Shark Tank's Daniel Lubetzky Launches 'Build or Break' Podcast Sept. 3 with Star-Studded Guest Lineup
Daniel Lubetzky, the Kind Snacks founder turned ABC "Shark Tank" investor, is launching a weekly video podcast called "Build or Break" on September 3, with a guest list that reads like a Hollywood-CEO crossover event.
The show premieres on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and all major audio platforms, with three episodes dropping on launch day featuring interviews with fellow Shark Kevin O'Leary, NBA star Chris Paul, and jewellery entrepreneur Kendra Scott, according to Variety.
The premise is candid conversations about both accomplishments and what Lubetzky calls guests' "defining failures." His framework rests on four values he calls the "four Cs": curiosity, compassion, creativity and courage. Each interview digs into how people built something lasting from moments that could have broken them.
The guest bench goes deep. Upcoming appearances include Matthew McConaughey, home-improvement moguls Chip and Joanna Gaines, Mark Cuban, Jason Alexander, Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, fellow Shark Barbara Corcoran, and podcast host Steven Bartlett. Lubetzky's wish list still includes Steven Spielberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
He has already recorded 30 interviews in a dedicated studio he built in Austin, Texas. The show will launch without advertising, with the stated goal of becoming financially self-sustaining over time rather than generating revenue from day one.
"Build or Break" is a program of the Lubetzky Family Foundation and ties into Lubetzky's broader Builders initiative, which his official website describes as part of his work as an entrepreneur, investor and civic leader focused on replacing "Us vs. Them" mindsets with collaborative problem-solving.
Alongside the podcast, Lubetzky is opening an interactive pop-up museum installation in New York City called "The Art of Failure," located at 22 Wooster Street and open free of charge from September 3 through September 5. The installation carries the same theme as the podcast: examining how setbacks shape the people who push through them.
Lubetzky has been teasing the launch on social media throughout August. On Facebook on August 18, he posted the podcast's tagline — "It's not how you fail. It's how you build" — with the date September 3 and the hashtag #Fail. Two days later he ran a quiz asking followers which of Kevin O'Leary, Matthew McConaughey, Danny Meyer or Mark Cuban was a "famous little failure," closing with the promise "More fails coming soon."
For fans of "Shark Tank," the podcast offers something the show's format rarely has room for: extended, unscripted conversations with the people who sit across the deal table. Several of Lubetzky's fellow Sharks appear on the guest list, which means viewers will hear O'Leary and Cuban in a register that does not involve negotiating an equity stake in ninety seconds.
The launch is unusually multimedia for a podcast debut — a free public installation in SoHo, a video format across the major streaming platforms, and a social campaign built around the word "fail." Whether the ad-free model holds as production costs accumulate is a question Lubetzky has set aside for now. Thirty episodes are already in the can.
