Howard Schultz

Many, many years later.

Many, many years later.

But this is one of the great observations, David. Il Giornale buys the Starbucks stores, rebrands Il Giornale Incorporated as the Starbucks Corporation. Yeah. And the original Starbucks had owned Pete's and now needs a new name. So it rebrands the company Pete's. So Pete's was actually Starbucks. Starbucks was actually Il Giornale. Yes. It's amazing.

But this is one of the great observations, David. Il Giornale buys the Starbucks stores, rebrands Il Giornale Incorporated as the Starbucks Corporation. Yeah. And the original Starbucks had owned Pete's and now needs a new name. So it rebrands the company Pete's. So Pete's was actually Starbucks. Starbucks was actually Il Giornale. Yes. It's amazing.

Some stats, just for listeners to understand the gravity of the situation. For the initial 1.6 million that you raised for Il Giornale, you talked to 242 investors, 217 of which said no. So anybody who's griping about their fundraising journey, those are rookie numbers.

Some stats, just for listeners to understand the gravity of the situation. For the initial 1.6 million that you raised for Il Giornale, you talked to 242 investors, 217 of which said no. So anybody who's griping about their fundraising journey, those are rookie numbers.

But you asked me a question earlier about what did the years at Xerox teach me? So the rejection I was going through The Italians turned me down. People in the US turned me down. Nobody would believe in the idea.

But you asked me a question earlier about what did the years at Xerox teach me? So the rejection I was going through The Italians turned me down. People in the US turned me down. Nobody would believe in the idea.

It was like I was cold calling again at Xerox. The other thing that is worth pointing out is The Starbucks company with the six stores, when they bought Peet's with that six to one debt to equity ratio, basically backed themselves into a corner where now they had these big debt service payments to make.

It was like I was cold calling again at Xerox. The other thing that is worth pointing out is The Starbucks company with the six stores, when they bought Peet's with that six to one debt to equity ratio, basically backed themselves into a corner where now they had these big debt service payments to make.

There was really no risk they could take or innovation that they could do because the whole business needed to spit out a certain amount of cash every month so they could pay down the debt. And so when you're in that situation, Starbucks, in the 40 years ahead from this point in the story, has tried all sorts of crazy things to become the business that it is today.

There was really no risk they could take or innovation that they could do because the whole business needed to spit out a certain amount of cash every month so they could pay down the debt. And so when you're in that situation, Starbucks, in the 40 years ahead from this point in the story, has tried all sorts of crazy things to become the business that it is today.

And when you first created this combined company, you were pretty religious about no debt. No debt. I don't want any debt again because of my childhood. I was going to ask you, was that informed by what you had seen with the Starbucks situation or your childhood?

And when you first created this combined company, you were pretty religious about no debt. No debt. I don't want any debt again because of my childhood. I was going to ask you, was that informed by what you had seen with the Starbucks situation or your childhood?

No, it was totally my childhood. My parents were always in debt. Bill collectors were always calling. And no, we never had any debt the entire time. Never.

No, it was totally my childhood. My parents were always in debt. Bill collectors were always calling. And no, we never had any debt the entire time. Never.

And I could begin to see even early on the accretive nature of frequency. Where I can see what was going on here is people were not coming for coffee in the morning anymore. They were starting. The morning rush was getting bigger, the need for more labor.

And I could begin to see even early on the accretive nature of frequency. Where I can see what was going on here is people were not coming for coffee in the morning anymore. They were starting. The morning rush was getting bigger, the need for more labor.

And I could sense that the business that Starbucks was in was going to be significantly in the back and the beverage and the romance of the theater. And the third place was the hero. It didn't take us long to realize we had the beginning of lightning in the bottle.

And I could sense that the business that Starbucks was in was going to be significantly in the back and the beverage and the romance of the theater. And the third place was the hero. It didn't take us long to realize we had the beginning of lightning in the bottle.