The show, episode by episode

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Vox Media

Guy 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…

884 episodes tracked

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Panera: Ron Shaich. The Big Bet That Changed Fast Food (2018)

Dr. Squatch: Jack Haldrup. From a Closet Full of Soap to a $1.5 Billion Brand

Dell Computers: Michael Dell. The College Dropout Who Took on IBM (2018)

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: “I Was a Great Founder and a Terrible CEO”

Advice Line with Tope Awotona of Calendly

FIGS: Trina Spear and Heather Hasson. The $2.5 Billion Scrubs Brand That Investors Said Would Never Work

Advice Line with Seth Berkowitz of Insomnia Cookies

Sweet Loren’s: Loren Castle. How A Recipe Makeover Built a National Cookie Brand

Advice Line with Tara Bosch of SmartSweets

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema: Tim and Karrie League (2023)

Advice Line with Nick Green of Thrive Market

10 Years of How I Built This: A Decade of Innovation, Risk and Reinvention

Advice Line with Scott Tannen of Boll & Branch and Jamie Siminoff of Ring (2025)

Seventh Generation: Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender. A Partnership that Flourished—until it Failed. (2021)

Advice Line with Danny Meyer of Shake Shack

Banza: Brian Rudolph. The Chickpea Pasta That Nearly Turned to Mush

Advice Line with Michelle Wahler of Beyond Yoga

Thrive Causemetics: Karissa Bodnar. How a Beauty Business Made Millions for a Mission

Advice Line with Kip Tindell of The Container Store

Bogg Bag: Kim Vaccarella. The $100 Million Business She Almost Abandoned

Advice Line with Ben Goodwin of Olipop

Late July Snacks: Nicole Bernard Dawes. Crackers and Cookies were Failing… Tortilla Chips Saved Them

Advice Line with Daymond John of FUBU

YETI: Roy and Ryan Seiders. How Two Brothers Turned a $400 Cooler Into a $2 Billion Brand

Advice Line with Carlton Calvin of Razor

Bobbie: Laura Modi. How a Baby Formula Startup Took Market Share From Two Industry Giants

Advice Line with Bobbi Brown of Jones Road Beauty (September 2025)

MadeGood: Salma and Nima Fotovat Lost Their First Business.They Grew Their Next One Into a Snack Giant.

Advice Line: "Strategy Sessions"

Serena & Lily: Serena Dugan and Lily Kanter. They Built a $20M Brand—Then One Investor Almost Destroyed It

Advice Line with Chris Riccobono of UNTUCKit

Sweetwater: Chuck Surack. How a Customer Service Strategy Built a Billion Dollar Online Pro Audio and Music Company.

Advice Line with Curt Richardson of OtterBox

Toast: Aman Narang. How a Long Wait for the Dinner Check Launched a $2 Billion Business.

Advice Line with Kenneth Cole

Sun Bum: Tom Rinks. The Secrets of a Master Brand Builder (2023)

Advice Line with Jeni Britton of Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams (2025)

Catalina Crunch: Krishna Kaliannan. From Homemade Keto Cocoa Puffs to Breakfast Aisle Breakthrough

Advice Line with Ronnen Harary of Spin Master/PAW Patrol

e.l.f. Cosmetics: Joey Shamah. The Dollar Store Formula That Built a Cosmetics Giant

Advice Line with Susan Griffin-Black of EO Products

STARR Restaurants: Stephen Starr. How a Non-Foodie Built Thriving Restaurants on Gut Instinct

Advice Line with Shazi Visram of Happy Family Organics

Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire

Advice Line with Christina Tosi of Milk Bar

Shopify: Tobias Lütke. How a snowboarder built a $150 billion business (2019)

Advice Line with Tim Ferriss (August 2025)

UGG: Brian Smith. How an epiphany, surfers, and $500 launched an iconic sheepskin footwear company.

Advice Line with Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation

Justin’s Nut Butter: Justin Gold. He Was Waiting Tables, Then...He Reinvented Peanut Butter.

Advice Line with Sarah LaFleur of M.M. LaFleur

NVIDIA: Jensen Huang. From near collapse to becoming the world’s biggest company

Advice Line: New Offerings, Bigger Markets

Room & Board: John Gabbert. A Broken Deal, a Family Rift, and the Birth of a Furniture Giant

Advice Line with Jonah Peretti of Buzzfeed

Beautycounter: Gregg Renfrew. She Built Beautycounter to $1B… Then Got Fired From Her Own Company

Advice Line with David Neeleman of JetBlue

Shep and Ian Murray: Vineyard Vines. A Stale Product Transforms into a Lifestyle Brand.

Advice Line with Eric Ryan of Method returns

KIND bars: Daniel Lubetzky. From peace in the Middle East to a $5 billion snack bar

Advice Line with Chieh Huang of Boxed

iRobot: Colin Angle. How The Roomba Became a Household Icon

Advice Line with Steve Ells of Chipotle

Wingstop: Antonio Swad. A Brilliant Idea — And a Nail-Biting Exit

Advice Line with Angie & Dan Bastian of Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP

diapers.com: Marc Lore. The ecommerce visionary who lost to Amazon but still made billions (2021)

Advice Line with Marcia Kilgore of Beauty Pie (June 2025)

Vital Farms: Matt O’Hayer. How a serial entrepreneur re-branded the egg

Advice Line: What’s Your Value?

Scrub Daddy: Aaron Krause. How a Failed Experiment Became a Billion-Dollar Sponge

Advice Line with Hernan Lopez of Wondery

Bobo’s: Beryl Stafford. A Single Mom Turns a Baking Project into a $100M Business

Advice Line with Miguel McKelvey of WeWork

Kettle Chips: Cameron Healy. The Wild Bet That Made a Brand

Advice Line with Alexa Hirschfeld of Paperless Post

Square: Jim McKelvey. He Lost a $2,000 Sale, Then Built a $10 Billion Company

Advice Line with Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali of Chomps

Spinbrush: John Osher. The Electric Toothbrush That Sold for $475M

Advice Line with Julia Hartz of Eventbrite