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PODCAST

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story

This podcast uncovers the wild, weird, and wildly human backstories behind the brands, inventions, and billion-dollar ideas that shaped the modern world.From forgotten flukes to garage-built empires, each episode gives you surprising insight into how great ideas are born — and why the truth is often stranger (and more inspiring) than fiction. If you"re into business, history, creativity — or just love a good origin story — you"re in the right place justonegoodidea.substack.com

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

6:57

How One Boycott Forced a Young Entrepreneur to...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/11/22

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS* A dyslexic boy from rural Sweden builds a mini-empire from a bicycle basket.* Ingvar Kamprad launches IKEA at just 17 using seed money from his father.* Guilds and suppliers blacklist him — twice.* A broken table leg sparks the invention of flat-pack furniture.* IKEA becomes a global movement built around accessibility, simplicity, and design democracy.* The business grows from a chicken-coop operation to a $50-billion worldwide empire.* The real takeaway: rejection is often

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4:44

When Three Air Mattresses Changed the World: The...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/11/15

Episode SummaryBefore Airbnb became a global hospitality giant, it was just two young dreamers fighting off fear, overdue rent, and a desperate belief in their idea. This episode reveals the humble, human origin — and the tiny act of courage that sparked a worldwide movement.What You’ll Hear* The emotional night Airbnb almost died* How struggle, scarcity, and faith shaped a billion-dollar idea* Why “small” beginnings aren’t small at all* The surprising role air mattresses and breakfast cereal

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14:21

When Care Turned Into Creation — How One Husband’s...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/11/08

Episode Description:They say the greatest inventions come from genius.But sometimes, they come from love.In 1920, a young man named Earle Dickson was working as a cotton buyer for a small but ambitious company called Johnson & Johnson.At home, his spirited wife Josephine kept accidentally burning and cutting herself in the kitchen.Every time, Earle would wrap her wounds with gauze and medical tape — only to watch the makeshift bandages fall off minutes later.One night, frustration gave way to

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6:56

Episode Title: The Relentless Rise of Henry Heinz

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/11/01

Episode Summary:This episode traces the incredible journey of Henry J. Heinz, the man who turned a mother’s secret recipe for horseradish into a global food empire. We explore his immigrant beginnings in Pittsburgh, his crushing first business bankruptcy, his brilliant pivot to ketchup, and the marketing genius that gave us the “57 Varieties” slogan. We also look at how his obsession with transparency and quality revolutionized food safety in America. Henry Heinz’s story is the ultimate testament to

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8:06

From Rejection to Revolution: The Story That Changed...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/10/25

Episode Description:Some ideas fail a thousand times before they finally fit.This is the untold story of the zipper — a small invention that began as a clumsy, unreliable fastener and became one of the most transformative innovations in history.In this episode, Sandra Franks unzips the fascinating journey of lawyer Lewis Walker and engineer Otto Fredrik Gideon Sundbäck, two men who refused to give up on a broken idea. What started as rejection turned into a global revolution that reshaped fashion,

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8:01

The Delivery That Changed the World

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/10/18

Episode Description:Sometimes, the greatest deliveries don’t arrive in boxes — they arrive in moments of pure grit.In this episode of Just One Good Idea: Behind the Story, Sandra Franks uncovers the incredible journey of Jim Casey, the orphaned boy who borrowed $100, bought one bicycle, and built what would become United Parcel Service (UPS) — one of the most trusted companies in the world.You’ll hear how hardship shaped his discipline, how friendship fueled innovation, and how his belief in

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5:30

The Cup That Changed the World: How One Man’s Failure...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/10/11

Episode Description:In this episode of Just One Good Idea: Behind the Story, we uncover the surprising origins of Cup Noodles. From Taiwan to Japan, from bankruptcy to global success, this is the story of Momofuku Ando — the man who turned hunger into one of the most successful food products in history.What You’ll Learn:* Why famous names like Jeremy Renner, Russell Westbrook, and Jim Gaffigan survived on Cup Noodles before making it big* How a devastating business failure led Momofuku Ando to his

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5:55

From Battlefield Bandages to Kleenex: How One Pivot...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/10/04

Episode Summary:In this episode of Just One Good Idea: Behind the Story, we uncover the surprising origins of Kleenex. Born as a World War I bandage material, repurposed as a secret menstrual pad, and finally rebranded as the world’s first disposable handkerchief—this is the story of how Kimberly-Clark turned one invention into multiple market-changing products.🔑 Episode Highlights* The Rag-Picker Economy: How Kimberly-Clark began in 1872 making paper from discarded rags.* Cellucotton Innovation:

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5:56

Netflix: The Two Guys Who Mailed a DVD and Changed...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/09/27

Episode SummaryNetflix may feel like it’s always been there — your Friday-night fallback, your binge-watch enabler, your “just one more episode” guilty pleasure. But it started with something incredibly small: two guys, an envelope, and a single DVD sent through the mail.In this episode, we go behind the scenes of Netflix’s origin story — from a carpool brainstorming session between Marc Randolph and Reed Hastings … to a bold subscription model that killed late fees … to a streaming revolution that

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7:07

The Quiet Rebel Who Invented Scotch Tape — And...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/09/20

Podcast DescriptionWhat do sandpaper, two-tone cars, and a stubborn banjo player have to do with one of the world’s most iconic office supplies?In this episode of Just One Good Idea: Behind the Story, we follow Richard Drew — a college dropout turned 3M engineer — who secretly defied orders to create a new kind of tape. What started as a side project became Scotch Tape … and more importantly, sparked a culture of innovation that still defines 3M today.This is the story of how sticking with one idea

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6:19

Episode Title: The Doctor, the Entrepreneur, and the...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/09/13

Show Notes: Just One Good Idea — Behind the Story Baking soda might seem ordinary — a little orange box in your fridge, your pantry, or your laundry room. But behind it is a story of grit, rivalry, and reconciliation.In this episode, I uncover the surprising origins of Arm & Hammer: how an orphan-turned-doctor and his ambitious brother-in-law transformed kitchen experiments into a billion-dollar brand.From a farmhouse kitchen to rival empires, and finally a family reunion that created one of

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9:05

Episode Title: From Napoleon’s Army to Your Pantry:...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/09/06

Episode DescriptionWhat does a French emperor have to do with the soup in your kitchen? A lot more than you think.In this episode of Just One Good Idea: Behind the Story, we uncover the fascinating chain of events that turned Napoleon’s quest to feed his army into a $9 billion global brand. You’ll meet the innkeeper’s son who changed food forever, the New Jersey merchant who seized an opportunity, and the chemist who solved a problem that made Campbell’s Soup a household name.This isn’t just the

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8:26

Behind the Story: The Broken Bottle That Sparked a...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/08/30

Episode Summary:A broken bottle. A frustrated entrepreneur. And a sweet idea that changed American kitchens forever. In this episode of Just One Good Idea: Behind the Story, discover how Edwin Perkins turned a shipping nightmare into Kool-Aid—and why this story is really about resilience, reinvention, and small pivots that make a big difference.Episode Chapters:* [00:00] The Broken Bottle That Sparked It All* [02:15] Growing Up in Nebraska: Perkins’ First Lessons in Business* [05:40] The Strange

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10:09

From Obscurity to Iconic Glory: The Apparel Secret...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/08/22

Editor’s Note: Be sure to listen to the “the behind the story,” podcast, where I share a few more details including why I picked writing about this in the first place … mostly because it’s a story of human emotions starting with immigration and heartbreak to reinvention and little luck. The air was thick with the scent of unwashed bodies, damp stone, and desperation. It clung to the ragged wool of a tattered coat, to the mold growing in the corners, and to the very hope in a man's heart. A debtors'

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9:11

The Untold Story Behind A Toothpaste Dynasty: Built...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/08/15

She wasn’t the ravishing beauty depicted in movies. And she looked nothing like one of the most famous movie stars to ever play her - Elizabeth Taylor.The truth is no one really knows with 100% accuracy what Cleopatra VII, ruler of Egypt for 21 years truly looked like. But we can make a few guesses based on the bust and sculptures that were made of the Queen of Egypt. One of the most prominent is a marble bust dating back to third quarter of the first century BCE, housed in Altes Museum in Berlin

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8:16

From Heartbreak to Historic Victory: How One Woman's...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/08/08

The blue haze rises just above the clear, rushing water of the Pigeon River, which is in the Smokies, or as they are officially known - the Great Smoky Mountains . In fact that’s how the mountains got their name … from the blue haze.The Pigeon River, which is a translation of its 18th-century French name, Rivière aux Tourtre runs through the mountains, starting in North Carolina, and covers over 70 miles before emptying into the French Broad River in Newport, Tennessee.The river is hydroelectric

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6:52

From Poverty to Prestige: How an Uneducated Peasant...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/08/02

Editor’s Note: Let me apologize for you not receiving this issue as normally scheduled. But I had some technical issues that prevented me from sending this to you as it’s regularly scheduled time. The problem has been fixed. So here’s the issue, just a little late.Life was incredibly harsh … especially if you were a peasant living in Russia in the early part of 1800s. You see back then there were distinct classes of people: Tzars, nobles, merchants, clergy, and peasants (also known as serfs). In

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6:52

From Poverty to Prestige: How an Uneducated Peasant...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/08/01

Life was incredibly harsh … especially if you were a peasant living in Russia in the early part of 1800s. You see back then there were distinct classes of people: Tzars, nobles, merchants, clergy, and peasants (also known as serfs). In fact serfdom was a critical part of the Russian Empire. If you were unfortunate enough to be a serf, you had to work on the estate of a noble or lord, either farming the land or performing labor-intensive tasks such as plowing, sowing, harvesting, or maintaining

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6:25

From Stolen Secrets to Protective Bubbles: How Two...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/07/25

Few people know his name and fewer still know the critical role he played in America’s Industrial Revolution.In fact he helped advanced the U.S.’s textile industry, with multiple innovations while setting up a unique labor model - one famously dubbed the “mills girls,” which I’ll tell you more about in just a minute.For now, let’s talk about the man who had a huge impact on our country’s industrial revolution. That man is Francis Cabot Lowell born in the city of Newburyport, Massachusetts, on April

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7:29

How a 400-Year-Old Family Legacy Led to the Most...

Just One Good Idea Podcast - Behind the Story ·

2025/07/18

It’s a tiny village in Essex, England known as Navestock. The name means “stump on the headland,” which reflects its topography and landscape.It consists of four scattered hamlets: Navestock Side, Horseman Side, Cuddlesmere Green, and Navestock Heath, and stands near the river Roding.The village has population of just 928 people spread across 4,329 acres of land. Navestock is not served well by main roads despite being well within the London commuter belt. In fact it’s changed very little since it

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