It’s 2014 and Under Armour is getting increasingly aggressive as it takes on Nike, buying fitness apps and signing record-breaking endorsement deals. But they face a major setback when one of their biggest retail partners goes bankrupt. To recoup the lost revenue, Under Armour makes a risky deal. And as the company scrambles to keep up with the rise of ecommerce and athleisure, they face a daunting question: are they losing sight of what made them great? 

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It’s 1995 and college football player Kevin Plank is frustrated with the way the cotton t-shirt he wears under his pads gets drenched with sweat. He begins designing a t-shirt made from a different kind of material - one that will wick away sweat and keep him cool and dry on the field. Upon graduating, Plank uses his life savings and maxes out his credit cards to launch Under Armour. And within ten years of its founding, Plank sets his sights on the biggest prize of all: taking on Nike.  

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As the 1990s come to a close, Gatorade has become an established powerhouse brand, thanks to a 25-year head start and the star power of their spokesperson Michael Jordan. But the millennium brings fresh challenges to Gatorade’s dominance. Coca-Cola goes on the offensive, investing millions in their competing product, Powerade. And Powerade’s rise is only the beginning of Gatorade’s woes. As the science of sports drinks evolves, can Gatorade still keep up with its younger rivals?

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It’s the early 1970s, and Gatorade isn’t just the leader in sports hydration — it is sports hydration. No other competing brand comes close. But that dominance won’t last forever. Soon, Gatorade must fend off challenges from soft-drink giants Coke and Pepsi. Will enlisting the world’s greatest athlete and spokesperson keep them ahead of the game? 

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It’s 1965 and at the University of Florida, a team of kidney scientists is working hard on an electrolyte beverage solution to prevent dehydration. It’s a hit with the school’s football team, the Florida Gators, and so they name it Gatorade. But creating an innovative product only gets you so far. The team has to figure out how they’ll get their new beverage off the sidelines and into grocery stores and the hands of millions of everyday consumers. And now that they’ve created the sports-drink sector, do they have what it takes to stay on top? 

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In the 2010s, FinTech companies emerged offering a Buy Now, Pay Later service that made financing available, at a time when trust in big banks was low. But as dependence on these apps grows, consumers are starting to reassess the cost. Adam Clark Estes is a Senior Technology Correspondent for Vox — he’s sharing what can happen when customers over-rely these services. Later, Annie Joy Williams, an assistant editor at The Atlantic, explains why women are becoming the biggest target demographic for Buy Now, Pay Later apps, and the consequences Gen Z consumers may face.

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Klarna’s popularity in the United States soars as the Covid-19 pandemic closes brick-and-mortar stores and online shopping surges. But Klarna also has a fresh wave of competitors. And as consumers find themselves sucked into vicious debt cycles, Klarna and other Buy Now, Pay Later services are forced to navigate a backlash and new government regulation.  

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In the early 2000s, Sebastian Siemiatkowski identified a gap in Europe’s burgeoning ecommerce market — consumers were hesitant to buy products sight unseen. Siemiatkowski’s new company would front the bill and give consumers 30 days to pay. The concept caught on and helped kick off the modern Buy Now, Pay Later industry. And after conquering Europe, Siemiatkowski’s Klarna set its sights on the U.S., determined to disrupt the credit card industry.  

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When CrowdStrike's faulty software update shuts down airports, hospitals and TV networks around the globe, they face intense backlash from the public. The world is forced to reckon with a terrifying new reality. As our systems become more interconnected, and reliant on just a handful of big tech companies, they also become more vulnerable to a single point of failure. 

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In 2011, CrowdStrike launched with an innovative vision: using cloud-based software to provide cybersecurity. They attracted big clients, including Fortune 500 companies and critical government agencies. And along the way, they investigated notorious hacks, like the North Korean breach of Sony Pictures, and the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee. 

But in 2024, they faced their biggest test of all, when a bug in their own software created the largest I.T outage in world history. 

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