You Might Enjoy: The Best Idea Yet

Everything Everywhere Daily

Gary Arndt

History, Education

4.8 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ever wondered how Birkenstocks went from a German cobbler’s passion project 250 years ago to a starring role in the Barbie movie? Or who created that bottle of Sriracha that is permanently living in your fridge? Did you know that Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA, or that Super Mario became the best-selling video game character ever thanks to a strategy called “The Infinite Game?” On Wondery’s new weekly podcast, The Best Idea Yet, Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer have identified the most viral products of all time and reveal their untold origin stories, plus the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. From the Happy Meal to Levi’s 501 jeans, come for the products you’re obsessed with, stay for the business insights that’ll make you the most interesting person at your next brunch. Listen on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Let me ask you a trivia question.
0:02.7	Which iconic hot sauce was launched by a Vietnam war refugee who smuggled gold into the United States inside cans of condensed milk?
0:10.7	Was it A, Franks Red Hot, B, Chalula, C, Tabasco, or D. Saracha?
0:17.5	The correct answer is D. Saracha.
0:20.6	David Tran fled Vietnam with no visa, no money, and just
0:24.4	$20,000 in gold bars hidden inside food cans. He used it to build a hot sauce empire out of his
0:30.1	van without spending a dime on advertising. Stories like this are what you're going to hear on
0:35.7	the best idea yet, a podcast that
0:38.3	uncovers the surprising origins of the products we use every day, from Saracha to the Super Soaker
0:43.6	to Google Maps.
0:44.8	They explore how these bold ideas went viral.
0:48.3	You're about to hear a clip from the Saracha episode of The Best Idea Yet.
0:51.8	You can hear the full story by following The Best Idea
0:54.5	Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.
1:04.8	Our story starts in Sok Trang, South Vietnam, a province nestled in the lush Mekong Delta.
1:11.7	It's hot and dusty in the dry season, and hot and wet in the rainy season.
1:15.6	The year is 1970 and David Tran is 25 years old, the third eldest of nine kids.
1:21.1	As a teenager in the 1960s, David worked a retail job, along with his older brother selling
1:26.7	chemicals in Saigon. But the Vietnam
1:29.1	war, it was happening more or less in their backyard. So as the war escalated, David went back
1:35.4	home to Sock-Tranc to finish school and avoid getting dragged into the front lines.
1:41.4	One night, David's trying to get some sleep. Suddenly, there's a loud knocking
	...

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