『The Empire Builders Podcast』のカバーアート

The Empire Builders Podcast

The Empire Builders Podcast

著者： Stephen Semple and David Young
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 Reverse engineering the success of established business empires.The Empire Builders Podcast マネジメント マネジメント・リーダーシップ マーケティング マーケティング・セールス リーダーシップ 経済学
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  • #235: The Home Depot – Inspired by Wal-Mart

    #235: The Home Depot – Inspired by Wal-Mart
    2025/12/10
    When two employees of Handy Dan hardware store gave this idea to management, they got fired! So, they started Home Depot. Someone’s kicking themselves now! Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not so secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor, which is… well, it’s us. But we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [No Bull RV Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. I’m Dave Young. That’s Steve Semple whispering in your other ear. And on today’s episode of the Empire Builders- Stephen Semple: [inaudible 00:01:44] your live stereo. Dave Young: We knew that it would only be a matter of time having so recently discussed the Lowe’s Empire that we would be discussing Home Depot, and today is that day. Stephen Semple: Today is that day because really, there’s a pretty shared DNA there. Dave Young: Sure. And again, I always think, “Well, okay, start as a little hardware store and then somebody grew into a big hardware store and then they made a bunch more.” Stephen Semple: It’s a little bit like that. Dave Young: A little bit? Stephen Semple: Except this is a little different. It’s a little bit different. Dave Young: Okay. I always like a good twist. Stephen Semple: There’s a little bit of a twist in this. So it was founded in February 6th, 1978, Marietta, Georgia by Bernard Marcus, Arthur Blank, Ron Brill, Pat Farrah, and Ken Langone. So these guys basically got it started. Dave Young: So it doesn’t go near as far back as Lowe’s. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Lowe’s is a little bit earlier, but not much. And today they have over 2,300 locations. They do 160 billion in revenue with over 450,000 employees. So it’s a big deal. And we all know who the Home Depot is, right? We’ve all pretty much heard of it. Now, a couple of the guys got basically fired from a hardware store in the West Coast called Handy Dan. Dave Young: Handy Dan. Okay. Stephen Semple: And it wasn’t really all that big and it was one-stop. But here’s why they got fired. They kept pestering management saying, “You need to go larger, then you need to go national.” And basically, management got tired of listening to that and fired them. So I told you there was a little twist. So when they left, they called one of Handy Dan’s investors, Ken Langone, and said, “Here’s what we want to do. We want to make 100,000 square foot hardware store, stock everything, make it cheaper, and make it more like a wholesaler. That’s what we want to do.” And they drew their inspiration from Walmart. They’re looking at what Walmart was doing. They said, “We want to do the Walmart thing for hardware and building.” And Ken was like, “Great, let’s do it.” And they drew up a plan that basically said they needed $25 million to get going, and they had to settle on raising three and a half million. So this is important to keep in mind because it shapes a couple of things that they do. And so the first thing that they needed to do… And they had a guy, Pat Farrah join them for merchandising. The first thing that they needed to do was create a name for the company. Now, I don’t know if you remember Crazy Eddie’s, the guy in New York City? Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: New York City. And he was selling electronics and all this other stuff. Dave Young: But he’s no Handy Dan. Stephen Semple: He’s no Handy Dan, but they were inspired by Crazy Eddie’s. And what I found interesting is in Toronto around the same time, there was a furniture company that started that also was inspired from it because it was Bad Boys. They would dress in the black and white retro, “I’m a prisoner” uniforms. And they’d be like, “Bad Boys. Does anybody have a better price? Nobody.” That was their slogan. But what these guys decided was they were going to call it Bad Bernie’s Buildall. Dave Young: Bad Bernie’s Buildall? Stephen Semple: Bad Bernie’s Buildall. Yes. The investors didn’t like it. That name did not go forth. Dave Young: Of course they didn’t like it. Stephen Semple: Well, because it didn’t have the name Home and all those other things. So they said, “Okay. Well, let’s call it the Home Depot.” Dave Young: Look, Lowe’s doesn’t have the name Home in it either, but it’s not Bad Bernie’s. What was it? Builders? Stephen Semple: Buildall. Dave Young: Buildall? Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: It doesn’t roll off the tongue. It blurts out of your mouth in a not great way. Yeah. I have to side with the investors on this one. Stephen Semple: I have to say, I think even on this one, the investors, they’re often not right, but I think on this one...
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    20 分
  • #234: Ebay – Not That Kind of Auction

    #234: Ebay – Not That Kind of Auction
    2025/12/03
    From negotiating on the phone for some art to generating 10 Billion dollars a year, Pierre Omidyar built an empire out of other peoples stuff. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brand. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I’m Stephen’s sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today’s episode, a word from our sponsor which is, well, it’s us, but we’re highlighting ads we’ve written and produced for our clients. So here’s one of those. [Travis Crawford Ad] Dave Young: [inaudible 00:01:32] and sold. eBay is the topic today. Oh, by the way, welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast. I’m Dave Young, that’s Steve Semple in your other ear. Is that how this works, are we each in one ear? Stephen Semple: I’m not sure. Dave Young: I don’t think that’s how this works. Stephen Semple: I don’t pay enough attention to things like that. Dave Young: As the countdown timer went down, Stephen told me we’re going to talk about eBay and I went immediately to the sound of the auctioneers of my youth back in my hometown. Stephen Semple: Oh, God. Dave Young: There’s cattle sales and estate sales. On any Saturday morning walking around in a small town, off in the distance you hear somebody with one of those cheap portable PA systems, “Give me five, give me five, give me five, give me five, five, five.” Aren’t you glad that eBay doesn’t have sound effects? Stephen Semple: Maybe it should. It might make it more entertaining. Dave Young: There’s some AI auctioneer going 24/7 for two weeks. Stephen Semple: Oh, my God, Dave, the fact you’ve now said it, you know what meme is going to happen. Oh, no, you put it out there. So when you come across this as a meme- Dave Young: There’s that little mute thing on the screen where if you turn it on, there’s some AI, “We’ve got $12.50. Since Tuesday, we have $12.50. Anyone, anyone?” Stephen Semple: So when this meme is driving us nuts on social media, you can blame Dave Young. Dave Young: I don’t see it happening. Oh, yeah, back. Oh, we’re going to talk about eBay. Stephen Semple: But talking about auctions for a second, here’s what I always find fascinating. Somebody will have something and they’ll go, “Okay, do I have an opening bid of $500?” Nothing. “Okay, do I have an opening bid at $200? Now do I have an opening bid of $100?” Somebody bids for 100 and then the damn thing ends up selling for 750. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: And I’m like, “Wait a minute. It sold for 750 and no one was willing to open at 500. What the heck?” I don’t get it. Dave Young: I know. There’s a … Man, I’m not a big auction person. It stresses me to be in the bidding war. Stephen Semple: Right. Dave Young: I don’t know why. Even on eBay. Stephen Semple: Right. Dave Young: But there’s a psychology of auctions- Stephen Semple: Clearly. Dave Young: … that certain people … I don’t know for sure, I’m not a psychologist, Stephen, but I play one on a podcast. I think there’s a compulsion that’s similar to gambling and I think it’s just there’s a dopamine hit involved when you’re active in an auction. Stephen Semple: There probably is. Dave Young: And I think there’s a bit of a compulsion to it maybe. Stephen Semple: Maybe. Dave Young: Because it also, as long as you have the money to do it, it’s probably a little safer than gambling because if you lose, you don’t lose then. Stephen Semple: Right, right. Dave Young: If you win, hopefully you’ve won and purchased something that’s worth more than you paid. Stephen Semple: Right. Dave Young: That’s the upside. The downside is that you didn’t get the thing that you wanted. Stephen Semple: Right. Dave Young: But you didn’t lose any money. Stephen Semple: Cool. Well, let’s talk about eBay. Dave Young: Let’s do. Wasn’t Musk involved in it, and Thiel and those guys? Stephen Semple: No. Dave Young: Or am I thinking wrong? Stephen Semple: You’re thinking wrong. Dave Young: I get all my American oligarchs confused. Stephen Semple: They were over in the PayPal world. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: But the thing that’s interesting about eBay is it’s still a really important player in online retail. We can kind of forget about it because the growth has been stalled a little bit in the last bunch of years, but they still do $10 billion- Dave Young: That’s amazing. Stephen Semple: … in sales, which- Dave Young: I remember back when, probably in the first five or six years of eBay, you could use eBay, like if you had something you wanted to sell. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: Not a garage sale, but just list somewhere to sell. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: You could actually scour eBay and see what it was probably going to get you, what would be a good way to ...
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    23 分
  • #233: Lowes – From Hardware to Home Repair

    #233: Lowes – From Hardware to Home Repair
    2025/11/26
    Lucious Lowe never saw his empire, but his son and son-in-law figured out how to give the customer what they needed. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is... Well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients, so here's one of those. [OG Law Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. I'm Dave Young, Steve Semple's here, and we're going to talk about another empire. Stephen Semple: Another one. Imagine that. Dave Young: And it's another one of these big boxes. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: So this is brick and mortar big box store. And so there's two things. One thing I love, one thing I hate about big box stores in this category. I used to love going down to my local hardware store and just tooling around. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: And I guess you can still do that, but there's something about some old guy walking up and chatting with you about what you could maybe buy or not. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: And so Lowe's is our subject today. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: I'm interested to see how they started. And again, I love shopping at Lowe's, I hate shopping at Lowe's, for two different reasons, right? Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: The variety. It's all there. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: The old guy that knows every piece of hardware in the store. Good luck finding that person. I mean, they may be there, they may not. It's hit and miss. Stephen Semple: Yes. So the first Lowe's, of course, started as one of those old-timey hardware stores. Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: It was a 3000-foot store in 1921 in North Wilkesboro in North Carolina by Lucius Smith Lowe. That's basically the first Lowe's was way back in 1921. Dave Young: Lucius Smith Lowe. Okay. Stephen Semple: But the success of Lowe's actually did not come from Lowe, but rather an in-law named Carl Buchan, who came on the scene in 1943. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: So when Lucius died in 1940, the business was inherited by his daughter, Ruth Buchan, who then... Now, I was not able to find the family story on this, because I find this interesting. It was inherited by the daughter, who then sold the company to her brother, and I always thought, "Why'd the brother not inherit the business?" Dave Young: Right? Stephen Semple: Now, I also get why she probably sold it, because as we know, one of the really big problems, especially back in the 1940s, was women couldn't get credit, and it was very, very, very hard in the forties for a woman to actually run a business. So I also understand why she sold. Dave Young: Yeah. Yeah, and weird estate planning goes on that you don't know why they did what they did. Right? Maybe the son had an insurance policy. Right? Stephen Semple: Who knows? Who knows? Dave Young: I don't know, but maybe he got... Who knows? Stephen Semple: Now, at the same time, when she sold it to her brother, her husband, Carl, ended up becoming a partner in the business. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: So it was this really weird, father dies, it goes to the daughter, the daughter sells it to the brother, and the husband ends up becoming a partner. Dave Young: Who knows about the transactions inside family businesses, right? That's a... Stephen Semple: Right? All I'm just saying is, if it sounds weird, it was. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: That's all I'm saying. But moving forward, what's really incredible is today, Lowe's is 1700 locations doing 80 billion in sales. So it is- Dave Young: That's not nothing. Stephen Semple: That's not nothing. That's not nothing. But back in the early forties, hardware stores did not have building supplies. They didn't have plywood, they didn't have... They didn't have building supplies. Dave Young: Yeah, yeah. You went across to the lumber yard to get that stuff. Stephen Semple: Correct. Correct. Dave Young: Yeah. Stephen Semple: And so one day Carl gets this deal on toilets, and he decides to buy a whole pile of toilets. When I say a whole pile, the whole truckload, which was 400 toilets. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: And James? James Lowe comes in the office one day and he's like, "Toilets in the office." And he says, "Carl, why is there toilets in the office?" He goes, "Well, I bought 400 of them and I ran out of space, so they're sitting in here." And he's like, "We don't sell toilets." He goes, "Well, we are now, because we got 400 of them." Dave Young: "Yeah, we sell toilets. Sell them or else." Stephen Semple: "[inaudible 00:05:20] now!" So, "Yes we are." And what turns out is that they sell out really quickly. And Carl looks into this a little bit more and he sees this ...
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    19 分
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