September 2026 in hardware podcasts

Seventh Generation had just bet everything on retail, and getting into Whole Foods in 1998 drove years of growth. Guy Raz asks Jeffrey Hollender how he won over other retailers, who assumed Lysol or Mr. Clean simply worked better.

“We were 90 or 95% as effective, but we felt that we got the job done for most consumers, and that was what would be good enough. … we would also show a lot of sales analysis. And basically what we said was, not only are these products healthier and safer, but you will make more money per square foot by selling them than you will selling traditional products. You'll have bigger margins, you'll sell more with less space. And honestly, that financial argument was often what was a winning argument because these retailers are in the real estate business. And if you can create more profit per square foot, they're happy.”

Jeffrey Hollender, co-founder and former CEO of Seventh Generation

Retailers rent out shelf space, so what they buy is profit per foot of shelf, not a good cause. Hollender sold a greener product on the store's own arithmetic, and that argument works for any product that needs space on someone else's shelf.

How I Built This

Seventh Generation: Alan Newman and Jeffrey Hollender. A Partnership that Flourished—until it Failed. (2021)

1:00:53

Andy Kurtts of Buttermilk Creative had been explaining that shoppers now ask AI chatbots for product recommendations, and that the bots favour brands whose copy names the job a product does rather than its category. The host suggests trying it live, and Kurtts describes the test he gives founders.

“Open up like, don't do it, do it in an incognito, you know, like temporary chat, in chat, because you don't want your past history, sort of biasing your, what you're looking for. … Describe the job your product does, what you think. And um, you don't mention your brand. You don't mention your category and then see what shows up. So if, you know, if you're a, if you're a, you know, a nut snack, um, And you think that it's a good afternoon snack, then plug that in and say, what's a good afternoon snack that's crunchy or something. Um, and see what shows up and see if your competitors are showing up.”

Andy Kurtts, founder of Buttermilk Creative

Shoppers increasingly ask an AI assistant what to buy. This five-minute test shows whether yours gets recommended, using nothing but a private chat window, and Kurtts explains what to fix if it doesn't.

People of Packaging

359 - The most interesting way AI is disrupting packaging design with Andy Kurtts from Buttermilk Creative

15:29

Kim Vaccarella had sunk her family's savings into a run of Bogg Bags that arrived streaked with black marks. When Superstorm Sandy hit the Jersey Shore in 2012, she filled all 800 with supplies and handed them out in Toms River, then shut the business down.

“In my mind, I was done anyway. … Now, all these people have had their bog bags in the worst possible scenario. All these people who got a donation. All the, yes, everybody that received a donation had these bog bags in molds, dirt, sand, water, you know, in like the worst situation possible. So the recipients of the bog bags with all of the supplies started reaching out through bog bag for the beaches. And they were like, wait, I need to buy like more of these bags. … I want to buy them for gifts. I want them for Christmas. … They didn't care. They love the idea of the bag. … shit, now I got to make this damn bag.”

Kim Vaccarella, founder and CEO of Bogg Bag

She had closed the company and given away the flawed stock. The people who used those bags through a hurricane came back asking for more, and the business restarted from the customers she thought she'd lost.

How I Built This

Bogg Bag: Kim Vaccarella. The $100 Million Business She Almost Abandoned

48:07