Starbucks (with Howard Schultz)

Starbucks. You’d be hard pressed to name any brand that’s more
ubiquitous in the world today. With nearly half a billion global
customer purchases per week across its stores and 3rd party
retail channels, a significant portion of the human population
gets their daily fix in the green and white paper cup. (Including
our own Ben Gilbert who famously enjoys his daily spinach feta
wrap. :)


But it wasn’t always this way. Long before the frappuccinos and
the PSLs and the cake pops, Starbucks was just a small-time
Seattle roaster that only sold beans — and was started not by
Howard Schultz but rather the guys who later ran Peet’s (!).
Starting from six tiny stores when Howard took over in 1987, this
quirky coffee company named after a character from Moby Dick has
scaled to nearly 40,000 locations worldwide.


Today, in a first for Acquired, the protagonist himself joins us
as a third cohost to tell the whole story of Starbucks. And
Howard is in the perfect moment to do this — after three separate
stints as CEO he’s now retired, off the board of directors, and
in his own words “not coming back.” So place a mobile order (or
not! as you’ll hear Howard speak about), sit back with your own
favorite Starbucks items, and enjoy.


Sponsors:


WorkOS: https://bit.ly/workos25

Sierra: https://bit.ly/acquiredsierra

Sentry: https://bit.ly/acquiredsentry

Anthropic: https://bit.ly/acquiredclaude25



The Biggest Thing We’ve Ever Done:


San Francisco. September 10, 2024. Mark your calendars.



Links:


Howard’s letter “The Soul of a Brand”

Worldly Partners’ multi-decade Starbucks analysis

Starbucks S-1






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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in
this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is
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