How I Built This with Guy Raz

At 25, Justin Gold was making experimental peanut butter in his home kitchen with a food processor and a stack of recipe journals. His singular obsession: bring new life to a tired lunchtime staple.
What started as late-night experiments with honey, cinnamon and banana eventually became Justin's — one of the most influential natural food brands of the last two decades.
At first, Justin got rejected by most grocery stores he approached. He worked overnight in a shared industrial kitchen, hand-filling jars one at a time. He couldn’t get a distributor, so he stocked the shelves at the Boulder Whole Foods himself.
And when growth stalled… he had an idea during a mountain bike ride that would transform the company: What if peanut butter came in a squeeze pack?

In this episode, Justin explains how relentless experimentation and stubbornness helped him build a category-defining brand — and how, with each entrepreneurial milestone, an even more challenging one emerged.
YOU’LL LEARN:
How Justin reverse-engineered flavored peanut butter in his apartment
How launching in Boulder gave him a big advantage
How he learned when to listen to feedback, and when to ignore it
The deal he made with Whole Foods: “I’ll stock the shelves myself.”
How the squeeze pack transformed the business, and why it almost didn’t work
The power of naïve persistence in entrepreneurship

Timestamps:
00:09:35 — The obsessive recipe experiments that became Justin’s edge
00:16:25 — Getting support from Boulder’s startup food community
00:21:28 — Raising $35,000– and shocking his family: “I wanna make peanut butter!”
00:42:51 — The farmers market feedback that changed the product line
00:46:56 — Justin talks his way into the first Whole Foods
00:51:47 — Justin’s gets into more stores, but sales start to stagnate
00:53:35 — The mountain bike ride that sparked the squeeze-pack idea
01:19:43 — The brand gets sold, Justin gets fired…and invited back

This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.

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Today’s callers: David from New Jersey struggles with self-doubt as he works to grow his muscle-scraping soap brand. Then, Marnie from Australia wants to convince customers that her colorful tick-repellent socks are worth the premium price. And David from New York wants his company to end the practice of throwing away burned out candles.

Plus, Sarah recounts rebuilding her brand in the wake of the pandemic and the changing fashion preferences of professional women.

Thank you to the founders of Sorsoap, Tick Socks, and Siblings for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode—where Guy and former show guests take questions from early-stage founders—leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to M.M. LaFleur’s founding story as told by Sarah on the show in 2020.

This episode was produced by Carla Esteves with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack.
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NVIDIA is one of the most valuable companies in human history. Its chips run the AI systems transforming everything from entertainment to warfare. But for years, almost nobody believed in co-founder Jensen Huang’s vision. Jensen spent nearly a decade pouring billions into a technology called CUDA, long before AI made it profitable.
In this deeply personal conversation, Jensen tells Guy why NVIDIA’s very first chip was a catastrophic failure … and how at one point, the company was 30 days away from going out of business.
Jensen also explains why he thinks fears about AI are overblown, and why he believes the next generation will have more opportunity — not less — because of AI.

What You’ll Learn:
Why NVIDIA nearly collapsed before becoming an AI giant
How researchers sparked the AI boom using NVIDIA gaming chips
How to lead through uncertainty when a huge bet hasn’t yet paid off
How Jensen approaches hard decisions like an engineer
We’re “doing ourselves a disservice” by being afraid: Jensen on AI and job loss
How Jensen defends his demanding management style
Why past failures still haunt him

Key Moments From the Interview:
00:07:51 — Jensen Huang’s childhood at an unusual Kentucky boarding school
00:14:50 — Why Jensen left a stable career to help start NVIDIA
00:17:14 — NVIDIA’s first failure: the NV1 disaster
00:19:51 — The desperate trip to Japan that gave the company a lifeline
00:23:11 — “The only idea we had” for prototyping: the emulator Hail Mary
00:30:53 — The book that shaped Jensen’s thinking about innovation
00:35:04 — Why NVIDIA kept investing in CUDA while Wall Street lost faith
00:41:38 — The moment AI researchers discovered the power of NVIDIA’s chips
00:53:17 — Jensen on fear of job loss from AI, and why America risks falling behind
01:01:56 — Knowing what he knows now, would he do it again? Yes — and no

This episode was researched and produced by Alex Cheng with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant. Our engineers were Patrick Murray and Robert Rodriguez.

Follow How I Built This:
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Today’s callers: Kristina in Florida wants to take her local pottery workshops nationwide. Then Jim from Colorado wonders if retail is right for his quick release camera straps. And Will in Ohio hopes his business will change what consumers expect from tool rental services.
Thank you to the founders of Seagrass Pottery, Lemur Strap and Tool Club for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode—where Guy and former show guests take questions from early-stage founders—leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to our episodes with Chieh Huang of Boxed, Hernan Lopez of Wondery and David Neeleman of Jet Blue.
This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com or on Substack

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John Gabbert built a massive furniture brand. But in order to do it, he had to defy his family.

John grew up working at his dad’s furniture store in the suburbs of Minneapolis. It sold classic, American-made furniture, with flowery prints and curved legs. But in 1972, John took a life-changing trip to Sweden, where he discovered an obscure store called IKEA. It was selling an entirely different type of furniture: simple, modern, and inexpensive, with a manufacturing process they controlled. To John, it looked like the future of furniture. The only problem, his dad didn’t agree.

That disagreement led to a 10-year family rift—but also a new business.

In 1980—zafter a deal to buy out his dad broke down—John spun out his own furniture brand, Room & Board. Today, it sells hundreds of millions of dollars of furniture in its own classic designs, mostly made by small American manufacturers.

This is the story of how John did it, without outside investors, and without chasing growth for growth’s sake.

What You’ll Learn

Why the right thing for your business might be the hardest thing for your family
How John connected with young boomers—not their parents
The key to long-term success: growing slow and saying “no”
Why John refused private equity money
Why Room & Board transitioned to employee ownership

Timestamps:
00:06:10 - Gabberts: flowery furniture in a fake living room
00:09:41 - Becoming president of the family business at age 23
00:13:33 - A fateful trip to IKEA in Sweden: “That's what the future needed to be”
00:18:36 - John tries to buy out the family business… until his dad backs out
00:35:47 - Design inspiration from modern art—and steel frames
00:46:38 - Why making furniture in America makes sense
00:55:27 - Investors come to call… and John says no
01:01:48 - The decision that transferred ownership to employees

This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Rommel Wood. Our engineers were Patrick Murray and Kwesi Lee.

Follow How I Built This:
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Website → guyraz.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.