Hardware Podcasts

Lonely Planet: Maureen & Tony Wheeler (2017)

How I Built This · 9 Jul 2018 · 37m

What this episode covers

Maureen and Tony Wheeler, founders of Lonely Planet, recount how a 1972 overland trip from London to Australia led to their first guidebook, printed in their Sydney kitchen and sold for $1.80. They describe scaling the company from a cottage industry to a global publisher, highlighting the breakthrough success of their 1980 India guide and the near-collapse of the business following the 9/11 attacks. The episode concludes with their decision to sell Lonely Planet to BBC Worldwide and a brief update on Melanie Colón, who created the Apt App to help renters communicate with noisy neighbors.

Most relevant to

founders before launch, companies scaling up and large enterprises

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Lonely Planet, U.S. Bank, BBC Worldwide
Products
Apt App
Also
Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Joe Cocker, Leon Russell

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