Allbirds: Tim Brown & Joey Zwillinger

How I Built This with Guy Raz

Guy Raz | Wondery

Business

4.8 • 31.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2019

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Growing up, Tim Brown discovered he was very good at two things: design and soccer. While playing professional soccer in New Zealand, he was turned off by the flashy logos on most athletic gear. He started making simple canvas shoes for his teammates, but soon discovered a better material: soft merino wool from his country's plentiful sheep. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, his future business partner Joey Zwillinger was frustrated that most companies lacked a genuine commitment to sustainability. In 2015, Tim and Joey teamed up to create Allbirds, a company with two ambitious goals: create the world's most comfortable shoes, and do it in a way that was completely carbon-neutral. Today, just three years after launch, Allbirds is worth $1.4 billion. PLUS, for our postscript "How You Built That," how Kirby Erdely saw a problem with flying beach umbrellas and developed a new kind of tent stake—with a twist. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime members, you can listen to how I built this early and ad-free on Amazon Music.
0:07.0	Download the app today.
0:09.0	New years is here, and with it brings the possibility of change.
0:13.0	As one behavioral scientist put it, first starts are really powerful.
0:17.0	So as you head into 2023, LifeKit is a great resource to help you plan your life and tackle changes, both big and small.
0:24.0	Listen to the LifeKit podcast from NPR.
0:27.0	So I want to tell you that we're coming to the Twin Cities for a live event on Wednesday, July 17th.
0:33.0	I'll be talking with Dan and Angie Bastion, co-founders of Angie's Boom Chick-a-Pop.
0:38.0	How a history teacher and a psychiatric nurse started making popcorn and eventually got it into stores from coast to coast.
0:45.0	The show is supported by American Express and our other live events have sold out fast, so to get tickets, go to nprpresence.org.
0:54.0	And hope to see you there.
0:56.0	One more thing before we start the show.
0:58.0	I want to tell you about a brand new discount for the How I Built This Summit, which is happening this October in San Francisco.
1:05.0	We have a new deal for group tickets through June.
1:08.0	By four summit tickets, get the fifth absolutely free.
1:12.0	So bring your co-founders, your leaders, your innovators, and your dreamers, and grow together at the How I Built This Summit, supported by American Express.
1:20.0	To take advantage of group discounts, email hibtsummit at npr.org and hope to see you in San Francisco.
1:32.0	I would find myself at dinners with friends who are kind of early 30s now at the stage of their career where things are starting to take off.
1:39.0	And we'd go out for dinner and go around the table and I would dread when it would come to me and people would ask what I was doing.
1:46.0	My body would curl up into a little ball and I would sort of say, wushes.
1:51.0	And when we'd leave the dinner, people would pat me on the head and say, that's lovely that you're pursuing this little thing and could like with that little fella.
1:58.0	And it was just awful.
	...

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