#45 Built From Scratch: How A Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like The Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. The creation of the Home Depot began with two words in the spring of 1978 You're fired. 20 years ago, we were two out of work executives. Our situation was not a lot different than millions of others who were shown the door. We had little in the way of capital and faced some daunting personal and legal challenges as we tried to get our careers back on track. In our early years, we lived on the edge with no balance sheet and a lack of financing. It took great romancing to establish the vendor base necessary to open and maintain the broad product selection for which we quickly became known. We were always pushing boundaries beyond where our industry's conventional wisdom suggested we could go.
Building the Home Depot was a tough uphill battle from the day we started in a Los Angeles coffee shop shortly after we were fired.
No one believed we could do it.
While we want to tell the story of the Home Depot because it's a great entrepreneurial tale, our larger goal is to convey what we learned along the way about customers, associates, competitors, growing a business, building a brand, and many other topics everyone in business needs to know. This book is the story of that virtually unparalleled growth and the values and culture that nourished it.
Okay, so that is from the introduction of the book that I want to talk to you about today, which is Built From Scratch, how a couple of regular guys grew the Home Depot from nothing to 30 billion. And it's written by two of the many co-founders of the Home Depot. It's written by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. Before we get into the rest of the book, I just want to remind you that I need your support for this podcast. So once we jump back into the book, I'm not gonna interrupt our time together with ads. My goal here is to get you valuable information in the fastest possible time. And to do that, I need you to support this podcast directly. So if you're a regular listener, if you're joining the podcast, if you're learning from the podcast, if you care about the podcast, please become a member.
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