Guy Raz

Well, in Justin's case, he climbed over that wall with an idea he got while working at REI and going for long bike rides.

An innovation that would help propel Justin's nut butters into a huge nationally known product, a brand that would come to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Justin Gold grew up in western Pennsylvania.

His dad was a dentist and his mom's family owned a natural food store in the area.

In college, Justin studied to become a lawyer.

But instead of going to law school, he decided to go in the opposite direction.

So you're in Boulder.

You're waiting tables.

But in the back of your mind, it sounds like the idea was you would maybe go back to school.

There's the University of Colorado there.

Maybe get a degree in something.

Was that kind of in the back of your head?

All right.

You were waiting tables, but you were also—

Doing the things that people do in Boulder, right, like biking and hiking and skiing and all those things.

Tell me about your diet.

You're a vegetarian.

So for protein, you were eating beans, nuts, stuff like that?

Yeah.

And when it came to things like peanut butter or nuts, I mean, was that a big part of your diet?