Hardware Podcasts

Live Episode! The Home Depot: Arthur Blank

How I Built This · 28 Dec 2017 · 32m

What this episode covers

Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, recounts how being fired from Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers by Sanford Sigoloff led him and mentor Bernie Marcus to launch a new, massive home improvement chain in Atlanta. Blank details the initial failure of the first two stores on opening day, the subsequent year of refining the business model through customer feedback, and the rapid scaling to $40 billion in revenue. He also discusses the importance of core values, balancing family life during hyper-growth, and his later acquisition of the Atlanta Falcons.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies and companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Home Depot, Handy Dan Home Improvement Centers, Dalen, Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United, U.S. Bank
Also
Sanford Sigoloff, Bernie Marcus, Bob Nardelli, Sam Walton

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 37m

    #88 Undaunted Leadership with Hint Founder Kara Goldin

    Kara Goldin, founder of Hint, discusses scaling her unsweetened flavored water company from a garage startup to over 30,000 retail locations, emphasizing leadership lessons from the pandemic and early growth. She explains how Hint grew 40% in 2020 by pivoting operations, securing deals with Costco, Walmart, and Aldi, and managing supply chain disruptions through direct store engagement. Goldin highlights the importance of hiring 'creators' rather than just managers, maintaining transparency with employees, and the strategic value of lacking prior CPG industry experience. The episode covers her book 'Undaunted,' detailing key decisions like losing Starbucks to focus on Target and refusing unfavorable promotions from Whole Foods to protect brand equity.

    Leadership, teams & cultureScaling production
    6 chapters

  • Oxide and Friends · 1h 02m

    Rooting for the Home Team with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel

    Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel, founders of the Oakland Ballers, discuss the startup's rapid growth from building a ballpark in a month to winning a historic championship season. They detail the operational challenges of launching two teams simultaneously, the strategic pivot to focus on the Oakland franchise, and the creation of 'BallerMetrics' to quantify fan impact. The episode also highlights a new collaboration with Oxide Computer Company to host a hackathon aimed at democratizing baseball technology.

    Validation & product-market fitMarketing & brand
    8 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 56m

    #169 - "How to Take Advice" with Nikhil Arora

    Nikhil Arora, co-founder and co-CEO of Back to the Roots, discusses the nuances of receiving and giving advice while scaling his organic gardening brand from a college project to a $100M retail business. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining a 'North Star' purpose, the critical role of his co-founder relationship with Alejandro Velez, and the necessity of resilience in entrepreneurship. Arora shares specific lessons learned from mentors like Jony Ive and Michael Pollan, as well as costly mistakes involving rushed product launches and underestimating retail costs.

    Validation & product-market fitLeadership, teams & culture
    12 chapters

  • Over the Air · 42m

    Competing with Tech Giants: Approaches and Challenges with Morgan Teachworth of Cisco

    Morgan Teachworth, VP of Engineering at Cisco Meraki, recounts the company's journey from a 5-year-old startup focused on mesh networking to its 2012 acquisition by Cisco. He details how Meraki identified an underserved market of small businesses and low-income housing, leveraging cloud management to compete with enterprise incumbents like Cisco itself. Teachworth also discusses the strategic pivot away from the failed Meraki phone product to the highly successful Meraki security camera line, emphasizing the importance of product-market fit and managing customer expectations for hardware sold with recurring software licenses.

    Validation & product-market fitManufacturing partners & offshoring
    6 chapters

  • Being an Engineer · 44m

    Stan Bentley | Starting an Engineering Business, Day Care, & Powdercoating

    Stan Bentley, founder of Diversified Systems, DIVSYS, and DIVaero, recounts his journey from fixing a transistor radio in seventh grade to building a nearly 700-person electronics manufacturing company. He details how he started Diversified Systems in his garage in 1972, leveraging early PCB fabrication and assembly to solve specific hardware problems, such as a flaw in dollar bill changers. Bentley also discusses his work on electrostatic powder coating safety at Randsburg and the unique company culture he built, including an on-site daycare and wellness center, to attract top talent. He concludes by highlighting the modern engineering challenge of bridging the gap between digital design and physical manufacturing as domestic PCB production declines.

    Starting a product companyPCB design & layout
    6 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.