Hey, prime members, you can listen to business movers add free on Amazon music. Download the app today.

It's fall 1976 at the offices of John Brown & Partners, an advertising firm in Seattle.

Phil Knight enters a sleek meeting room waiting for him inside as the agency's founder, John Brown.

John rises and shakes Phil's hand.

Phil, thanks for coming. Well, thanks for having me, John. Have a seat, please.

As Phil takes his seat opposite John, he is cautious but hopeful.

Phil is here to listen to John's pitch about why Nike should give its advertising business to the John Brown Agency.

Alright, well, let's get to it. What do you have for me, John? Well, actually, if you don't mind Phil, I'd like you to start.

What can our agency do for Nike? Well, I'll be honest with you, John.

We've got mixed results from our other partners in the past and the work has had little to no effect.

The truth is, I'm dubious that advertising offers any real value at all.

Hey, Phil, we don't say things like that around here. You're not going to get out alive if you do.

I apologize if that sounds blunt, but it's how I feel.

When we started up Nike, it's just an in-house brand. We sold a quarter of a million pairs.

And you know how much we spend on advertising? Nothing.

Sales went up 50% the next year and the money spent on advertising was still zero.

We've grown year on year and we've spent barely anything on ads.

How big is your advertising department now? A couple of guys? A couple of guys. That's it.

And how much product do you sell? We're on course for $14 million this year.

Well, if you work with us Phil, I promise you we can beat that number.

If you're willing to spend. But that's the point, right? I mean, why?

People are going to buy our shoes anyways. Word of mouth is how we've built this business.

...