How I Built This with Guy Raz

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.

Serena Dugan and Lily Cantor built Serena & Lily from a small baby bedding catalog into a $20M+ luxury home goods brand, but faced a near-catastrophic crisis when a private equity investor sued them and imposed punitive terms that made raising future capital impossible, ultimately forcing them to accept an acquisition by a family office to restructure their cap table and escape the investor's preferential terms.

Chris Riccobono, founder of Untuckit, joins Guy Raz to advise three entrepreneurs on scaling their businesses. The episode covers challenges in apparel retail, customer acquisition strategies, and the importance of identifying core customer tribes while exploring unconventional marketing channels.

Chuck Surack transformed from a saxophonist touring in a VW van into the founder of Sweetwater, a $2 billion online music and professional audio retailer, by prioritizing customer relationships and employee expertise over price competition. His philosophy of hiring knowledgeable sales engineers, investing heavily in training, and empowering employees to make customer-service decisions became the foundation for building the largest online musical instrument retailer in the U.S. despite competition from giants like Amazon.

Kurt Richardson, founder of OtterBox, returns to advise three entrepreneurs on scaling challenges. He discusses how to transition from founder-dependent services to scalable models, emphasizes the importance of customer retention over acquisition, and stresses knowing your actual customer rather than assumptions about them.

Aman Narang co-founded Toast after identifying inefficiencies in the restaurant payment system, leading to a successful platform that now supports nearly one in five U.S. restaurants. Despite facing numerous challenges including skepticism from restaurant owners and the COVID-19 pandemic, Toast has grown rapidly and achieved significant revenue milestones.

Kenneth Cole, founder of the iconic fashion brand, joins Guy Raz to answer business questions from three entrepreneurs: Matt Jacobs (Pedestrian Project - foot wellness products), Emma Fakwade (Israel Akabla - minimalist fashion), and Levi Case (Swing Sculpt - golf swing sculptures). Cole emphasizes the importance of emotional connection, storytelling, and building lasting brands rather than chasing short-term trends.

Tom Rinks shares his journey from furniture salesman to brand-building entrepreneur, highlighting his creation of iconic brands like Psycho Chihuahua (which led to a five-year lawsuit against Taco Bell), De Leon Tequila, and ultimately Sunbum sunscreen, which sold to SC Johnson for $400 million in 2019. Throughout his career, Rinks emphasizes the importance of design, authenticity, branding principles, and knowing when to step back and hire better operators.

Jenny Britton of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams returns to the Advice Line to help three food entrepreneurs navigate growth challenges: Jesse and Ben's navigating marketing strategy for frozen French fries entering national retail, Casey White of Jaju Pierogi deciding between bootstrapping and raising capital for CPG expansion, and Callie of Ube.co determining whether to hire a PR firm or develop in-house marketing capabilities. Jenny and Guy emphasize focusing on product quality, authentic messaging, and strategic use of advisors over external capital when possible.

Krishna Kalyanin created Catalina Crunch, a high-protein, low-carb keto cereal, after developing type 1 diabetes and epilepsy in college forced him to adopt a ketogenic diet. Starting from his apartment kitchen in 2017, he scaled the business to over $100 million in annual sales by leveraging new alternative ingredients like pea protein and monk fruit, eventually expanding from direct-to-consumer sales to major retailers like Whole Foods and Costco.

In this episode of How I Built This Lab's Advice Line, Ronan Harari from Spin Master offers guidance to three entrepreneurs: Ann Williams of Yearly Co. (luxury gold jewelry), Felix Cullen of Island Bee Company (honey and skincare products), and Matt Smith of Wandering Soul Beer (craft beer). Harari emphasizes the importance of innovation, brand storytelling, and maintaining work-life balance while building sustainable businesses.

Susan Griffin-Black, founder of EO Products, advises three entrepreneurs on scaling their businesses: Dr. Ruchi Gupta (Yobi skincare) on choosing between DTC and professional channels, Peter Andrews (Culture Wine Company) on focusing on specific regional markets for South African wine distribution, and Dominic Giddens (Cane Dog Coffee) on building an international brand from a Caribbean base.

Guy Raz hosts the How I Built This Advice Line with guest Shazi Visram, founder of Happy Family Organics and Healthy Baby. Together they advise three early-stage founders on growth strategies, covering topics like brand differentiation, private labeling risks, investor timing, and leveraging PR. The episode blends practical startup advice with reflections on Visram's entrepreneurial journey.

Maxine Clark, former president of Payless ShoeSource, shares how a child's offhand comment about Beanie Babies inspired her to create Build-A-Bear Workshop in 1997. Despite widespread skepticism, she leveraged her 25-year retail career to build a global stuffed animal empire that grew to over 500 million dollars in annual sales. The episode traces her journey from a serendipitous entry into retail to founding and eventually stepping away from one of America's most recognizable experiential retail brands.