#45 Built From Scratch: How A Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion

What I learned from reading Built From Scratch: How A Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank. 

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The creation of The Home Depot began with two words: "You're fired!" [0:01]

Blinders on focus on the customer [5:45]

Learning how not to manage people from Ming the Merciless [8:37]

Meeting Ken Langone / the prehistory of Home Depot [11:00]

81% private / 19% public partnerships [18:40]

Ken sells to Ming. Predicts Ming will fire Bernie [28:30]

Getting fired was the best thing that ever happened [35:00]

Bernie Marcus at 49 years old: little cash and a ruined reputation [38:15]

How Bernie Marcus walks away from Ross Perot [38:50]

The importance of equity [49:19]

Do not work with people who don't know how to care about other people [51:00]

How they got the money to open The Home Depot [55:30]

The critical importance of selling at the right price [58:32]

Knowing the right way to do something by seeing it done the wrong way [1:08:54]

Mistakes can teach us we're never as smart as we think we are [1:11:25] 

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