How I Built This with Guy Raz

John Gabbert, founder of Room & Board, shares how a 1972 trip to IKEA in Sweden inspired him to reimagine furniture retail by designing products and controlling manufacturing. After a painful family rift when his father reneged on a buyout agreement, Gabbert walked away from the family business Gabbert's with a small experimental division he had created, eventually building Room & Board into a nationally recognized, American-made furniture brand generating hundreds of millions in annual revenue without ever taking outside investment.

Guy Raz hosts BuzzFeed founder Jonah Peretti on the How I Built This Advice Line, where they discuss BuzzFeed's current financial challenges and reinvention efforts. Together, they advise three entrepreneurs: an outdoor cinema company, a cat toy startup, and a frozen muffin brand, offering strategic guidance on scaling, brand building, and differentiation.

Greg Renfrew, founder of Beauty Counter, shares her entrepreneurial journey from an early online wedding registry sold to Martha Stewart, to building Beauty Counter into a billion-dollar clean beauty brand using a direct sales model, being ousted by private equity firm Carlyle Group, and ultimately buying back the company's assets out of foreclosure to relaunch it as 'Counter.'

David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue and Breeze Airways, joins Guy Raz on the Advice Line to help three entrepreneurs with their business challenges. The callers include a nutrition education theater company founder seeking succession planning advice, a ninja gym franchise owner debating a professional league launch, and a young organic underwear brand founder navigating SKU expansion versus marketing investment.

Shep and Ian Murray, brothers from Greenwich, Connecticut, quit their unfulfilling corporate jobs in 1998 to sell premium neckties inspired by Martha's Vineyard, financing the venture entirely on credit cards. Starting with 800 ties sold door-to-door and at island boutiques, they gradually expanded into a full lifestyle apparel brand. Today, Vineyard Vines generates roughly half a billion dollars in annual sales across 140+ stores, remaining entirely family-owned without outside investment.

Eric Ryan, co-founder of Method and now a venture investor at Greycroft, joins Guy Raz to advise three early-stage founders on brand building, marketing, and fundraising strategy. The callers pitch an allergen-free fragrance brand, a customizable kids' flip-flop company, and an illuminated crystal jewelry line. Eric emphasizes brand-building over product novelty and community over capital-raising as recurring themes.

Daniel Lubetzky, founder of Kind Bars, shares how his father's Holocaust survival shaped his character, how his peace-building venture PeaceWorks failed to scale, and how a near-business collapse led him to create Kind Bars, eventually sold to Mars for ~$5 billion. Throughout, he reflects on the tension between mission-driven entrepreneurship and building a commercially viable product.

Chieh Huang, co-founder of Boxed (which went bankrupt in 2023), joins Guy Raz to provide business advice to three entrepreneurs: Alec of Surfing Cow (skincare made with beef tallow), Jessica of Tail Cinch (reusable horse tail ties), and Eli of Makor Coffee (anti-inflammatory coffee blend).

Colin Angle, co-founder of iRobot, discusses building the company from a 1990 MIT robotics lab into the creator of the iconic Roomba vacuum robot. After years of military and research contracts, the Roomba's 2002 launch transformed consumer robotics, but the company was eventually sold to a Chinese firm after a blocked Amazon acquisition.

Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle, joins the advice line to help three entrepreneurs: an Australian distillery owner seeking differentiation in a crowded market, a London-based founder of heating mats serving multiple markets, and a wine producer reviving his family's century-old Italian vineyard while facing declining alcohol consumption trends.

Antonio Swad built two successful restaurant franchises - Wingstop and Pizza Patron - starting from humble beginnings, but faced significant challenges when selling Wingstop due to unfavorable contract terms that led to years of litigation.

Angie and Dan Bastian, co-founders of Angie's BOOM CHICKAPOP, advise three entrepreneurs: Michelle from Nana Jo's Granola seeking investor funding while maintaining values, Gloria from Elida developing a medical device for bladder leaks struggling with stigma in marketing, and Eric from Maple Roo scaling an organic sports nutrition company in Australia. The hosts emphasize the importance of work-life balance and strategic growth over speed.