About this episode

John Mackey discusses the journey of Whole Foods Market from a single store to a global brand with significant sales and an acquisition by Amazon.

What does it really take to build a company from one store in Austin, Texas into Whole Foods Market, a global brand with more than 540 stores, $22 billion in annual sales, and a $13.7 billion acquisition by Amazon? John Mackey, co-founder and former CEO of Whole Foods, joins Randall Kaplan to reveal the hard-earned lessons behind entrepreneurship, resilience, fear, failure, raising capital, work ethic, conscious capitalism, and the life-changing moments that shaped one of America’s most iconi...

People in this episode

Host: Randall Kaplan

Guest: John Mackey

Topics covered

• entrepreneurship
• business growth
• resilience
• capital raising
• conscious capitalism

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Whole Foods Market, Amazon

Places: Austin, Texas

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• John Mackey’s Wild Story: From Dishwasher Showers to a $13.7B Amazon Deal | E188 · May 19, 2026 · 50 min

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