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Jun 20, 2024 · 49m · how-i-built-this

Advice Line with Sarah Kauss of S'well

Guy Raz · 18m spoken Sarah Kauss · 10m spoken Adam Barker · 6m spoken Kiara Munzi · 4m spoken Jesus Rubalcaba · 4m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

On this episode of The Advice Line on How I Built This Lab, host Guy Raz and S'well founder Sarah Kauss consult with early-stage founders to provide actionable strategies on product positioning, retail pitching, and sustainable growth.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 43% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Guy as informed peer 6.7 Guest teaching 3.0 Guest disagreement 0.3 Guy pushing back 1.3
05100:0015:0030:0045:005:41–18:48 · Guy as informed peer 7/10 Kiara Munzi on Scaling Chichi Chickpea Cereal in Grocery Guy and Sarah act as collaborative advisors, with Guy drawing direct parallels to past startup journeys like Magic Spoon and suggesting front-of-pack callouts for protein and fiber. Kiara is receptive and strictly seeking guidance on in-store discovery.18:49–30:33 · Guy as informed peer 6/10 Mid-Show Intermission and Latino Greeting Cards Preview Jesus explains the demographic data behind second-generation Latinos, educating the hosts on his target audience. Guy and Sarah provide tailored retail positioning strategy, advising him to pitch regional retail chains like H-E-B.30:34–47:25 · Guy as informed peer 7/10 Program Break and Men's Body Grooming Preview Adam educates Guy on the functional and aerodynamic benefits of male leg shaving in cycling. Guy and Sarah demonstrate marketing expertise, pitching viral activations and disciplined, profitable growth.5:41–18:48 · Guest teaching 2/10 Kiara Munzi on Scaling Chichi Chickpea Cereal in Grocery Guy and Sarah act as collaborative advisors, with Guy drawing direct parallels to past startup journeys like Magic Spoon and suggesting front-of-pack callouts for protein and fiber. Kiara is receptive and strictly seeking guidance on in-store discovery.18:49–30:33 · Guest teaching 3/10 Mid-Show Intermission and Latino Greeting Cards Preview Jesus explains the demographic data behind second-generation Latinos, educating the hosts on his target audience. Guy and Sarah provide tailored retail positioning strategy, advising him to pitch regional retail chains like H-E-B.30:34–47:25 · Guest teaching 4/10 Program Break and Men's Body Grooming Preview Adam educates Guy on the functional and aerodynamic benefits of male leg shaving in cycling. Guy and Sarah demonstrate marketing expertise, pitching viral activations and disciplined, profitable growth.5:41–18:48 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Kiara Munzi on Scaling Chichi Chickpea Cereal in Grocery Guy and Sarah act as collaborative advisors, with Guy drawing direct parallels to past startup journeys like Magic Spoon and suggesting front-of-pack callouts for protein and fiber. Kiara is receptive and strictly seeking guidance on in-store discovery.18:49–30:33 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Mid-Show Intermission and Latino Greeting Cards Preview Jesus explains the demographic data behind second-generation Latinos, educating the hosts on his target audience. Guy and Sarah provide tailored retail positioning strategy, advising him to pitch regional retail chains like H-E-B.30:34–47:25 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Program Break and Men's Body Grooming Preview Adam educates Guy on the functional and aerodynamic benefits of male leg shaving in cycling. Guy and Sarah demonstrate marketing expertise, pitching viral activations and disciplined, profitable growth.5:41–18:48 · Guy pushing back 1/10 Kiara Munzi on Scaling Chichi Chickpea Cereal in Grocery Guy and Sarah act as collaborative advisors, with Guy drawing direct parallels to past startup journeys like Magic Spoon and suggesting front-of-pack callouts for protein and fiber. Kiara is receptive and strictly seeking guidance on in-store discovery.18:49–30:33 · Guy pushing back 1/10 Mid-Show Intermission and Latino Greeting Cards Preview Jesus explains the demographic data behind second-generation Latinos, educating the hosts on his target audience. Guy and Sarah provide tailored retail positioning strategy, advising him to pitch regional retail chains like H-E-B.30:34–47:25 · Guy pushing back 2/10 Program Break and Men's Body Grooming Preview Adam educates Guy on the functional and aerodynamic benefits of male leg shaving in cycling. Guy and Sarah demonstrate marketing expertise, pitching viral activations and disciplined, profitable growth.

speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Guy 84.9% · guest 15.1%0:00 · Guy 84.9% · guest 15.1%3:00 · Guy 40% · guest 60%3:00 · Guy 40% · guest 60%6:00 · Guy 41.9% · guest 58.1%6:00 · Guy 41.9% · guest 58.1%9:00 · Guy 17.7% · guest 82.3%9:00 · Guy 17.7% · guest 82.3%12:00 · Guy 48.1% · guest 51.9%12:00 · Guy 48.1% · guest 51.9%15:00 · Guy 56.2% · guest 43.8%15:00 · Guy 56.2% · guest 43.8%18:00 · Guy 58.7% · guest 41.3%18:00 · Guy 58.7% · guest 41.3%21:00 · Guy 24.5% · guest 75.5%21:00 · Guy 24.5% · guest 75.5%24:00 · Guy 16.5% · guest 83.5%24:00 · Guy 16.5% · guest 83.5%27:00 · Guy 47.7% · guest 52.3%27:00 · Guy 47.7% · guest 52.3%30:00 · Guy 56.1% · guest 43.9%30:00 · Guy 56.1% · guest 43.9%33:00 · Guy 24.6% · guest 75.4%33:00 · Guy 24.6% · guest 75.4%36:00 · Guy 51.2% · guest 48.8%36:00 · Guy 51.2% · guest 48.8%39:00 · Guy 34.1% · guest 65.9%39:00 · Guy 34.1% · guest 65.9%42:00 · Guy 24.8% · guest 75.2%42:00 · Guy 24.8% · guest 75.2%45:00 · Guy 43.2% · guest 56.8%45:00 · Guy 43.2% · guest 56.8%48:00 · Guy 100% · guest 0%48:00 · Guy 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 39:54 Adam pushes back on asking influencers for free work

Adam gently resists standard influencer advice by highlighting the professional sensitivity of asking athletes for promotional favors without upfront compensation.

 Hardest push from Guy ▶ 44:17 Sarah warns against growth-at-all-costs strategy

Sarah cautions Adam against burning through his remaining cash on reckless growth, pushing him to focus on unit profitability from day one.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 32:39 Adam breaks down aerodynamic data for Guy

Adam surprises Guy with precise wind tunnel statistics, proving that shaved legs can save up to 82 seconds over a 40-kilometer cycling time trial.

 Guy holds their own ▶ 16:17 Guy analyzes cereal category dynamics using Magic Spoon comparison

Guy draws upon his deep archive of founder interviews to explain how alternative breakfast cereals attract swift copycats and require rapid market defense.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicGuy as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementGuy pushing backWhy
Kiara Munzi on Scaling Chichi Chickpea Cereal in Grocery 7201 Guy and Sarah act as collaborative advisors, with Guy drawing direct parallels to past startup journeys like Magic Spoon and suggesting front-of-pack callouts for protein and fiber. Kiara is receptive and strictly seeking guidance on in-store discovery.
Mid-Show Intermission and Latino Greeting Cards Preview 6301 Jesus explains the demographic data behind second-generation Latinos, educating the hosts on his target audience. Guy and Sarah provide tailored retail positioning strategy, advising him to pitch regional retail chains like H-E-B.
Program Break and Men's Body Grooming Preview 7412 Adam educates Guy on the functional and aerodynamic benefits of male leg shaving in cycling. Guy and Sarah demonstrate marketing expertise, pitching viral activations and disciplined, profitable growth.

Statements from this episode (7)

Assertion Supported
Raz: S'well reached $100 million in revenue within six years
“Six years after launching Swell, the company made a hundred million dollars in revenue.”
Guy Raz Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 2:05
Insight
Kauss: Founders selling their business should negotiate lifetime discounts
“All founders out there, when you sell your business, negotiate a lifetime discount because I forgot to ask for that.”
Sarah Kauss Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 3:36
Assertion Partly supported
Munzi: Chichi raised over $100,000 in non-dilutive capital from pitch competitions
“What we did to finance it was actually enter ourselves into a bunch of pitch competitions, and we raised over a 100,000 dollars just with pitch competitions that were non-dilutive, and we traveled around just giving our pitch to dozens and dozens of judges.”
Kiara Munzi Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 10:15
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Kauss: S'well Sold Over 50 Million Bottles Before Spending on Marketing
“Because, you know, my example is with Swell, we sold over fifty million of our original Swell bottles before we spent a dollar on marketing. We asked our consumers to get out there, take the product, and to ask Ask other consumers to give it a try.”
Sarah Kauss Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 15:56
Insight
Kauss: Win big retail buyers by showing complete assortments and POS displays
“Make it as Easy as possible for the targets of the world to say yes to you. Show what that assortment could be. Show what the point of sale material would look like. Really make it a whole concise package that the buyer could just look at and say, yes, you kno…”
Sarah Kauss Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 29:33
Disclosure
Kauss: S'well partnered with TED for 10 years after donating 2,000 bottles
“We worked with the TED conference for probably 10 years, and we, it was expensive when they first called Adam. It was a very big decision for me to donate, you know, 2000 bottles and you know, pay for the shipping and all of that”
Sarah Kauss Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 38:50
Disclosure
Kauss: S'well was always profitable throughout slow and rapid growth phases
“We grew really slowly and then really fast. However, we were always profitable”
Sarah Kauss Jun 20, 2024 ▶ 44:18
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