Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard. (Update)
This episode examines the troubled state of Macy's and the broader retail industry through conversations with Macy's CEO Tony Spring, retail veteran and academic Mark Cohen, and author-entrepreneur Jeff Kinney. Spring lays out his Bold New Chapter turnaround plan, including major store closures, real estate monetization, merchandise overhauls, and attempts to translate the marketing power of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade into better in-store experiences. Cohen sharply criticizes Macy's past strategies and questions the viability of the turnaround, while Kinney offers a contrasting example of place-based, community-focused retail through his unprofitable but culturally influential independent bookstore and downtown redevelopment project in Plainville, Massachusetts.
TIP769: How Home Depot's Founders Built a $300 Billion Company from the Ground Up w/ Kyle Grieve
Host Kyle Grieve provides a narrative deep dive into the origins and growth of Home Depot, drawing heavily from the founders' book "Built from Scratch". He traces Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank's early careers, their firing from Handy Dan, the creation of the Home Depot concept, the role of key partners like Ken Langone and Pat Farah, and the company's early financing and expansion challenges. The episode then examines Home Depot's competitive strategy, supplier relationships, management philosophy, and long-term performance, extracting lessons for entrepreneurs and investors about culture, pricing, competition, and disciplined growth.
Advice Line with Tariq Farid of Edible Arrangements
This advice-line episode features Edible Arrangements founder Tariq Farid joining host Guy Raz to answer real-time questions from three entrepreneurs. Tariq first shares an update on Edible Arrangements, including generational leadership transition, brand reinvention, and navigating the emerging "edibles" space. Callers then seek advice on educating consumers about Filipino banana ketchup, naming a highly sustainable polar expedition company, and scaling a service-focused screen printing business from $3M to $5M in revenue without losing its culture.
Babylist: Natalie Gordon. How a new mom used nap time to build a $500M business.
Software engineer Natalie Gordon describes how her overwhelming experience creating a traditional big-box baby registry while pregnant led her to build BabyList, a universal registry that lets parents combine products from any retailer with practical services like dog walking or diaper subscriptions. She explains how she bootstrapped the company while caring for a newborn, then gradually scaled it through affiliate revenue, an accelerator, seed funding, and later a major shift into holding inventory and operating as an e-commerce retailer. Throughout, she reflects on hiring and management challenges, learning to become a CEO, and keeping BabyList focused on serving expecting and new parents rather than expanding into adjacent categories like weddings.
Advice Line with Michael Dubin of Dollar Shave Club
Host Guy Raz speaks with Dollar Shave Club founder Michael Dubin, who shares what he has been working on since selling his company, including writing a screenplay, advisory and board work, exploring new company ideas, and starting a wildfire-focused nonprofit. Together they field calls from three entrepreneurs: a founder launching Syrian cheese into U.S. grocery stores, a mobile mini-golf business owner scaling service quality through employees, and a former wildland firefighter making custom fire uniforms who is struggling with production capacity and growth. Dubin and Raz offer practical advice on marketing in a noisy digital world, brand storytelling, customer experience, hiring and incentives, and when and how to think about fundraising and manufacturing partnerships.
The Hospitality Principles That Build Billion-Dollar Startups
The host interviews restaurateur and author Will Gudera about the philosophy and practice of "unreasonable hospitality" that helped his restaurant Eleven Madison become a top destination. They discuss how small, highly personal gestures can matter more than perfect execution, how to build a culture of rigorous feedback and care, and how to operationalize hospitality through roles like the "Dreamweaver" and systems such as one-size-fits-all, one-size-fits-some, and one-size-fits-one experiences. The conversation also explores applications in other industries, the economics of restaurants, and the broader pursuit of excellence in life and business.
He turned a broke team into a billion dollars
The hosts profile Jesse Cole and the Savannah Bananas, tracing how he transformed a struggling summer-league baseball operation into a massively in-demand entertainment phenomenon. They describe his decade of experiments with the Gastonia Grizzlies, the all‑in risk he and his wife took to launch the Savannah Bananas, and the fan‑first innovations that led to Banana Ball and a huge touring live show business. Along the way they draw parallels to MrBeast, Steve Jobs, Will Guidara, Dan Porter, Monster Jam, and Feld Entertainment to explore strategy, hospitality, showmanship, and building AI‑proof live experiences.