Blog

Richard Branson: 1950–1993

I would say more than anyone else, Richard Branson was the guy who inspired me to become an entrepreneur. I have a terrible memory, but I re...

General Magic: Right Product, Wrong Time

I had heard about General Magic over the years, and it was always held up as this almost mythical startup — the company that more or less de...

Olympus: A Very Japanese Scandal

I have a very clear memory of this story because it became public 15 years ago, in 2011, and I remember watching the news and seeing Michael...

Ken Griffin: Wall Street’s Ultimate Competitor

So Griffin has been on my list from day one. Like, he’s the 32nd richest person in the world with a net worth of $60 billion, but I was in n...

Ben & Jerry’s 1978–2026: RIP

The RIP part, well, you’ll see what I’m getting at by the end of the episode. I wanted to dig into this story for a while now because, like ...

Brian Chesky and Airbnb: The $100 Billion Bad Idea

 I’d be lying if I said I’d always wanted to cover Chesky and Airbnb. I hadn’t really read much about either of them. The business itse...

Peter Thiel: 1967–2002

The Outsider Peter Thiel was born in Frankfurt, West Germany, in 1967. His father Klaus was a chemical and mining engineer. His mother Susan...

Enzo Ferrari: The Obsession Behind the Prancing Horse

Now I’m not a big petrol head, but as some of you might know, I love Formula 1, and I think it's fair to say that Formula 1 wouldn’t be wher...

Bernie Ebbers & WorldCom: When the Tide Goes Out…

The whole WorldCom scandal never really registered with me because it happened straight after the dot-com bubble burst. Myself and my co-fou...