What would you do if you got scammed? Would you suffer in silence or would you do something about it?

Well I got scammed once and this is the story of what I did. I'm Justin Sales, the host of the wedding scammer, a true crime

podcast from the Ringer. And for seven episodes, we're hunting a common man. A guy

with a lot of aliases, a guy who's ruined a lot of weddings and with the help with some friends

I just might be able to catch him listen to the wedding scammer on Spotify or

wherever you get your podcasts. Today's episode is a conversation with the finance author Morgan Housall.

I want to get us started here with three stories, three very short stories,

and they have a theme that you'll probably pick up on faster than I can even

say it. Story one is Starbucks. In 1994, Starbucks had been around for a little

more than 20 years. They had about 400, 420 stores. It was growing slowly. This was back of course when

Americans were still learning how to pronounce the word kapikino. In the late 1990s something happened. In 99 alone

Starbucks opened 600 new stores. In 2007 Starbucks opened 2,500 new stores.

That's one new Starbucks every four hours.

And then the deluge.

In 2008, the economy crashed, and Starbucks was one of the most blatantly over-extended retailers in America.

The stock fell 73%. As Howard Schultz wrote,

quote, when undisciplined growth became a strategy,

we lost our way."

End quote.

A company that grows quickly, sometimes crashes quickly.

Two. Trees. Most young tree saplings spend their early decades under the shade of a mother's canopy.

With limited sunlight, the bark grows slowly.

...