The Best Idea Yet
The untold stories behind the products you’re obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who made them go viral.
How did Birkenstocks go from a German cobbler’s passion project 250 years ago to a starring role in the Barbie movie? Who created that bottle of Sriracha permanently living in your fridge? Did you know the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA, or that Super Mario became the best-selling video game character ever thanks to a strategy called “The Infinite Game?” On Wondery’s new weekly podcast The Best Idea Yet, Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer (hosts of the award-winning daily pop-business podcast, The Best One Yet [TBOY]) have identified the most viral products of all time and reveal their untold origin stories — plus the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. From the Happy Meal to Levi’s 501 jeans, come for the products you’re obsessed with, stay for the business insights that’ll make you the most interesting person at your next brunch.
Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now.
Episodes (49)
👜 Birkin: The Handbag That Costs More Than Your House | 48
When Jane Birkin's boyfriend ran over her beloved wicker basket, she was stuck lugging a messy tote onto a flight to London. As her Hermès planner exploded across the first-class cabin, her mortified...
⚾️ New York Yankees: Rise of the Bronx Bombers | 47
In the spring of 1903, the NYC subway wasn’t yet open… the Wright Brothers hadn’t yet taken their epic flight… and the New York Yankees were not yet the Yankees. They were the Highlanders: a group of...
🏍️ Harley-Davidson: Tattoo’d on 700,000 Biceps | 46
It started with a souped-up bicycle inspired by a vaudeville show, and the need for speed. The dream – shared by four Harley brothers and one Davidson – came true, and became one of America’s most...
🏰 Disneyland: The Fantasy that Almost Flopped | 45
Who wouldn’t want to visit the happiest place on Earth? Well — at the start of the 1950s, it seemed like no one did, at least not when Walt Disney pitched the idea. Sure, Walt had revolutionized...
🍜 Instant Ramen: The Incredible, True Story of “Mr. Noodle” | 44
It’s postwar Japan, and entrepreneur Momofuku Ando has lost everything—his business, his home, and his savings. In fact, the whole country has been ravaged by air raids, and people are hungry. But...
🥃 Hennessy: From King George to Kendrick | 43
A wounded Irish soldier crawls from a blood-soaked battlefield in the French countryside. He survives, but his fighting days are over. So he settles in the Cognac region, and in 1765, starts a modest...
🛹 Skateboard: Defying Physics & Freaking Out Parents for 60+ Years | 42
Imagine yourself on a sandy SoCal beach, surfboard in hand. But the ocean’s too calm: not a single wave in sight. What do you do? Well, if you’re a kid in the early 60s, you throw some wheels on a...
🐲 Pokémon: The Little Monsters that Played Their Cards Right | 41
What do you get when you mix a passion for collecting bugs with an obsession for video games? For Satoshi Tajiri, the answer is the world's largest media franchise (over $92 billion revenue — more...
⭐ Michelin Guide: The Tire Company That Accidentally Conquered Food | 40
André and Édouard Michelin were desperately seeking a way to save their family rubber business, when a hapless cyclist with a flat came staggering into their workshop. The brothers saw an...
🥏Frisbee: A Pie in the Sky Idea (literally) | 39
What do you do for fun if you’re a bored college kid? For students across New England in the early 1900s, the answer was simple: toss around empty pie tins (obviously). Soon, shouts of “Frisbee!”...
🎭 Hamilton: From Founding Father To Broadway Star | 38
In 2008, Lin-Manuel Miranda badly needed a vacation. He’d just won the Tony for his musical “In The Heights,” he’d been going nonstop. So he took a break, bringing a book with him for poolside...
🥤Dr Pepper: The Mystery & Magic of America’s #2 Soda | 37
Born in a sweltering Texas drugstore in 1885 - this indescribable, 23 (secret) ingredient concoction broke the first rule of marketing: never sell something you can't explain. Behind this mystery brew...
🏎️ Ferrari: The Racing Machine Even A Child Could Draw | 36
Enzo Ferrari was 10 years old when he fell in love with racing… and soon, he would make it his life’s mission. After almost dying in an infirmary during WWI, Enzo schmoozed his way into the driving...
🧸 Beanie Babies: The Cutest Boom, Bubble & Bust | 35
Beanie Babies — the unassuming critters with birthdates and bios — are designed to tug on your heartstrings (and your wallet). But for a moment in the late-90s, they burst out of gift shops and into...
🏖️ Tommy Bahama's Beach Chair: Fake Dude, Real Billions | 34
Tommy Bahama (spoiler) wasn’t founded by a man named Thomas with a Caribbean address. Rather, this classic lifestyle brand began with two longtime friends and coworkers at a failing apparel company....
🍅 Heinz Ketchup: The King of Condiments | 33
When entrepreneur Henry J. Heinz went bankrupt after his first venture, he nearly lost it all—his farmland, his parents' home, and his own reputation. But then, he launched a stunning comeback that...
💧 LaCroix: The Cinderella of Seltzers | 32
This sexy seltzer started out more than 40 years ago as a Wisconsin brewery’s quiet, nonalcoholic spinoff. Throughout the 80s and early 90s, LaCroix remained the low-key, low-cal fave of Midwestern...
🌎 Google Maps: The *Actual* ‘Everything App’ | 31
When out-of-work coder Jens Rasmussen couldn’t find directions to a cafe in Copenhagen, he wound up changing navigation forever. Alongside his brother Lars (also an out-of-work coder), Jens developed...
🍑 Juicy Couture Tracksuit: How Cozy-Core Went Viral | 30
In a high-end boutique between Hollywood and Beverly Hills, Pamela Skaist-Levy and Gela Nash-Taylor met as fashion-obsessed shopgirls with dreams of entrepreneurship. But they had no obvious path to...
🥤Frappuccino: The Billion-Dollar Brainfreeze Starbucks Nearly Killed | 29
The cream-topped, dome-lidded Frappuccino is the caffeinated crown jewel of the Starbucks empire. It helped the company break out from regional coffee chain to global lifestyle brand, made cold drinks...
🐢Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The “Dumbest” Best Idea Yet | 28
Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird were just trying to get work. These two broke illustrators were scraping by on side hustles and instant ramen… until, one fateful night, Kevin drew a doodle to get Peter...
🔫Super Soaker: Invented by a Rocket Scientist (Literally) | 27
Lonnie Johnson was already a brilliant Air Force engineer working on cutting edge, planet-saving inventions…when a surprise bathroom discovery (we’ve all been there) sparked an idea that changed water...
🐣 Peeps: A Backroom Marshmallow Mystery | 26
Roscoe Rodda was in the fight of his life. His candy factory was right down the road from Milton Hershey’s—yes, THAT Hershey’s—and he needed to set himself apart. So Roscoe embraced a single holiday...
📱iPhone: The Device Steve Jobs Didn’t Want to Build | 25
Before 2007, mobile phones had tiny keyboards, crappy screens with internet so slow - you could finish a super burrito while waiting for your MySpace profile to load. Then Apple wowed the world...
🧀 Goldfish Crackers: The Most Romantic Snack | 24
Margaret Rudkin’s family was in crisis. The Great Depression cleaned out their finances, her husband was bedridden after an accident, and her son was suffering from crippling allergies. Things were...
📺 MTV: How Video Killed the Radio Star | 23
In 1981, a scrappy ex-radio executive named John Lack had a wild vision: “What if there was a 24-hour television channel devoted entirely to music videos?” Back then, music videos weren’t really a...
🌭 Costco’s Kirkland: How a $1.50 Hot Dog Changed Store Brands Forever | 22
If you currently own a 12-pack of bath tissue, a 150-count bag of laundry pods, and/or a 48-oz jar of cashews, chances are they all have the same label: Kirkland Signature. Costco debuted this...
🌮 Doritos Locos Tacos: The Cheesy Mashup That Saved Taco Bell | 21
Taco Bell was struggling and needed an idea so bold… so over-the-top… so WEIRD… that it would capture America’s taste buds and Instagram feeds. So when it unveiled the Doritos Locos Tacos (or ""DLT"")...
🌇 Sesame Street: The Trojan Horse Of TV | 20
Once upon a time, American kids had a problem—OK, two. They were watching way, WAY too much TV and they were falling way, way behind in school. But then a trailblazing producer and her psychologist...
🏔️ Patagonia Fleece: The Billion Dollar Toilet Seat Cover | 19
Designed to keep climbers snug on El Capitan, the Patagonia fleece became the unofficial uniform of venture capitalists and finance bros (earning the nickname Patagucci). But thrill-seeking Patagonia...
🍦Ben & Jerry’s Phish Food: A Collab Born in an Old Gas Station | 18
Phish Food: it’s more Vermont than Bernie Sanders snowboarding down a mountain of maple sugar. This philanthropic ice cream came out of an epic ‘90s partnership between two Burlington legends: the jam...
🎩 Monopoly: The Shocking Scandal Behind the World’s Favorite Game | 17
Monopoly: the game that taught you to ruthlessly bankrupt your friends and family, one hotel at a time. With 250 million copies sold worldwide, ⅔ of American homes have a copy. But you probably...
⚡ Red Bull: How The World Got Its Wiiings | 16
What’s keeping us up at night (besides our own thoughts)? An 8.4-oz blue-and-silver can of caffeine, taurine, sugar, and flavoring that’s part LaCroix, part Robitussin. Red Bull is not only America’s...
🎸 Fender Stratocaster: The Guitar That Invented Rock & Roll | 15
This one guitar didn’t just change music — it permanently cranked it up to 11. From Buddy Holly’s crisp riffs to Jimi Hendrix’s flaming solos (literally, he lit one on fire), the Fender Stratocaster...
🥜 Reese’s PB Cups: From Frog Salesman to Candy Mogul | 14
French fries and pesto? Mango and sticky rice? Ice cream and olive oil?! Real ones know when it comes to surprisingly perfect food combos, nothing tops chocolate and peanut butter (or is it peanut...
🐂 Oregon Trail: Tricking Kids into Liking School Since 1971 | 13
Pop quiz: What’s the longest-running video game in history? It’s not Pac-Man or Donkey Kong or even Pong… it’s The Oregon Trail. A true pioneer (and we don’t just mean the ones in the covered...
⌚ Swatch: The $40 Watch that Saved Switerzland | 12
When you hear the name Swatch, you may picture an affordable wristwatch with neon bands, a pop-art face, and an invite to the Middle School dance. But this humble plastic timepiece played a huge role...
🧱LEGO: Earth’s Biggest Toy Biz | 11
Click… That satisfying sound of Lego bricks has brought joy to millions of kids - and adults (kidults?) for more than 70 years. But did you know it all started in a Danish carpenter's workshop during...
🍬 PEZ: The Cigarette-Inspired Candy | 10
PEZ - the fruity, sugary tablets dispensed from your favorite cartoon character’s neck conjure up sweet childhood memories of swapping and collecting dispensers. (I’ll trade you my red Power Ranger...
🏀 Air Jordans: How MJ's Mom Made the Deal of the Century | 9
It’s simply the most popular sneaker in history. With $7B in annual sales today, Nike and Michael Jordan’s shoe deal changed sports, fashion and marketing forever - But it never would’ve happened...
📷 Polaroid: Invented (sort of) by a 3-Year-Old | 8
It’s the OG of instant photography — It paved the way for the iPhone, inspired Instagram, and fills every photo album on your parents’ bookshelf. Polaroid became a fave of world-class artists like...
🛁 Jacuzzi: Legend of the Life-Saving Tub | 7
Break out the bubbly, turn on the jets, and hop into our Hot Tub Time Machine: we’re going back to the origins of the Jacuzzi. The world’s most iconic whirlpool has become a symbol of status and...
👖 Levi's 501s: The World’s 1st Jeans | 6
What do Old West gold miners, biker gangs and Marilyn Monroe all have in common? The same pair of jeans…Invented by a down-on-his-luck immigrant tailor in the 1870s, this classic riveted pant launched...
🌶️ Sriracha: From Smuggled Gold to Hot Sauce Billions | 5
Chances are you’ve got a bottle of Sriracha chilling in your fridge right now, but have no idea who invented it — or the spicy story of how he made it happen. Entrepreneur David Tran fled Vietnam in...
🚙 Jeep: The Car That Saved The World | 4
The Jeep isn’t just a car, it’s a cult: inspiring clubs, meetups, even its own “Jeep Wave.” From cameos in M*A*S*H to Mean Girls, the Jeep’s been ranked the most patriotic brand in America for...
👣 The Birkenstock Arizona: From Flower Power to Fashion Week | 3
The Birkenstock Arizona has adorned famous feet from John Lennon’s to Steve Jobs’ to Barbie’s—but the brand itself is older than America, and has gone through more eras than Taylor Swift (plus, won...
🍄 Super Mario Bros: Nintendo’s Infinite Game | 2
Mario isn’t just the most beloved plumber in history - he’s the most successful video game character of all time. With over 800 million games sold, Mario and his brother Luigi have “wahoo-ed” their...
🍟 The Happy Meal: A Delicious McMystery | 1
The Happy Meal is the most successful meal in human history. With over 35 billion units sold, or about four for every person on Earth, McDonald’s iconic “Food and Fun in a Box” has also made the...
Introducing: The Best Idea Yet
Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts starting October 15th. Listen early and ad-free on Wondery+ starting October 8th. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on...
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en
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Business