Before Gymboree became a cultural icon in the 80s and 90s, it was just one lonely new mom trying to find connection. Joan Barnes started hosting weekly playgroups for parents… and demand exploded. What began as a diversion became a business. Then a franchise. Then a brand everyone seemed to know, with its padded playrooms and parachute games. 

From the outside, it looked like a runaway success: hundreds of locations, glowing press coverage, celebrity buzz. But inside, the franchise model was failing. A potential Hasbro rescue vanished overnight. And Joan—while smiling for the world—was breaking under the pressure.

Then came a major pivot that helped turn Gymboree around. The company was going to survive, but Joan realized she might not. She stepped away for good, to fight for her health. 

In this episode, Joan talks frankly about building Gymboree, losing control of it, and learning some vital lessons about ambition, balance, and humility. 

What You’ll Learn

• The hidden math of franchising: when scale makes you weaker, not stronger
• How—years before social media—Joan used the media as her marketing engine 
• The moment Gymboree nearly died—and the brilliant pivot that saved it
• What it feels like to be celebrated publicly while privately falling apart
• Why “more hustle” can be a trap

Timestamps: 

(Timecodes are approximate and may shift depending on platform.)

• [08:20] “Lonely and isolated”—The new-mom need that sparked Joan’s first playgroup
• [13:43] The early days: parachute games, circle songs, and connecting with other parents
• [16:59] The first, $3,000 investment, and expanding to new venues.
• [23:08] Learning the hard way: “I didn’t even know what franchise meant.” 
• [38:40] Joan discovers her business model has a terrifying Catch-22
• [45:05] A humiliating gut punch: Hasbro calls off a life-saving deal 
• [50:15] The pivot to profitability: play centers + clothing stores
• [1:03:00] Success on the outside, collapse on the inside: panic, addiction, treatment 
• [1:14:17] After Gymboree: yoga studios, recovery, and redefining success

Hey—want to be a guest on HIBT?

If you’re building a business, why not get advice from some of the greatest entrepreneurs on Earth?

Every Thursday on the HIBT Advice Line, a previous HIBT guest helps new entrepreneurs work through the challenges they’re facing right now. Advice that’s smart, actionable, and absolutely free.

Just call 1-800-433-1298, leave a message, and you may soon get guidance from someone who started where you did, and went on to build something massive.

So—give us a call. We can’t wait to hear what you’re working on.

This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei.

It was edited by Neva Grant with research by Rommel Wood.

Our engineers were Jimmy Keeley and Patrick Murray.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Warby Parker co-founder Neil Blumenthal joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage entrepreneurs. Plus, how AI integrations with glasses are helping us see the world in a whole new way.

First we meet Kimber in Utah, who wants to take her chewable toothpaste gummies mainstream. Then Brian in California, who’s wondering how to vet franchisees for his light therapy studios. And Tanner in Tennessee, who needs help building a team he can trust to scale his country club-inspired lifestyle brand.

Thank you to the founders of Pearl Pop, Salt and Light Wellness, and Cowboy Country Club for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Warby Parker’s founding story as told by Neil and his co-founder Dave on the show in 2016.

This episode was produced by Sam Paulson with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com or on Substack.

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When Todd Carmichael and J.P. Iberti met at a grunge concert in Seattle in the 1980s, they were an unlikely pair. But they shared a love for great coffee, and the two friends began to dream about opening a cafe and premium roastery that would produce coffee at a higher quality than anything in the U.S. at the time. A few years later, Todd and J.P. co-founded La Colombe in Philadelphia, and went on to play a leading role in the third wave of specialty coffee in the U.S. Today, their coffee drinks are sold in stores across the country, and in 2023, La Colombe was acquired by Chobani for $900M.  

TIMESTAMPS: 

• 0:11:22 - Learning barista basics: like being a DJ  
• 0:25:25 - Todd squats at JP’s place, they set out to sell coffee
• 0:29:48 - How La Colombe gets its name
• 0:32:40 - Launching the business in a city they've never visited
• 0:35:49 - The first roastery: no ventilation, visits from the fire department
• 0:40:29 - Pitching the coffee–uninvited–at a top French restaurant 
• 0:46:48 - The trick to making a perfect espresso
• 0:53:30 - Todd takes a sabbatical: “I was suffering from my brain.” 
• 0:57:40 - Expanding to more cafes and a shift from roasting to hosting
• 1:01:17 - An impasse with investors, and a bailout from Chobani’s founder 
• 1:09:38 - Small Business Spotlight

Hey—want to be a guest on HIBT?  

If you’re building a business, why not get advice from some of the greatest entrepreneurs on Earth ?

Every Thursday on the HIBT Advice Line, A previous HIBT guest helps new entrepreneurs work through the challenges they’re facing right now. Advice that’s smart, actionable, and absolutely free. 

Just call 1-800-433-1298, leave a message, and you may soon get guidance from someone who started where you did, and went on to build something massive. 

So—give us a call. We can’t wait to hear what you’re working on.

—------------------------------------------

This episode was produced by Casey Herman with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Sarah Sarasohn. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack.

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Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders about marketing and building community.

First we meet Zac from Indiana, who’s looking to grow his coffee company with a subscription offering for newlyweds. Then Rowena from New York, who wants to expand her international cooking kits for kids to all ages. And Melissa from Florida, who’s hoping to break into schools with her handwriting program for preschoolers.

And stick around to the end to hear whether the callers took Guy and Jack's advice.

Thank you to the founders of Honey Moon Coffee Co., Eat2Explore, and Adventures in Handwriting for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Patreon’s founding story as told by Jack and his co-founder Sam Yam on the show in 2021.

This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Gilly Moon.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It started with a massive pile of razors sitting in a Rancho Cucomonga warehouse, and Michael Dubin’s chance meeting of the man who wanted to get rid of them.

In 2010, Michael was working in marketing in Los Angeles, producing online video content. As a hobby, Michael took improv comedy classes.

At a holiday party, he met a man named Mark Levine. Mark was looking for ideas to sell razors he had imported, but didn’t know how to unload.

Michael’s background in video and comedy helped him create a viral launch video for his spontaneous idea: an internet razor subscription brand called Dollar Shave Club.

Five years after launching, Dollar Shave Club sold to consumer products behemoth Unilever for a reported $1 billion in cash.

This episode was recorded in front of a live audience in Los Angeles.

What you’ll learn:

• How Michael’s early career at NBC in New York exposed him to a world of video production - and comedy
• The fateful party where Michael had to decide whether to start a company to sell razors - or to sell cake slicers
• How Michael’s gut feeling was that shaving was a sector that could use disruption - even though it meant facing down daunting incumbent players like Gillette
• Michael’s viral launch video was so good, it brought investors on board
• How to DIY fulfillment to keep an overnight success on track
• How expanding their offerings into other men’s grooming products caught the attention of Unilever and led to an acquisition offer

Listen now to hear the amazing backstory of one of the best-known early DTC brands.

------------

Hey—want to be a guest on HIBT?

If you’re building a business, why not get advice from some of the greatest entrepreneurs on Earth?

Every Thursday on the HIBT Advice Line, a previous HIBT guest helps new entrepreneurs work through the challenges they’re facing right now. Advice that’s smart, actionable, and absolutely free.

Just call 1-800-433-1298, leave a message, and you may soon get guidance from someone who started where you did, and went on to build something massive.

So—give us a call.

We can’t wait to hear what you’re working on.

—-----------

This episode was produced by Casey Herman with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week, Guy is joined by TRX exercise straps founder Randy Hetrick, chicken restaurant giant Raising Cane’s Todd Graves, and Chesapeake Bay Candle Company founder Mei Xu in a special episode of the Advice Line. We talk about how to navigate today’s crowded social media landscape... And ways founders can start thinking about AI.  

First, Shireen from Pennsylvania wants to know how to do better getting customers to attend her cooking demos… Then, Valerie from Idaho wonders whether separate social media accounts amount to the best path for her brand... And finally, Avani from New Jersey needs help scaling her business. 

Thank you to the founders of Moji Masala , Large as Life puzzles, and Modi Toys for coming on the show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298. 

This episode was produced by Rommel Wood with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo. 

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for my free newsletter at guyraz.com or on Substack.

To hear our returning guests’ previous episodes:

• TRX: Randy Hetrick | Advice Line with Randy Hetrick of TRX
• Raising Cane's: Todd Graves | Advice Line with Todd Graves of Raising Cane's
• Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu | Advice Line with Mei Xu of Chesapeake Bay Candle and Blueme

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For decades, snack companies believed Americans wanted everything sweeter.

More sugar. More chocolate. More indulgence.

But what if that assumption was wrong?

In this episode, a mother-daughter team set out to make a sleeker version of a chocolate almond— and nearly lose everything in the process.

Val Griffith was a longtime TV producer in Seattle. Her daughter Breezy was bouncing between failing business ideas in Miami and New York. When a family tragedy brought Breezy back home, the two began talking about food, snacking, and why chocolate-covered almonds were always so… overdone.

Their insight was deceptively simple: what if you used less sugar, not fake sugar — and a thin coating of chocolate instead of a fat one? 

Turning that idea into SkinnyDipped meant years of failed experiments, dipping almonds by hand, manufacturing out of a converted chicken coop, and demoing almonds one by one. 

When they finally got a breakthrough order from Target, they faced a near-disaster: 40,000 pounds of rancid almonds. 

What followed was a frantic race to save the deal — and later, a far more dangerous question: is this business ever going to make it?

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN: 

• How failing at micro-businesses quietly builds founder skill
• Why manufacturing is often the biggest obstacle in food startups
• The nail-biting risk of saying yes to Target too early
• How growth can mask deeply broken economics
• What it takes to fix a business when funding disappears

TIMESTAMPS: 

• 00:07:25 - How Breezy’s early forays into the food business failed — and why they mattered.
• 00:11:00 - How a family loss brought Breezy and her mom together — and changed the direction of their lives 
• 00:21:07 - Reinventing a stale bulk-bin snack: The road-trip conversations that sparked a new recipe: 
• 00:31:20 - The Home Depot paint sprayer experiment: A brilliant idea that failed spectacularly.
• 00:38:56 - SkinnyDipped’s first “facility:” one oven, no heat, no hot water
•              
• 00:49:28 - How a chance meeting in a bar changed the company’s trajectory
• 00:55:41 - Target takes the plunge and SkinnyDipped nearly drowns: how a chain-wide launch almost breaks the business
• 01:7:47 - Growth without profit: How the founders recover after hitting rock bottom
• 01:21:44 - The mother-daughter equation: wisdom + jet fuel
• 01:26:13 - Small Business Spotlight 

—-----------------------

Hey—want to be a guest on HIBT?

If you’re building a business, why not get advice from some of the greatest entrepreneurs on Earth?

Every Thursday on the HIBT Advice Line, a previous HIBT guest helps new entrepreneurs work through the challenges they’re facing right now. Advice that’s smart, actionable, and absolutely free.

Just call 1-800-433-1298, leave a message, and you may soon get guidance from someone who started where you did, and went on to build something massive.

So—give us a call.

We can’t wait to hear what you’re working on.

—-----------

This episode was produced by Kerry Thompson with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Chris Maccini. Our engineers were Robert Rodriguez and Kwesi Lee.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Raising Cane’s founder Todd Graves joins Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage founders who are each considering a big, next step to grow their businesses.

First, Evan in Texas wants to know if he should franchise drive-thrus for his coffee business. Then, David in St. Louis is trying to get around dents in his financial history to secure financing for his pasta company. And finally, Shane in Los Angeles is weighing the pros and cons of opening a brick-and-mortar restaurant for his focaccia sandwich retail and catering concept.

Thank you to the founders of Whiskey Morning Coffee, Midwest Pasta Company, and Vesti for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to the founding story of Raising Cane’s as told by Todd on the show in 2022.

This episode was produced by Alex Cheng with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com or on Substack.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Exploding Kittens began as a jerry-rigged version of Russian Roulette — a deck of cards hastily modified with a Sharpie. But what happened next is one of the most improbable success stories in the creator economy: a $10,000 Kickstarter goal that ballooned into nearly $9 million, a community that rewrote the rules of crowdfunding, and a company that has now sold over 60 million card and board games.

Co-founder Elan Lee shares the story behind Exploding Kittens — from dismantling his brother’s toys as a kid, to helping design Halo, to walking away from Microsoft…twice. He reveals how burnout, curiosity, and an obsession with interactive storytelling set the stage for one of the most successful game launches of all time.

This is a story about the genius behind good marketing, and how creative storytelling can build a cult-like audience — without spending millions.

If you’ve ever wondered how a strange idea becomes a global phenomenon — this is that story.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN: 

• How burnout can be a creative turning point
• How a Sharpie and a deck of cards can unlock breakthrough ideas
• The storytelling strategy that powered one of Kickstarter’s biggest launches
• How to treat your fans like collaborators, not just customers
• Why marketing should feel like play
• Unit economics to die for: make it for $2, sell it for $20
• How to power through the threat of a one-hit-wonder

TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:08:30 — The physics teacher who changed Elan’s life
• 00:10:35 — How Elan touched up the floating door scene in Titanic
• 00:13:03 — “You’re the worst program manager I’ve ever seen” — and the pivot to game design
• 00:15:33 — Meeting Spielberg, riffing on the movie AI, and inventing a new kind of storytelling
• 00:21:42 — Promoting Halo 2 with payphones 
• 00:31:35 — The Hawaii getaway that sparked Exploding Kittens
• 00:42:12 — The Kickstarter launch: most backers on record
• 00:48:42 — Suddenly a real company — 700,000 decks and a manufacturing crisis
• 00:53:45 — Marketing genius: a kitty-cat vending machine that dispensed burritos and more
• 01:00:58 — New games that bombed — the one-hit-wonder dread
• 01:07:04 — Throw Throw Burrito, and the road to stability
• 01:19:05 — Elan’s 4-year-old daughter helps design new games
• 01:30:31 — Small Business Spotlight

Hey—want to be a guest on HIBT?

If you’re building a business, why not get advice from some of the greatest entrepreneurs on Earth?

Every Thursday on the HIBT Advice Line, a previous HIBT guest helps new entrepreneurs work through the challenges they’re facing right now. Advice that’s smart, actionable, and absolutely free.

Just call 1-800-433-1298, leave a message, and you may soon get guidance from someone who started where you did, and went on to build something massive.

So—give us a call.

We can’t wait to hear what you’re working on.

This episode was produced by Sam Paulson with music composed by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Noor Gill. Our engineers were Maggie Luthar and Kwesi Lee.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tempur-Pedic founder Bobby Trussell joins Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Bobby talks about his new book, The Logic That God Exists.

First, Lyf from Oregon asks about how to expand his fresh seafood business. Then, Colleen from Colorado has questions about where to focus her efforts in growing her whitewater paddleboarding company. And finally, Amanda from Illinois looks for advice on fundraising for her lifejacket brand. 

Thank you to the founders of Flying Fish Company, Hala Gear, and Line + Cleat for being a part of our show.

If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to [email protected] or call 1-800-433-1298.

And be sure to listen to Tempur-Pedic’s founding story as told by Bobby on the show in 2018. 

This episode was produced by Chris Maccini with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.

You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.