How They Made their Millions

Follow How They Made their Millions
Share on
Copy link to clipboard

This show hosted by Vijay Peduru is about the amazing stories of world-class multi-millionaire and billionaire founders , how they started and how they succeeded. Founder Stories include the founders of Facebook(Mark), Linked-in(Reid), WhatsApp(Jan), Ben and Jerry Ice creams(the name says it), Insta…

Vijay Peduru: A Student of extra-ordinary, world-class entrepreneurs like Steve Jobs,Richard Branson,Jeff Bezos and others.He is inspired by “How I built this” and “Side hustle School”


    • Jul 18, 2023 LATEST EPISODE
    • every other week NEW EPISODES
    • 23m AVG DURATION
    • 151 EPISODES


    Search for episodes from How They Made their Millions with a specific topic:

    Latest episodes from How They Made their Millions

    151: GoPro: Nick Woodman - From selling bead belts in a VW van to creating a billion-dollar empire

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2023 20:37


    How did Nick Woodman , the founder of GoPro grow from selling bead belts in a VW van to creating a billion-dollar empire. Let us check it out.

    150: J.P. Morgan - Turning chaos into billion dollar opportunities

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 4, 2023 16:38


    Here is the riveting journey of J.P. Morgan, the titan who transformed American finance.Let us discover how this financial maestro navigated uncertainty while everything was in chaos and etched an indelible legacy in the annals of American business.

    149: SweetGreen: From a tiny dorm-room business to a multi-millionaire dollar food empire

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2023 20:15


    Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman, and Nathaniel Ru were three friends who shared a passion for healthy food. Since they couldn't find good places to eat healthy food, they started their own. They did not know anything about business and came close to shutting down their business. But they survived and turned it into a multi-million dollar food empire. Let's check out their "Dorm Room Dream to Million-Dollar Food Empire" story.

    148: IT cosmetics: Jamie Kern Lima - From a struggling waitress to building a cosmetics empire

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2023 20:11


    Jamie Kern Lima had a dream to become a TV show host, but her dreams were shattered because of a problem she had. She later started IT cosmetics to solve her own problem. Faced with self-doubt, and down to her last few dollars, she persisted in the face of gut-wrenching rejections and setbacks. Finally she sold it to L'Oréal for multiple millions. Let us check out her awe-inspiring story.

    147: Care.com: Sheila Marcelo - Turning her bad life situation into a business and becoming a Multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2023 18:52


    Sheila Marcelo aspired to have a fulfilling life with a well-planned career. However, life took an unexpected turn, and she faced many challenging situations. Despite this, she persevered and founded care.com from her personal problem, transforming it into a multi-million dollar empire. Listen in for her inspiring story.

    146: Hint Water: Kara Goldin - Starting a business by accident to becoming a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later May 9, 2023 19:52


    Kara Godin never intended to start a business. But she had a personal problem of losing weight. She started to share her unsweetened, fruit infused water with friends in her neighborhood. When they all liked it, she realized the potential opportunity. She heard “no you can't” and “that's impossible” from many people. But she finally made Hint a success and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out her amazing story.

    145: Beats Electronics: Jimmy Lovine - From a Janitor to a music billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 25, 2023 20:10


    Dr. Dre and Jimmy Lovine, both music producers, recognized the need for high-quality headphones that could accurately reproduce the sound of music as it was intended to be heard in the studio. Despite facing initial challenges and negative reviews from some critics, they persevered with their idea, continuously improving their product and pushing forward. Their unwavering determination paid off, as they ultimately sold their company for a staggering sum of over $2 billion. Let us check out their story.

    144: General Motors - Alfred Sloan - From a simple draftsman to a multi-millionaire Automobile icon

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 11, 2023 21:53


    William Durant started General motors, but it almost came close to shutting down. Then Alfred Sloan stepped in. He adopted a different approach than his competitors to sell his cars. The strategy worked and sales took off. GM ultimately became a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out their story.

    143: Tim Ferriss - From hopeless and depressed to becoming an Inspirational Icon and a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 28, 2023 20:54


    Tim Ferriss was depressed most of the time and one time thought of ending his life. But he escaped that by fate of luck. Later he started a business and even here he felt overworked, restless, and unsure of how to fix his life. During this process he also lost all that was important to him. At this time, he discovered and learnt something which changed the course of his life. Later he published the 4-hour workweek, about his experiences and how he fixed his life. The book was a massive success and changed the lives of millions of people around the world. Let us check out his story.

    142: Sargento - Leonard Gentine - From a tiny mom-and-pop shop to a billion dollar cheese empire

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 14, 2023 21:54


    Leonard Gentine never had any plans for starting a business. But by sheer accident, he got to know about a new profession and started a business which was a failure. Later by another accident, he got the idea to start a cheese making business. He faced several problems but finally they succeeded and it became a billion dollar company. Let us check out his story.

    141: Mark Cuban - The son of a automobile upholstery installer to a Billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 28, 2023 20:31


    Mark Cuban's father was an automobile upholstery installer and life was not the best. He figured out ways to make money and finished his education. He was not sure what to do with his life, but a chance firing from his job made him start a business. Later he started Broadcast.com, sold it and became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.

    140: CableVision - Charles Dolan - A college dropout to a Maverick Billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Feb 14, 2023 20:08


    Charles Dolan, failed at two businesses. He faced many setbacks. Yet in 1973, this Maverick entrepreneur started Cablevision and built it into a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out his daring story.

    139: Zipcar - Robin Chase & Antje Danielson - Two Moms with no business experience to starting a multi-million dollar car-sharing empire.

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 31, 2023 21:09


    Robin Chase was a stay at him mom & Antje Danielson was a mom and academic researcher. They never had any prior experience starting a business but they had deep passion to make the world a better place. They started ZipCar and even though they faced several problems and came close to shutting it down, they survived. Finally they sold it for $500 million. Let us check out their story.

    138 : Duty Free Shops - Chuck Feeney - From a poor kid to a billionaire, who gave it all away.

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 17, 2023 24:30


    Chuck Feeney was born poor. He made a fortune selling duty-free goods, building an enterprise out of nothing. Then, he gave all his money away. Let us check out his truly inspiring story.

    137: Maker Studios - Ordinary YouTubers to Millionaires

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 3, 2023 20:21


    Danny Zappin, Shay Carl and a few other YouTubers, started their own YouTube Channels and amassed millions of subscribers. They decided to pool together their talent, followers and subscribers into a kind of talent network. They called it Maker Studios. It kept growing and they finally sold it for more than $500 million. Let us check out their story.

    136: Dorothy Herman - Rising from life-crushing Trauma to becoming a multi-millionaire Real-Estate icon

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 20, 2022 20:07


    How did Dorothy Herman rose from life-crushing Trauma to become a multi-millionaire Real-Estate icon. Let us check out her awe-inspiring story.

    135: LegalZoom - From a one-bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles to becoming multi-millionaires

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 6, 2022 17:57


    How  did Brian lee and Brian Lui start LegalZoom, a company that provides legal documentation in a one-bedroom apartment eating ramen noodles and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their ramen-to-riches story.

    134: Kathy Ireland - From a high-school dropout model to a Business Mogul

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 22, 2022 20:15


    How did a model who was a high-school dropout become a Business Mogul building a multi-billion dollar company. Let us check out her inspiring story.

    133: Audible - From a small-time Journalist to a Multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 8, 2022 21:18


    How did Don Katz who started working as a journalist and never had any exposure to tech started Audible and then sold to Amazon and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out his superb story.

    132: ABC Supply - From a high school dropout Teen single Mom To a Billionaire Entrepreneur

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 25, 2022 21:09


    How did Diane Hendricks, a high school dropout and a Teen single mom built ABC Supply, the largest wholesale roofing distributor in America, and rose to become a Billionaire Entrepreneur, even though she faced unbearable personal truama in her life. Let us check out her wonderful story.

    131: SlideShare - How they turned a personal problem into a Multi-million dollar business

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 11, 2022 20:57


    Rashmi Sinha & Jonathan Boutelle wanted to embed PowerPoint presentations into other websites, but they could not find a solution. So how did they turn this personal problem into a Multi-million dollar business. Let us check out their story.

    130: Public storage - The son of a poor farmer to a billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 20, 2022 21:46


    How did Wayne Hughes who was born to a poor farmer started Public Storage to store people's excess belongings  and became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.

    129: SmugMug - From a homeless kid to a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 6, 2022 22:48


    Chris MacAskill was homeless and had to deal with a sick mother. Yet he rose through his challenges and started SmugMug and lived a fulfilling life and also became a multi-millionaire in this process.Let us check out his story.

    128: NYX Cosmetics - An immigrant not able to speak English to a multi-millionaire fashion icon

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 23, 2022 20:07


    Toni Ko's parents immigrated to America, and she did not understand English. Yet she struggled and at a young age started NYX cosmetics and sold it for multiple millions to the world's largest cosmetics company. Let us check out her story.

    127: BaseCamp - From being Contrarian and going against the status quo to building a multi-million dollar business

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2022 19:58


    Jason Fried and David Hanson, went against the status quo and built basecamp by doing the opposite of what we think successful companies are supposed to do and yet grew it into a multi-million dollar company. Let us see how they did it.

    126: Bloomingdale's - From a single tiny store to a billion-dollar high-end luxury store chain

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 26, 2022 22:27


    Bloomingdale is a high-end luxury department chain started in New York. It started as a tiny shop selling only one item. Yet it grew into a billion-dollar high-end luxury store chain. Let us check out their story.

    125: MyFitnessPal - From side-hustler to multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 12, 2022 18:33


    Mike Lee wanted to lose some weight before his wedding, but there was no good digital solution. So he decided to start his own app as a side hustle and it grew beyond his dreams with more than 100+ million users. Let use check out his story.

    124: GitHub: Tom Preston-Werner - From dead-broke to a multi-millionaire.

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 28, 2022 18:42


    GitHub is a well-known website that brings together developers from all over the globe to work together on code. But how did Tom Preston-Werner and Chris Wanstrath took GitHub from a “weekend project-started in-bar” to one of the world's most powerful software development services that Microsoft purchased for $7.5 billion? Let us check it out.

    123: Eddie Bauer: From a high-school dropout to a multi-millionaire outdoor goods icon.

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 14, 2022 20:02


    Eddie Bauer grew up loving the outdoors. To support his family, he dropped out of school and working odd jobs, he later opened his own tiny outdoor shop. He dedicated his life to making gear that made life easier for outdoorsmen. He faced many problems, but slowly it grew and today it has more than 500 locations and is sold throughout the world. Let us check out his story.

    122: King.com(Candy Crush game): Riccardo Zacconi - Almost Bankrupt to a multi-million dollar gaming icon.

    Play Episode Listen Later May 31, 2022 18:42


    Riccardo Zacconi started king. com to build games . His business nearly went bankrupt. The Dot-com bubble had burst and Zacconi had put all of his money into his company and he would lose it all. How did he come out of this, how did he create the Candy Crush game, which became a huge hit, made him a multi-millionaire and made the game a global cultural phenomenon. Let's check it out.

    121: Nathan's Famous Restaurants: Nathan Handwerker - From a restaurant dish-washer to a Multi-millionaire.

    Play Episode Listen Later May 17, 2022 18:29


    Nathan Handwerker, whose first job at age 6 was peddling knishes in what is now Poland, immigrated to New York when he was barely 20. He had no formal education, spoke no English and began his restaurant career as a dishwasher. Nathan built his empire with his determination and persistence and became a multi-millionaire. Here is his inspiring story.

    120: Kayak: Steve Hafner & Paul English - Two men who changed the way people travel forever and became multi-millionaires.

    Play Episode Listen Later May 3, 2022 20:00


    Paul English wrestled with bipolar disorder, having bouts of depression frequently, yet he teamed up with Steve Hafner and started Kayak. They faced competitors, but they persisted and executed well and finally sold it to Priceline for $1.8 billion dollars and both founders became multi-millionaires. This is the story of how they changed the way people travel forever.

    119: Holiday Inn: Kemmons Wilson - From Dirt-poor to a Multi-Millionaire Hospitality icon.**

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 19, 2022 19:45


    Many have heard about the man who revolutionized the lodging industry in the 20th century: Kemmons Wilson — the founder of everyone's favorite hotel chain, Holiday Inn. But behind this incredible man, there's an even more incredible story. This is the story of a poor boy who vowed never to be hungry again. Let us check it out.

    118: StitchFix - Katrina Lake - From starting in an apartment to becoming a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Apr 5, 2022 20:09


    Katrina Lake never had any dreams of starting a business. She thought she was never capable, but due to a discovery she made about other entrepreneurs, she decided to start Stitchfix. As a woman founder, she faced many hurdles, yet she overcame all this and made StitchFix successful and became a multimillionaire. Let us check out her story.

    117: Paul Mitchell Haircare Systems: John Paul DeJoria - Twice Homeless to a Multi-Millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 22, 2022 20:30


    John Paul DeJoria grew up poor with his single mother. He faced many problems in life and was homeless twice and lived in his car. Yet he had the drive to keep moving. Finally, he started Paul Mitchell systems and later became a billionaire. Let us check out how he did it.

    116: NerdWallet - Tim Chen: Starting with $800 and turning it into multiple millions.

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 8, 2022 21:51


    Tim Chen had a nice job in the financial services industry. But something bad happened, and he accidentally started NerdWallet. Money was not coming in and he thought of shutting it down. But he somehow persisted and finally took it public and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.

    115: Lucas Oil - Forrest Lucas: A triumphant journey from childhood poverty to a multimillionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2021 20:03


    Lucas oils is a manufacturer and distributor of automotive oil, additives, and lubricants. Its founder is Forrest Lucas and his is a proverbial ‘rags-to-riches' story, emerging from rural Indiana to build an empire. He started as a truck driver and become an oil and media magnate and, in the process, becoming a multi-millionaire. Let us check out his story.

    114: Adobe - John Warnock and Charles Geschke: Simple Xerox employees to multi-millionaires

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 14, 2021 24:30


    Now we take for granted that we can print anything from our computer. But long back, this was very difficult and many companies, including Apple, were not able to figure out how to print properly from a computer to a printer. But John and Charles from Adobe figured it out and built Adobe. They struggled, faced threats and competitors, but they succeeded and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their story.

    113: Crate & Barrel: Gordon Segal - From not knowing anything about retail business to becoming multi-millionaires

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 30, 2021 22:04


    Gordon and his wife wanted designer European cookware and glassware, but they were very expensive in America. To solve this problem for them and for others, hey opened Crate & Barrel, even though they didn't know anything about business. They struggled, but ultimately succeeded and became multi-millionaires. Let us check out their story.

    112: Electronic Arts: Trip Hawkins - From a failure in first business to a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 16, 2021 27:36


    Trip Hawkins grew up at a time when there were no computers. He loved complex sports simulation board games, but others found it complex. He dreamt of a day to make playing games easier and fun. Finally he did it with EA. He went thru many harrowing experiences but came out successfully and in the process became a multi-millionaire.

    111: Justin's Nut Butter: Justin Gold - From a waiter to a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 2, 2021 25:26


    Justin Gold started working as a waiter to pay off his student loans, but then he stumbled on his passion for peanut and almond butter. Even though he did not know anything about starting a business, he figured it out and started it. Even though he came close to shutting down and there was no hope left to survive, he kept pursuing and finally emerged victoriously and  became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.

    110: Dropbox: Drew Houston - From A babysitter to a Billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 19, 2021 28:25


    Drew Houston's first job was babysitting and he was making $3.00 per hour, but then he figured out that he could get paid more doing what he loved.. Game programming. He later started DropBox. He had many setbacks, and he had to face the demons in his head. He overcame all this and finally took Dropbox Public. Both he and his co-founder became billionaires. Let us see how he did it.

    109: Popeyes: Al Copeland - From utter poverty to a Multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 5, 2021 20:49


    Al Copeland was born in utter poverty and never graduated high school. Yet he struggled and started popeyes. He explored his various passions and lived life to his fullest. Popeyes was a big success, and he became a multi-millionaire. Let's check out his story.

    108: Shopify :Tobias Lutke - A school dropout to a billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 21, 2021 22:45


    Tobias Lutke never had any dreams to start a business and he knew he was not capable. But by sheer accident, he started Shopify and later became a billionaire. Let us check out his story.

    107: Charles Kettering - From a poor farm boy to a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2020 19:58


    Charles_Kettering grew up poor and had health problems. Yet, he persevered and invented many things including the self-starter in cars and became a multi-millionaire. Let us see how he did it.

    106: Warby Parker - Starting in an apartment to building a billion dollar company

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 15, 2020 16:37


    Neil Blumenthal along with his 3 friends started a business, while he was in college. Everyone he talked to said, they would fail, Yet, they started Warby Parker and turned it into a multi-billion dollar company. Let us see how they did it.

    105: George Soros - From a penniless clerk to a billionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 1, 2020 24:17


    George Soros escaped death when he was young. He started as a Clerk, but later started a hedge fund and rose up to become a billionaire.Let us check out his story.

    104: EventBrite : Julia Hartz - From a 9-5 job to a multi-millionaire founder

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 17, 2020 21:00


    Julia Hartz never had an intention to start a business nor had any knowledge of the tech world. But she was pulled into it by accident, and she and her husband Kevin started EventBrite and took it to a billion-dollar company.

    103: Radio One - Cathy Hughes - A poor girl with no resources to a Multi-millionaire media icon

    Play Episode Listen Later Nov 3, 2020 21:19


    Cathy grew up poor and when Cathy Hughes was in her teens, she was thrown out of her house. With no resources or connections, she rose to start Urban one, a network of Radio stations and became a multi-millionaire. Let us check out her story.

    102: Ring: Jamie Siminoff - From a back-to-back failure to a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 22, 2020 19:00


    Jamie Siminoff tried many ideas and failed. One time by accident, he stumbled on the idea for a WIFI Video doorbell. It was tough to survive, but he doggedly persisted and finally sold his company for a whopping $1.2billion. Let us see how he did it…

    101: Dr. Bronner’s - Emil Bronner : From an Asylum inmate to a multi-millionaire

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2020 23:21


    Emanuel Bronner was born in Germany and escaped to America during the Nazi regime. Stricken with personal loss, he decided to bring peace into the world and started making soap and grew the company to more than $100 million. Let us see how he did it.

    Claim How They Made their Millions

    In order to claim this podcast we'll send an email to with a verification link. Simply click the link and you will be able to edit tags, request a refresh, and other features to take control of your podcast page!

    Claim Cancel