All Episodes

February 7, 2025 79 mins

Please share this podcast with a friend :) 

PLUS good news about a health care strike in Oregon!

We emerge from the vapor haze of a high school bathroom (how are these kids blowing PERFECT smoke rings??) to tell the tale of two Stanford grads who did what every single-celled-business-ameoba-boy dreamed of doing but was too scared to actually commit to doing - MAKE SMOKING COOL AGAIN!! They undid decades of work by doctors and public health advocates and turned millions of kids who would have never smoked a traditional cigarette into nicotine dependent freakazoids. CA-CHING!!

Riddled with RAGING CASES of silliconvalleyitis, Juul's founders market their powerful nicotine delivery device straight to kids while the FDA was taking a well-deserved half-decade nap. They BLITZSCALED their way to a $38billion valuation and made like 50 people a lot of money.

But of course, after the BLITZSCALE comes the HYPERFLOP...

Research:

The Devil's Playbook by Lauren Etter

Big Vape by Jamie DuCharme

Commonwealth of Massachusetts v. JUUL Labs

The Juul Is Too Cool

How Juul Got Vaporized

Links:

See pics on our Substack

Join the Patreon

Support the pod by buying us a coffee 

Record YOUR podcast at Producer Mike's studio!

E-mail our Good News Correspondent with good news stories! elizabethliu526@gmail.com 

Mark as Played

Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

The Herd with Colin Cowherd

The Herd with Colin Cowherd is a thought-provoking, opinionated, and topic-driven journey through the top sports stories of the day.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.