How I Built This

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What to expect

The #1 Wall Street Journal Business Book Bestseller & Top 10 New York Times Bestseller.

Based on the highly acclaimed NPR podcast, How I Built This with Guy Raz, his book offers priceless insights and inspiration from the world’s top entrepreneurs on how to start, launch and build a successful venture.

Great ideas often come from a simple spark: a football player on the New Zealand national team notices all the unused wool his country produces and figures out a way to turn them into shoes (Allbirds). A former Buddhist monk decides the very best way to spread his mindfulness teachings is by launching an app (Headspace). A sandwich cart vendor finds a way to reuse leftover pita bread and turns it into a multi-million dollar business (Stacy’s Pita Chips).

Award-winning podcast creator Guy Raz has interviewed more than 200 highly successful innovators from across the world, from the founders of Five Guys, Airbnb and Bumble to James Dyson and Reed Hastings of Netflix, to uncover amazing true stories like these. In How I Built This, he shares tips for every entrepreneur’s journey: from the early days of formulating your idea, to raising money and recruiting employees, to finding your market and, finally, to paying yourself a real salary. This is a must-read for anyone who has ever dreamed of starting their own business or wondered how trail-blazing go-getters made their own dreams a reality.

'A must read for anyone who wants to start a business, grow a business, or be inspired by those who do' – Adam Grant, author of Originals

'These stories of founders and their companies are told with the same energy and openness it takes to be an entrepreneur' – Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup

'Guy Raz is supremely himself in this guide for aspiring entrepreneurs: brilliantly perceptive, incessantly curious, infectiously energetic and above all, a master storyteller' - Angela Duckworth, author of Grit

Critics Review

A must-read for anyone who wants to start a business, grow a business, or be inspired by those who do.
Adam Grant, author of Originals
Guy Raz is supremely himself in this guide for aspiring entrepreneurs: brilliantly perceptive, incessantly curious, infectiously energetic and above all, a master storyteller.
Angela Duckworth, author of Grit
If only this book would have come out years ago, building my business would have been so much simpler. At least we have it now!
Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why
An indispensable guide for anyone eager to challenge the status quo in pursuit of some new and better version of the world. Highly recommended.
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and co-author of Blitzscaling
Anyone who reads How I Built This will have an incredible advantage. Guy provides the compass, the map and the headlamp you need to navigate the wilderness of entrepreneurship
Joe Gebbia, entrepreneur and co-founder of Airbnb
Guy Raz has an extraordinary talent for not only unearthing the most powerful ideas in any story, but also translating those ideas into wisdom accessible for everyone
Chris Anderson, head of TED
Truly remarkable stories . . . about truly remarkable people. Guy Raz captures their stories on the page to incredible effect.
Jennifer Hyman, CEO and founder of Rent the Runway
This book is all about inspiration – told with blood, sweat, and tears. You’ll come away refreshed. And ready to hit the ground running
Mark Cuban, entrepreneur, 'shark' on Shark Tank, and proprietor of the Dallas Mavericks
Through stories of passion, audacity and courage, Guy weaves together a shared business-building experience that’s both inspiring and real.
Lara Merriken, founder of LÄRABAR
A love letter to the idea of possibility . . . This book explores all the discrete nooks and crannies of an entrepreneur’s voyage through success and failure
Alli Webb, Drybar founder
If you’re determined to reach for your dream, read this book
Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group and ‘shark' on Shark Tank
What’s so remarkable about Guy’s book is not so much that all these individuals saw their dreams come true, but that as their stories of overcoming frustrations and hurdles unfold, you end up cheering for them to succeed
Tony Hsieh, author of Delivering Happiness and CEO of Zappos.com
If you enjoy the How I Built This podcast, you’ll love this book. You'll identify with the ups, downs, and pivots that make up the proverbial roller coaster ride of entrepreneurs
Stacy Madison, founder of Stacy’s Pita Chips and BeBOLD Bars
Guy is clearly a person who is tapped into this community of entrepreneurs and shares stories of relevance to our community. Now, more than ever, entrepreneurs and small businesses need a curator of stories and Guy is that ‘guy’
Lisa Price, founder of Carol’s Daughter
These stories of founders and their companies are told with the same energy and openness it takes to be an entrepreneur
Eric Ries, CEO of the Long-Term Stock Exchange and author of The Lean Startup
I love Guy Raz’s How I Built This podcast and the book was just as great. There’s probably nobody else who could tell these inspiring stories as well as Guy. From page one I was fully invested
Logic
It's so inspiring it almost makes me want to start another business
Sarah LaFleur, founder and CEO, M.M.LaFleur
Now, more than ever, we need dreamers and builders - this book is full of them and their stories of inspiration
Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and Initialized
If you’ve ever dreamed of starting a business, How I Built This is a must-read
Michael Dubin, co-founder and CEO of Dollar Shave Club
Guy Raz has seen inside the brains of more founders and hyper-growth entrepreneurs than anyone I've ever met! What an incredible buffet of how-to-build-it-right-wisdom
Brian Scudamore, founder and CEO of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and O2E Brands
I can't think of a better placed person to tell us if starting and growing a company is really about hard work or good luck!
Tim Brown, co-founder and co-CEO of Allbirds
NPR host and podcast star Guy Raz interviewed more than 200 entrepreneurs to find out what made them successful. As a narrator, he has perfected the type of vocal drama and glitzy enthusiasm that make this audio program so much fun to hear . . . With so many instructive stories, this is an MBA-level course in developing an idea, getting funding, and managing growth. Raz's believable excitement inspires hope that anyone can start a business, work hard, and persevere in the face of setbacks.
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