The Empire Builders Podcast Podcast Por Stephen Semple and David Young arte de portada

The Empire Builders Podcast

The Empire Builders Podcast

De: Stephen Semple and David Young
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 Reverse engineering the success of established business empires.The Empire Builders Podcast Economía Gestión Gestión y Liderazgo Liderazgo Marketing Marketing y Ventas
Episodios
  • #209: Hexclad – From Auditions to Non-Stick

    #209: Hexclad – From Auditions to Non-Stick
    Jun 11 2025
    What would you do if you were a starving actor that just lost his last orange? Start a cookware Company of course. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick in business partner Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. So here's one of those. [Eco Office Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to The Empire Builders Podcast. Dave Young here alongside Stephen Semple and we're talking empires. Empires, businesses that started from scratch and are now, well, as the title suggests, empires, kind of the whole idea. I saw that we were listed in some top lists in Canada as well, like top business podcasts and top reverse engineering podcasts. I thought that was a cool, that's the list that I'd rather be on anyway. Stephen Semple: Well, we were higher ranked on that one, so there you go. I think it was number two or three on that, wasn't it? Dave Young: It didn't even know it was a thing. Stephen Semple: Yeah, pretty exciting. Dave Young: So today, you whispered in my ear that we're talking about the HexClad Corporation. Stephen Semple: HexClad. Dave Young: These are the pots and pans. People with the, apparently according to ads that I've caught glimpses of are now the perfect pans. They think they've built a better mousetrap. Stephen Semple: Yeah, and it is interesting. If you take a look at them, if you've ever seen them, they actually have this pattern in them, and there's now a bunch of knockoffs, of course. But the whole idea is with the raised surface of stainless steel, you can actually, the pan will brown, because a lot of nonstick pans don't brown very well. So the whole idea is you can get a nice searing with them. And also the way it's constructed, the nonstick surface is better protected. Dave Young: So you're not going to scrape the Teflon right off the bottom of your pan with your eggs. Stephen Semple: It'll withstand higher heat. You can put it in a 500-degree oven. So in many ways, one could argue with those things that that is a better nonstick pan. Dave Young: Sure. So who, what, when did this happen? Stephen Semple: So they were founded in December of 2016 by Danny Winer and Cole McCray. And boy, I'll tell you very much a bootstrapped backyard business when they started. And in 2024, it's estimated the business did 500 million in sales, have become $1 billion brand. Dave Young: How do you build Teflon pans, nonstick pans as a backyard kind of thing? Stephen Semple: Well, that's what we're going to learn here. Now, here's the other interesting thing. They now do cookware and knives and accessories and all that other stuff, but they started basically with pots and pans and Danny's first business was, he was an actor. Dave Young: Oh, okay. Well, that makes perfect sense. Stephen Semple: Doesn't it? Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: So Danny started off as an actor. That was his goal, and he moved to LA, of course, lots of auditions. And there's a certain point when you're doing that, one of the things that starts to creep in is that sense of that feeling of failure. So he's struggling a little bit with that. And then in 1994, he's in a really bad car accident, literally shatters his leg and does some damages to the vertebrae. He's doing lots of rehab, many months with a cane, and there's no way to act and he has to figure out how to recover and make money, and he's never felt so poor. One day he's coming home, and this is literally his worst moment. He's coming home. He has this home that's on the side of a hill and he has no money and he couldn't work yet.
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    26 m
  • #208: 4 Years of Learning – What this Podcast Has Taught Us

    #208: 4 Years of Learning – What this Podcast Has Taught Us
    Jun 4 2025
    You don't create 4 years of podcasts and walk away without some insights. Dave and Stephen talk about what they have learned so far on The Empire Builders Podcast. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. So here's one of those. [Waukee Feet Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast. Dave Young here with Stephen Semple, and we're talking about empires being built and fortunes being made. I understand today we're not really talking about a business. We're going to talk about the Empire Builders Podcast in a way. Stephen Semple: Yeah, because we're episode 208. We've been doing this for four years, my friend. Dave Young: My gosh. Stephen Semple: Haven't missed a week in four years. Dave Young: That's pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. Stephen Semple: Well, especially for two people like you and I, who are not following through on things is not really. Dave Young: That's because we get together once a year and record 52 episodes. Stephen Semple: Well, on top of that, after I download these, we have a team of people who produce it and post it and all that other stuff. Dave Young: That's the key. That's the key. My job is, as I think I've mentioned before, is to show up. So what you wanted to talk about, just reminisce and see if there's lessons learned about this. Stephen Semple: Well, the funny thing is, normally something like this would be like, "Hey, David. Dave, tell us your favorite episodes." Your reply would be your favorite episode was the last one you did because... Dave Young: Exactly. Stephen Semple: That's just the way you live. Then I thought, well, maybe there's some things that we've, after going through 207 of these, is there some things that we've learned from this, from either the experience of doing it or the things we've covered? Or is there just some lessons there? Dave Young: So do you want me to go first or you want to go first? Stephen Semple: Whichever way you want to do it, my friend. Dave Young: Go ahead. Stephen Semple: Okay. So for me, probably the most interesting thing has been the research of these stories because all these companies have got these great stories. Even after we go through the stories, it's amazing how often, like you've said, this is now my favorite whiskey. We did one recently on a cookware company and I then went out and bought one of their frying pans after hearing the story. They actually do create this greater connection with the business. Here's the crazy thing, they're all great stories and they're all hard to find. People are not glorying in these stories. They're not actually sharing them. They're not on their website, they're not prominent. Even if there is something that's on the website, it's all positive milestones. The struggle, the challenge, the packaging things in your backyard and cleaning the blood off the packaging because you got so many paper cuts is not being talked about on the websites or in the company pages or anything like that. They're obscure. They're coming out with interviews with the owner or there's some weird researcher who's really dug into things. I look at it and go, I don't understand that. Why are you not wanting to tell these stories about your business? Dave Young: I love that. Stephen Semple: Literally, all of these things should be just on their home page and their about you. Dave Young: Absolutely, absolutely. Stephen Semple: It isn't. Dave Young:
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    16 m
  • #207: Dr. Gross Skincare – Yes, A Real Doctor

    #207: Dr. Gross Skincare – Yes, A Real Doctor
    May 28 2025
    Dr. Dennis met Carrie in the elevator and they would make fun of how skincare products had no real value to them. Then they changed that. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us. But we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients, so here's one of those. [Travis Crawford Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast, Dave Young here, Stephen Semple is standing by. He told me the title, he told me, the topic that we're going to cover today, the Empire, and it's Dr. Steven Gross. Stephen Semple: Dennis. Dave Young: Dennis. Stephen Semple: Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare. Dave Young: It doesn't actually roll off the tongue, Dr. Dennis Gross Skincare. I have to admit, I've not heard of this one. Stephen Semple: Well, you're such a skincare buff, I'm kind of surprised. Dave Young: Well, a lot of people say I have amazing skin for a 90-year-old man. In my 60s, but... Stephen Semple: Now, you may not have heard of it, but the company was started by Dr. Dennis Gross and his wife, Carrie Gross, in 2000, and in 2023, it was sold to Shiseido, a big Japanese skincare company for $450 million. Dave Young: Okay, that's not chump change. Stephen Semple: That gets a little attention, right? Dave Young: Yeah, sure. Stephen Semple: Yeah. So, the products were created by Dr. Dennis and his dermatology clinic, and they were originally just sold and marketed to his patients. So, it was literally one of these little tiny businesses, where the stuff is being designed by a real doctor, a real dermatologist, but in the early days, basically the only place you could buy it was his clinic, and the only people who really knew about it were the patients, and the people the patients told. So that's really how it started. And Carrie grew up in California, so they're in New York, but Carrie grew up in California, and she spent her days outdoors, and her skin was starting to show its age. And Dennis, basically, when they met, Dennis was already a dermatologist, and he started to give her hope and optimism. And actually, how they met was she was not a patient or anything like that, don't go there with your minds, they lived in the same building, and they met on the elevator, and basically got to know each other because they ride up the elevator together periodically. And at the time, dermatology was just being used for rashes and things along that lines. And it's the 90s, and creams were being bought in the department store, and they were moisturizers, and there were no indie brands. And for fun, they would look at the labels together, and he was amazed at how little there was in terms of effective ingredients in these creams. As a dermatologist, he could look at it and go, these really don't do anything. And peels were starting to be done, the whole thing, you put stuff off... But they were aggressive, and to him, it made no sense that the skin would be a part of the body where the best thing you could do would be to injure it so that it comes back stronger, it just didn't make sense to him. And he really didn't see the results, and people would look blotchy afterwards, and things along that line. So, he decided to design a peel that would work better. And the whole secret ingredient was, there was a second step that would turn the chemical reaction off, so that it wouldn't be so damaging. So, it was a two-step process that he created. Now, his offices were near the UN, and he had lots of variety of clients. So, the whole thing that he found that was amazing is he was able to test the product on a lo...
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    17 m
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