Build or Break

Daniel Lubetzky

Daniel Lubetzky — KIND Snacks founder, Shark Tank investor, Mexican Jewish social entrepreneur — sits down with the world's most fearless builders to uncover what it takes to create, innovate, and build things when others would have broken. Our guests are founders, comedians, scientists, athletes, actors, and public figures. No matter what field they come from - business, sports, entertainment, media, politics, or culture - they all face the same fork in the road. Daniel pushes past what they built to why they were willing to risk it, and how they kept going when it started to break. Real conversations about entrepreneurship, leadership, resilience, and the decisions that define a builder.

  1. 9h ago ·  Video

    Larry Wilmore, Bernie Mac Show Creator: We Won Every Award. Fox Fired Me Anyway.

    Larry sits down with Daniel Lubetzky to talk about being locked out of auditioning for In Living Color and writing his way onto the staff instead, the one idea inside every scene of The Bernie Mac Show ("Children are terrorists"), and why getting fired from the show he created crushed him — while losing The Nightly Show on Comedy Central felt like relief.  He breaks down the difference between a showrunner and an executive producer, why jokes are "truth concentrate," how he knows if a writer has a voice in two pages, and how he gave Quinta Brunson an early break. Plus: selling books door to door, the night he bombed so badly his glasses fogged up, telling David Copperfield "Nope," working on The Office when everyone thought it would flop, and playing Make Me Laugh with his brother as kids.  Also: the Marx Brothers, a backstage drink with Bill Clinton, the White House Correspondents' Dinner, why joy drives him more than laughs, and the Mexican Inquisition.  https://www.instagram.com/larrywilmore https://x.com/larrywilmore https://www.facebook.com/larrywilmore/ https://www.instagram.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellubetzky https://x.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellubetzky https://daniellubetzky.com/ 🙋🏻Become a Builder: https://buildersmovement.org/  Music: Amos Cochran https://www.editscoremusic.com/ Production: Straybird Studios https://www.straybird.studio/ Post Production: Jennell Lewis & Scott Convery Social Media Production: https://www.edits-etc.com/ Build or Break Team:  Executive Producer & Host: Daniel Lubetzky Executive Producer: Kristin Schneider Head of Programming & Production: Joel Rubin Marketing & Communications: Sarah Black Associate Producer & Social Media: Taylor Larned Booking & Scheduling: Kayla Rose Network Relations: Julianna Cohen

    Larry Wilmore, Bernie Mac Show Creator: We Won Every Award. Fox Fired Me Anyway.
  2. Oct 27 ·  Video

    Mark Cuban: Losing Luka, Fighting Big Pharma & Partying Like a Rock Star

    Who really decides what you pay for your prescriptions? Mark Cuban says it’s three middlemen controlling 85% of the market, so he built Cost Plus Drugs to take them on. The Shark Tank investor talks with KIND founder Daniel Lubetzky about the Luka Dončić trade and feeling like he let Mavs fans down, the $82,000 embezzlement that wiped out his company’s bank account, and why he partied like a rock star after his first exit. Plus: the MBA classes he snuck into at 18, getting put through a table by WWE’s Sheamus, and why he doesn’t want to be president. 00:00 Intro: 3 Middlemen, 85% of Your Meds 00:57 Meet Mark Cuban: Garbage Bags, Curiosity & Checking Your Hole Card 10:14 The Power of Broke: Getting Fired, Starting MicroSolutions & Why AI Is the New PC 16:26 Letting Go: Selling the Mavs & Watching Luka Get Traded 19:20 Running Lean: Shark Tank, Cost Plus & the 3 Middlemen Who Control 85% 27:37 Citizens vs. Special Interests & Would Mark Run for President? 36:59 Social Media Warfare: Why Algorithms Control Voters 41:07 Claimable, Learning With AI & Why He Only Punches Up 47:11 Shark Tank Behind the Scenes & Sneaking Into MBA Classes at 18 54:40 The Mexican Inquisition: First Million vs. First Billion & the $82,000 Embezzlement 1:01:37 Build or Break: NBA Fines, Flopping & WWE Tables 1:08:03 Hedging, Retiring at 35 & Partying Like a Rock Star https://www.instagram.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellubetzky https://x.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellubetzky https://daniellubetzky.com/ 🙋🏻Become a Builder: https://buildersmovement.org/  Music: Amos Cochran https://www.editscoremusic.com/ Production: Straybird Studios https://www.straybird.studio/ Post Production: Jennell Lewis & Scott Convery Social Media Production: https://www.edits-etc.com/ Build or Break Team:  Executive Producer & Host: Daniel Lubetzky Executive Producer: Kristin Schneider Head of Programming & Production: Joel Rubin Marketing & Communications: Sarah Black Associate Producer & Social Media: Taylor Larned Booking & Scheduling: Kayla Rose Network Relations: Julianna Cohen

    Mark Cuban: Losing Luka, Fighting Big Pharma & Partying Like a Rock Star
  3. Sep 22 ·  Video

    The Inventor of Ring Was Bankrupt. Here’s How He Turned it Around.

    Jamie Siminoff was personally bankrupt before Shark Tank even aired. When Kevin O'Leary offered him $700K for 10% of his company, he walked away with no deal. Amazon bought that company, Ring, for $1.15 billion. In this episode of Build or Break, Jamie breaks down the actual mechanics behind the story most people only know the headline version of: why he turned down Mr. Wonderful on national TV, how everything almost fell apart before Shark Tank even filmed, and what he says now about first-night sales numbers that most founders get wrong. He also gets into the failed products before Ring (including an email he sent Nest's founder that changed his approach), what Ring's Fire Watch tool did during the Palisades fires, and why the app has reunited millions of lost dogs with their families. Daniel Lubetzky sits down with Jamie for an unfiltered conversation about rejection, conviction, and fish tanks. Fish tanks? Yes, fish tanks.  00:00 Cold Open & Intro 0:58 Meet Jamie Siminoff, the Garage Inventor Turned Billion-Dollar Founder 8:13 The Doorbot Era: Pre-Sales, Debt, and Desperation 11:41 Shark Tank: The Pitch That Almost Saved Him 22:00 The November Miracle: When Everything Changed 26:22 From DoorBot to Ring: Rebuilding Everything in Nine Months 28:54 The Safety Pivot: When Crime-Solving Became the Mission 34:43 The Mind of an Inventor: From Fish Tanks to Floodlights 47:32 Life at Amazon: The Entrepreneur in the Machine 55:21 The Mexican Inquisition: Jamie Sets a New Record 1:01:58 Build or Break? https://x.com/JamieSiminoff https://www.instagram.com/jsiminoff https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamiesiminoff/ https://www.instagram.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellubetzky https://x.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellubetzky https://daniellubetzky.com/ 🙋🏻Become a Builder: https://buildersmovement.org/  Music: Amos Cochran https://www.editscoremusic.com/ Production: Straybird Studios https://www.straybird.studio/ Post Production: Jennell Lewis & Scott Convery Social Media Production: https://www.edits-etc.com/ Build or Break Team:  Executive Producer & Host: Daniel Lubetzky Executive Producer: Kristin Schneider Head of Programming & Production: Joel Rubin Marketing & Communications: Sarah Black Associate Producer & Social Media: Taylor Larned Booking & Scheduling: Kayla Rose Network Relations: Julianna Cohen

    The Inventor of Ring Was Bankrupt. Here’s How He Turned it Around.
  4. Sep 15 ·  Video

    Andrew Yang Explains Why 94% of Congress Never Loses Reelection

    Andrew Yang was right about the 2024 election. He was right about AI. He was right about MATH. When he talks, you better pay attention! I sat down with Andrew Yang for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from personal to political and back again — getting bullied as the only Asian kid in his school, quitting a prestigious law firm five months in, and building the "Yang Gang" from a fringe campaign into a national movement built on a $3 million baseball cap. Andrew opens up about the hardest year of his life — becoming a father to a son later diagnosed as on the autism spectrum — and connects it directly to why he ran for president. He breaks down why 94% of Congress never loses reelection despite a 10% approval rating, why he quit the Democratic Party in 2021, and why investors will fund almost anything as long as it has "AI" in the name. Along the way: the real story behind "MATH," his viral Cupid Shuffle moment, and a live demonstration of my favorite party trick/pain tolerance tester I brought over from Mexico! Andrew is funny, blunt, and still relentlessly early on the things everyone else eventually catches up to. Watch the full interview now. 0:00 – Cold open & Intro 2:05 – Getting bullied as the only Asian kid in school 4:40 – Quitting his law career & his first failure 9:12 – The roots of his entrepreneurship 13:32 – Investors who'll only fund you if you slap "AI" on it 19:55 – The real origin story of "MATH" 24:45 – Gerrymandering, primaries, and why Congress doesn’t work 39:04 – Andrew’s vision for an independent presidential primary 44:57 – His two biggest lessons for anyone running for office 48:50 – His biggest professional regret 54:38 – What Andrew’s doing now 58:23 – Mexican Inquisition and Toques 1:08:06 – Rapid-fire: Build or Break round  Follow Andrew:  https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewYangPodcast https://www.instagram.com/andrewyang/ https://www.tiktok.com/@officialandrewyang https://x.com/AndrewYang https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewyangvfa/ https://www.instagram.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.tiktok.com/@daniellubetzky https://x.com/DanielLubetzky https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniellubetzky https://daniellubetzky.com/ 🙋🏻Become a Builder: https://buildersmovement.org/  Music: Amos Cochran https://www.editscoremusic.com/ Production: Straybird Studios https://www.straybird.studio/ Post Production: Jennell Lewis & Scott Convery Social Media Production: https://www.edits-etc.com/ Build or Break Team:  Executive Producer & Host: Daniel Lubetzky Executive Producer: Kristin Schneider Head of Programming & Production: Joel Rubin Marketing & Communications: Sarah Black Associate Producer & Social Media: Taylor Larned Booking & Scheduling: Kayla Rose Network Relations: Julianna Cohen

    Andrew Yang Explains Why 94% of Congress Never Loses Reelection

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About

Daniel Lubetzky — KIND Snacks founder, Shark Tank investor, Mexican Jewish social entrepreneur — sits down with the world's most fearless builders to uncover what it takes to create, innovate, and build things when others would have broken. Our guests are founders, comedians, scientists, athletes, actors, and public figures. No matter what field they come from - business, sports, entertainment, media, politics, or culture - they all face the same fork in the road. Daniel pushes past what they built to why they were willing to risk it, and how they kept going when it started to break. Real conversations about entrepreneurship, leadership, resilience, and the decisions that define a builder.

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