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Michael Houlihan

Co-Founder, The Barefoot Spirit · 1 appearance on the record.

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

founderauthor@barefoot_spirit ↗LinkedIn ↗thebarefootspirit.com ↗

Michael Houlihan co-founded Barefoot Cellars with Bonnie Harvey in 1986, building it into a leading wine brand before selling to E. & J. Gallo Winery in 2005. Today, he is a business advisor, keynote speaker, and co-author of The Barefoot Spirit.

12statements → 6claims → 4claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.83/5average certainty → 1.33/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 3said about them ↓

3 supported 1 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not yet assessed 1 not checkable as stated how the 6 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

6 assertions · 1 opinion · 3 insights · 2 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 6 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, 1 is not yet assessed, and 1 names 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 Michael 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
Founders Settled a $300,000 Bankrupt Winery Debt With Bulk Wine
“What would happen if we settled the debt by you guys giving us some of that bulk wine in those steel tanks over there, and run it through that, that bottling line, and instead of paying us in dollars, which I know you can't, you can pay us in bottled wine. We'…”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 14:34 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan

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 Michael Houlihan on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

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

Opinion
US Winemakers Resisted Non-Vintage Wines Due to a French Inferiority Complex
“I think the reason was because they were worshiping the French pretty hard. Yeah. They thought they were second-rate winemakers to the French, and the French were the ones, if you wanted wine, you had to get French wine, and so it took Americans a long time to…”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 32:41 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Insight
Expanding the Wine Market Requires Inexpensive Bridge Products From Beer
“You know, barefoot is a bridge between beer and wine, and if we want to increase the size of the wine industry, we have to have inexpensive, easy drinking wine so that people's first experience with wine will be a good one. And they're not going to get introdu…”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 42:27 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Disclosure
Barefoot Wine Operated for Years With Only One to Two Weeks Cash
“The fact of the matter was, most of the time, it was between a week and two weeks away, because we threw everything right back into it.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 59:44 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Insight
Acquirers Require Wine Brands to Sell Over 500,000 Cases Annually
“That's when we realized that we had to be selling over a half a million cases a year before any serious acquirer would even look at us.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 1:06:03 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Insight
Maintaining Shelf Stock Is the Single Most Important Rule in CPG
“Once we realized that the key to consumer packaged goods is staying in stock on the shelf, and that that's more important than anything, because if you're not there, they can't buy it.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 1:08:43 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Supported
Founders Settled a $300,000 Bankrupt Winery Debt With Bulk Wine
“What would happen if we settled the debt by you guys giving us some of that bulk wine in those steel tanks over there, and run it through that, that bottling line, and instead of paying us in dollars, which I know you can't, you can pay us in bottled wine. We'…”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 14:34 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Disclosure
Barefoot Wine Launched by Assuming a $300,000 Debt Owed to a Winemaker
“Well, you're facing quite a loss here of 300 grand, Mark. What would you say if instead of us working for you work for us? Instead of the winery owing you the money, We execute the contract, and we owe you the money. And what if we pay you off over time so we …”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 22:17 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lucky Supermarkets Sought a Cheaper 1.5-Liter Alternative to Robert Mondavi
“Robert Mondavi had a red and white in a magnum, so he wanted to have another alternative to Robert Mondavi on the shelf.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 28:21 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Supported
Market Research Showed 78% of Supermarket Shoppers Were Women
“I did some research, and I found out that like, 78% of supermarket shoppers were women, and that they were actually doing the buying, even though the men were the gatekeepers.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 29:04 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Trader Joe's Expanded Barefoot Across All California Stores Within a Year
“So they put Barefoot in their three stores, and they expanded rapidly. I mean, within a year, they had like, 27 stores or something in California. It was just amazing, and they put Barefoot in all of them.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 53:12 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Partly supported
Drinks Magazine Ranks Barefoot as the World's Top-Selling Wine Brand
“Well, according to Drinks Magazine out of London, it's the top wine brand in the world today.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 1:10:11 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Supported
Barefoot Wine Initially Launched Its 1.5-Liter Magnums at $4.99
“When we started, the Magnum was four 99.”
Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 50:11 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan

The other half of the tape: Michael Houlihan's own voice is left out of every number here. 3 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →

Statements about Michael Houlihan, by other people (3)

Assertion Not checkable as stated
Barefoot Founders Paid $30,000 to Acquire the Barefoot Name
“30,000 dollars.”
Bonnie Harvey Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 34:39 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Supported
The Barefoot Wine Logo Is an Actual Ink Print of Harvey's Foot
“I sent Michael out to get the largest ink pad he could find. I put my foot in there, and on some artist paper, and I sent that off, and that's how my foot got on the label.”
Bonnie Harvey Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 1:13:58 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Founders Moved in Together the Night They Met Without Dating
“No, we never dated. He moved in with me immediately that night.”
Bonnie Harvey Sep 16, 2024 ▶ 10:36 Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Barefoot Wine: Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan Sep 16, 2024 27m
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