With no formal training in business or computer design, Nelson Gonzalez and his cofounders decided to do what almost no other company was doing in the mid-1990’s: make personal computers specifically for gaming. They started as a tiny custom shop in Miami, and eventually began building PC’s for avid gamers, who were willing to pay top dollar for higher speed ... Show More
Feb 23
Square: Jim McKelvey. He Lost a $2,000 Sale, Then Built a $10 Billion Company
Most entrepreneurs think the hardest part of building a company is the product.For Jim McKelvey — co-founder of Square — the hardest part was the system around the product.Because Square wasn’t just competing with other startups …It was competing with regulations, middlemen, entr ... Show More
1h 11m
May 2020
Sponsored: When Small Businesses Think Big - Atari & Red Bull (Dell Podference) | 1
<p>This episode is brought to you by Wondery in partnership with Dell Technologies. In honor of small businesses, we’re featuring inspiring stories of successful companies that started out small.</p><p>In 1972, pinball machines and mechanical games ruled the arcades. Then, Atari ... Show More
31m 39s
Nov 2020
Nike’s Phil Knight: How to sell without selling
<p>Great branding is about identity – and it’s about matchmaking too. No one knows this better than the legendary co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight. When he and his partner, Hall of Fame track coach Bill Bowerman, started the sneaker company, they never tried to force-feed customer ... Show More
35m 40s
May 2018
The First Computer War - Betting the Store | 5
<p>It’s 1961. Since his father retired 5 years earlier, Thomas Watson Jr pushed to modernize IBM from the top down. New management, new ideas, newer, faster, machines. The company has grown, employing 1,000 people, they’ve dominated the emerging computer market... and managed to ... Show More
24m 15s
Apr 2018
The First Computer War - The Electronic Brain | 1
<p>With so much information at our fingertips, it’s hard to remember that we haven’t always walked around with supercomputers in our pockets. In fact, in 1952, CBS thought that Americans would find it SO hard to imagine that a machine could even predict election results accu ... Show More
22m 21s