I also want to thank you for something you did,

not on our show, but you helped me out a couple of weeks ago.

We did a kind of a "for your consideration" Emmy panel --

Emmy thing in Los Angeles.

And I asked you to interview me. And you said yes.

So thank you for doing that.

-Thank you for asking, because you deserve an Emmy!

-No, no. Thank you, no. No, but I --

No, I meant -- No, but you -- No, you did such a great --

You're one of my favorite interviewers on the planet.

I love all of your shows. "Wow in the World," I love.

"How I Built This" obviously.

And the new one, this is going to freak people out.

"Wisdom from the Top."

I just want to get into all of it now.

So let's talk about "How I Built This."

Do you guys know this podcast? If you don't --

[ Cheers and applause ]

It's one of the best podcasts out there right now.

And basically what you do is, you talk to entrepreneurs

and CEOs and people that started these companies,

and what you would think, in my head, I go,

"God, this might be like a boring interview. I don't know.

Do I care about how they made Stacy's Chips?"

-Yeah.

-It is -- I do. It turns out I really do.

And I love her. I go, "What a story."

But what do you learn

from interviewing and getting these stories?

-Oh, man, I mean, you know, lately we've been hearing a lot

about pivots on the show.

Like, so, Stacy is a great example, right?

-A pivot? -A pivot, right?

So, Stacy -- Stacy Madison, who created Stacy's Pita Chips,

I mean, that company began as a sandwich cart, right?

-A food truck. Yeah. -Right.

She had a sandwich cart in Boston

making rolled-up pita sandwiches.

And every day they had, like, extra pitas,

and, you know, she didn't want to throw them away.

So they would cut them up and bake them up

and sprinkle them with Parmesan and hand them out to people,

you know, waiting in line for the sandwiches.

And eventually the people were like,

"Hey, can we buy these pita chips?"

And, like, six months into this,

she and her partner, Mark Andrus, are like,

"Wait a minute.

Well, maybe we're, like, in the wrong business.

Like, maybe we should do pita chips."

And they completely pivot from pita sandwiches to pita chips.

Within 10 years, they sell this company to Pepsi

for $250 million.

-It's fascinating stories.

Do you now know if an idea will work or not

after hearing all these ideas?

You're like, "Oh, yeah." -No.

You know, so, have you ever heard of Edible Arrangements?

-Yeah, of course.

-So, you know, the bouquet of fruits, right?

So we had the founder, Tariq Farid, on the show.

And I said, you know, "Tariq, if you asked me 25 years ago,

if you said, 'Hey, I have this great idea.

I'm going to take cantaloupe and melon and pineapple

and strawberries and I'm going to carve it into flower shapes,

put it on sticks, arrange it in a bouquet,

and deliver it to people's houses.'"

Like, what -- I would have said,

"That's the dumbest idea I've ever heard."

-"I'm out. Yeah, I'm out. No, thanks."

-"That's the stupidest idea."

-"I don't want to do that at all."

-"Nobody's going to invest in that."

Well, that company is worth half a billion dollars today, right?

I mean, and the thing is,

you get all these crazy ideas all the time.

I mean, crazy -- You know, in fact,

I was watching this show a couple of days ago.

And 'cause you're an entrepreneurial guy,

and you had, like, puzzles and you've got the flashcards

and the kids' book. -Yeah, yeah.

-And you've got the emojis, and hands high -- high hands --

-Yeah, hands high, yeah. I came up with this sweatshirt

that -- Because what do you do when your team is winning?

-You put your hands high.

-So I said why not put logos in the armpits?

-Logos under the armpits. You've got -- Right, right.

-So hands high is -- -High.

-Yeah. Just, why not?

And bring back the wave! -Yeah.

-The wave should exist. Yeah.

-So you've got, like, this entrepreneurial itch.

-Can I pitch you some dumb ideas?

-You want to pitch me? -Yeah, I'd love to.

-Yeah, I really want to hear if you --

I have a great -- Ready for my new idea?

-Okay. -All right.

It's called -- it's called Veyetamins.

-Okay.

-But E-Y-E. They're eye drops.

-Eye-drop vitamins.

Eye drop -- V-eye-tamins. For your eye drops.

-So people that don't like taking pills or swallowing --

And you want vitamin C. Drop, drop.

-Yeah.

-Veyetamins.

-No? -Yeah...yeah.

[ Laughter ] -All right, how about this?

This one's a slam dunk. -Okay.

All right, Kraft Singles. -Right, yeah.

-But make them into circles.

For hamburgers.

Why is there a square on my burger?

Make them circles. -For hamburgers.

-Yeah, for just hamburgers. -'Cause the bread is square.

You don't want, like, a circle on the bread.

-Yeah, bread is square. -You wouldn't have the cheese

on the corners of the bread.

-All right. That's not the best idea.

Okay, wait, wait, wait.

Ooh, I have a slam-dunk idea. -Okay.

-Are you ready? This is for Eggo waffles.

-So we can do -- Eggo, if you're watching,

I'll do it, we'll give it to charity.

We'll do it. Emoji waffles.

Here's what it is. -Yeah.

-Here's what you do. It's like an egg wash on top of --

It's a regular frozen waffle,

but when you toast it, an emoji appears.

-Oh, my God. That's amazing! I want to invest in that.

-You do?! -Yes.

-You like that one?! All right, good, that's the one.

You do? Okay. -Emoji, yes.

-The emoji waffle! -Yes!

-A surprise every morning.

What are -- Could we get -- Out of all the things,

what's the best advice you could give to any business

that's starting that you've learned from all these --

talking to all these great people?

-I mean, I think the best piece of advice I've learned

from leaders is that kind leaders have kind companies.

I mean, kindness is an incredibly powerful tool.

It sounds a little hokey, but we've had leaders on the show

and entrepreneurs on the show who are kind.

People like, you know, Gary and Kit Erickson of Clif Bar.

They give their employees a chunk of ownership.

Kim Jordan of New Belgium, that makes Fat Tire,

she allows her -- she gives ownership to her employees.

And the thing about kindness that I've learned

from entrepreneurs is that kindness is free.

It costs nothing. It's zero dollars and zero cents.

But the return on that investment

is bigger than any financial investment.

It's actually a hugely important quality

of successful entrepreneurs.

-I love that. Be kind.

Guy, I love you, buddy. Thank you so much for coming on.

Come back whenever. Guy Raz.

Check out his podcasts

"How I Built This" and "Wisdom from the Top."