How Success Happens

One of America's best-known scientists, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent much of his career sharing his knowledge with others. He has an incredible talent for explaining complex concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Tyson fell in love with New York City's Hayden Planetarium the first time he visited it as a child. Amazingly enough later in life he ended up becoming its Director. Neil has served as host of NOVA ScienceNow and the StarTalk Radio podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Herz is President of The Montag Group, a sports and entertainment talent and marketing consultancy. He is also a career advisor to CEOs, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and young professionals. Prior to joining TMG, Steve was the President and Founding Partner of IF Management, an industry leader whose broadcasting division became one of the largest in the space, representing over 200 television and radio personalities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Higgins grew up in poverty while having to take care of his ailing mother. He dropped out of high school, obtained an equivalency diploma and enrolled at Queens College. He started out as a reporter and attended law school at night, while he worked for Mayor Giuliani. Today, he is recognized as one of the savviest business leaders in the venture space as the CEO and co-founder of RSE Ventures, a company he started with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rich Kleiman formed a special bond with NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Together, they formed Thirty Five Ventures, an umbrella company for their business interests across sports, tech, culture and philanthropy. Rich and Kevin have been immensely successful with a diverse investment portfolio, including companies such as Postmates, Acorns, Overtime, Coinbase, and so much more Rich shares his incredible insight on being an entrepreneur. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Designer Rebecca Minkoff and Katia Beauchamp, the founder of Birchbox, the leading beauty and grooming subscription box with over 2.5 million customers, are working together to support the emerging Female Founder Collective. Minkoff founded the FFC with the mission to enable and empower female owned and led businesses to positively impact communities, both socially and economically. Together, Minkoff and Beauchamp are hoping to change the world in a positive way for female entrepreneurs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arthur M. Blank believes that for good companies, purpose and profit can-and should-go hand in hand. Arthur found incredible success by doing just that with his company Home Depot. The rest is history. Blank stepped down as co-chairman of Home Depot in 2001 and the next year he bought the NFL's Atlanta Falcons for $545 million. Today, the team is worth an estimated $2.8 billion and recently played in the Super Bowl. Arthur shares his wisdom on building "good companies." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Baron Davis started preparing for life after the NBA when he was just in high school. Once in the NBA, he quickly became one of the key original investors in Vitaminwater and helped launch Thrive Market. Davis is an entrepreneur, investor and two-time NBA All-Star and record-holder. As powerful point guard, Davis won national acclaim for executing in crucial, high-pressure moments, when his team needed him the most. Today, he is stacking up his game winning shots off the court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monique Brandon is working together with legendary venture capitalist Steven Dietz to tackle California's affordable housing crisis. Her company United Dwelling facilitates the conversion of underutilized garages or backyards into attractive housing at an affordable price while also providing homeowners with extra income. She believes that the key to making this possible is to optimize operations and economies of scale to tackle one of the biggest issues facing California. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dennis Crowley is the co-founder of Foursquare, the technology company that powers location experiences for more than 1 billion people around the world. Previously, he founded Dodgeball, one of the first location-based mobile social services (acquired by Google in 2005) and help to build early location-based games PacManhattan (2004) and ConQwest (2004). Dennis is also the founder and Chairman of the Kingston Stockade Football Club, a semi-professional soccer team. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Paul DeJoria is an American entrepreneur, a billionaire and philanthropist best known as a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Company. He sold Patron two years ago to spirits company Bacardi for a reported 5.1 billion dollars. Not bad for a guy who was homeless two different times in his life and not bad for guy who started out with a series of jobs including janitor and door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. A true How Success Happens story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A native of New Zealand, Tim Brown was always well versed in the magical qualities of merino wool. He was always inherently curious. That's why while he was playing professional soccer he began asking himself why such a remarkable, sustainable resource was virtually absent in the footwear industry. And with that spirit of wonder, Tim's Allbirds journey began. It was a journey that officially launched in 2016 and one that has quickly seen Tim create a billion dollar business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel Lubetzky, founder and Executive Chairman of KIND, is on a mission to make the world a little kinder one snack and act at a time. He started KIND in 2004 and created a new healthy snacking category. Daniel was always inspired by his father who left an indelible mark on him to do good in the world. He has been committed to using his business as a vehicle for social change. Its KIND Movement inspires everyday acts of kindness and The KIND Foundation works to create kinder, more empathetic communities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2009 Alexia Brue launched what has become wellness digital media power house, Well + Good. Alexia started Well + Good after identifying a need for information and resources on the emerging trends in nutrition, fitness, beauty, and overall wellness lifestyle. Without raising any outside capital she bootstrapped the launch and growth of Well+Good eventually growing the company to reach over 20M wellness-conscious women monthly via the web. In 2018 she sold the company to the Leaf Group (NYSE: LEAF). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Fluhr entered the annual business plan competition with the idea of creating a trusted marketplace to buy and sell tickets for sporting events and concerts. Fluhr dropped out of school and co-founded StubHub in March 2000. By 2007, StubHub had over 400 employees, more than $600 million of gross merchandise volume and partnerships with many professional and college sports teams. Fluhr served as CEO until StubHub was acquired by eBay for $310 million in 2007. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Tuchman talks with Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a transformative lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. Prior to launching Warby Parker in 2010, Neil served as director of VisionSpring, a nonprofit social enterprise that trains low-income women to start their own businesses selling affordable eyeglasses to individuals living on less than $4 per day in developing countries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert Tuchman sits down with Sweetgreen Co-Founder & Chief Concept Officer Nicolas Jammet to discuss how the restaurant chain is facing the challenges of Covid. Nicolas also discusses the incredible growth of the company as America's leading healthy fast casual chain as well as Sweetgreen's focus on maintaining its authenticity and transparency as it expands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Howard Mittman is the CEO of Bleacher Report the premiere digital destination for millennial and Gen Z sports fans. While many sports media companies have been hurting without live sports, Bleacher Report has been able to not only survive but thrive. In May, the broadcaster topped more than 1 billion video views for the third consecutive month across its social media channels. Mittman has helped BR disrupt and revolutionize content experiences for sports fans around the globe in good times and bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Suri Kasirer is a born New Yorker and advocate. She founded Kasirer in 1997 out of a studio apartment on the Upper West Side—and a lifelong commitment to championing people, progress and policy in the city. Suri and her team have established an unparalleled record of success in New York City a place that some might say can be difficult to get things done. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Josh Luber founded StockX with fellow entrepreneur and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert after they both literally came up with the same idea separately. Amazingly enough they found each other and they decided to go at it together building StockX into a billion dollar "Stock Market" for sneakers. Josh shows us how following your passion while never giving up can eventually lead to incredible success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marc Forgione is a Celebrity Chef, Iron Chef, and a man who launched a restaurant in downtown New York City six months prior to the Great Financial Crisis. Marc never wavered and eventually his restaurant thrived. Today he is navigating an even more difficult time for restaurants during the world's current pandemic. It's an awful time for restaurant owners and so many small businesses in our country. Listening to Marc you will see why he offers a ray of hope for so many owners of small businesses right now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Daunt is the CEO of Barnes & Noble, who was brought in to lead the company last August to help with what was already a challenging situation for the bookseller even before the Coronavirus pandemic hit. Prior to coming on board at Barnes & Noble, Daunt had turned around Waterstones one of the largest bookselling chains in all of Europe. Today, he faces incredible challenges but like any great entrepreneur he is pushing ahead and continuing to focus on his plan through the current crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stoney Clover Lane was founded by sisters Kendall and Libby Glazer from their Rochester, New York bedroom when they were just 17 and 15 respectively. Ten years later their candy-colored classics and personalized patches have become well-known for bringing some much-needed personality to the highly uniform category of travel accessories has reimagined everyday organization through their line of travel accessories designed to spark self-expression. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Steve Martocci is the founder of music tech platform Splice. Martocci first started in the tech business by co-founding the group-messaging service GroupMe, which sold to Skype in August 2011 for $85 million, when he was just 27. In 2013 he co-founded Splice, a technology platform for music creators that streamlines the process of creating and sharing music. Then in 2014 he co-founded Blade, a private plane service. In total, Martocci’s startups have raised over $100 million. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Swiss financier, Thomas Flohr, started his private jet charter company in 2004, just a few years after 9/11 sent aircraft sales spiraling. It wasn’t the last time world events or market downturns would affect Flohr’s business. The 2008 financial crisis came with plenty of challenges, but as Flohr told me he managed to turn those obstacles into fuel for Vista Jet. And today in these times of a new global crisis around the COVID-19 Flohr still continues to move his company forward. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2002, Brent and his brother Brad launched Exclusive Resorts, and quickly became pioneers in the destination club industry. Then, in 2011 the Handler brothers launched Inspirato, a luxury travel club with an impressive roster of exclusive experiences and bespoke travel itineraries. Now Inspirato offers a ground-breaking subscription model, which lets members pay a flat monthly rate for unlimited bookings at Inspirato’s exclusive luxury properties around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

They say every “overnight success” takes 10 years, and that’s something reality TV tycoon Brent Montgomery knows all too well. In 2014, Brent sold an 80% stake of his production group Leftfield Entertainment for $360 million—the most lucrative nonfiction television deal ever made in North America. But if you rewind ten years, you’d find Brent producing wedding videos in New York City. He was working 80-100 hour work weeks with minimal pay, hustling to land a ticket into the entertainment business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A movie is a piece of entertainment. But a movie is also a business. There are budgets, payroll, marketing—you name it. Michelle Ganeless, the former President of Comedy Central, Alysia Reiner, an actress famous for her role on Orange is the New Black, and her husband, the accomplished actor David Alan Basche talk about how making their movie, EGG, was very much like building a business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melissa Ben-Ishay is the founder of Baked by Melissa. When she was let go from her job, she had no idea what to do. But her brother suggested she start baking. Melissa wasn’t sure if her love for baking as a real business opportunity or just a distraction. But he encouraged her to nurture her creative instincts, and boy did it pay off. Those little colorful cupcakes ended up in the hands of some influential people, and now Baked by Melissa is arguably the most successful cupcake company in the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniella Yacobovsky the co founder of BaubleBar the go-to online retailer for on-trend jewelry seemed to understand early on that failures she had in her business were just part of the necessary process needed to eventually find success. She built BaubleBar into a major fashion accessories business by failing her way to success. Figuring out the right answers by making the wrong decisions. Even today when she launches new jewelry products its a continual process of testing, failing, learning and growing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leah Cohen started in the restaurant business way before the #metoo movement. Many people might know her from her wildly successful New York City restaurant Pig and Cow. Or her brand new restaurant Piggyback. Others possibly know her from her appearance on Season 5 of Top Chef. But most don't realize her success didn't happen overnight. She put in a lot of years working for a variety of chefs and restauranteurs before taking her own leap into entrepreneurship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Melody Mcloskey founded StyleSeat - the premiere marketplace for beauty and barbering services. It has generated more than $6.5 billion in revenue for its small business customers and powered more than 120 million appointments in 16,000-plus cities across the U.S. But Melody actually sat on this idea for two years. She was passionate about it, but she was afraid of taking the leap. She had so many personal doubts, fears and insecurities holding her back. So, what did it take for Melody to finally dive in and just go for it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alan Fuerstman started his career in the hotel industry as a doorman at a Marriott in New Jersey. He then worked his way up to captain of the bell stand, and then onto major hotels across the country, then helping Steve Wynn at the Bellagio. He then came up with an idea for a new type of hotel. It would be an ultra-luxury property that allowed people to be causal, not stuffy like the other luxury hotels of the time. He called it Montage, and built it in Laguna Beach California. And he was right. It set the standard for a new type of luxury property, and is now one of the most well-known ultra-luxury brands in the industry, with multiple properties around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are over one billion people globally living with disabilities, but up until a few years ago no one in the fashion industry was making clothes for them. That was until Mindy Scheier started Runway of Dreams, a nonprofit that partnered with Tommy Hilfiger to create an adaptable clothing line. More recently, Mindy launched Gamut, a business that helps people with disabilities to find work in the adaptive economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marc Merrill is the Co-Founder of Riot Games. Riot created League of Legends, one of the most popular video games of all time. League of Legends World Championship rivals the Super Bowl viewership — with close to 100 million last year. The company even brought in $1.5 billion in revenue this past year. But when Marc started the company, there were times they barely had funds left to pay employees. They had disastrous technical failures at their live events, and nearly went out of business many times. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There is a reason we choose to pay $5 for a cup of coffee. The customers aren't paying for the coffee, they are paying for the experience of being at Starbucks. Danny Meyer the famed restauranteur was doing this before the term "experience economy" was even coined back in the 1990's. He opened his first restaurant in New York City called Union Square Cafe back in 1985 and one thing he has always done better than anyone else in the business is offer an incredible experience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Starting a business at any time can be scary but how about dropping out of school to start a business during the greatest recession in the history of the world? To make a move like that can be downright frightening. Alexa Von Tobel literally left Harvard Business School before graduating to pursue her mission to educate everyday Americans on how to manage their own finances. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jarrod Moses went from being a college intern at Grey Advertising to becoming its youngest president ever. He was a 30-year-old boss of a major publicly traded company, and regularly faced age discrimination because of it. But it didn’t stop him. He went on to found the United Entertainment Group—a joint venture with Hollywood powerhouse Untied Talent Agency, that would produce branded entertainment for General Mills, AT&T, Starbucks, and more of the world’s largest brands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jake Schwartz started a company called General Assembly that just sold to the big human resource company Adecco Group for a reported 413 million dollars. After graduating from Yale and thinking he learned all he needed to to succeed in business, Schwartz got smacked in the face with reality. He realized education and the way people were learning was changing. GA started with relevant classes that people were willing to pay for because they were making investments in themselves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Lesley Eccles is the co-founder and former head of marketing of FanDuel, the billion-dollar fantasy sports company. She started it with her husband Nigel in a tiny office in Scotland, and it went on to help change the law about sports betting across America. But despite the company’s success, Lesley and Nigel didn’t get to enjoy the spoils. Their relationship with their investors fell apart, and they left the business in 2017 having made almost no money on the deal and retaining no interest in the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Randi Zuckerberg was one of the first employees at Facebook. She contributed on many fronts in those early days of Facebook, and was responsible for creating the Facebook Live tool that today is used by billions of people. But something nagged at her. She would often look around while on meetings and realize she was the only woman there. And she felt called to fix that—not just in Silicon Valley, but everywhere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How do you deal with the feeling of not being able to make a difference in a changing industry? David Kanbar is a serial entrepreneur who started a mortgage business which he later sold because he realized he could never make a difference in a business that had become commoditized. He changed industries and eventually founded the brand Skinnygirl Margarita with Bethenny Frankel. Now Kanbar is at it again having just launched King Street Vodka with actress Kate Hudson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices