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How I Built This with Guy Raz Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built. Pre-order the How I Built This book at https://smarturl.it/HowIBuiltThis.
How I Built This with Guy Raz

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How I built this with Guy Raz
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How I Built This with Guy Raz

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Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built. Pre-order the How I Built This book at https://smarturl.it/HowIBuiltThis.

Most Recent Episodes

How I Built Resilience: Daniela Corrente of Reel

Daniela Corrente is the CEO and co-founder of Reel. NPR hide caption

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How I Built Resilience: Daniela Corrente of Reel

Reel is a digital savings platform that helps people people make big purchases without racking up credit card debt. CEO and co-founder Daniela Corrente says the company has added new savings plans during the pandemic in response to consumers looking for new ways to buy and save. These conversations are excerpts from our How I Built Resilience series, where Guy talks online with founders and entrepreneurs about how they're navigating turbulent times.

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Riot Games: Bonus Episode
Maren Bruin for NPR

Riot Games: Bonus Episode

There were so many interesting moments in Guy's conversation with the co-founders of Riot Games that we decided to put them into this short bonus episode. In it, Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill talk about kids, screens, and the importance of boredom. They answer Guy's questions about why some gamers engage in toxic behavior, and how Riot Games is trying to address it. To hear the whole story of the founding of Riot Games, search your queue for the main episode, which dropped earlier this week.

Riot Games: Bonus Episode

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Riot Games: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill
Maren Bruin for NPR

Riot Games: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill

At USC in the late 1990s, Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck were bonding over video games and noticing that free, player-made modifications for the game Warcraft III were becoming wildly popular online. The two friends were so impressed by these mods that they decided to create their own multiplayer strategy game with an unusual twist: they'd offer the game for free, but charge players money for new characters or customizable clothing (or "skins"). Many investors balked at the idea, unsure that a free game—created by total novices—would generate enough revenue. After three rocky years of development, Marc and Brandon's company Riot Games launched League of Legends in 2009. Over the past 11 years, it's become one of the most popular PC games of all time, pulling in $1.5 billion in 2019 alone.

Riot Games: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill

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How I Built Resilience: Emily Powell of Powell's Books
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How I Built Resilience: Emily Powell of Powell's Books

Emily Powell is the third generation owner and president of Portland, Oregon's iconic independent bookseller, Powell's Books. After having to let go of 90% of her staff in early March, Emily is focused on bringing people back and showcasing Powell's Books' unique in-store experience online. These conversations are excerpts from our How I Built Resilience series, where Guy talks online with founders and entrepreneurs about how they're navigating turbulent times.

How I Built Resilience: Emily Powell of Powell's Books

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Kodiak Cakes: Joel Clark
Chelsea Charles for NPR

Kodiak Cakes: Joel Clark

When he was 8 years old, Joel Clark loaded bags of his mom's whole grain pancake mix into a red wagon to sell door-to-door. By the mid-90s, he and his older brother had upgraded to selling the mix out of a Mazda sedan and calling it Kodiak Cakes. As he tried to scale the business, Joel made some risky business decisions and almost went bankrupt, but eventually got the brand into Target—a major turning point. Today, Kodiak Cakes is approaching $200 million in annual revenue as one of the best-selling pancake mixes in America.

Kodiak Cakes: Joel Clark

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Remembering Tony Hsieh of Zappos
Andrew Holder for NPR

Remembering Tony Hsieh of Zappos

The former CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh has died. He was 46 years old. We are grateful that Tony shared his story with us in 2017 and we are republishing it as a tribute to his life and career. Tony was a computer scientist whose first company made millions off the dot-com boom. But he didn't make his mark until he built Zappos—a customer service company that "happens to sell shoes." Tony stepped down as CEO of Zappos in August 2020; the company is worth over a billion dollars and is known for its unorthodox management style.

Remembering Tony Hsieh of Zappos

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How I Built Resilience: Dr. Iman Abuzeid of Incredible Health

Dr. Iman Abuzeid is the co-founder and CEO of Incredible Health, a digital platform that helps streamline the hiring process for nurses and recruiting hospitals. After seeing an increased demand for nurses in April, and a shift to hiring digitally, the platform has now been able to expedite the hiring process to 15 days or less, compared to an industry standard of 90 days. These conversations are excerpts from our How I Built Resilience series, where Guy talks online with founders and entrepreneurs about how they're navigating turbulent times.

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The Lip Bar: Melissa Butler
Rashida Chavis for NPR

The Lip Bar: Melissa Butler

While working long hours as a Wall Street analyst, Melissa Butler started making lipstick in her kitchen as a hobby. But it soon turned into an obsession, costing thousands of dollars. She was frustrated by the lack of diversity in the cosmetics industry, and as a Black woman, wanted to create lipstick colors that complimented her complexion and style. So in 2010, she launched The Lip Bar, with bold colors like green and purple, and boozy names like "Cosmo" and "Sour Apple Martini." Undeterred by a disastrous appearance on Shark Tank with her partner Rosco Spears, Melissa was motivated to pitch her lipstick to Target, and in 2016, launched a new color on Target's online store. Today, The Lip Bar has expanded to 500 Target stores, and has continued to grow a following, despite the pain points of the pandemic.

The Lip Bar: Melissa Butler

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How I Built Resilience: Father Gregory Boyle of Homeboy Industries
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How I Built Resilience: Father Gregory Boyle of Homeboy Industries

Father Gregory Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries, one of the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry programs in the world. He speaks with Guy about how the Los Angeles based organization has adapted to continue training and employing people during the pandemic. These conversations are excerpts from our How I Built Resilience series, where Guy talks online with founders and entrepreneurs about how they're navigating turbulent times.

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Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole
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Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole

Kenneth Cole launched his shoe business out of a forty-foot truck in midtown Manhattan and quickly became known as an up-and-coming designer with an eye for street fashion. In 1986, he made a bold move by associating his nascent brand with a controversial issue at the time: the AIDS crisis, and the vital need for research. Through the 1990s and 2000s, Kenneth grew the company into a $500M brand, leading it through downturns, department store consolidation, an IPO and a return to private ownership. Throughout, he stayed committed to AIDS research and many other social causes.

Kenneth Cole: Kenneth Cole

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