How I Built This
The Unexpected Paths to Success From the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs
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5.0 • 4 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
Written by one of the brightest stars in NPR’s universe and based on the top business podcast on iTunes (with over 200 million downloads to date), How I Built This will offer invaluable insight, direction and advice to entrepreneurs at every point on this entrepreneurial path. It will teach them to overcome every conceivable problem and obstacle by giving them access to the wisdom and experience of the brilliant and determined people who made the journey before them.
Guy Raz is the creator, editorial director and host of three programs for National Public Radio, including How I Built This, TED Radio Hour, and the children’s program Wow in the World which are heard by more than 15 million people every month all over the world. Launched in March 2013, TED Radio Hour quickly became the fastest growing program in public radio history and one of the top podcasts in the United States. Three years later, Guy did it again with How I Built This, which was named one of the top ten podcasts of the year by iTunes in 2016--the year of its founding. The following year, Raz became the first person in the history of podcasting to have three shows in the top 20 on the Apple Podcast charts at the same time. Previously, Guy was weekend host of All Things Considered for four years, where he created the popular "Three-Minute Fiction" writing contest and created a weekly podcast of the show—the first time an NPR newsmagazine became a podcast.
As a host and correspondent, Guy has interviewed and profiled more than 6000 people including Bill Gates, Richard Branson, Christopher Hitchens, Condoleezza Rice, Jimmy Carter, Shimon Peres, General David Petraeus, Al Gore, Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Eminem, Taylor Swift and, now, dozens of this generation’s greatest entrepreneurs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
NPR host Raz bundles insights from over 200 entrepreneurs into a breezy if not fully convincing compendium of advice. Drawing on interviews with successful businesspeople conducted for his podcast (from which this book gets its name), Raz distills lessons for aspiring founders, including tips on how to nurture an idea and win funding, and dispels some myths. For instance, despite the widespread fascination with lone-wolf geniuses, Raz finds that partnerships are the rule, not the exception, as demonstrated by such success stories as luggage company Away, the beauty product company Carol's Daughter, or Samuel Adams Boston Lager. Unfortunately, apparent contradictions abound. Among them, Raz finds that Shopify's founder defied advice by resisting Silicon Valley's allure and instead building his e-commerce platform from offices in Ottawa; however, Stitch Fix's founder did the opposite, moving from Boston to California to be near the engineers that could help her improve the company's technology. Perhaps acknowledging the futility of understanding what precisely separates a successful business from the vast majority of failure, Raz titles the final chapter "What You Do with Your Luck." Those with an entrepreneurial bent will be entertained by the shoptalk, but those hoping for concrete advice may have to look elsewhere.
