Episode · Acquired · 2026-09-14
Books mentioned on The Home Depot
The Home Depot's founding story is like an Avengers movie… if the Avengers got fired, went broke, and stacked empty paint cans ten feet high to look legitimate.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Kick Up Some Dust
Discussed“I discovered hilariously reading Bernie's book, Kick Up Some Dust. Uh, the forward of which was written by his good friend, the rapper Pitbull.”
Where to get it
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Built from Scratch
Built from Scratch by Bernie Marcus, Arthur Blank, and Bob Andelman tells the canonical entrepreneurial story of how Home Depot grew from a modest concept into a retail giant.
Discussed“The thing that made you special often holds you back at scale. And I'm going to throw out a few examples that I actually highlighted when I was first reading the Built from Scratch book.”
Where to get it
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I Love Capitalism!
I Love Capitalism! by Ken Langone is a memoir detailing the co-founder's journey to building Home Depot and his overarching philosophy on business and economic opportunity.
Discussed“This leads to a big fight, like a big fight between Arthur and Bernie and Ken, as chronicled in Ken's book, I Love Capitalism, because Bernie's still on the board at this point, and I think pretty severely damages their relationship going forward.”
Where to get it
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7 Powers
7 Powers by Hamilton Helmer is a business strategy book that outlines the foundational forces enabling companies to achieve persistent differential returns and long-term competitive advantages.
Discussed“So listeners, this is the part where we do the seven powers framework from Hamilton Helmer's book of the same title where we try to figure out what does a company have that enables it to get persistent differential returns”
Where to get it
