How They Made Their Millions
154 episodes - English - Latest episode: 9 months ago - ★★★★ - 98 ratingsThis show is about the amazing stories of world-class multi-millionaire and billionaire founders , how they started and how they succeeded. Founder Stories include the founders of Facebook(Mark), Linked-in(Reid), WhatsApp(Jan), Ben and Jerry Ice creams(the name says it), Instagram(Kevin), Amazon(Jeff), Pandora(Tim), Hershey Chocolates(Milton) and more.
You will hear their struggles and seemingly insurmountable problems and how they emerged victoriously, so you too can succeed as a founder.
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Episodes
151: GoPro: Nick Woodman - From selling bead belts in a VW van to creating a billion-dollar empire
July 18, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes - 23 MBHow did Nick Woodman , the founder of GoPro grow from selling bead belts in a VW van to creating a billion-dollar empire. Let us check it out.
150: J.P. Morgan - Turning chaos into billion dollar opportunities
July 04, 2023 10:00 - 16 minutes - 18.7 MBHere is the riveting journey of J.P. Morgan, the titan who transformed American finance.Let us discover how this financial maestro navigated uncertainty while everything was in chaos and etched an indelible legacy in the annals of American business.
149: SweetGreen: From a tiny dorm-room business to a multi-millionaire dollar food empire
June 20, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes - 24.6 MBNicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman, and Nathaniel Ru were three friends who shared a passion for healthy food. Since they couldn't find good places to eat healthy food, they started their own. They did not know anything about business and came close to shutting down their business. But they survived and turned it into a multi-million dollar food empire. Let's check out their "Dorm Room Dream to Million-Dollar Food Empire" story.
148: IT cosmetics: Jamie Kern Lima - From a struggling waitress to building a cosmetics empire
June 06, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes - 22.7 MBJamie Kern Lima had a dream to become a TV show host, but her dreams were shattered because of a problem she had. She later started IT cosmetics to solve her own problem. Faced with self-doubt, and down to her last few dollars, she persisted in the face of gut-wrenching rejections and setbacks. Finally she sold it to L’Oréal for multiple millions. Let us check out her awe-inspiring story.
147: Care.com: Sheila Marcelo - Turning her bad life situation into a business and becoming a Multi-millionaire
May 23, 2023 10:00 - 18 minutes - 23.1 MBSheila Marcelo aspired to have a fulfilling life with a well-planned career. However, life took an unexpected turn, and she faced many challenging situations. Despite this, she persevered and founded care.com from her personal problem, transforming it into a multi-million dollar empire. Listen in for her inspiring story.
146: Hint Water: Kara Goldin - Starting a business by accident to becoming a multi-millionaire
May 09, 2023 10:00 - 19 minutes - 24.2 MBKara Godin never intended to start a business. But she had a personal problem of losing weight. She started to share her unsweetened, fruit infused water with friends in her neighborhood. When they all liked it, she realized the potential opportunity. She heard “no you can't” and “that’s impossible” from many people. But she finally made Hint a success and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out her amazing story.
145: Beats Electronics: Jimmy Lovine - From a Janitor to a music billionaire
April 25, 2023 10:00 - 20 minutes - 24.1 MBDr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine, both music producers, recognized the need for high-quality headphones that could accurately reproduce the sound of music as it was intended to be heard in the studio. Despite facing initial challenges and negative reviews from some critics, they persevered with their idea, continuously improving their product and pushing forward. Their unwavering determination paid off, as they ultimately sold their company for a staggering sum of over $2 billion. Let us check o...
144: General Motors - Alfred Sloan - From a simple draftsman to a multi-millionaire Automobile icon
April 11, 2023 10:00 - 21 minutes - 24.2 MBWilliam Durant started General motors, but it almost came close to shutting down. Then Alfred Sloan stepped in. He adopted a different approach than his competitors to sell his cars. The strategy worked and sales took off. GM ultimately became a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out their story.
143: Tim Ferriss - From hopeless and depressed to becoming an Inspirational Icon and a multi-millionaire
March 28, 2023 11:00 - 20 minutes - 24.4 MBTim Ferriss was depressed most of the time and one time thought of ending his life. But he escaped that by fate of luck. Later he started a business and even here he felt overworked, restless, and unsure of how to fix his life. During this process he also lost all that was important to him. At this time, he discovered and learnt something which changed the course of his life. Later he published the 4-hour workweek, about his experiences and how he fixed his life. The book was a massive s...
142: Sargento - Leonard Gentine - From a tiny mom-and-pop shop to a billion dollar cheese empire
March 14, 2023 11:00 - 21 minutes - 25.1 MBLeonard Gentine never had any plans for starting a business. But by sheer accident, he got to know about a new profession and started a business which was a failure. Later by another accident, he got the idea to start a cheese making business. He faced several problems but finally they succeeded and it became a billion dollar company. Let us check out his story.
141: Mark Cuban - The son of a automobile upholstery installer to a Billionaire
February 28, 2023 11:00 - 20 minutes - 23.9 MBMark Cuban’s father was an automobile upholstery installer and life was not the best. He figured out ways to make money and finished his education. He was not sure what to do with his life, but a chance firing from his job made him start a business. Later he started Broadcast.com, sold it and became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.
140: CableVision - Charles Dolan - A college dropout to a Maverick Billionaire
February 14, 2023 11:00 - 20 minutes - 23.7 MBCharles Dolan, failed at two businesses. He faced many setbacks. Yet in 1973, this Maverick entrepreneur started Cablevision and built it into a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out his daring story.
139: Zipcar - Robin Chase & Antje Danielson - Two Moms with no business experience to starting a multi-million dollar car-sharing empire.
January 31, 2023 11:00 - 21 minutes - 24.6 MBRobin Chase was a stay at him mom & Antje Danielson was a mom and academic researcher. They never had any prior experience starting a business but they had deep passion to make the world a better place. They started ZipCar and even though they faced several problems and came close to shutting it down, they survived. Finally they sold it for $500 million. Let us check out their story.
138 : Duty Free Shops - Chuck Feeney - From a poor kid to a billionaire, who gave it all away.
January 17, 2023 11:00 - 24 minutes - 28.1 MBChuck Feeney was born poor. He made a fortune selling duty-free goods, building an enterprise out of nothing. Then, he gave all his money away. Let us check out his truly inspiring story.
137: Maker Studios - Ordinary YouTubers to Millionaires
January 03, 2023 11:00 - 20 minutes - 23.6 MBDanny Zappin, Shay Carl and a few other YouTubers, started their own YouTube Channels and amassed millions of subscribers. They decided to pool together their talent, followers and subscribers into a kind of talent network. They called it Maker Studios. It kept growing and they finally sold it for more than $500 million. Let us check out their story.
136: Dorothy Herman - Rising from life-crushing Trauma to becoming a multi-millionaire Real-Estate icon
December 20, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 23.1 MBHow did Dorothy Herman rose from life-crushing Trauma to become a multi-millionaire Real-Estate icon. Let us check out her awe-inspiring story.
135: LegalZoom - From a one-bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles to becoming multi-millionaires
December 06, 2022 10:00 - 17 minutes - 20.8 MBHow did Brian lee and Brian Lui start LegalZoom, a company that provides legal documentation in a one-bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their ramen-to-riches story.
134: Kathy Ireland - From a high-school dropout model to a Business Mogul
November 22, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 23.5 MBHow did a model who was a high-school dropout become a Business Mogul building a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out her inspiring story.
133: Audible - From a small-time Journalist to a Multi-millionaire
November 08, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 24.6 MBHow did Don Katz who started working as a journalist and never had any exposure to tech started Audible and then sold to Amazon and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out his superb story.
132: ABC Supply - From a high school dropout Teen single Mom To a Billionaire Entrepreneur
October 25, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 24.2 MBHow did Diane Hendricks, a high school dropout and a Teen single mom built ABC Supply, the largest wholesale roofing distributor in America, and rose to become a Billionaire Entrepreneur, even though she faced unbearable personal truama in her life. Let us check out her wonderful story.
131: SlideShare - How they turned a personal problem into a Multi-million dollar business
October 11, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 23.9 MBRashmi Sinha & Jonathan Boutelle wanted to embed PowerPoint presentations into other websites, but they could not find a solution. So how did they turn this personal problem into a Multi-million dollar business. Let us check out their story.
130: Public storage - The son of a poor farmer to a billionaire
September 20, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 25.1 MBHow did Wayne Hughes who was born to a poor farmer started Public Storage to store people's excess belongings and became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.
129: SmugMug - From a homeless kid to a multi-millionaire
September 06, 2022 10:30 - 22 minutes - 25.4 MBChris MacAskill was homeless and had to deal with a sick mother. Yet he rose through his challenges and started SmugMug and lived a fulfilling life and also became a multi-millionaire in this process.Let us check out his story.
128: NYX Cosmetics - An immigrant not able to speak English to a multi-millionaire fashion icon
August 23, 2022 10:30 - 20 minutes - 21.8 MBToni Ko’s parents immigrated to America, and she did not understand English. Yet she struggled and at a young age started NYX cosmetics and sold it for multiple millions to the world’s largest cosmetics company. Let us check out her story.
127: BaseCamp - From being Contrarian and going against the status quo to building a multi-million dollar business
August 09, 2022 10:00 - 19 minutes - 19.7 MBJason Fried and David Hanson, went against the status quo and built basecamp by doing the opposite of what we think successful companies are supposed to do and yet grew it into a multi-million dollar company. Let us see how they did it.
126: Bloomingdale’s - From a single tiny store to a billion-dollar high-end luxury store chain
July 26, 2022 10:30 - 22 minutes - 25.4 MBBloomingdale is a high-end luxury department chain started in New York. It started as a tiny shop selling only one item. Yet it grew into a billion-dollar high-end luxury store chain. Let us check out their story.
125: MyFitnessPal - From side-hustler to multi-millionaire
July 12, 2022 10:30 - 18 minutes - 21.2 MBMike Lee wanted to lose some weight before his wedding, but there was no good digital solution. So he decided to start his own app as a side hustle and it grew beyond his dreams with more than 100+ million users. Let use check out his story.
124: GitHub: Tom Preston-Werner - From dead-broke to a multi-millionaire.
June 28, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 21.4 MBGitHub is a well-known website that brings together developers from all over the globe to work together on code. But how did Tom Preston-Werner and Chris Wanstrath took GitHub from a “weekend project-started in-bar” to one of the world’s most powerful software development services that Microsoft purchased for $7.5 billion? Let us check it out.
123: Eddie Bauer: From a high-school dropout to a multi-millionaire outdoor goods icon.
June 14, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 22.9 MBEddie Bauer grew up loving the outdoors. To support his family, he dropped out of school and working odd jobs, he later opened his own tiny outdoor shop. He dedicated his life to making gear that made life easier for outdoorsmen. He faced many problems, but slowly it grew and today it has more than 500 locations and is sold throughout the world. Let us check out his story.
122: King.com(Candy Crush game): Riccardo Zacconi - Almost Bankrupt to a multi-million dollar gaming icon.
May 31, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 21.4 MBRiccardo Zacconi started king. com to build games . His business nearly went bankrupt. The Dot-com bubble had burst and Zacconi had put all of his money into his company and he would lose it all. How did he come out of this, how did he create the Candy Crush game, which became a huge hit, made him a multi-millionaire and made the game a global cultural phenomenon. Let’s check it out.
121: Nathan’s Famous Restaurants: Nathan Handwerker - From a restaurant dish-washer to a Multi-millionaire.
May 17, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 21.1 MBNathan Handwerker, whose first job at age 6 was peddling knishes in what is now Poland, immigrated to New York when he was barely 20. He had no formal education, spoke no English and began his restaurant career as a dishwasher. Nathan built his empire with his determination and persistence and became a multi-millionaire. Here is his inspiring story.
120: Kayak: Steve Hafner & Paul English - Two men who changed the way people travel forever and became multi-millionaires.
May 03, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 22.9 MBPaul English wrestled with bipolar disorder, having bouts of depression frequently, yet he teamed up with Steve Hafner and started Kayak. They faced competitors, but they persisted and executed well and finally sold it to Priceline for $1.8 billion dollars and both founders became multi-millionaires. This is the story of how they changed the way people travel forever.
119: Holiday Inn: Kemmons Wilson - From Dirt-poor to a Multi-Millionaire Hospitality icon.
April 19, 2022 10:00 - 19 minutes - 22.6 MBMany have heard about the man who revolutionized the lodging industry in the 20th century: Kemmons Wilson — the founder of everyone’s favorite hotel chain, Holiday Inn. But behind this incredible man, there’s an even more incredible story. This is the story of a poor boy who vowed never to be hungry again. Let us check it out.
119: Holiday Inn: Kemmons Wilson - From Dirt-poor to a Multi-Millionaire Hospitality icon.**
April 19, 2022 10:00 - 22.6 MBMany have heard about the man who revolutionized the lodging industry in the 20th century: Kemmons Wilson — the founder of everyone’s favorite hotel chain, Holiday Inn. But behind this incredible man, there’s an even more incredible story. This is the story of a poor boy who vowed never to be hungry again. Let us check it out.
118: StitchFix - Katrina Lake - From starting in an apartment to becoming a multi-millionaire
April 05, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 23.1 MBKatrina Lake never had any dreams of starting a business. She thought she was never capable, but due to a discovery she made about other entrepreneurs, she decided to start Stitchfix. As a woman founder, she faced many hurdles, yet she overcame all this and made StitchFix successful and became a multimillionaire. Let us check out her story.
117: Paul Mitchell Haircare Systems: John Paul DeJoria - Twice Homeless to a Multi-Millionaire
March 22, 2022 10:30 - 20 minutes - 23.5 MBJohn Paul DeJoria grew up poor with his single mother. He faced many problems in life and was homeless twice and lived in his car. Yet he had the drive to keep moving. Finally, he started Paul Mitchell systems and later became a billionaire. Let us check out how he did it.
116: NerdWallet - Tim Chen: Starting with $800 and turning it into multiple millions.
March 08, 2022 11:30 - 21 minutes - 25 MBTim Chen had a nice job in the financial services industry. But something bad happened, and he accidentally started NerdWallet. Money was not coming in and he thought of shutting it down. But he somehow persisted and finally took it public and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
115: Lucas Oil - Forrest Lucas: A triumphant journey from childhood poverty to a multimillionaire
December 28, 2021 11:00 - 20 minutes - 23.7 MBLucas oils is a manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. Its founder is Forrest Lucas and his is a proverbial ‘rags-to-riches’ story, emerging from rural Indiana to build an empire. He started as a truck driver and become an oil and media magnate and, in the process, becoming a multi-millionaire. Let us check out his story.
114: Adobe - John Warnock and Charles Geschke: Simple Xerox employees to multi-millionaires
December 14, 2021 12:00 - 24 minutes - 29 MBNow we take for granted that we can print anything from our computer. But long back, this was very difficult and many companies, including Apple, were not able to figure out how to print properly from a computer to a printer. But John and Charles from Adobe figured it out and built Adobe. They struggled, faced threats and competitors, but they succeeded and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their story.
113: Crate & Barrel: Gordon Segal - From not knowing anything about retail business to becoming multi-millionaires
November 30, 2021 11:00 - 22 minutes - 27.4 MBGordon and his wife wanted designer European cookware and glassware, but they were very expensive in America. To solve this problem for them and for others, hey opened Crate & Barrel, even though they didn’t know anything about business. They struggled, but ultimately succeeded and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their story.
112: Electronic Arts: Trip Hawkins - From a failure in first business to a multi-millionaire
November 16, 2021 11:00 - 27 minutes - 34 MBTrip Hawkins grew up at a time when there were no computers. He loved complex sports simulation board games, but others found it complex. He dreamt of a day to make playing games easier and fun. Finally he did it with EA. He went thru many harrowing experiences but came out successfully and in the process became a multi-millionaire.
111: Justin’s Nut Butter: Justin Gold - From a waiter to a multi-millionaire
November 02, 2021 10:00 - 25 minutes - 31.2 MBJustin Gold started working as a waiter to pay off his student loans, but then he stumbled on his passion for peanut and almond butter. Even though he did not know anything about starting a business, he figured it out and started it. Even though he came close to shutting down and there was no hope left to survive, he kept pursuing and finally emerged victoriously and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
110: Dropbox: Drew Houston - From A babysitter to a Billionaire
October 19, 2021 10:00 - 28 minutes - 35.5 MBDrew Houston's first job was babysitting and he was making $3.00 per hour, but then he figured out that he could get paid more doing what he loved.. Game programming. He later started DropBox. He had many setbacks, and he had to face the demons in his head. He overcame all this and finally took Dropbox Public. Both he and his co-founder became billionaires. Let us see how he did it.
109: Popeyes: Al Copeland - From utter poverty to a Multi-millionaire
October 05, 2021 10:00 - 20 minutes - 25.5 MBAl Copeland was born in utter poverty and never graduated high school. Yet he struggled and started popeyes. He explored his various passions and lived life to his fullest. Popeyes was a big success, and he became a multi-millionaire. Let's check out his story.
108: Shopify :Tobias Lutke - A school dropout to a billionaire
September 21, 2021 10:00 - 22 minutes - 27.5 MBTobias Lutke never had any dreams to start a business and he knew he was not capable. But by sheer accident, he started Shopify and later became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.
107: Charles Kettering - From a poor farm boy to a multi-millionaire
December 29, 2020 11:00 - 19 minutes - 24 MBCharles_Kettering grew up poor and had health problems. Yet, he persevered and invented many things including the self-starter in cars and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.
106: Warby Parker - Starting in an apartment to building a billion dollar company
December 15, 2020 11:00 - 16 minutes - 20.3 MBNeil Blumenthal along with his 3 friends started a business, while he was in college. Everyone he talked to said, they would fail, Yet, they started Warby Parker and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company. Let us see how they did it.
105: George Soros - From a penniless clerk to a billionaire
December 01, 2020 11:00 - 24 minutes - 29.7 MBGeorge Soros escaped death when he was young. He started as a Clerk, but later started a hedge fund and rose up to become a billionaire.Let us check out his story.
104: EventBrite : Julia Hartz - From a 9-5 job to a multi-millionaire founder
November 17, 2020 11:00 - 21 minutes - 25.7 MBJulia Hartz never had an intention to start a business nor had any knowledge of the tech world. But she was pulled into it by accident, and she and her husband Kevin started EventBrite and took it to a billion-dollar company.
103: Radio One - Cathy Hughes - A poor girl with no resources to a Multi-millionaire media icon
November 03, 2020 11:00 - 21 minutes - 24.1 MBCathy grew up poor and when Cathy Hughes was in her teens, she was thrown out of her house. With no resources or connections, she rose to start Urban one, a network of Radio stations and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out her story.