Ingenuity. Hustle. Grit. Perseverance. At Hamilton, we don’t just pay lip service to these values. We try to live them every day. That’s why we can’t get enough of Guy Raz’s “How I Built This” podcast, where Raz interviews the innovators, idealists and entrepreneurs who built some of the world’s best-known companies from the ground up.
Here’s a smattering of our favorite episodes, complete with ballsy moves, stunning setbacks and thrilling comebacks. Hit play for inspiration.
DoorDash
What was Tony Xu’s business school project in 2013 went on to become one of the biggest meal delivery services in America.
Memorable quote: “All things we did that summer were not scalable. We would take the orders as phone operators and do the deliveries ourselves. I remember graduating from business school and two days later, while my classmates were flying out on their exotic vacations, I was delivering hummus in my Honda.”
JetBlue Airways
David Neeleman envisioned an airline beyond Southwest that flew to cities other budget airlines avoided and provided exceptional customer service. In 2000, he launched JetBlue, which in its first year flew more than 1 million people and birthed a cult following.
Memorable quote: “{Southwest founder] Herb invited me to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and said, “This isn’t going to work. You’re driving everyone insane in this company.’ And he reached across the table and held my hands. I was crying. He said everybody—even your biggest supporters—said you had to go.”
Compaq Computers
Engineer Rod Canion left Texas Instruments in 1981 to cofound Compaq, creators of the first IBM-compatible personal computer and pioneers of the entire PC industry.
Memorable quote: “In February of 1984, IBM introduces their own portable into the market. Our orders stopped because before it actually was introduced, they were showing it to customers and dealers and they just stopped ordering ours. That was a very life-threatening situation. We had this factory running full speed and no place to go.”
TOMS
After seeing a shoe drive for children in Argentina, serial entrepreneur Blake Mycoskie created TOMS, part shoe business, part philanthropy. It wasn’t his first, second or even third successful business. But it’s the one that stuck.
Memorable quote: “I kind of freaked out and got this small army of interns to help basically be customer service to email and call all these people and let them know there was no chance they were going to get their shoes in the 4 or 5 days the website promised. It was going to be more like a couple months. I literally flew to Buenos Aires and took a taxi to this guy’s house who was making the shoes in his garage for us at the time, and I walked in and with the little Spanish I knew said something like ‘Muchos zappatos, rapido.’”
Belkin International
While hanging out in mom-and-pop computer shops in the early 80s, Chet Pipkin realized the growing need to sell cables that connect computers to printers. He decided to make a business out of computer accessories. Belkin eventually grew into a massive manufacturer of electronic goods.
Memorable quote: “There were days when I thought nothing could stop us, that this was going to be the most brilliant thing ever. And there were other days that were really, really dark. And I would just hold my head in my hands and say, this is never going to work.”
Dyson
It took founder James Dyson five years to perfect his bagless design for a vacuum cleaner in his backyard shed. After developing 50,000 prototypes, most big vacuum brands wouldn’t even take his calls. Today he’s a billionaire.
Memorable quote: “The directors said ‘Don’t be so stupid.’ If there was a better vacuum cleaner, Hoover or Electrolux or someone else would have made it.”
Dell Computers
Michael Dell created a tech company out of his dorm room before it was fashionable to do so, selling upgraded PC kits at The University of Texas at Austin. A few months later, he dropped out of Pre-Med and went on to become the youngest CEO to head a Fortune 500 company at age 27.
Memorable quote: “Here I am, supposed to be going to college, and I’ve got this thriving business in my dorm room. I was buying computers and souping them up with more capability and then reselling them. So I advertised. I bid on state contracts. I don’t really remember how I did that, but somehow I figured it out.”