The Empire Builders Podcast cover art

The Empire Builders Podcast

The Empire Builders Podcast

By: Stephen Semple and David Young
Listen for free

About this listen

 Reverse engineering the success of established business empires.The Empire Builders Podcast Economics Leadership Management Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • #227: AOL – You’ve Got Mail

    #227: AOL – You’ve Got Mail
    Oct 15 2025
    Did you know that at it's peak America On Line was responsible for 50% of all Compact Disc production in America? Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Simple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. So here's one of those. [No Bull RV Ad] Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast. Dave Young here alongside Stephen Semple. And Stephen, you've got mail. Stephen Semple: That's right. Dave Young: You've got mail. You've got mail. Stephen Semple: Could you imagine? Could you imagine if it's still happened that way? You got mail. You got, you got, you got mail. Dave Young: It'd be all day long. I can remember in those early days when getting an email was like, oh, shit, I got an email. Or, somebody sent me an email, or they replied to one of mine. Oh my gosh. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: So AOL, that's the... There was a time. Stephen Semple: America Online. Dave Young: There was a time they'd send out their what? CD-ROMs. Stephen Semple: Yep. Dave Young: You couldn't reach into the seat back pocket of a car without finding one. Stephen Semple: And we're going to explore that whole marketing campaign. But here's the crazy thing- Dave Young: [inaudible 00:02:37] cereal. Stephen Semple: All of it. Yeah. At its peak, one half of CD production in the United States was dedicated to America Online. Dave Young: Oh my God. Stephen Semple: Isn't that crazy? Dave Young: Say it isn't so. Stephen Semple: I can't. AOL was founded by Steve Case, William Von, Jim Kimsey and Marc Seriff in 1983 in Brooklyn. And as we know, it went on to become one of the biggest names in the internet. And in January 11th, 2001, it merged with Time Warner being one of the largest corporate mergers at the time, which actually it turned out was a disaster, but we're not going to talk about that. But back in the early days in 1983, let's put it in perspective, because sometimes it's really hard to think about these technological evolutions, but in 1983, Sony released the first consumer camcorder CD-ROMs were developed. And the first cell phone, remember the Motorola one that looked like it was a World War II walkie-talkie? Dave Young: Well, before that were bag phones. My first one was a bag phone. Stephen Semple: Yeah. Dave Young: The cell phone that you carried around with a giant battery in a bag. Stephen Semple: Exactly. Yeah. So that's like 1983. And AOL did not start as AOL. It started as a company called Control Video Corporation, CVC, founded by Bill Von Meister. And here's what they created. They created this thing called Gamelink, and basically it's a modem that plugs into the Atari 2600 game module, and they would sell the modem for 50 bucks, and it was a $15 setup fee, and you could download games for a dollar over the phone. That was the idea. This whole idea of the internet did not exist. It was this idea. Now, Steve Case, who becomes the main character in our story, worked for Bill and less than a year later, 1984, CVC is struggling because the video game boom has gone bust. Atari cancels the 2600 because only 3,000 units are sold. So the business is a bit of a tough space. Dave Young: This is a couple of decades almost before the boom, the bust? Stephen Semple: Yes. Oh, yeah. Dave Young: The bursting of the .com bubble. Stephen Semple: But this is the video game business goes through this a little bit, softening. The board sidelines, Von Meister and parachutes in Jim Kimsey, who's a former military guy,
    Show More Show Less
    24 mins
  • #226: 7-Eleven – The World’s Biggest

    #226: 7-Eleven – The World’s Biggest
    Oct 8 2025
    Joe Thompson saw the future shifting with the invention of the refrigerator. So with innovation after innovation we now have convenience stores. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is... Well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients, so here's one of those. [OG Law Ad] Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, Dave Young here alongside Stephen Semple, and Stephen just whispered into my ear the name of the empire that we're going to discuss today, and oh, thank heaven. I've been waiting for this one to come along, 7-Eleven. Stephen Semple: 7-Eleven. Yeah. Dave Young: 7-Eleven. Stephen Semple: It's the largest retail chain in the world. Dave Young: Is it really? Stephen Semple: Yes. Yes. Dave Young: Is it franchises, or is it a combination of something? Stephen Semple: Oh, it's franchises. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: Yes, it's franchises. But 85,000 stores in 20 countries. Dave Young: That's amazing. Yeah, they're everywhere. Stephen Semple: There's 13,000 in Canada and the U.S. alone. Dave Young: You know what I love about their name? It's spelled the same no matter what language you speak. Stephen Semple: Well, that's a good point. I never thought about that. Dave Young: Right. You look at a 7-Eleven sign, and it doesn't matter what the native language is, it's two numerals, and you recognize that brand by the color and the numerals, and you know exactly what to expect. Stephen Semple: Yeah. They're the largest in the world. They're also now owned by a Japanese company. It was bought out after a disastrous leverage buyout that was done by the Thompson family, but a story as old as life itself. Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: But back to 7-Eleven, and it's a story that starts back in 1927 in Dallas, Texas as the Southland Ice Company. Now, I wasn't actually able to find the founding date for the Southland Ice Company, everything, I found said it was 1927, but I really believe it happened before that. But that said, that's when our story starts, is in 1927, with the selling of blocks of ice. So we think about- Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: ... in those days, ice houses were really important. People would go and buy big blocks of ice and take them home, and that was basically your ice box. Dave Young: Yeah, or there would be delivery trucks going around with big blocks of ice. Yeah, either way. Stephen Semple: Yeah. But it was an important part of life. We forget that how you kept things cool was, you basically had... Let's face it, what you basically had was a cooler in your house. You threw ice in the ice box, and that's what kept things cool. And look, every town had one, or if it was a bigger town, more than one. So Joe Thompson is the owner of the Southland Ice Company, but he sees this new trend coming, and he's a little bit worried. He's worried that refrigerators are going to start to steal his business. Now, the early refrigerators are actually quite dangerous. They would break down, and they would release these dangerous fumes. But in 1927, GE releases a new refrigerator that runs on Freon, and it could also get below freezing. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: And look, electricity was starting to be in most homes. And shortly after GE's launch, 56 other companies started to also develop refrigerators. Dave Young: So you could make your own ice. Stick it to the man. Stephen Semple: Yeah, there you go. Dave Young: Yes. Stephen Semple:
    Show More Show Less
    25 mins
  • #225: Movie Concessions –

    #225: Movie Concessions –
    Oct 1 2025
    Snippet Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us. But we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients so here's one of those. [Maven Roofing Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast, Dave Young here alongside Stephen Semple. And Stephen just told me what we're going to talk about today, and it's not really, I mean, it's an empire sort of. It's an empire in terms of its category, right? Stephen Semple: Yes, yes. Dave Young: But it's not so much like you can't put your finger on a brand name for it. So we're talking about movie concessions and how things got started. So I'm guessing in the early days, you didn't buy a big old thing of popcorn. You just sat down and watched a movie. Stephen Semple: No, that was what I found, so I found interesting about this, and I thought, and when I went down it, I was actually researching one particular business. And then what I suddenly realized is that, no, there's a couple of things that converge together that really made the modern movie concession. And there's three players that went into this, and all three of them ended up building fortunes in the process. That's Joseph Blumenthal, Jack Beresin and Milton Holloway, all kind of came together to make movie concessions happen. As we know today, movie concessions are like a multi-billion dollar business, and concession sales are like close to half of movie theater profits so they're a big deal. Dave Young: Where I am in Austin, we're, I don't know, half a mile from an Alamo Drafthouse, and I don't go to the theater as often as I did before all the things. But Alamo Drafthouse is known for pioneering like you have a menu and you sit down, you order a meal while you're, and they'll bring it to you in the theater. Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: We've always known that you're going to spend more on popcorn and drinks, than you did it on the movie ticket. Stephen Semple: And they've taken it to a whole other level, but wasn't always that way, Dave. In June 19th, 1905- Dave Young: 1905? Stephen Semple: ... was the first movie, like the first movie showing kind of in a theater sort of setup, and they were called nickelodeons. That's what they called the early movie houses because it was nickel and all that other stuff. And it was super successful, and pop-ups started happening all over the place. And as we know, the early movies were silent. So what would happen is people would buy a ticket to go to the movie, like vendors would buy a ticket to go to the movie, and they would walk up and down the aisle going, "Popcorn, popcorn. Who wants..." and selling stuff just like they did at the ballgames and there was- Dave Young: Or the circus, yeah. Stephen Semple: But there was no connection to the theater. These were like, literally, Dave Young would buy a ticket, show up, and then basically walk up and down the aisle selling whatever food he had to sell. Dave Young: And they just let him. Stephen Semple: So concessions were not a thing at all. At all. Dave Young: Okay. Stephen Semple: So Jack Beresin is working at an opera house, and he's looking at a way to make some extra money, and he saw people buying and eating food at a nickelodeon. So he approaches his manager with the idea of, at this opera house now, you can't go up and down the aisles in the opera house. The whole idea, let's set up a table and do concessions during the intermission. Dave Young: Sure. Stephen Semple: Now eating in the opera house was kind of considered uncou...
    Show More Show Less
    20 mins
No reviews yet
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.