The Empire Builders Podcast

#060: Leatherman – Is it a tool?  Is it a knife?  That was the problem.

Why did it take ten years to make the first sale? How did they grow to sell over three million tools a year? I’m not sure I could have done what Tim Leatherman did.

Dave...

#059: Demographics – Why there is such a shortage of workers

2020 first time in seventy years, people leaving and joining the workforce have reached the balance point. Ten years from now, more people will be leaving...

#058: Shreddies – Good good whole wheat Shreddies

Sold in Canada, UK, and Australia this breakfast cereal was a boring and dying brand until…. Find out how a simple twist made all the difference to...

#057: Heinz – his favorite number was 5, and hers was 7

From debtors prison to the fastest-growing company in America. HJ Heinz is the story of fish guts, watery ooze, and new manufacturing breakthroughs.

Dave...

#056: Oldsmobile – launched the car industry by outsourcing, creating spinoffs like Dodge

They named the band REO Speedwagon from the REO Speed Wagon, a 1915 truck that Ransom Eli Olds designed. Doughty had seen the name...