How Success Happens

One of America's best-known scientists, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent much of his career sharing his knowledge with others. He has an incredible talent for explaining complex concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Tyson fell in love with New York City's Hayden Planetarium the first time he visited it as a child. Amazingly enough later in life he ended up becoming its Director. Neil has served as host of NOVA ScienceNow and the StarTalk Radio podcast.

Steve Herz is President of The Montag Group, a sports and entertainment talent and marketing consultancy. He is also a career advisor to CEOs, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and young professionals. Prior to joining TMG, Steve was the President and Founding Partner of IF Management, an industry leader whose broadcasting division became one of the largest in the space, representing over 200 television and radio personalities.

Matt Higgins grew up in poverty while having to take care of his ailing mother. He dropped out of high school, obtained an equivalency diploma and enrolled at Queens College. He started out as a reporter and attended law school at night, while he worked for Mayor Giuliani. Today, he is recognized as one of the savviest business leaders in the venture space as the CEO and co-founder of RSE Ventures, a company he started with Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.

Rich Kleiman formed a special bond with NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Together, they formed Thirty Five Ventures, an umbrella company for their business interests across sports, tech, culture and philanthropy. Rich and Kevin have been immensely successful with a diverse investment portfolio, including companies such as Postmates, Acorns, Overtime, Coinbase, and so much more Rich shares his incredible insight on being an entrepreneur.

Designer Rebecca Minkoff and Katia Beauchamp, the founder of Birchbox, the leading beauty and grooming subscription box with over 2.5 million customers, are working together to support the emerging Female Founder Collective. Minkoff founded the FFC with the mission to enable and empower female owned and led businesses to positively impact communities, both socially and economically. Together, Minkoff and Beauchamp are hoping to change the world in a positive way for female entrepreneurs.

Arthur M. Blank believes that for good companies, purpose and profit can-and should-go hand in hand. Arthur found incredible success by doing just that with his company Home Depot. The rest is history. Blank stepped down as co-chairman of Home Depot in 2001 and the next year he bought the NFL's Atlanta Falcons for $545 million. Today, the team is worth an estimated $2.8 billion and recently played in the Super Bowl. Arthur shares his wisdom on building "good companies."

Baron Davis started preparing for life after the NBA when he was just in high school. Once in the NBA, he quickly became one of the key original investors in Vitaminwater and helped launch Thrive Market. Davis is an entrepreneur, investor and two-time NBA All-Star and record-holder. As powerful point guard, Davis won national acclaim for executing in crucial, high-pressure moments, when his team needed him the most. Today, he is stacking up his game winning shots off the court.

Monique Brandon is working together with legendary venture capitalist Steven Dietz to tackle California's affordable housing crisis. Her company United Dwelling facilitates the conversion of underutilized garages or backyards into attractive housing at an affordable price while also providing homeowners with extra income. She believes that the key to making this possible is to optimize operations and economies of scale to tackle one of the biggest issues facing California.

Dennis Crowley is the co-founder of Foursquare, the technology company that powers location experiences for more than 1 billion people around the world. Previously, he founded Dodgeball, one of the first location-based mobile social services (acquired by Google in 2005) and help to build early location-based games PacManhattan (2004) and ConQwest (2004). Dennis is also the founder and Chairman of the Kingston Stockade Football Club, a semi-professional soccer team.

John Paul DeJoria is an American entrepreneur, a billionaire and philanthropist best known as a co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Company. He sold Patron two years ago to spirits company Bacardi for a reported 5.1 billion dollars. Not bad for a guy who was homeless two different times in his life and not bad for guy who started out with a series of jobs including janitor and door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. A true How Success Happens story.

新西兰人,蒂姆布朗总是好versed in the magical qualities of merino wool. He was always inherently curious. That's why while he was playing professional soccer he began asking himself why such a remarkable, sustainable resource was virtually absent in the footwear industry. And with that spirit of wonder, Tim's Allbirds journey began. It was a journey that officially launched in 2016 and one that has quickly seen Tim create a billion dollar business.

Daniel Lubetzky, founder and Executive Chairman of KIND, is on a mission to make the world a little kinder one snack and act at a time. He started KIND in 2004 and created a new healthy snacking category. Daniel was always inspired by his father who left an indelible mark on him to do good in the world. He has been committed to using his business as a vehicle for social change. Its KIND Movement inspires everyday acts of kindness and The KIND Foundation works to create kinder, more empathetic communities.

In 2009 Alexia Brue launched what has become wellness digital media power house, Well + Good. Alexia started Well + Good after identifying a need for information and resources on the emerging trends in nutrition, fitness, beauty, and overall wellness lifestyle. Without raising any outside capital she bootstrapped the launch and growth of Well+Good eventually growing the company to reach over 20M wellness-conscious women monthly via the web. In 2018 she sold the company to the Leaf Group (NYSE: LEAF).

While at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Fluhr entered the annual business plan competition with the idea of creating a trusted marketplace to buy and sell tickets for sporting events and concerts. Fluhr dropped out of school and co-founded StubHub in March 2000. By 2007, StubHub had over 400 employees, more than $600 million of gross merchandise volume and partnerships with many professional and college sports teams. Fluhr served as CEO until StubHub was acquired by eBay for $310 million in 2007.

Robert Tuchman talks with Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, a transformative lifestyle brand that offers designer eyewear at a revolutionary price, while leading the way for socially conscious businesses. Prior to launching Warby Parker in 2010, Neil served as director of VisionSpring, a nonprofit social enterprise that trains low-income women to start their own businesses selling affordable eyeglasses to individuals living on less than $4 per day in developing countries.

罗伯特Tuchman坐下与Sweetgreen Co-Founder & Chief Concept Officer Nicolas Jammet to discuss how the restaurant chain is facing the challenges of Covid. Nicolas also discusses the incredible growth of the company as America's leading healthy fast casual chain as well as Sweetgreen's focus on maintaining its authenticity and transparency as it expands.

Howard Mittman is the CEO of Bleacher Report the premiere digital destination for millennial and Gen Z sports fans. While many sports media companies have been hurting without live sports, Bleacher Report has been able to not only survive but thrive. In May, the broadcaster topped more than 1 billion video views for the third consecutive month across its social media channels. Mittman has helped BR disrupt and revolutionize content experiences for sports fans around the globe in good times and bad.

Suri Kasirer is a born New Yorker and advocate. She founded Kasirer in 1997 out of a studio apartment on the Upper West Side—and a lifelong commitment to championing people, progress and policy in the city. Suri and her team have established an unparalleled record of success in New York City a place that some might say can be difficult to get things done.

Josh Luber founded StockX with fellow entrepreneur and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert after they both literally came up with the same idea separately. Amazingly enough they found each other and they decided to go at it together building StockX into a billion dollar "Stock Market" for sneakers. Josh shows us how following your passion while never giving up can eventually lead to incredible success.

Marc Forgione is a Celebrity Chef, Iron Chef, and a man who launched a restaurant in downtown New York City six months prior to the Great Financial Crisis. Marc never wavered and eventually his restaurant thrived. Today he is navigating an even more difficult time for restaurants during the world's current pandemic. It's an awful time for restaurant owners and so many small businesses in our country. Listening to Marc you will see why he offers a ray of hope for so many owners of small businesses right now.

James Daunt is the CEO of Barnes & Noble, who was brought in to lead the company last August to help with what was already a challenging situation for the bookseller even before the Coronavirus pandemic hit. Prior to coming on board at Barnes & Noble, Daunt had turned around Waterstones one of the largest bookselling chains in all of Europe. Today, he faces incredible challenges but like any great entrepreneur he is pushing ahead and continuing to focus on his plan through the current crisis.

Stoney Clover Lane was founded by sisters Kendall and Libby Glazer from their Rochester, New York bedroom when they were just 17 and 15 respectively. Ten years later their candy-colored classics and personalized patches have become well-known for bringing some much-needed personality to the highly uniform category of travel accessories has reimagined everyday organization through their line of travel accessories designed to spark self-expression.

Steve Martocci is the founder of music tech platform Splice. Martocci first started in the tech business by co-founding the group-messaging service GroupMe, which sold to Skype in August 2011 for $85 million, when he was just 27. In 2013 he co-founded Splice, a technology platform for music creators that streamlines the process of creating and sharing music. Then in 2014 he co-founded Blade, a private plane service. In total, Martocci’s startups have raised over $100 million.

The Swiss financier, Thomas Flohr, started his private jet charter company in 2004, just a few years after 9/11 sent aircraft sales spiraling. It wasn’t the last time world events or market downturns would affect Flohr’s business. The 2008 financial crisis came with plenty of challenges, but as Flohr told me he managed to turn those obstacles into fuel for Vista Jet. And today in these times of a new global crisis around the COVID-19 Flohr still continues to move his company forward.

James and Alexa Hirschfield are the co-founders of Paperless Post, a premium invitation and event management platform. The sibling duo founded the company in 2009, looking to reimagine the experience of sending and receiving invitations. With over 175 million users, Paperless Post has sent over half a billion invitations and partnered with designers including Ladurée, Oscar de la Renta, and Duro Olowu. James and Alexa have both been named in Forbes’ “30 under 30” list.