Oct 12, 2020 · 52m · how-i-built-this
method: Adam Lowry & Eric Ryan (2018)
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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 Method co-founders Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan about how they disrupted the cleaning industry by pairing stylish design with non-toxic, eco-friendly formulations. The founders recount their journey from bootstrapping in a San Francisco apartment and pitching Target to overcoming major product failures and building a globally recognized consumer brand.
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 32.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 2.3 Guest teaching 1.1 Guest disagreement 0.2 Guy pushing back 0.3
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 40:05 Rejecting the niche green-for-green-people model
Lowry emphatically rejects the conventional premise of green consumerism, asserting that building products solely for the 5% niche green market is completely pointless.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 30:10 Challenging the boldness of pitching Target without capitalRaz presses the founders on how they could credibly promise Target distribution to investors before having any financing or production capability in place.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 37:22 Explaining retail shopper basket value over raw unit volumeLowry educates Raz on retail dynamics, demonstrating that Target kept Method not because of unit volume metrics, but because Method drove high-value, design-conscious demographic baskets.
Guy holds their own ▶ 39:22 Raz citing Whole Foods retail precedentRaz references previous entrepreneurial case studies like Whole Foods and John Mackey to contrast typical natural product market launches with Method's mainstream-first entry.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Host Appeal and Book Announcement | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Host Guy Raz presents an appeal for his book alongside a brief show preview teaser featuring Eric Ryan discussing tasting cleaning product. The segment functions almost entirely as promotional framing and archival setup with no real debate. | |
| Show Introduction and Founders' Detroit Roots | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Raz introduces the narrative of launching a physical soap brand at the height of the dot-com bubble and queries the founders on their upbringing in Grosse Pointe. Ryan details his family's multi-generational automotive manufacturing roots. | |
| College, Flight Reunion, and San Francisco Roommates | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz traces the duo's reunion on a flight to San Francisco and their subsequent arrangement as roommates in an inexpensive shared flat. Lowry clarifies his grounded approach to life decisions compared to Ryan's lifelong entrepreneurial ambition. | |
| The Genesis of Method: The Ski Trip & Eco-Chic Idea | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Raz prompts the founders on why they targeted cleaning products over other categories during a ski trip in Michigan. Ryan and Lowry explain the realization that mainstream cleaning relied on dated, toxic chemicals while the culture was shifting toward home design aesthetic. | |
| Developing the Business Plan and Kitchen Chemistry | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz inquires about how they formulated the first products while tech startups around them were raising millions on pitch decks. Lowry outlines basic kitchen chemistry using household ingredients like vinegar and baking soda to formulate non-toxic prototypes. | |
| Bootstrapping Method and First Retail Breakthrough | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | The founders describe putting in $45,000 each, designing custom tooling inspired by a European water bottle, and cold-pitching grocery store managers at 6 a.m. Lowry notes that conventional distribution channels were bypassed because they simply did not know any other way. | |
| Sponsor Break: Kyndryl Mission-Critical Technology | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Following an ad read, Ryan details grassroots demo strategies in grocery wine aisles and managing early retail restocking like a paper route. He explains why taking seed funding from friends and family served as an intense accountability mechanism. | |
| Venture Capital Funding and the Karim Rashid Pitch to Target | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | Raz questions how the founders managed to land world-renowned designer Karim Rashid and secure national retailer interest before having substantial capital. Ryan explains leveraging equity to recruit Rashid and building an upside-down prototype just in time for their Target presentation. | |
| The Target Test Run and the Eco-Chic Breakthrough | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Raz asks how Method managed the 90-store test run, prompting the founders to recount the messy leaking dispenser crisis. Lowry explains that despite missing strict sales unit targets, Target retained them because of the valuable demographic basket Method attracted. | |
| Retail Expansion, Whole Foods Skepticism, and Big Brand Copycats | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | Raz brings up Whole Foods' early skepticism and the entry of legacy CPG copycats into eco-friendly cleaning. Lowry and Ryan emphasize that legacy players failed because they merely slapped green labels on standard packaging rather than creating authentic, beautiful products. | |
| The Block Product Failure and Navigating Partnership Dynamics | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | Raz investigates the commercial failure of their personal care line Block and probes the resulting strains on the co-founders' partnership. Both founders candidly discuss navigating their contrasting introverted and extroverted working styles to preserve both company and friendship. | |
| Ecover Acquisition, Sustainable Manufacturing, and Co-Founder Reflections | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Raz asks about the decision to sell to Ecover and whether their success stemmed from intelligence or luck. The founders reflect on building a sustainable manufacturing plant in Chicago and note their enduring emotional connection to the brand. |
Statements from this episode (20)
Ryan: No low-interest categories exist, only low-interest brands
“There's no such thing as low interest categories, just low interest brands.”
Lowry: Basic cleaning products do not require professional chemical labs
“You can make cleaning products out of very standard things. Things that you can buy in the grocery store. Like water. You know, things like, yeah, of course, water, vinegar, baking soda. These are relatively simple chemicals that don't require a professional l…”
Lowry: Method founders ran the company out of pocket for two years
“We paid, we ran the business out of pocket for about two years.”
Lowry: Method co-founders each invested $45,000 to start the company
“We each put in 45,000 dollars.”
Lowry: Custom bottle molds consumed most of Method's initial $90,000 capital
“And then build the bottle molds, which, Ate up most of the investment.”
Lowry: Method secured its first grocery placement in February 2001
“So we got a grocery store at the end of February to say, yeah. Yeah, it was actually February 28th, 2001. So we had bothered this store manager enough that he said, fine, guys, I'm gonna give you space, but you have to get the product here today. This was in B…”
Ryan: Eco-brands must use design as a Trojan horse for mainstream adoption
“The only way we're going to make this work is we had to get the mainstream into a green product, and we thought a lot of it as it's a Trojan horse for good. We had to put our green credentials on the back of the bottle and almost kind of hide them.”
Ryan: Take family money to ensure the ultimate motivation to survive
“I always encourage entrepreneurs to take money from family because I think it's the best motivation to ensure that no matter how hard things get, you're going to find a path forward.”
Ryan: Method secured designer Karim Rashid using equity and reduced fees
“We were able to convince him to do it for a lower fee, because he really believed in the project, but also with equity. And he gave, you know, got him to have skin in the game with us.”
Ryan: Target granted Method an initial 90-store test run
“Target gave us a ninety-store test to basically prove ourself out.”
Lowry: Target ordered roughly 25,000 units for Method's initial retail test
“Oh, they bought initially about 25,000.”
Lowry: Method missed sales targets during its initial Target test
“Well, we didn't hit that target as it turns out.”
Ryan: Method created the first inverted dish soap dispenser
“The dish soap that we did, which was the first ever inverted dispenser, so it comes out of the bottom.”
Lowry: Green products represent only about 5% of US sales
“They're only about five percent of products in the U S market that are sold are green products.”
Lowry: Method reached profitability roughly five years after its founding
“It was about five years in. So – In five, we became profitable.”
Lowry: Method raised roughly $25M before becoming self-funding and profitable
“About twenty-five million.”
Ryan: Manufacturers must fund retail clearance discounts for discontinued products
“And it's expensive to launch a new product. It's really expensive to discontinue. Because when you see something on shelf that's being discounted for the store to get rid of it, the manufacturer is funding it.”
Lowry: Method lost millions on its failed Block personal care line
“You know, I don't remember exactly in dollar terms, but it was, you know, it was in the low millions of, you know, an investment that basically an amount of money we lit on fire.”
Lowry: Post-acquisition, Method built a highly sustainable Chicago manufacturing plant
“In this case of selling the business to Ecovair, actually the greatest example of that is we were able to build what's probably the most sustainable manufacturing facility in the whole world in the inner city of Chicago immediately after we sold the business.”