Coming Soon: Business History with Robert Smith and Jacob Goldstein

Was the world's most lovable car originally made just to please Hitler? And what links Thomas Edison and the electric chair? From Jacob Goldstein and Robert Smith of Planet Money fame comes Business History, a new show uncovering amazing stories from the history of business. 

From sandals to suits, Business History brings to life the greatest innovations, the boldest entrepreneurs and the craziest mavericks in the annals of commerce and finance. We’ll explain why some company stocks soar, while other business ideas crash, and share the valuable lessons.

Starting November 5, listen to Business History wherever you get podcasts and get it ad-free with a Pushkin+ subscription - sign up on Business History Apple Podcasts show page or at pushkin.fm/plus

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Pushkin too quick.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
No, it's perfect push kit stuff.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
You got it. Robert Smith, do you know the story
of Crassus the Roman? No, I don't know the story
of Crassus throw over. Crassus was one of the richest

(00:42):
men in Rome, and part of the way he.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
Got so rich was by starting a private fire brigade. Okay,
the brilliant business model. What they would do is when
your house was on fire, they would come to your
house and they would say, we'll buy your house off
you right now at a discount. And then if you
said no, they'd say, Okay, we'll let it keep burning.

(01:07):
Oh the discount just got bigger. Do you want to
sell it now? Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Yes, it's genius.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
It's a genius story about history, of course, but also
about business.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
You should tell the people who we are in what
our init show is. I'm Robert Smith and this is
Jacob Goldstein.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
We used to host a show called Planet Money together,
and then you went off to write a.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Book Money, The True Story of You Made a Thing,
and Robert.

Speaker 4 (01:30):
You went up to get an mba Master of Business Administration.
And now we're back making this new podcast about the
best ideas and people and businesses in history.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
And some of the worst people, horrible ideas, and destructive
companies in the history of business.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
First episode, how Southwest Airlines use cheap seats and free
whiskey to fight.

Speaker 3 (01:51):
Its way into the airline business. The most Texas story ever.
There's a lot of mavericks in that story. We're gonna
have mavericks on the show. Werena have plenty of robber barons, so.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Many robber barons, and you know what, they're not all bad.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
And we'll talk about some of the classic great moments
of famous business geniuses along with some of the darker
moments that often get overlooked, like Thomas Edison.

Speaker 4 (02:10):
And the electric chair. Itsld to come up with a name.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Decided to call it Business History. You know why? What
does this show about the history of business?

Speaker 4 (02:18):
Available all the places that anyone has ever got their podcast?

Speaker 3 (02:24):
You probably have it now it's your folks.

Speaker 4 (02:27):
You can also listen ad free with a Pushkin Plus subscription.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Sign up on the Business History Show

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Page on Apple Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, slash
plus