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Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks, across all 44 shows. Pick shows below, then mix any filter with any other.

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HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield's Debt Reached $2.7 Million by Christmas 1989
“Well, by the, by Christmas of 87, you know, running this factory for two months, I can tell you we were already 600,000 dollars in debt. By Christmas of 88, we were 1.9 million dollars in debt. By Christmas of the next year we were 2.7 million dollars in debt.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 36:40 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Was Funded by 297 Angel Investors After VC Rejections
“What you have to know at the punchline of this story is that I wound up by the end of this period with 297 individual investors. There was no way to find common ground with an institutional investor, right? A venture capitalist. Believe me, I knocked on every …”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 37:17 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Supported
Danone Bought 80% of Stonyfield But Left Hirshberg in Control
“The original head of M&A who came to see me said Gary, do you mean to tell me we're going to buy 80% of your company and you'll still be in control? And I said, yes. And the banker and the lawyers and everyone laughed. And, you know, two years later, that's th…”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 50:01 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield cracked retail by having Frisbee teammates demand it
“So in July of 84, I had my 30th birthday at the farm, and my, I had my old Ultimate Frisbee team come up to visit me, most of whom lived in Cambridge, as you might imagine. And I said, look, It's wonderful you've all come. If you want to give me a really good …”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 22:44 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Supported
Hirshberg: Stonyfield briefly abandoned organic milk in its early years
“At this moment in Stonyfield's life, we briefly departed from organic.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 28:22 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield raised from 297 individuals after VCs passed
“And, you know, what you have to know at the punchline of this story is that I wound up by the end of this period with 297 individual investors. There was no way to find common ground with an institutional investor, right? A venture capitalist. Believe me, I kn…”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 36:08 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Partly supported
Hirshberg: Stonyfield controls roughly 80% of the US organic yogurt market
“And, you know, while we're not the leader in Greek, we are the leader in organic. I mean, I think we're something like 80% of organic yogurt in the U.S., so.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 49:50 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Partly supported
Stonyfield Launched With a $25,000 Grant From Catholic Nuns
“So Samuel was able to get some Catholic nuns to provide a 25,000 dollar grant.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 11:43 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Was $75,000 in Debt on Hirshberg's First Day
“And by 11 a.m. That morning, my first day, I calculated that we were 75,000 dollars in the red.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 16:41 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Became Bread & Circus's Top Yogurt Within a Month
“About a month later, we were her number one selling yogurt. She took us in the other two Bread and Circuses, and off we went.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 24:29 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Frequently Had Zero Cash Before Thursday Payrolls
“In this farmhouse, I always had payroll on Thursday mornings, and by this point, it was a half a million dollar business, and I never had cash in the bank that night before payroll. Never.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 30:27 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Needed $100K in Hours to Recover Co-Packer Inventory
“Worse than that, I had to come up with a 100,000 dollars to take my in, get my inventory out of the building. Because again, we owed them co-packing fees. Now the bank's the owner. And so I had to go, call my shareholders and find a 100,000 dollars within hour…”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 34:35 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Bought $300M of Fruit From an Early Creditor Over 30 Years
“Those guys have sold us in the 30 years since they've sold us probably 250 or three hundred million dollars worth of fruit.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 39:39 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Borrowed Over $1 Million From Hirshberg's Mother-In-Law
“And, of course, I've got now, I now have over a million dollars of her mother's money. Okay? Like money she could never afford to lose. Everything they had.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 41:03 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not yet assessed · timeframe Aug 2019
Stonyfield Raised $2.5M and Opened a New Factory
“All told, including paying off the debts, two and a half million dollars, and opened our new factory nine months later in Londonderry, where we are today.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 46:50 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Supported
Stonyfield Turned Profitable in 1992 After Heavy Factory Losses
“The business is now doing 3.4 million dollars in sales, but we lost 1.4 million that year. The next year, we did 6.5 million in sales, and we lost 900,000. The following year, the second full year in the new factory, we did 10.1 million, and we made 125,000 do…”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 47:19 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Contradicted
Stonyfield Reached $100M Revenue Before Negotiating With Danone
“98 we're at seventy-eight million in sales. 99, we're at a hundred million in sales and that's when I began negotiating with Danone to have them come in.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 48:37 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Supported
Greek Yogurt Makes Up 50% of the Total Yogurt Market
“Well, Greek is now 50% of the yogurt category.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 50:41 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Partly supported
Stonyfield Holds Roughly 80% of the US Organic Yogurt Market
“And, you know, while we're not the leader in Greek, we are the leader in organic. I mean, I think we're something like 80% of organic yogurt in the U.S., so.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 50:58 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Partly supported
Hirshberg: Stonyfield started with a $25,000 grant from Catholic nuns
“So Samuel was able to get some Catholic nuns to provide a 25,000 dollar grant.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 10:34 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield was $75,000 in debt on my first day
“And by 11 a.m. That morning, my first day, I calculated that we were 75,000 dollars in the red.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 15:31 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield had zero cash before weekly payroll at $500K revenue
“In this farmhouse, I always had payroll on Thursday mornings, and by this point, it was a half a million dollar business, and I never had cash in the bank that night before payroll.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 29:18 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield raised $100K in hours to retrieve seized inventory
“Worse than that, I had to come up with a 100,000 dollars to take my in, get my inventory out of the building. Because again, we owed them co-packing fees. Now the bank's the owner. And so I had to go, call my shareholders and find a 100,000 dollars within hour…”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 33:26 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield accumulated $2.7M in debt by Christmas 1989
“Well, by the, by Christmas of 87, you know, running this factory for two months, I can tell you we were already 600,000 dollars in debt. By Christmas of 88, we were 1.9 million dollars in debt. By Christmas of the next year we were 2.7 million dollars in debt.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 35:31 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Early supplier later sold Stonyfield up to $300M in fruit
“Those guys have sold us in the 30 years since they've sold us probably 250 or three hundred million dollars worth of fruit.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 38:30 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield held over $1M of his mother-in-law's money in 1988
“And, of course, I've got now, I now have over a million dollars of her mother's money, ok? Like money she could never afford to lose. Everything they had.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 39:54 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Hirshberg: Stonyfield co-founders' equity was diluted to 10% each by 1989
“By then, Samuel and I were down to 10% each in the company.”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 45:57 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Partly supported
Hirshberg: Stonyfield reached first profit of $125K on $10.1M revenue
“The end of 89, we began manufacturing in this facility. The business is now doing 3.4 million dollars in sales, but we lost 1.4 million that year. The next year, we did 6.5 million in sales, and we lost 900,000. The following year, the second full year in the …”
Gary Hirshberg Oct 2, 2017 ▶ 46:05 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stonyfield Received Five Months of Cup Shipments Without Paying
“And after paying for his first shipment of cups, he managed to somehow get, continue to get shipments for five months without paying for any more.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 13:49 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Stonyfield Matched Dannon's $1.49 Quart Price at Launch
“So we started selling at a dollar 49 a quart, which is the same price Dannon was selling for.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 14:22 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
HOW I BUILT THIS Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Stonyfield Sales Reached $250,000 in 1984
“By then, in 1984, our sales were up to around 250,000 a year.”
Gary Hirshberg Aug 19, 2019 ▶ 19:49 Stonyfield Yogurt: Gary Hirshberg (2017)
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