How I Built This with Guy Raz

Mielle Organics: Monique Rodriguez

15 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

For Monique Rodriguez, hair care was a hobby; she never thought she could build a business. In fact, after high school, Monique followed her mother’...

HIBT Lab! Landed: Alex Lofton

11 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Pricey down payments have put homeownership out of reach for many Americans, especially those who don’t have access to intergenerational wealth. Thi...

Hinge: Justin McLeod (2021)

08 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2010, Justin McLeod was in business school, still trying to get over a bad breakup that had happened years before. Determined to solve his own prob...

HIBT Lab! Babcock Ranch: Syd Kitson

04 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

What would it take to build America’s first solar-powered town? What about a town that could withstand a direct hit from a hurricane? In the early 2...

Suitsupply: Fokke de Jong

01 May 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Fokke de Jong started selling suits out of his dorm room in Amsterdam in the late 90's, he wasn’t planning on becoming the next Tom Ford—he j...

HIBT Lab! Hevesh5: Lily Hevesh

27 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Lily Hevesh never could have imagined that the videos of domino tricks she started posting for fun at 10 years old would eventually evolve into a thri...

Manduka: Peter Sterios

24 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Sterios discovered yoga by accident when he was in college, and wound up—also by accident—launching a multimillion-dollar business around it...

HIBT Lab! Ursa Major: Joe Laurienti

20 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Joe Laurienti, a former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineer, launched Ursa Major in 2015 with the idea that 3D printing could revolutionize the production...

Halo Top Ice Cream: Justin Woolverton

17 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In one of the most remarkable feats ever performed by a frozen dessert, Halo Top ice cream became the best-selling pint in America just six years afte...

HIBT Lab! New Culture: Matt Gibson and Inja Radman

13 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s hard not to love cheese: feta, brie, gruyère, parmesan, pepper jack, mozzarella, asiago...it’s all delicious! But there’s a downside — c...

Orangetheory Fitness: Ellen Latham

10 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ellen Latham would probably have been happy teaching classes at her popular fitness studio in south Florida until she turned ninety. After being fired...

HIBT Lab! Nas Company: Nuseir Yassin

06 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2016, Nuseir Yassin quit his cushy tech job to embark on a journey around the globe. The idea was simple: post a one-minute video every day for 1,0...

Twilio: Jeff Lawson

03 Apr 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When Jeff Lawson co-founded Twilio in 2008, he had already been through a series of start-ups. Some succeeded, others fizzled out—but each prov...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! Climeworks: Jan Wurzbacher

30 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

According to the 2022 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world needs to cut carbon emissions drastically to avoid t...

Sun Bum: Tom Rinks

27 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Tom Rinks not only understands the art of branding, he can explain it with the passion and precision of a master teacher. In 2009, he came up with the...

HIBT Lab! Slutty Vegan: Pinky Cole

23 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

It’s hard to miss a Slutty Vegan when you’re driving past one. No, we’re not talking about a person… We’re talking about a fast-casual ...

Food52: Amanda Hesser (2021)

20 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the early 1990s, as Amanda Hesser's college friends were interviewing for their first cubicle jobs, she chose a different path; one that led straig...

HIBT Lab! Saysh: Wes and Allyson Felix

16 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Allyson Felix is the most decorated American track and field athlete of all time. She’s also a mother. Those two identities came into conflict in 20...

Xero Shoes: Steven Sashen and Lena Phoenix

13 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2007, Steven Sashen went on a 5K run in his bare feet, an experience that felt so surprisingly natural that it led him to launch one of the best-kn...

HIBT Lab! Too Good To Go: Lucie Basch

09 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Collaboration is the new competition: that was French entrepreneur Lucie Basch’s philosophy when she approached a group of Danish founders who happe...

Michael Kors: Michael Kors

06 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As a teenager, Michael Kors filled his notebooks with dress designs and doodles of his own initials—casual sketches that would eventually fuel the l...

HIBT Lab! The Confess Project: Lorenzo Lewis

02 Mar 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Barbers have played a central role in the Black community throughout American history. Haircutting was one of the first jobs that Black men were allow...

Politico & Axios: Jim VandeHei

27 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Before Jim VandeHei co-founded the media company Politico, the only thing he’d managed was the night shift at Little Caesar’s pizza in Oshkos...

HIBT Lab! Boom Supersonic: Blake Scholl

23 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Commercial air travel has been stuck below the sound barrier for about 20 years, since the Concorde’s last flight in 2003. While the technology exis...

Osprey Packs: Mike Pfotenhauer

20 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

With a passion for design and a skill for sewing, Mike Pfotenhauer grew a bespoke backpack business into one of the world’s most popular outdoor bra...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! OpenAI: Sam Altman

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial Intelligence was once the realm of science fiction. But over the last several years, advances in machine learning and deep neural networks ...

The Ringer: Bill Simmons

13 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Wherever Bill Simmons is, he’s obsessed with helping his team win. During 14 tumultuous years as a creative force at ESPN, that meant launching a sl...

HIBT Lab! Biobot Analytics: Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Biobot Analytics founders Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli first met in a poop lab. Yep, you read that correctly...Their company has been working with ...

Zumiez: Tom Campion

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Working as a manager for nine years at JCPenney, Tom Campion learned a critical lesson about how to succeed in retail: you have to keep close track of...

HIBT Lab! The Sioux Chef: Sean Sherman

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chef Sean Sherman is on a mission to revitalize and reimagine Native American cuisine. Growing up on a reservation in South Dakota, Sean ate a lo...

Chomps: Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When steaks don’t sell you shift to sticks; that’s how Chomps was born. After several failed ventures—one of which left him bankrupt—Pete Mald...

HIBT Lab! Osmo Salt: Nick DiGiovanni

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Do you know who holds the record for making the world’s largest chicken nugget? How about the world’s largest sushi roll?If you know Nick DiGiovan...

Tarte Cosmetics: Maureen Kelly

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Let’s say you had a passion but thought of it only as a hobby; certainly never the seed of a billion-dollar company. Plus, you are studying for...

HIBT Lab! Nuro: Dave Ferguson

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

When you think about self-driving cars, you might imagine relaxing in the back seat while a vehicle carries you to your destination. But according to ...

Complexly: Hank and John Green

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2007, brothers Hank and John Green lived thousands of miles apart, so they started posting video blogs to each other on a strange new platform call...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! Malala Fund and Our Place: Shiza Shahid

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On October 9, 2012, Shiza Shahid’s life changed forever. It was on that day that 15-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the hea...

Health-Ade Kombucha: Daina Trout (2020)

09 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In 2012, Daina Trout, her husband Justin, and her best friend Vanessa Dew were sitting around a kitchen table spit-balling possible business ideas. Th...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! The Financial Diet: Chelsea Fagan

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chelsea Fagan got her first credit card when she was a senior in high school. She quickly maxed it out, racking up debt that would burden her through ...

Kodiak Cakes: Joel Clark (2020)

02 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! The Sorry Girls: Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

YouTubers Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright – better known as The Sorry Girls – have always had an affinity for production. When they met as film...

I.R.S. Records: Miles Copeland

26 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As a music industry mogul and founder of I.R.S. Records, Miles Copeland prided himself on making deals that were easy to say “yes” to. With a mixt...

HIBT Lab! Immunai: Noam Solomon

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

According to the CDC, 6 in 10 adults in the U.S. have a chronic disease like cancer or diabetes. Meanwhile, the process for discovering new drug treat...

Beautyblender: Rea Ann Silva

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Working as a Hollywood makeup artist in the early 2000s, Rea Ann Silva designed a sponge that reshaped the face of beauty. She'd been looking for a te...

HIBT Lab! mitú and SUMA Wealth: Beatriz Acevedo

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It was a love for Ricky Martin that started it all...Beatriz Acevedo thought that if she could only become a DJ, she could get his attention and marry...

Alienware: Frank Azor and Nelson Gonzalez

12 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With no formal training in business or computer design, Nelson Gonzalez and his cofounders decided to do what almost no other company was doing in the...

HIBT Lab! Gro Intelligence: Sara Menker

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up in Ethiopia in the 1980s and ‘90s, Sara Menker saw the devastating effects of drought and famine firsthand. Later as a commodities trader...

Famous Dave's: Dave Anderson (2020)

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up in 1960's Chicago, Dave Anderson didn't eat much deep dish. Instead, his dad took the family to the South Side for barbecue, and those memo...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! Babish Culinary Universe: Andrew Rea

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up, Andrew Rea dreamed of becoming a Hollywood filmmaker. But the special effects production job he landed after college left him feeling…un...

Guayakí Yerba Mate: David Karr and Chris Mann

28 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the mid-1990’s most Americans had probably never even heard of yerba mate, but when David Karr and Chris Mann were first introduced to the South ...

HIBT Lab! Goodr: Jasmine Crowe-Houston

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Millions of Americans don’t have enough to eat — a startling fact considering 40% of the food produced in the U.S. gets thrown away. And a lot of ...

Roku: Anthony Wood

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Anthony Wood helped transform the media landscape…twice. First, in the early 2000’s, when he invented a device that let you record, pause, an...

HIBT Lab! Tala: Shivani Siroya

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

‘This is not our customer...’ That was the common justification banks used to deny loans to the entrepreneurs Shivani Siroya supported throug...

Chobani: Hamdi Ulukaya

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As a newly arrived immigrant from Turkey, Hamdi Ulukaya learned to be resourceful, determined, and even stubborn when he needed to be. All those trait...

HIBT Lab! Tomorrow.io: Shimon Elkabetz

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Our planet is warming, and many parts of the world are not equipped to accurately predict the heat waves, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and floods ...

Ooni Pizza Ovens: Darina Garland and Kristian Tapaninaho

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When you think of pizza, the first place that comes to mind probably isn’t Finland…or Scotland. But that’s where the two founders of the outdoor...

HIBT Lab! MKBHD: Marques Brownlee

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

“Right now I have approximately 70-ish subscribers,” declared a teenage Marques Brownlee at the beginning of his 100th YouTube video back in 2009....

Tripadvisor: Steve Kaufer

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Kaufer got the idea for Tripadvisor in 1998 after spending way too many hours online, trying to figure out if a resort in Mexico was really as g...

HIBT Lab! Cruise: Kyle Vogt

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Most of us are familiar with rideshare apps at this point. We tap a few buttons on a phone and...voila! A vehicle arrives to take you virtually anywhe...

Bluemercury: Marla and Barry Beck

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The story of Bluemercury is packed with business lessons—for starters, it’s always good to have a backup plan. That’s what Marla and Barry Beck ...

HIBT Lab! Universal Hydrogen: Paul Eremenko

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Commercial air travel has connected humans across the globe in extraordinary ways. This connection, however, comes with a cost: about a billion tons o...

Culver's: Craig Culver

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Craig Culver says that when he opened the first Culver’s restaurant in a small Wisconsin town, there were three cars in the parking lot on a good da...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! Blogilates: Cassey Ho

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cassey Ho is the face of Blogilates, best known for its free online workout videos which have more than a billion views on YouTube alone. As impressiv...

Wirecutter: Brian Lam

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Brian Lam walked away from a high-profile job at Gizmodo to launch a product review blog, he had no plan for how it would make money. He just kne...

HIBT Lab! Against All Grain: Danielle Walker

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up, Danielle Walker’s family often convened for big meals prepared by her Italian grandmother, Grandma Marge. Back then, Danielle enjoyed a ...

ButcherBox: Mike Salguero

03 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Back in 2015, when Mike Salguero set out to buy some grass-fed beef for himself and his wife, he had to meet a farmer in a parking lot, who handed him...

HIBT Lab! OpenAI: Sam Altman

29 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial Intelligence was once the realm of science fiction. But over the last several years, advances in machine learning and deep neural networks ...

HOORAE: Issa Rae

26 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Obsessed with TV and passionate about writing, Issa Rae sent an unsolicited script to CBS’s Cosby when she was still in middle school. By ...

HIBT Lab! Wonder: Marc Lore

22 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Picture this: you just wrapped a long day of work and you are starving! You open a delivery app and place an order from your favorite restaurant. Abou...

Bombas: David Heath and Randy Goldberg

19 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

David Heath and Randy Goldberg saw an opportunity to disrupt a long dormant—and arguably boring sector...socks. They met at a startup in their ...

HIBT Lab! SOURCE Global: Cody Friesen

15 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Water is all around us–quite literally, there is enough water in the air we breathe to meet all of humanity’s needs and then some. Engineering pro...

Rivian: RJ Scaringe

12 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When you consider the risk of doing business, it doesn’t get much bigger than starting a car company: competition is formidable, startup costs are i...

HIBT Lab! Malala Fund and Our Place: Shiza Shahid

08 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On October 9, 2012, Shiza Shahid’s life changed forever. It was on that day that 15-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the hea...

S'well: Sarah Kauss (2020)

05 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2009, Sarah Kauss had a well-paying job in real estate development, but she was itching to do something more. On a hike in Tucson with her mom, she...

HIBT Lab! Bored Ape Yacht Club: Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow

01 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

You might not expect a deep friendship to bloom from an argument about favorite authors...in a Miami bar...during spring break. Yet that’s exactly h...

Men's Wearhouse: George Zimmer (2019)

29 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 1970, George Zimmer was a college graduate with no real job prospects and little direction. That's when his father, an executive at a boy's clothin...

HIBT Lab! Yolélé: Pierre Thiam

25 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Pierre Thiam was robbed within days of arriving in New York City. It was 1989, and he had just traveled to the U.S. from Senegal to study chemistry an...

Jo Loves: Jo Malone CBE (2020)

22 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As a girl in 1970s London, Jo Malone learned how to make face creams by going to work with her mom at a private skin care clinic. By the time she was ...

HIBT Lab! Babish Culinary Universe: Andrew Rea

18 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up, Andrew Rea dreamed of becoming a Hollywood filmmaker. But the special effects production job he landed after college left him feeling…un...

Roblox: David Baszucki

15 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2003, David Baszucki wanted to go viral. He had already sold a company that made educational software, and now he wanted to build something wi...

HIBT Lab! Universal Standard: Polina Veksler

11 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2014, friends Polina Veksler and Alex Waldman went clothes shopping at a major department store. To Polina’s surprise, Alex’s options were quit...

Noom: Saeju Jeong

08 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Saeju Jeong moved from South Korea to the U.S. in his mid-20's, he barely knew anyone, didn't speak much English, and had only $5,000 in savings....

HIBT Lab! Quaise Energy: Carlos Araque

04 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Growing up in Colombia, Carlos Araque and his father liked to take apart bicycles and motorcycles then put them back together. This love of tinkering ...

Dogfish Head Craft Brewery: Sam and Mariah Calagione

01 Aug 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sam and Mariah Calagione started dating in high school, and have been on a wild ride ever since. Their biggest, craziest adventure? Founding Dogfish H...

HIBT Lab! IDEO: David Kelley

28 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It wasn’t unusual for David Kelley to take calls from Steve Jobs in the middle of the night. This came with the territory, as David worked on design...

Tumi & Roam Luggage: Charlie Clifford

25 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Over nearly 50 years in the luggage business, Charlie Clifford has built two premium brands and weathered three existential crises: the recession of 1...

ICYMI... HIBT Lab! Colin and Samir: Colin Rosenblum and Samir Chaudry

21 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week on How I Built This Lab, we're throwing it back to our very first Lab episode.In this episode, Guy sits down with Colin Rosenblum and Samir ...

Twitch: Emmett Shear

18 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In 2011, when Emmett Shear pivoted the live streaming service Justin.tv into the video game platform Twitch, people warned him that gaming was just a ...

HIBT Lab! The Financial Diet: Chelsea Fagan

14 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Chelsea Fagan got her first credit card when she was a senior in high school. She quickly maxed it out, racking up debt that would burden her through ...

TaskRabbit: Leah Solivan

11 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

One snowy night in Boston, Leah Solivan ran out of dog food for her 100-pound yellow lab. She wondered: shouldn’t I be able to resupply Kobe wi...

HIBT Lab! BlocPower: Donnel Baird

07 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Donnel Baird was a child, his parents would regularly use the oven to heat their Brooklyn apartment ⁠— a dangerous and energy-inefficient pra...

Happy Family Organics: Shazi Visram (2020)

04 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

While she was a student at business school, Shazi Visram ran into an old friend—a new mother of twins. The friend confided she felt like a bad mom b...

HIBT Lab! Climeworks: Jan Wurzbacher

30 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

According to the 2022 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world needs to cut carbon emissions drastically to avoid t...

The Tonight Show & Electric Hot Dog: Jimmy Fallon

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Jimmy Fallon may talk like a comedian, but he thinks like a restless entrepreneur. In addition to his day job as host of The Tonight Show, he run...

HIBT Lab! The Sorry Girls: Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright

23 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

YouTubers Kelsey MacDermaid and Becky Wright – better known as The Sorry Girls – have always had an affinity for production. When they met as film...

Affirm: Max Levchin (Part 2 of 2)

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After PayPal sold to eBay in 2002, Max Levchin could have relaxed on a beach for the rest of his life. But that’s not the kind of person he is....

HIBT Lab! Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drug Company: Mark Cuban

16 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Serial entrepreneur Mark Cuban was one of the very first guests on How I Built This, way back in 2016. Mark has been founding and investing in startup...

PayPal: Max Levchin (Part 1 of 2)

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

During its formative years in the late 1990's, Paypal attracted an extraordinary group of young entrepreneurs, who then went on to build some of the b...

HIBT Lab! Google: Sundar Pichai

09 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Drive. Docs. Chrome. Maps. Gmail. Android. What do these products have in common? Of course, they’re all Google, but what you may not know is that t...

Pitchfork: Ryan Schreiber

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

While working at his local record store at age 20, Ryan Schreiber dreamt that his scrappy music review webpage might one day grow into an influential ...

HIBT Lab! Wildtype: Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck

02 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

When Aryé Elfenbein and Justin Kolbeck met in 2011, they had no intention of starting a business. Aryé was a cardiologist, and Justin was a diplomat...