I’m late to the game, but I can’t stop binge-listening to the podcast “How I Built This with Guy Raz.” In each episode, Raz interviews the founder(s) of a well-known global company, “weav[ing] a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built,” per NPR.org.

source: NPR.org

The podcast has 16K ratings, averaging 5 stars, on Apple’s podcast app; listen once and you’ll likely understand why. I’ve listened to about a dozen episodes now and wanted to document my takeaways, if nothing else, for my own benefit through my career-seeking journey. If you haven’t listened, below is a sneak peek of the themes of the podcast; if you have, let me know if you too came away with these lessons!

Your decisions, life events, experiences, and career moves have all built upon each other and directly contributed to the creation and success of your business. 

• Alli Webb, the founder of Drybar, says “Everything I had done, I always felt like… everything led me to this moment in my life. I felt like I had what I needed to have to run these stores…” There are currently 92 Drybar locations in operation nationally since opening in 2010. As of 2018, the company is reported to have revenue of $100M.
• WeWork co-founder Miguel McKelvey echoes the sentiment. McKelvey joined an architecture firm in New York City, which soon after won a contract with American Apparel to open retail stores. The firm went on to open 200+ stores with the company over four years. Raz points out the serendipity of timing of joining the firm. McKelvey had “the attitude that, the feeling that every potential thing that’s going to come up is something I’m going to use in the future.” As of 2018, WeWork reported $2.5B in annualized revenue.

Begin with an idea about which you are passionate, develop a strong mission…  

• Method co-founder Adam Lowry posed the question “… you actually pollute when you clean and you use poison to make your home healthier?” He and his business partner, Eric Ryan, worked to eliminate the “green isn’t clean” mindset from the mainstream cleaning products consumer.
• Melissa Bernstein of the toy company Melissa and Doug implores that “if you weren’t living out your passion and wanting to go to work everyday, running to work everyday, then it didn’t matter how much money you were making.”
• Herb Kelleher states “I’ve always had a great deal of fun out of what I was doing.” He remembers people asking him why he wasn’t burned out while he was working one hundred hours a week. His response: “It’s easy – when you have a passionate joy in what you’re doing, you don’t burn out.”

… that fills a void in the market. 

• A venture capitalist once said to Whole Foods founder John Mackey that he was just a hippy selling healthy food to other hippies and that the market was not big enough. If the market does expand, the VC said, then the big companies are going to take interest and join the movement, and then he won’t be able to compete with them. Mackey says he’s heard that for forty years. The VC apologized ten years later; how about that for closure.
• The Knot co-founders describe how they identified an untouched niche and extended inclusiveness to the wedding industry, serving brides and grooms of second marriages, biracial relationships, same-sex relationships, couples that are already parents, expectant brides, bi-generational relationships, etc.
• Yvon Chouinard created Patagonia in an effort to develop, manufacture, and sell rock climbing equipment that lasted for more than one use.
• SoulCycle founders Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice felt they were lacking community in group fitness classes.
• Kendra Scott entered the entrepreneurial world selling hats for women undergoing chemotherapy, after spending time in waiting rooms throughout her stepdad’s cancer treatment.

Commit to the idea and don’t be afraid to take risks. 

• Jen Rubio, co-founder of Away and fellow former Penn State supply chain major, decided to go into business with a former co-worker that met all the criteria she was looking for in a partner. One of the most important criteria to Jen was that the potential partner had to be sacrificing other lucrative opportunities, like Jen, to take a risk and try to start this company.
• Jim Koch compares danger and fear when reflecting on his decision to leave his corporate job to pursue Samuel Adams brewing – “Staying at [the company where he was employed at the time] was dangerous but not scary. The danger there, the risk of it, was continuing to do something that didn’t make me happy, getting to 65 and looking back, and go ‘oh my gosh, I wasted my life.’ That is risk. That is danger.”
• Many of the founders of these companies took pretty significant risks to pursue these ideas, including taking out loans and leaving traditional, stable jobs. These risks were the most inspirational aspects of the story to me. I’ll revisit this with additional examples soon.

Remaining consumer-driven, not stakeholder-driven, can still result in huge success.

• If you listen to only one episode of this podcast, I recommend the episode with Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. His commitment to sustainability and strong detachment from massive profit margins speak volumes about the value of this company in the world.
• When Tom’s of Maine experienced a quality issue with deodorant in 1992, the founder, Tom Chappell, felt a strong responsibility to recall $450K worth of product. It resulted in a loss for that operating year; the company recovered the following year. The issue was “extremely disruptive and difficult but we weathered through it,” according to Tom Chappell. No one was fired.
• John Mackey of Whole Foods lamented the saying that became popular among consumers – “Whole Foods vs. whole paycheck.” He explains it originated among loyal customers who were humoring their investment in high quality food. But it was soon adopted by critics, people who have an incorrect idea that you can get the same quality food for less money (I drew parallels to Method cleaning products). At the time, Whole Foods remained committed to high quality; I’ll have to research how its acquisition by Amazon has impacted quality and prices.

Practical business tips

• “Bring on people who know what you don’t” – Alli Webb of DryBar
• Stay on the “high road;” keep “long views.” – Elizabeth Cutler and Julie Rice of SoulCycle
• When you’re in the first meeting, schedule the second meeting – Jenn Hyman of Rent the Runway reflecting on scoring a meeting with Diane Von Furstenberg

Other notable episodes from which I will include insights:

• Barr3
• Burt’s Bees

Stay tuned for highlights of those episodes.

In conclusion, there are two ideas that stuck with me throughout each episode:

1. If you have an authentic idea that you believe serves the world and commitment to pursuing it, you will likely succeed.
2. Be a thoughtful consumer. What you purchase and who you support changes the world.