Nov 22, 2021 · 1h 8m · how-i-built-this
Stasher and Modern Twist: Kat Nouri
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of How I Built This, host Guy Raz interviews entrepreneur Kat Nouri about her journey from an Iranian immigrant childhood to creating Modern Twist and pioneering Stasher, the reusable silicone bag company acquired by SC Johnson.
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 40.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 5.0 Guest teaching 0.6 Guest disagreement 0.4 Guy pushing back 0.4
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 47:25 Shark Tank confrontation over brand positioning
In the featured Shark Tank excerpt, Kat openly challenges the panel's critique of her branding, firing back questions at the judges rather than passively accepting their criticism.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 27:20 Guy pushes back on premium silicone placemat pricingGuy adopts the role of a skeptical retail buyer, repeatedly pressing Kat to justify why consumers would pay fifteen dollars for a single placemat.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:02:25 Kat reframes the SC Johnson acquisition dynamicKat firmly rejects Guy's premise that Stasher simply got acquired, correcting him by explaining she proactively engineered the acquisition process to secure massive distribution.
Guy holds their own ▶ 50:30 Guy deconstructs the venture capital hype cycleGuy leverages his deep industry knowledge across hundreds of startup interviews to challenge the common industry belief that venture fundraising equates to true entrepreneurial success.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| How I Built This Plus Announcement and Survey | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | This introductory segment consists of Guy Raz's promotional announcement followed by a monologue framing the history of plastic waste, silicone, and Stasher. Because it is an intro monologue with a brief teaser clip, there is no active host-guest dialogue dynamic. | |
| Emigrating from Iran to California | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz guides the narrative warmly into Kat Nouri's family background and emigration from Iran to Walnut Creek. Kat shares personal reflections on her family's move and emotional adjustment. | |
| Childhood Struggles and High School Alienation | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about her adjustment to American schools, prompting Kat to describe feeling alienated and skipping high school. The conversation is collaborative and storytelling-focused. | |
| A New Start in Sydney, Berkeley, and IBM Sales Training | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy traces Kat's journey through Sydney, UC Berkeley, and into B2B sales at IBM. Kat details early lessons in sales resilience and the moment a client recognized her entrepreneurial spirit. | |
| Early Entrepreneurial Experiments: Flowers and Antiques | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about Kat's initial ventures in floral design and antique sales, playfully noting that flowers inherently die. Kat candidly discusses how both businesses failed due to inventory problems. | |
| Family Demands and Husband's Semiconductor Venture | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy explores the chaos of managing a young family while helping run her husband's semiconductor business. Kat explains the intense juggle of childcare, accounting, and sales before stepping back. | |
| Ideating Modern Twist and Discovering Silicone | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about the ideation phase of Modern Twist during her time at home. Kat explains noticing industrial plastic waste and being inspired by a Japanese box to create functional silicone home products. | |
| Launching Modern Twist and Sourcing Manufacturing | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Guy raises technical nuances regarding environmental debates over whether silicone is considered plastic. Kat clarifies why silicone's durability and lack of deterioration make it a superior alternative. | |
| Trade Show Success and Boutique Retail Strategy | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | Guy engages in an active roleplay pretending to be a retail buyer challenging Kat on her high retail prices. Kat demonstrates her in-person sales pitch demonstrating heat and water resistance. | |
| Scaling Modern Twist with a Part-Time CFO | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy explores the scaling of Modern Twist through boutique retailers and asks about financial oversight. Kat credits her part-time CFO, Mike Fake, with restructuring her financials and operations. | |
| The Numi Tea Catalyst and Pivoting to Purpose | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy notes that Modern Twist took seven years to become profitable, asking if Kat felt anxious. Kat explains how meeting Numi Tea founder Ahmed Rahim challenged her to build an impact-driven business. | |
| Designing the Stasher Bag | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about the transition from fashion bags to reusable food bags and probes silicone material science. Kat explains the technical differences of pure platinum food-grade silicone. | |
| Educational Challenges and the Anova Sous Vide Deal | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Guy pushes on the challenging economics of an $11 sandwich bag compared to cheap bulk Ziplocs. Kat explains how securing an Anova sous vide partnership financed the initial expensive production molds. | |
| The Shark Tank Pitch and Angel Investment | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 | Guy features archival audio from Kat's tense appearance on Shark Tank. Kat reflects on standing up to aggressive judges and explains why she eventually walked away from Mark Cuban's deal during post-show diligence. | |
| Rejecting Venture Capital in Favor of Mission | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy offers an informed critique of startup culture's obsession with raising venture capital without real stories or traction. Kat strongly agrees, arguing VC funding would have compromised Stasher's mission. | |
| Pitching Target Under Severe Vertigo | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks how Stasher broke into large retail chains like Target. Kat shares a dramatic story of suffering severe vertigo right before pitching Target buyers in Minneapolis. | |
| Defending Patents and Building Brand Authenticity | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks about enforcing patent protection against copycat silicone bags. Kat emphasizes that while litigation was necessary, brand authenticity and B-Corp certification were their real moats. | |
| Acquisition by SC Johnson and the COVID Shift | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 | When Guy mentions estimated revenue figures and describes the company getting acquired, Kat immediately corrects him, stating she actively solicited buyers rather than being acquired. She explains why SC Johnson provided the necessary scale. | |
| Stepping Down, Reflections on Luck, and Future Impact | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Guy asks Kat why she stepped down after the acquisition and concludes with his signature reflection question on luck versus skill. Kat reflects on work ethic, timing, and letting go of what cannot be controlled. |
Statements from this episode (17)
Nouri: Sewn fabric products can be knocked off easily by competitors
“I had a feeling that people could knock me off pretty easily with a sewn product.”
Kat Nouri borrowed roughly $100,000 against home and credit cards for Modern Twist
“I started borrowing money against our credit cards and I started borrowing money against our home, and I probably went into debt for, ah, gosh, I would say I probably took out a good 100,000 dollars.”
Nouri: Modern-Twist generated $20,000 to $50,000 at its first trade show
“Probably I would say somewhere between 20 and 50,000 on my first show, and I remember calling my husband right when Kit walked away, and she came in, she walked into the show at the last 10 minutes of the show, and I said, honey, I think I have something.”
Nouri: Independent retailers outperform department stores for novel products needing in-person explanation
“The independent designers or the independent retailers did so much more for us because they could explain the product in person, and so their sales volume was so good, I didn't really need to be in those stores.”
Nouri: Ahmed Rahim Threatened to Drop Her Unless She Built for Impact
“And at one point, Ahmed turned around and said to me, I'm just not going to support you anymore or be your advisor if you don't think of some other way to produce something that actually has the ability to have change.”
Nouri: Packaging from Single-Use Items Makes Up 45% of Landfill Waste
“And 45% of all landfill waste is from packaging, and that's usually from single-use things.”
Anova Paid for Stasher's Initial Production Molds
“I didn't get an order from Target directly, but Inova gave me a great order, and I made a great deal with Inova where they had to pay for the molds for the productions because we didn't have them.”
Nouri spent $25K negotiating with Mark Cuban before walking away
“In the end, we spent, like, 20, 25,000 dollars on the negotiations, and I really wanted to make it happen, but I wanted a deal that basically let me still run the company the way I wanted to, and I couldn't get that deal, and I had to walk away.”
Nouri: Stasher raised $500K from a friend's brother post-Shark Tank
“I had one friend whose brother had seen the show, and, He said, I don't care what anybody says. You're a complete badass, and I want you to run the company exactly the way you're running it, and here's a half a million dollars without any questions. So I took …”
Kat Nouri: Founders lose operational control when accepting outside investor capital
“You can't run your company the way you want if you take someone else's money, and I wasn't about to let anybody ruin my vision”
Nouri: Retail essentials aisles drive far higher sales volume than housewares
“What you get in essentials is traffic, and what you get in housewares is really, you might get an end cap, but the actual volume in sales is less.”
Stasher employed a daily team to fight copycats on Red Points
“I had a whole team on Red Point every day that would go on, their job was to go on the internet and see who was knocking us off and serve them.”
Nouri: First-to-market status offers the biggest advantage in retail positioning
“Being first to market has the biggest advantage you could have with getting in front of the buyers, being in the market, getting first positioning. It has the biggest advantage of anything.”