Riot Games: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill

Riot Games: Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill

At USC in the late 1990s, Marc Merrill and Brandon Beck were bonding over video games and noticing that free, player-made modifications for the game Warcraft III were becoming wildly popular online. The two friends were so impressed by these mods that they decided to create their own multiplayer strategy game with an unusual twist: they'd offer the game for free, but charge players money for new characters or customizable clothing (or "skins"). Many investors balked at the idea, unsure that a free game—created by total novices—would generate enough revenue. After three rocky years of development, Marc and Brandon's company Riot Games launched League of Legends in 2009. Over the past 11 years, it's become one of the most popular PC games of all time, pulling in $1.5 billion in 2019 alone.

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Episoder(804)

Radio One: Cathy Hughes (2017)

Radio One: Cathy Hughes (2017)

We're hard at work planning our upcoming live show, so we bring you this favorite from the last year: Radio One. As a kid, Cathy Hughes practiced her DJ routine while her siblings banged on the bathro...

14 Aug 201736min

Rent The Runway: Jenn Hyman

Rent The Runway: Jenn Hyman

Jenn Hyman got the idea for Rent the Runway in 2008, after she watched her sister overspend on a new dress rather than wear an old one to a party. Jenn and her business partner built a web site where ...

7 Aug 201754min

Kickstarter: Perry Chen

Kickstarter: Perry Chen

In the early 2000s, Perry Chen was trying to put on a concert in New Orleans when he thought, what if fans could fund this in advance? His idea didn't work at the time, but he and his co-founders spen...

31 Jul 201741min

Live Episode! BuzzFeed: Jonah Peretti

Live Episode! BuzzFeed: Jonah Peretti

In 2001, when most of us had no idea what it meant to "go viral," Jonah Peretti shared an email prank among his friends — and saw it spread to millions. That began his fascination with how information...

27 Jul 201748min

Samuel Adams: Jim Koch (2017)

Samuel Adams: Jim Koch (2017)

We're hard at work planning our upcoming live shows, so we bring you this favorite from the last year: Samuel Adams. In 1984, Jim Koch felt suffocated by his cushy but boring corporate job. So he left...

24 Jul 201736min

Aden + Anais: Raegan Moya-Jones

Aden + Anais: Raegan Moya-Jones

Cotton muslin baby blankets are commonplace in Australia, where Raegan Moya-Jones grew up. But when she started a new life and family in NYC, she couldn't find them anywhere. She was sure Americans wo...

17 Jul 201742min

Rolling Stone: Jann Wenner

Rolling Stone: Jann Wenner

After being involved in Berkeley's Free Speech Movement, Jann Wenner wanted to start a publication to capture the exploding counterculture scene of the 1960s. The result was Rolling Stone, a gritty mu...

10 Jul 201746min

Spanx: Sara Blakely (2017)

Spanx: Sara Blakely (2017)

We're hard at work planning our upcoming live shows, so we bring you this favorite from the last year: Spanx. At 27, Sara Blakely was selling fax machines and desperate to reinvent her life. So she ca...

3 Jul 201729min

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