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Howard Schultz

Chairman Emeritus, Starbucks · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

executivefounderinvestorauthor@HowardSchultz ↗schultzfamilyfoundation.org ↗

Howard Schultz acquired Starbucks in 1987 and served multiple stints as its chief executive officer, expanding the business into a global coffeehouse chain. He also co-founded the venture capital firm Maveron and has authored several business books.

18statements → 13claims → 9claims resolved → 56%fully supported → 3.89/5average certainty → 1.67/5average debate potential → 67said about them ↓

5 supported 3 partly supported 1 contradicted 4 not checkable as stated how the 13 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

13 assertions · 1 opinion · 3 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 13 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 9 are resolved, and 4 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Howard argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Schultz: 2008 store manager summit cost Starbucks about $30 million
“By the way, this event cost about thirty million dollars at a time when we didn't have the money.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 41:43 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Schultz: Store retraining shutdown cost Starbucks about $24 million
“I think we estimated about twenty-four million dollars that day, in terms of lost sales and labor.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 40:41 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
0% certainty 3
79% certainty 4
100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Howard Schultz on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Howard Schultz said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schultz: Starbucks had about seven months until insolvency in 2008
“I knew that we had about seven months left, if we continued on this track, where we would be insolvable.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 42:13 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schultz: Bill Gates Sr. forced rival bidder to withdraw Starbucks offer
“And all I remember him saying is, you should be ashamed of yourself. That you're gonna steal this kid's dream. It's not gonna happen. You and I both know this is not gonna happen. And within 10 minutes, he told them to stand down, we're walking out of this off…”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 25:51 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Insight
Schultz: Needing consultants means a company does not know its business
“If we have to hire a consultant, it means that we don't really know our business.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 30:26 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Opinion
Schultz: Legacy Coffee Giants Were Too Arrogant to See Retail Coffee Opportunity
“I think the large companies just never believed that you could build a national company and brand around selling coffee in the cup. I don't, I just think they were naive, maybe arrogant, and they gave us a lot of runway.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 34:06 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Partly supported
Schultz: Starbucks closed 900 stores, 90% open under a year
“We closed 900 stores, and 90% of them had been open less than a year.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 40:22 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Contradicted
Schultz: Store retraining shutdown cost Starbucks about $24 million
“I think we estimated about twenty-four million dollars that day, in terms of lost sales and labor.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 40:41 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Supported
Schultz: 2008 store manager summit cost Starbucks about $30 million
“By the way, this event cost about thirty million dollars at a time when we didn't have the money.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 41:43 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Supported
Schultz: Starbucks Founders' Early Vision Was Only Expanding to Portland
“And their dream, and nothing against them, their dream at the time was to expand to Portland, Oregon. That was their big idea.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 13:52 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Insight
Schultz: Coffee shops function as a 'third place' between work and home
“I started realizing that this is a third place between home and work. But the beverage was the draw.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 15:33 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Partly supported
Schultz: Starbucks introduced the caffè latte to Seattle in 1985
“Overnight, we had hundreds of customers every day, and we introduced cafe latte to the city of Seattle, basically.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 17:01 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Insight
Schultz: Growth Is Not a Business Strategy
“And so growth became the strategy of the company, and growth is not a strategy.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 37:35 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Supported
Schultz: Starbucks originally served zero cups of coffee in stores
“No, there was no service of any cup of coffee at any Starbucks So it was just pounds of coffee for home use.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 16:03 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Schultz pitched 242 prospective investors to raise $1.7M for Il Giornale
“The truth of the matter is that I spoke to 242 people to try and raise 1,700,000 dollars to form Il Dernali.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 19:42 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Starbucks required Schultz to raise $600K before releasing $200K seed investment
“And Starbucks put a little contract in there, which was, you have to raise 600,000 dollars to use our 200.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 19:57 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Supported
Schultz: Starbucks and Peet's were once a single company
“Many people don't realize that Pete's and Starbucks were one company two years prior to that.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 21:58 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Supported
Schultz: Jerry Baldwin offered Starbucks for $3.8M at one-time sales
“The person who should buy Starbucks is you, and so the price is one-time sales, six stores, 3.8 million dollars, which was You know, it was fantastic news. And I'll give you a 90 day exclusive to try and come back to me with 3.8 million dollars.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 22:18 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Disclosure
Howard Schultz drinks four to five cups of coffee daily, none after 5 PM
“Probably four or five a day. Yeah. And no, no caffeine after five PM.”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 3:07 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz
Assertion Partly supported
Schultz: Xerox Trainees Made 50 In-Person Cold Calls Daily in 1976
“This was 1976, and at Xerox first I sent you to a sales training school in Leesburg, Virginia, and after that, for six months, all you do is make 50 cold calls a day. But I'm not talking about on a phone. You have to go make a physical cold call. Into an offic…”
Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 ▶ 8:13 Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz

The other half of the tape: Howard Schultz's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 63 times in 28 episodes on How I Built This. 4 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Guy Raz 41Scott Svenson 7Sarah Kauss 7Vicky Tsai 6Maxine Clark 1Ian Murray 1

Statements about Howard Schultz, by other people (4)

Insight
Clark: Great merchants aggregate and sell existing products rather than invent them
“I didn't create any of this, I didn't invent any of these parts. The I just brought the parts together, which is what a great merchant does. Like Jeff Bezos didn't write the books. He just put the books together on a platform that you could, we all could buy a…”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 32:19 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Errett: Howard Schultz urged Maveron to slow investments in fall 2007
“I will never forget it was the fall of 2007, and we had an investment meeting in Seattle, and he walked in and he said, we need to slow down our investments.”
Amy Errett Aug 18, 2025 ▶ 18:23 Madison Reed: Amy Errett
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Tsai Presented China Frappuccino Launch to Starbucks Board for Howard Schultz
“Howard was super happy with it and had me present to his board of directors”
Vicky Tsai Jul 13, 2020 ▶ 16:44 Tatcha: Vicky Tsai
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Howard Schultz Offered Tsai Any Job at Starbucks to Prevent Her Departure
“Howard Schultz found out, and he called me on my mobile phone and asked me to come in and meet with him. So I went back to his office, and it was the week that my furniture was, you know, already on a truck to San Francisco. And he kept on being like, why? Why…”
Vicky Tsai Jul 13, 2020 ▶ 17:18 Tatcha: Vicky Tsai

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0013525102017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions
05102017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
00254102017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2025 9 mentions in 3 episodes 3 per episode
2024 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2023 8 mentions in 2 episodes 4 per episode
2021 8 mentions in 5 episodes 2 per episode
2020 24 mentions in 9 episodes 3 per episode
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2017 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Live Episode! Starbucks: Howard Schultz Sep 28, 2017 30m
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