Podcast Atlas
entity Updated 2026-08-24 Topics: Economics, Culture

How I Built This

In Bobbie: Laura Modi. How a Baby Formula Startup Took Market Share From Two Industry Giants, Guy interviews Laura Modi about building Bobbie in the concentrated infant formula market. The episode adds a regulated CPG founder case where Formula Feeding Stigma, Infant Formula Regulatory Moat, Regulated CPG Messaging, Formula Supply Chain Resilience, and WIC Formula Contracting shape the company as much as brand, fundraising, and customer pull.

In Advice Line with Bobbi Brown of Jones Road Beauty (September 2025), Guy hosts Bobbi Brown of Jones Road Beauty to advise Cabbage Labs, Abby Rose, and Tannen Oral Care. The episode adds a beauty and social-commerce Advice Line case where Product-Led Brand Longevity, Trial Size Product, Founder-Led Live Selling, Niche Origin Story Repositioning, and Measured Channel Testing shape early consumer-brand scaling.

In Serena & Lily: Serena Dugan and Lily Kanter. They Built a $20M Brand—Then One Investor Almost Destroyed It, Guy interviews Lily Kanter and Serena Dugan about building Serena & Lily from premium nursery bedding into a home brand. The episode adds a consumer-brand financing branch to the show through Inventory-Heavy Consumer Brand Financing, Bad Money, and Liquidation Preference Stack, showing how inventory, catalogs, stores, investor conflict, and preference terms can constrain a brand even when customer pull is strong.

How I Built This is the podcast/show context for Justin’s Nut Butter: Justin Gold. He Was Waiting Tables, Then…He Reinvented Peanut Butter., Advice Line with Jeffrey Hollender of Seventh Generation, e.l.f. Cosmetics: Joey Shamah. The Dollar Store Formula That Built a Cosmetics Giant, Advice Line with Susan Griffin-Black of EO Products, 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., STARR Restaurants: Stephen Starr. How a Non-Foodie Built Thriving Restaurants on Gut Instinct, and Catalina Crunch: Krishna Kaliannan. From Homemade Keto Cocoa Puffs to Breakfast Aisle Breakthrough. In the Justin’s Nut Butter episode, Guy Raz interviews Justin Gold about the founding, growth, sale, and later ownership return of Justin’s Nut Butter. In the Jeffrey Hollender Advice Line episode, Guy and Jeffrey Hollender advise founders from 25 & Pine, Red Truck Orchards, and Petaluma on mission-driven consumer products, customer education, trial, and growth pace. In the e.l.f. episode, Guy interviews Joey Shamah about building e.l.f. Cosmetics through low-price beauty, media attention, retail validation, and private-equity transition. In the Susan Griffin-Black Advice Line episode, Guy and Susan Griffin-Black advise Yobi, Culture Wine Company, and Cane Dog Coffee on relationship-led, locally focused channel growth. In the Shazi Visram Advice Line episode, Guy and Shazi Visram advise Freit Barefoot, Sprinkle Bites, and Plantamica on category education, proof reuse, AI discovery, private-label risk, and retail validation. In the Build-A-Bear episode, Guy interviews Maxine Clark about building Build-A-Bear through Experiential Retail, Customer Co-Creation, mall expansion, concept protection, and CEO succession. In the Christina Tosi Advice Line episode, Guy and Christina Tosi advise The Beau Collective, Cotton Clara, and Vashon Island Coffee Dust on community expansion, repeat customers, gifting, packaging, and daily-use friction. In the Shopify episode, Guy interviews Tobias Lütke about building Shopify from Snowdevil’s internal storefront software into Entrepreneurship Infrastructure. In the Tim Ferriss Advice Line episode, Guy and Tim Ferriss advise Gob, EB&Co, and K Becker on focus, venue partnerships, wholesale testing, made-to-order apparel, and founder health. In the UGG episode, Guy interviews Brian Smith about turning Australian sheepskin boots into UGG through surf-culture credibility, seasonal inventory finance, and the later Deckers acquisition. In the STARR Restaurants episode, Guy interviews Stephen Starr about building STARR Restaurants through nightlife instincts, Restaurant Experience Design, Concept Led Hospitality, and constant restaurant operating risk. In the Catalina Crunch episode, Guy interviews Krishna Kaliannan about turning diabetes, epilepsy, keto eating, home cereal experiments, co-manufacturing limits, and Whole Foods Market retail timing into Catalina Crunch.

In MadeGood: Salma and Nima Fotovat Lost Their First Business. They Grew Their Next One Into a Snack Giant., Guy interviews Nima Fotovat and Salma Fotovat about building MadeGood after the Fotovat family lost Taste of Nature. The episode extends the show’s CPG branch through School-Safe CPG Positioning, Retailer-Responsive Manufacturing, owned production, Loblaw, Whole Foods Market, Costco, and the focus lessons of Good To Go and Cookie Pal.

In the Chris Riccobono Advice Line episode, Guy and Chris Riccobono advise AeroShorts, Snug Safety, and Hockey Ninja on Core Tribe Positioning, Trust-Based Distribution, Safety Product Credibility, Wholesale As Marketing, and Measured Channel Testing, while using UNTUCKit and Greatness Wins as apparel-channel context.

In the Ronnen Harary Advice Line episode, Guy and Ronnen Harary advise Yearly Co., Island Bee Company, and Wandering Soul Beer on gold-price exposure, milestone storytelling, family-business scale, B2B versus consumer-channel choice, and boundaries for emotionally personal founder-led brands.

In the Carlton Calvin Advice Line episode, Guy and Carlton Calvin of Razor USA advise Eulogy, Honey Bespoke Stationery, and Little Water Distillery on toy/game licensing proof, founder-visible marketing, retail and wholesale channels, SKU focus, and delegated sales.

In the Jeni Britton Advice Line episode, Guy and Jeni Britton advise Jesse and Ben’s, Jaju Pierogi, and Ube.co on taste-led frozen-food positioning, hot sampling, category-expanding retail proof, capital choices that protect founder control, and science-backed messaging before PR spend.

In the Kenneth Cole Advice Line episode, Guy and Kenneth Cole advise Pedestrian Project, Israel Acabla, and Swing Sculpt on emotional brand relationships, conversion-before-education discipline, wholesale-to-direct customer bridges, and the difference between a custom product’s technical novelty and the memory customers actually buy.

In Advice Line: "Strategy Sessions", Guy hosts a strategy-session mashup with Jeffrey Hollender, Sarah LaFleur, and Shazi Visram. The episode advises Tony DeRosa of Hearsay Brewing and Theater, Monica Stoney of Tress London, and Sandy Dininger of Brain Buffs on founder control, local word of mouth, and edtech pricing evidence.

In the Sun Bum episode, Guy interviews Tom Rinks about building Sun Bum through Visual Brand System, Mascot Led Brand Recognition, Retail Display As Brand Surface, Place Based Brand Perception, and eventual operator/acquirer fit with Adam Francis and SC Johnson.

In the Toast episode, Guy interviews Aman Narang about building Toast from a slow-check payment app into a restaurant Restaurant Operating System. The episode adds a vertical SaaS and restaurant-infrastructure branch to the show by connecting Founder Idea Pivot, Mission-Critical Restaurant Software, Customer Discovery By Doing Work, Off-Premise Restaurant Commerce, and Stage-Appropriate Hiring.

In the Curt Richardson Advice Line episode, Guy and Curt Richardson advise Mr. Game Show Florida, Gilded Coach Teas, and Everloop on Founder-Led Service Replication, Customer Reactivation, Circular Product Takeback, and Measured Channel Testing, while using OtterBox as the mature-company focus and Founder Role Transition case.

In the Sweetwater episode, Guy interviews Chuck Surack about building Sweetwater from mobile recording work and Kurzweil K-250 sound disks into a service-led pro-audio and musical-instrument retailer. The episode adds a specialty-retail branch to the show by connecting Service-Led Retail Moat, Sales Engineer Model, Individual-Item Ecommerce, Retail Counter-Positioning, and Founder Succession.

Connections