How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

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Guy Raz traces founders' origin stories and fields live advice-line calls from entrepreneurs.

The gist

How I Built This with Guy Raz follows entrepreneurs from first idea to hard-won scale, lingering on the messy parts that rarely fit a pitch deck. Alongside founder narratives, its Advice Line episodes bring returning founders into practical conversations with callers facing live business questions.

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About How I Built This with Guy Raz

How I Built This with Guy Raz is built around two recurring formats rather than a single interview structure. In the classic format, Guy Raz interviews one high-profile founder about the full arc of building their company -- early struggles, near-collapse moments, and eventual scale -- as with Colin Angle recounting iRobot's path from military robotics contracts to the Roomba, or Antonio Swad describing the first Wingstop location after building Pizza Patron in Dallas. In the spin-off 'How I Built This Lab: Advice Line' format, a past guest -- examples include Steve Ells of Chipotle, Mark Cuban, Jon Stein of Betterment, Miguel McKelvey of WeWork, and Angie and Dan Bastian of Angie's BOOMCHICKAPOP -- returns to take live calls from real small-business owners and early-stage founders seeking specific guidance. Advice Line callers bring concrete problems: raising capital without compromising company values, picking one growth channel instead of several, pricing decisions, retail distribution, and the cost of direct-to-consumer marketing. Recurring themes across both formats include bootstrapping versus outside investment, brand differentiation and storytelling, distribution strategy, and the financial and personal toll of running a company. Guest and caller businesses span consumer hardware, food and beverage, financial services, wellness products, and retail or franchise concepts. The show is aimed at aspiring entrepreneurs, small-business owners looking for tactical advice, and listeners generally curious how well-known brands got started. Production is conversational and interview-driven, with sponsor reads (Squarespace, Airbnb) worked into episodes rather than segmented separately. Episode length varies widely, from roughly 40 minutes for Advice Line panels to nearly 80 minutes for full origin-story interviews. Discussions tend to be numbers-specific -- revenue figures, valuations, ad spend, franchise costs -- rather than purely motivational.

Made for: Aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs and small-business owners seeking tactical advice on distribution, marketing, and financing, plus listeners curious about the founding stories behind well-known consumer brands.

What sets it apart: Unlike straight founder-profile interview shows, it pairs classic origin-story episodes with a recurring 'Advice Line' format where past guests directly counsel real small-business callers on air.

In their own words

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 challenges of all kinds.New episodes release on Mondays and Thursdays.

As heard by us

Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026

Founder histories and live business questions become clear, practical lessons about customers, distribution, leadership, and growth.

How I Built This with Guy Raz moves between company-building histories and an Advice Line format where business owners bring specific operating problems to Raz and an experienced guest.

Read our full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

A chicken-wing bet meets a robot's rogue babbling, with Guy Raz asking what business demanded next.

Press play if you want

founders explaining the awkward choices between a good product and a viable company
small-business callers getting specific answers about customers, distribution, and financing the next bet

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

founder origin storiesstartup advice line callsbootstrapping vs. outside investmentdirect-to-consumer marketing costsretail distribution strategybrand storytelling and differentiationfood and beverage startupsfranchise and licensing models

Talks about

Business & Finance Entrepreneurship

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Find your next episode

About How I Built This with Guy Raz

In their own words

As heard by us

Why you'd press play

Talks about

Podcasts like How I Built This with Guy Raz

Episodes

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

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

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

Netflix: Reed Hastings. “We’re Not a Family.” The Provocative Idea That Helped Build a Streaming Giant

HOKA: Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolas Mermoud. The “Clown Shoe” That Became a $2B Bonanza

Taylor Guitars: Kurt Listug and Bob Taylor. From $3,700 Shop to Global Icon

Advice Line with Monica Nassif of Mrs. Meyers

Gymboree: Joan Barnes. How Building a Beloved Brand Nearly Destroyed Its Founder

Advice Line with Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker

La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti. A Brotherhood Built on Coffee (2020)

Advice Line with Jack Conte of Patreon (December 2024)

Dollar Shave Club: Michael Dubin, From Zero to a Billion Dollar Exit in Five Years (December 2018)

Advice Line: Tapping AI as a Resource for Your Business