How I Built This with Guy Raz

Tim and Carrie League founded Alamo Drafthouse Cinema by combining a movie theater with a full restaurant, starting with a failed venture in Bakersfield before finding success in Austin. Their innovative concept of serving food and drinks during movies became a national chain through unconventional expansion driven by community focus, creative events, and strategic partnerships.

Nick Green, CEO of Thrive Market, joins Guy Raz on the Advice Line to help three entrepreneurs tackle business challenges: Mercedes Smith (Blackstrad Concert Attire) seeking balance between product quality and speed, Danny Walsh (Peak State Coffee) asking about funding a mission-driven business, and Rhea Jane (VoiceBack) looking to scale awareness for an app serving people with speech loss.

A 10-year anniversary episode of How I Built This featuring host Guy Raz and Jamie Siminoff (Ring founder) reviewing memorable moments from 600+ founder interviews. The episode explores themes of fear, failure, decision-making, fundraising challenges, and the role of luck versus skill in entrepreneurial success.

Guy Raz hosts an Advice Line episode with Scott Tannen (Bull & Branch) and Jamie Siminoff (Ring), two high school friends who are now successful entrepreneurs. They take calls from three founders seeking business advice about bootstrapping vs. raising capital, scaling multiple channels simultaneously, and expanding product awareness beyond core markets.

Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollander co-founded Seventh Generation in 1989, building an eco-friendly household products company from a struggling catalog business into a $150+ million enterprise before being acquired by Unilever in 2016. Their partnership flourished during rapid growth but dramatically failed in 1992 when Jeffrey ousted Alan during a sabbatical, an event that haunted both men for decades until they reunited for this interview.

Danny Meyer, founder of Union Square Hospitality Group and Shake Shack, joins Guy Raz to advise three early-stage founders on scaling their beverage and food businesses. Meyer emphasizes building authentic hospitality through expected behaviors rather than family values, creating community around brands, and starting small before pursuing aggressive expansion.

Brian Rudolph created Banza, the first chickpea pasta brand, starting from personal experiments in his Detroit apartment in 2013. After overcoming massive manufacturing challenges and early success through reality TV exposure, the company grew to become the fifth-largest pasta brand in the US, though it faced a major crisis in 2020 when an advocacy group claimed high glyphosate residue levels, causing a 30% sales drop that he recovered from through transparency and certification.

Michelle Whaler, co-founder of Beyond Yoga, joins Guy Raz to provide business advice to three entrepreneurs: Carrie Angoff (study abroad for adults), Grace Ref (custom upholstery), and Angel Raymer (artisanal soap with gemstones). The episode emphasizes storytelling, managing customer expectations, and building trust through authentic communication.

Carissa Bodner founded Thrive Cosmetics, a direct-to-consumer beauty brand with a charitable mission, after her college friend died of cancer at age 24. Starting with $100,000 in savings and formulating products in her kitchen while working full-time at Bulletproof Coffee, she grew the company to $150 million in revenue by maintaining lean operations, strict quality control, and a commitment to giving back to multiple causes chosen by customers.

Kip Tindell, co-founder of The Container Store, returns to discuss the company's bankruptcy while sharing retail wisdom with three entrepreneurs: a French founder of Cooler Wand seeking marketing strategies, a personalized gifts business owner deciding on wholesale growth direction, and a sleep product founder with a viral product navigating brand building.

Kim Vaccarella built Bogbag from a beach bag idea into a $100+ million company over 15 years through persistence, sacrifice, and willingness to pivot. After nearly abandoning the business following a $30,000 manufacturing disaster, she was inspired to restart by customers who loved the product, eventually growing it into a multi-channel brand carried by major retailers.

Ben Goodwin, co-founder of Olipop, serves as an advisor on a show where entrepreneurs call in with business challenges. The episode features three callers seeking advice on education and marketing strategies, managing growth as a solo founder, and revitalizing a struggling food co-op.

Nicole Bernard-Dawes, daughter of Cape Cod Potato Chips founder Steve Bernard, built Late July Snacks from scratch in 2003, struggling for years until pivoting to organic tortilla chips in 2010, which became a breakthrough hit product. After selling to Campbell's in 2018, she launched Nixie Beverage Company, a mission-driven organic sparkling water and soda brand.

Damon John, founder of FUBU and Shark Tank judge, hosts an advice line where he and Guy Raz provide guidance to three early-stage founders on scaling their businesses. The episode emphasizes the importance of storytelling, community building, financial literacy, and knowing when to expand beyond initial business models.

Roy and Ryan Cedars founded YETI by identifying a market gap for high-quality, durable coolers while outfitting fishing boats in Texas. Starting with $400 coolers that no one thought would sell, they bootstrapped the company from $500K to $100M in hard cooler sales, then dramatically expanded into drinkware to reach $400M+ in revenue within 18 months.

Carlton Calvin, founder of Razor USA, joins Guy Raz to advise three entrepreneurs on their business challenges: a party game creator seeking mass-market success, a personalized stationery designer struggling with online visibility, and a craft spirits distillery facing profitability issues. Carlton emphasizes the importance of delegation, focusing on proven products, building social media presence, and getting into physical retail channels.

Laura Modi left her career at Google and Airbnb to build Bobby, a European-style infant formula company, overcoming regulatory hurdles, an FDA recall, manufacturing constraints, and industry giants to capture nearly 4% of the U.S. baby formula market in five years.

In this episode of the Advice Line with Guy Raz and Bobbi Brown, they explore the journeys of various entrepreneurs seeking guidance on growing their businesses. Key discussions involve rebranding strategies, tapping into niches, and how to balance personal involvement with broader market expansion.

Salma and Nima Fotovat share their journey of building Made Good, an organic snack brand, after losing their first co-packing business. They highlights how they identified a market need for allergen-free snacks, overcame initial challenges, and ultimately scaled their business into a major player in the organic snacks sector.

This is a special mashup episode of 'The Advice Line' from How I Built This Lab featuring three founders helping three different callers navigate business challenges: partnerships and scaling (Hearsay Brewing), building brand awareness with limited budgets (Trace London), and pricing strategy for B2B edtech (Brain Buffs). Each segment features a returning guest mentor providing practical advice based on their own entrepreneurial experience.