Simon Cowell: Music Mogul

Simon Cowell: Music Mogul

Long before he became famous as the sharp-tongued TV personality who launched the careers of pop stars, Simon Cowell was a rebellious teenager who dropped out of school and started his career in the mailroom at EMI. After a failed business left him nearly bankrupt, he found success by zigging where others zagged—initially by selling hit records based on TV shows like Power Rangers and WrestleMania. Eventually Simon got behind the TV camera himself, where his brutally honest feedback on shows like American Idol and The X Factor made him a household name. Today, through his company Syco Entertainment, Simon continues to discover new talent. His latest challenge: an upcoming Netflix show where he’ll try to build a boy band from scratch.

This episode was produced by Josh Lash, and edited by Neva Grant, with research by Iman Maani. Our audio engineers were Patrick Murray and Jimmy Keeley.

You can follow HIBT on X and Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com. Sign up for Guy's newsletter at guyraz.com or Substack.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episoder(804)

Teach For America: Wendy Kopp (2017)

Teach For America: Wendy Kopp (2017)

In 1989, college senior Wendy Kopp was trying to figure out how to improve public education in the US. For her senior thesis, she proposed creating a national teaching corps that would recruit recent ...

8 Jul 201943min

Dave's Killer Bread: Dave Dahl

Dave's Killer Bread: Dave Dahl

Dave Dahl's entrepreneurial journey began in prison. In 1987, he was addicted to drugs and incarcerated for home burglary. For 15 years he bounced from one sentence to the next. But in the mid-2000s, ...

1 Jul 20191h 7min

Yelp: Jeremy Stoppelman

Yelp: Jeremy Stoppelman

In 2004, two former Paypal engineers, Jeremy Stoppelman and Russ Simmons, were spit-balling new internet ideas. Out of their brainstorm came a site where you would email your friends asking for local ...

24 Jun 201959min

Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017)

Chesapeake Bay Candle: Mei Xu (2017)

Twenty-five years ago, after Mei Xu emigrated from China to the U.S., she loved going to Bloomingdale's to gaze at their housewares. She eventually started making candles in her basement with Campbell...

17 Jun 201942min

Allbirds: Tim Brown & Joey Zwillinger

Allbirds: Tim Brown & Joey Zwillinger

Growing up, Tim Brown discovered he was very good at two things: design and soccer. While playing professional soccer in New Zealand, he was turned off by the flashy logos on most athletic gear. He st...

10 Jun 20191h 9min

Live Episode! Tofurky: Seth Tibbott

Live Episode! Tofurky: Seth Tibbott

Seth Tibbott may be the only founder in the world who grew his business while living in a barn, a teepee, and a treehouse. His off-the-grid lifestyle helped him save money as he started to sell tempeh...

3 Jun 201946min

Stacy's Pita Chips: Stacy Madison

Stacy's Pita Chips: Stacy Madison

In the 1990's, Stacy Madison and her boyfriend Mark Andrus were selling pita sandwiches from a converted hot dog cart in Boston. They decided to bake the leftover pita into chips, adding a dash of par...

27 Mai 20191h 3min

Zappos: Tony Hsieh (2017)

Zappos: Tony Hsieh (2017)

Computer scientist Tony Hsieh made millions off the dot-com boom. But he didn't make his mark until he built Zappos — a customer service company that "happens to sell shoes." Now Zappos is worth over ...

20 Mai 201932min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
pengepodden-2
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
okonomiamatorene
lederpodden
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-markedspuls-2
rss-investering-gjort-enkelt
shifter
rss-impressions-2
rss-fa-makro