different games, set in a wide array of virtual worlds.
You can adopt a pet, escape from jail, build and run your own restaurant, or solve a murder mystery; you can even create games of your own. During the start of the pandemic in 2020, half of the kids in the US were keeping in touch via Roblox, and today, the company is worth over 28 billion dollars.
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In 2014, friends Polina Veksler and Alex Waldman went clothes shopping at a major department store. To Polina’s surprise, Alex’s options were quite limited, and tucked away in one of the store’s less-traveled upper levels: the ‘plus-size’ section.
This unnerving realization that women could have such completely different shopping experiences at the same store drove Polina into research mode. She found that about 70% of women in the U.S. wear a size 14 or larger, but less than 20% of clothing is made in those sizes. Meanwhile, much of the double-digit-sized clothing available is fast fashion: not particularly well-fitting or built to last.
Alex and Polina decided to create Universal Standard: a clothing brand where size was irrelevant – where any woman could shop and ask herself, “do I like this?” – not “does this come in my size?”
This week on How I Built This Lab, Guy and Polina discuss the $100 billion opportunity to serve women of all sizes, as well as the challenges that come with building a size inclusive clothing brand.
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When Saeju Jeong moved from South Korea to the U.S. in his mid-20's, he barely knew anyone, didn't speak much English, and had only $5,000 in savings. Today, he's the CEO of Noom, one of the most popular weight loss/wellness apps in the U.S. Inspired by his late father—a doctor who criticized the profession for treating people only after they got sick—Saeju and his co-founder built their first fitness product in 2007. Several pivots later, they arrived at Noom, an app that carefully tracks what you eat, how you sleep and when you're stressed out. Noom has hinted it may go public this year—if so, the valuation could be as high as $10 billion.
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Growing up in Colombia, Carlos Araque and his father liked to take apart bicycles and motorcycles then put them back together. This love of tinkering led Carlos to study engineering at MIT and eventually launch a career in the oil and gas industry. After 15 years of this work, Carlos realized he was uniquely suited to be a part of the global energy transition away from fossil fuels. He returned to his alma mater to help run a startup accelerator, and soon, Quaise Energy was born.
This week on How I Built This Lab, Carlos shares how his company plans to drill the deepest holes ever to unlock the nearly limitless potential of geothermal energy. Carlos explains why he sees such promise with this energy source and how he spread his optimism to investors to raise more than $70 million and counting.
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Sam and Mariah Calagione started dating in high school, and have been on a wild ride ever since. Their biggest, craziest adventure? Founding Dogfish Head Brewery and forever changing the landscape of American craft beer. From the moment Sam started home-brewing in his NYC apartment, he infused his beer with unusual ingredients like cherries, maple syrup, roasted chicory, and licorice. When he and Mariah officially launched Dogfish Head in 1995, it was the smallest brewery in America’s smallest state. 24 years (and countless pints) later, it was acquired by the Boston Beer Company for $300 million. Along the way, Sam and Mariah had one random experience after another: writing a bill to legalize their own brew-pub, winning best recipe at the Delaware Punkin Chunkin, and inviting Ricki Lake to their first tasting at Sam's apartment (spoiler alert: she showed up).
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It wasn’t unusual for David Kelley to take calls from Steve Jobs in the middle of the night. This came with the territory, as David worked on designing dozens of products for Apple over the years – including their first computer mouse back in 1980.
Since then, David and his firm, IDEO, have helped all sorts of companies design new products. David also led the founding of Stanford’s d.school, where students learn to use design principles to solve complex problems.
This week on How I Built This Lab, David shares stories from some of the most notable projects of his career. He discusses how diverse perspectives and backgrounds help teams generate new ideas, and explains how organizations can use design thinking to transform culture and foster innovation.
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