Starting a product company
Building the business
1,641 episodes across 50 shows cover starting a product company. The shows that cover it most are How I Built This, The Startup CPG Podcast and The Amp Hour. The most recent, from 13 Oct 2026, is “Testing Embedded Systems in the Cloud and On-Prem with Marie Meyer and Joel Schulz-Andres” from The Pragmatic Embedded Podcast.
Founding a company that makes physical products: the idea, first steps, co-founders, why hardware is hard, early survival.
1641 episodes from 50 shows, most relevant and most recent first.
1641 episodes
10 Years of How I Built This: A Decade of Innovation, Risk and Reinvention
Guy Raz and Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, review highlights from ten years of 'How I Built This,' discussing the emotional and financial struggles of founders like Sam Kalagani of Dogfish Head, Eileen Fisher, and Sarah Blakely of Spanx…
Shopify: Tobias Lütke. How a snowboarder built a $150 billion business (2019)
Tobias Lütke, co-founder and CEO of Shopify, explains how his 2004 attempt to launch a snowboard store called Snowdevil led to the creation of the Shopify e-commerce platform. Lütke details the pivot from selling physical goods to building…
UGG: Brian Smith. How an epiphany, surfers, and $500 launched an iconic sheepskin footwear company.
Brian Smith, founder of UGG, explains how he imported Australian sheepskin boots to the U.S. in 1979, initially struggling with zero sales from surf shops before pivoting to marketing to real surfers like Mike Parsons and Ted Robinson. He…
Founder Feature: Emmanuel Waters and Courtney Tucker of Old Hillside Bourbon
Emmanuel Waters and Courtney Tucker, co-founders of Old Hillside Bourbon Company, discuss bootstrapping their premium spirit brand for six years to tell Black history through products like Last Ride Rye, Trifecta, and Harlem Hellfighters…
Turning Customers Into Investors: A Popcorn Brand's Crowdfunding Playbook
Tal Moore, founder and CEO of Popsmith, details his journey from selling candy as a child to launching a premium stovetop popcorn brand with his business partner Dave Stickland. He explains how $2.2 million in personal capital and a $1.6…
Growing a Profitable Manufacturing Business Without Outside Investors w/ Kyle Ewing
Kyle Ewing, founder and CEO of TerraSlate, explains how he bootstrapped the waterproof paper company to over $40 million in revenue without outside investors by enforcing strict prepayment policies and mastering cold calling. He details…
S6E45 Jeremy Jarrett | Legal Advice & Strategy for Starting An Engineering Business
Jeremy Jarrett, a corporate and M&A attorney at Sacks Tierney, advises engineers on the legal strategies for starting and scaling a business, emphasizing the importance of entity structure, funding, and contract negotiation. He highlights…
#424: The MedTech Startup Survival Guide with Steve Bell
Steve Bell, a veteran MedTech entrepreneur and co-founder of various AI-powered initiatives, explains why over 75% of startups fail due to emotional attachment to non-viable concepts and underestimating the time and financial commitment…
247: Lessons from a Serial Entrepreneur: Mark DeSantis on Startups, Robotics, and Commercializing Tech
Serial entrepreneur Mark DeSantis, who recently sold Bloomfield Robotics to Kubota Corporation, explains his philosophy of focusing on 'big and boring' problems rather than chasing technology trends. He details how Bloomfield used…
#186 - Bootstrap Heroes: Bumpin Blends, Lentiful and Drink Wholesome
Lisa Mastela of Bumpin Blends, Ben Bacon of Lentiful, and Jack & Tessa Schrupp of Drink Wholesome discuss bootstrapping their CPG brands without external venture capital. They detail scrappy operational tactics, such as Lisa's use of…
La Colombe Coffee Roasters: Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti. A Brotherhood Built on Coffee (2020)
Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti, co-founders of La Colombe Coffee Roasters, recount their journey from meeting in Seattle to launching a specialty coffee brand in Philadelphia. They detail the operational challenges of their early…
Rick Steves' Europe: Rick Steves (2021)
Rick Steves, founder of Rick Steves' Europe, explains how he built a $100 million travel business by giving away content for free, starting with self-published guidebooks like 'Europe Through the Back Door' and low-cost minibus tours. He…
PayPal: Max Levchin (June 2022)
Max Levchin, co-founder of PayPal, recounts his journey from a Soviet Ukraine immigrant to a Silicon Valley pioneer, detailing the creation of Confinity and its pivot to PayPal. He describes the strategic merger with Elon Musk’s X.com, the…
Shell Game with Evan Ratliff
Evan Ratliff, journalist and creator of the podcast Shell Game, joins Bryan Cantrill and Adam Leventhal to discuss his experiment building a company staffed entirely by agentic AI. Ratliff details the operational chaos, including agents…
Barrett Ames (CTO / REK)
Barrett Ames, CTO of REK and former NASA researcher, discusses his journey from building pirate-deterrent drones to working on the Valkyrie and Robonaut 2 projects, and his current work with REK, a humanoid robot fighting league. He…
Ep. 39 - Starting a Hardware Company
Stephen Hawes and Lucian Chapa, founders of Opulo, discuss the realities of starting a hardware company, emphasizing the necessity of accepting failure and overcoming imposter syndrome. They share personal anecdotes about failed projects…
STL364: Good Design Goes Unnoticed
Konrad Sauer, founder of Sauer & Steiner Toolworks, discusses his transition from graphic design to high-end hand plane making, emphasizing that good design is unnoticed and feels right. He details the iterative design process for his…
Introducing: Just Gonna Send It with Jim Belosic
Jim Belosic, CEO of SendCutSend, introduces the podcast 'Just Gonna Send It,' which focuses on the stories of welders, fabricators, and makers. He outlines the show's mission to explore the moments, mistakes, and motivations that lead…
Where it comes up0:00
How to Ask Someone to Invest in Your CPG Brand, with Fave's Ryan Raish
Ryan Raish, founder of Fave, details his journey from a 20-year CPG career at brands like Popchips and Honest Tea to launching a certified organic powdered drink mix. He explains how he self-funded two years of R&D and retailer feedback…
Founder Feature: Cassie and Chelsey Maschhoff, Lottie’s Meats
Cassie and Chelsey Maschhoff, sisters and founders of Lottie's Meats, discuss their journey from a sixth-generation family pork farm to launching a Denver-based all-natural pork sausage brand. They detail the challenges of sourcing…
Athletic Brewing Company: Bill Shufelt
Bill Shufelt, founder of Athletic Brewing Company, explains how he pivoted from a finance career to reinvent non-alcoholic beer after quitting alcohol to improve his health. He details the struggle to find a brewer, eventually partnering…
What It Really Takes To Build a Food Business: Part 1
Guy Raz interviews Becca Millstein of Fishwife, Brian Rudolph of Banza, and Caue Suplicy of Barnana about the early stages of building their food businesses. Millstein explains how she leveraged social media and distinctive packaging to…
Insomnia Cookies: Seth Berkowitz
Seth Berkowitz, co-founder and CEO of Insomnia Cookies, recounts the 21-year journey of building a $350 million late-night cookie delivery business. He details early pivots, including a failed partnership with the frozen yogurt brand Tasty…
Paradromics CEO Matt Angle on building the highest data rate brain-computer interface, hermetic sealing vs. Neuralink, and what makes BCIs last a decade in the body.
Matt Angle, CEO of Paradromics, explains the engineering behind the Connexus brain-computer interface, which achieves over 200 bits per second and is designed to last more than a decade in the body. He contrasts Paradromics' hermetic…
Turning the E-Waste Stream Into a National Asset w/ Matt Bedingfield
Matt Bedingfield, CEO of Mint Innovation, explains how the US can turn its e-waste stream into a national asset by recovering critical minerals like copper, gold, and palladium from printed circuit boards and black mass. He highlights a…
The Sims for Founders: What Agent-First Companies Actually Look Like
Hosts Scott Wilcox and Matt Perrott discuss their collaboration between BuildPass and W, focusing on implementing agent-first workflows. Scott details using Paperclip to simulate an organization with CEO and employee agents, while Matt…
A Baseball Startup with Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel
Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel, founders of the Oakland Ballers, explain how they launched a new independent baseball team in response to the Oakland Athletics' departure. They discuss the strategic decision to join the Pioneer League, the…
FIRA 2025 Ag robotics recap
Mike Oitzman recaps the FIRA 2025 Ag Robotics event in Woodland, CA, highlighting innovations from Bonzai Robotics, AgScout, and TensorField, and featuring an interview with Dave Silver of John Deere on their 5 ML orchard tractor. Danny…
Tough Tech Vets Trailer
Chris Ricks, a former Navy submarine officer and founder of Starcube, introduces his podcast 'Tough Tech Vets' to highlight veteran entrepreneurs working in complex hardware and software domains. He explains that Starcube is building…
Where it comes up0:00
S3 E1: Mastering Tech Adoption and The Hardware Development Workflow with Jon Hirshtick
Jon Hirshtick, founder of SolidWorks and Onshape, discusses the evolution of hardware development tools, emphasizing that software is a tool rather than a solution. He explains how customer visits and inferring needs drove the creation of…
Briogeo Hair Care: Nancy Twine (2020)
Nancy Twine, founder of Briogeo, explains how a personal tragedy and her mother's legacy inspired her to launch a natural hair care brand after leaving a career at Goldman Sachs. She details the struggle to find a contract manufacturer…
Mary's Gone Crackers: Mary Waldner
Mary Waldner, a psychotherapist diagnosed with celiac disease at age 43, created Mary's Gone Crackers to solve her own dietary needs, eventually growing the brand into a multi-million dollar business sold in major retailers. Working with…
The Lip Bar (TLB): Melissa Butler (2020)
Melissa Butler, founder of The Lip Bar (now TLB), and her partner Rosco Spears explain how they launched a bold lipstick brand from a kitchen in New York, overcoming a disastrous Shark Tank appearance to secure a partnership with Target…
The Onio Batteryless Vision with Kjetil Meisal
Kjetil Meisal, CEO and co-founder of Norwegian semiconductor startup ONiO, discusses the ONiO.zero, a batteryless microcontroller powered by ambient energy harvesting. He explains the chip's custom RISC-V architecture, multi-protocol 2.4…
Perpetual Wearable Biosensing with Andy Kong
Andy Kong, founder of Chargerless, explains how his pre-seed wearable biosensing device achieves perpetual operation using just one minute of daily sunlight. He details the system architecture, which relies on a deliberately underpowered…
231: Why VCs and Startups Are Betting on Manufacturing and the Midwest Featuring Drive Capital and Path Robotics, Live from Columbus, OH
Andy Lonsberry, CEO and co-founder of Path Robotics, and Nima Gard, Director of AI, explain how their Columbus-based company uses machine learning and data to automate welding and dexterous assembly, while Nils Root of Drive Capital…
Founder Feature: Justin Wolff of Junk Theory
Justin Wolff, co-founder of Junk Theory, explains his mission to end the plastic era in beauty by creating the first skincare line entirely packaged in aluminum. He details the brand's genesis, which stemmed from his previous social…
#256 - What Is Grocery Run? with Dan Choi (NA Beverage Co) and Stephanie McGregor (Ringa)
Dan Choi, founder of NA Beverage Company, and Stephanie McGregor, founder of Ringa, discuss their extensive experience attending Startup CPG Grocery Run events to secure retail distribution. They explain how these regional and…
One brick at a time: How Monumental uses robotics to build walls
Salar al Khafaji, CEO and founder of Monumental, explains how his company automates on-site bricklaying by selling 'walls as a service' rather than robots. He details the fleet of custom mobile robots—Pizza, Petra, and Pantheon—that work…
Founder + Funder: Anabel González, Founder of Good Bacteria and Hayden Williams, Partner of BrandProject
Anabel González, founder of Good Bacteria, and Hayden Williams, Partner at BrandProject, discuss the investment journey of Good Bacteria, a rotating probiotic system. González explains how a postpartum health journey led to a pivot from a…
Politico & Axios: Jim VandeHei
Jim VandeHei, co-founder of Politico and Axios, explains how he leveraged his background as a political reporter to launch two successful digital media companies. He details the 'smart brevity' content model developed for Axios, the…
Health-Ade Kombucha: Daina Trout (2020)
Daina Trout, co-founder of Health-Ade Kombucha, explains how a failed attempt to create a natural hair loss treatment pivoted into a kombucha brand after a farmer's market opportunity arose. Starting in her Los Angeles apartment closet…
Bombas: David Heath and Randy Goldberg
David Heath and Randy Goldberg, co-founders of Bombas, explain how they identified a gap in the sock market after learning socks are the most requested item at homeless shelters. They leveraged Heath's father's connection to industry…
Terrible Habits of the Solo Developer
Jeff Gable and Luca Jani, both solo embedded software consultants, discuss the unique challenges of working alone, such as multitasking pressure and wearing multiple hats. They identify five bad habits: skipping documentation, avoiding…
Agile Hardware Development with Gregor Gross
Gregor Gross, founder of Alpha-board, a Berlin-based PCB design and agile hardware development service, explains how his company applies agile principles to hardware projects where fixed-price contracts are the norm. He details practical…
T-25-010 : Ioannis Papamanoglou and Narayan Powderly - Engineers transforming how we design, test, and build hardware with atopile
Narayan Powderly and Ioannis Papamanoglou, co-CEOs of atopile, discuss their command-line circuit design tool that brings software development practices to hardware engineering. They explain how their frustration with slow board…
Welcome to Go/No-Go
Hosts Jon Bruner and Alex Hao introduce the new podcast Go/No-Go, which explores the critical decisions in designing, manufacturing, and shipping hardware products. They announce that the first episode will feature an interview with Tony…
Where it comes up0:00
Solving the Hard Problems: Combining AI and Physics for PCB Design
Sergiy Nesterenko, founder and CEO of Quilter, explains how his company uses reinforcement learning and computational physics to automate PCB layout, aiming to create a 'compiler' for electronics that handles the entire design scope. He…
208: Why High-Mix Manufacturing Is a Sweet Spot for Flexible Automation and AI with Rajat Bhageria, Founder & CEO of Chef Robotics
Rajat Bhageria, Founder & CEO of Chef Robotics, explains how his company uses robotics and AI to address labor shortages in food manufacturing by automating the high-mix assembly (plating) stage. He details the strategic decision to launch…
Hatch Duo: Industrial Design, Navigating AI, Branding, Hardware Innovation | Hard Tech Podcast #16
Michael Yim and Jonathan Tai, co-founders of Hatch Duo, an AI-enhanced industrial design and engineering studio, discuss their journey from bootstrapping to serving early-stage hardware startups. They detail their 'design capital' model…