Bizography with Dana Barrett iHeartPodcasts

Mattel is a classic American Dream story. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, start a company, invent iconic toys and make oodles of money. But of course nothing is ever that simple. This story has it all... young love, a woman a head of her time, a dark moment of fraud, and some truly iconic toys. But... does it have a happy ending?

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For Bizography’s first international episode, we brave a few hard to pronounce German names to bring you the story of the Dassler Brothers. Adi and Rudi started out all cool...brothers and partners in a shoe company that would change the sports world. Alas - their story turned ugly during WWII. Let's just say the Gestapo was involved. In the aftermath of the actual war and the brotherly war, Adidas was born, and yeah, another big name shoe company too.

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Sewing seems like a pretty wholesome hobby, but the most famous sewing machine brand had a founder who was anything but. He was an inventor and successful, savvy businessman, but his true passion was acting, and er... women. Isaac Merritt Singer makes the bad boy CEOs of our time look pretty tame. In this episode of Bizography we dig into the personal story of Isaac Singer, AND we give him credit for furthering an invention that changed consumer behavior. HINT: It wasn't the sewing machine.

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Remember Pong? Breakout? Combat? PAC-MAN? That was all Atari. So, was Atari the OG of gaming? Or did they just do it better than the rest? And if they were so great, what the heck happened? In this episode of Bizography we go back to the 70s and 80s, and get all cultural on ya!

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Would you let your 14 year old travel to another city without you? Would you let him take all your inventory with him and trust him with a huge sale? Well, that's how J. Willard Marriott Sr. got his start. Times were different then to be sure, but it was that audacious confidence, strong work ethic, and family unity that he passed on to his sons and that formed the cornerstone of one of the world's most well-known and well-loved brands.

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It's easy to start a business empire with family money, and stolen(ish) land. At least it was for James Dole, The Pineapple King. It seems less likely that Dole pineapple would be on every grocery store shelf around the world, if James Dole's cousin Sanford hadn't essentially stolen Hawaii. In this episode of Bizography we examine the not-so-humble history of Dole Foods, the history of Hawaii, and the sweet and juicy goodness of right time, right place, right vision that allowed Dole to grow into what it is today.

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