Instant Pot didn’t just go bankrupt, it became another casualty of private equity’s complex financial maneuvers. In this episode of our series The Private Equity Playbook, host Manpreet Kaur Kalra and collaborator Anna Canning trace how one of the most beloved kitchen gadgets of the 2010s became a textbook case of everything private equity does to the things we own, the places we live, and the communities we call home.

From its origins as an internet phenomenon to its collapse under millions in manufactured debt, the Instant Pot story hits every ingredient of the private equity recipe: roll-ups, debt-loading, dividend recaps, antitrust, factory closures, and even a bizarre MAGA branding scheme. We connect Instant Pot’s story to the shuttering of the Pyrex factory in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, anti-immigrant scapegoating during the 2024 election, and the increasingly surreal overlap between political influence, lobbying, and consumer brands.

In this episode, we explore:

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