Michael Girdley
@girdley • 263,805 subscribers
Starting businesses is my business. Current Passion Project: explaining why 500+ great companies failed (100 videos so far).
Videos
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why the Pickleball boom is already over Pickleball is doomed. And I say that as someone who plays three times a week and absolutely loves the game. Just last month, Apollo, one of the largest private equity firms in the world, invested $225 million in a pickleball-adjacent business. At the same time, one of the major manufacturers of pickleball equipment has lost nearly $14 million since it launched, and one of the biggest franchise companies helping people open pickleball facilities recently stopped selling new franchises. The crazy thing about pickleball is that the very factors that made it explode in popularity may also be the things that ultimately lead to its decline. So what happens when America's fastest-growing sport runs headfirst into the realities of business? That's what this video is about.
Michael Girdley914,737 次观看 • 17 天前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of Topgolf: the $1.5 billion mistake At one point, Topgolf was called the best thing to happen to golf since Tiger Woods. But in January 2026, the entire business was sold to a private equity firm in what many considered a fire sale. The price was $1.1 billion, less than half of what the company had been worth just five years earlier. Here’s the surprising part: during those five years, the business never stopped growing. Topgolf kept opening new locations, attracting new customers, and generating more revenue. So how does a company with growing sales, expanding locations, and a popular brand lose so much value? What went wrong? Was it bad management, changing consumer habits, or something deeper hidden in the business model? This is the rise and fall of Topgolf, version two.
Michael Girdley1,458,524 次观看 • 1 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why nobody goes to Five Guys anymore Five Guys grew into a burger powerhouse, generating more than $1.3 billion in revenue. It was named America’s best burger by Zagat, and even the President of the United States was known to stop by for lunch. At its peak, the chain seemed unstoppable. But today, sales are down more than 10% from their peak. Stores are closing, and the brand has become the target of endless jokes online, mostly centered around one thing: the price. It’s easy to blame inflation and the post-pandemic economy for Five Guys’ struggles. But the real story is more complicated than that. This is the rise and fall of Five Guys.
Michael Girdley977,960 次观看 • 1 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why In-N-Out Burger is impossible to compete with In-N-Out Burger is one of the craziest business stories of the 20th and 21st centuries. The company has succeeded by breaking almost every rule in the business playbook. They don't franchise. They don't advertise. And yet, the average In-N-Out location generates far more revenue than a typical McDonald's restaurant. It's a company that seems to ignore everything business schools tell you to do, and somehow, it's winning. But the reason for In-N-Out's success isn't just the cult following or the secret menu. The real explanation lies in a few things that almost nobody talks about. That's what this video is about. Let's dig into why In-N-Out Burger became so dominant.
Michael Girdley245,888 次观看 • 20 天前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why nobody buys Doritos anymore For decades, Doritos was the undisputed king of snack chips in America, generating more than $4 billion in annual sales. Through Taco Bell alone, the Doritos Locos Tacos franchise sold more than $1 billion worth of product. At one point, Doritos seemed unstoppable. But lately, things have gone wrong. Its parent company, PepsiCo, has lost more than $60 billion in market value, and Frito-Lay, the division responsible for Doritos, has reported five consecutive quarters of declining sales. Now, activist investors have arrived with billions of dollars and a mandate to turn the business around. So what happened to one of the most successful consumer brands in history? How did a product that once dominated American culture lose its momentum? This is the rise and fall of Doritos.
Michael Girdley138,342 次观看 • 12 天前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why Cartoon Network went from 100 million homes to off the air Back in 2011, Cartoon Network was in more than 100 million homes. It was one of the most sought-after places to work in entertainment and routinely outperformed competitors like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. For an entire generation, it was the home of some of the most beloved animated shows ever made. But by 2024, its audience had collapsed. Daily viewership had fallen to just 74,000 people, and the network as most people knew it effectively disappeared from the air. And while it’s easy to blame the internet, Netflix, or YouTube for Cartoon Network’s downfall, the truth is much more complicated. The seeds of its decline were planted years before streaming ever took over. This is the rise and fall of Cartoon Network.
Michael Girdley241,012 次观看 • 1 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why nobody uses Craigslist anymore Craigslist once generated more than $1 billion a year in revenue with just 28 employees. To put that in perspective, that’s more revenue per employee than even Google at its peak. Its founder turned down billions of dollars in venture capital, refused to run advertising, and chose to serve as head of customer service rather than CEO. For years, that philosophy seemed brilliant. But just six years later, Craigslist had lost more than 70% of its revenue. This is the story of how one man’s unconventional principles and vision built an internet empire and how those same principles may have ultimately contributed to its decline. This is the rise and fall of Craigslist.
Michael Girdley97,969 次观看 • 15 天前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why nobody goes to Outback Steakhouse anymore At its peak, Outback Steakhouse operated nearly 1,000 restaurants across the United States. It didn’t just become a successful chain, it helped create the entire casual steakhouse category and turned the Australian-themed dining experience into a cultural phenomenon. But today, the picture looks very different. The company has closed nearly 40% of its restaurants, and its stock has gone essentially nowhere since going public in 2012. So how did one of America’s biggest restaurant success stories lose its momentum? This is the rise and fall of Outback Steakhouse.
Michael Girdley138,840 次观看 • 22 天前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Fireball built a billion-dollar brand, then lost it Back in 2024, a woman walked into a gas station and bought a small bottle that looked just like Fireball whiskey. She took it home, realized something was off, and called her lawyer. Together, they filed a lawsuit. A woman sued Fireball for $5 million, claiming that some of the mini bottles were misleading customers. And it turned out she had a point. Some bottles labeled Fireball sold in liquor stores are real whiskey and clearly say so on the label. But the version she bought at the gas station was different. It wasn’t whiskey at all. It was a malt based beverage, similar to products like BuzzBallz, designed to get around liquor regulations so it can be sold in convenience stores. The problem was that the packaging looked nearly identical. It had the same branding, the same appearance, and the same reputation as the whiskey version, but it wasn’t actually whiskey. That raised serious questions about whether customers were being misled. In this video, we’ll cover how that lawsuit turned out and what it reveals about the bigger story behind Fireball. It went from a tiny brand doing just over $1 million a year in sales to a multibillion dollar phenomenon, and now it finds itself at the center of major shifts in the alcohol industry. This is the rise and fall of Fireball.
Michael Girdley519,582 次观看 • 2 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of Orange County Choppers: From $40M empire to bankruptcy In 2009, a reality TV star threw a chair at his own son on national television. Paul Teutul Sr., covered in tattoos and built like a tank, exploded in anger at his son, Paul Jr., for showing up at 7:45 instead of the expected 7:00 a.m. What followed was a heated argument that turned physical, with both father and son throwing chairs. The moment was dramatic, chaotic, and eventually watched over 100 million times online, becoming one of the most iconic clips in reality TV history. But what the meme doesn’t show is that this fight was at the heart of something much bigger. It marked the beginning of the collapse of Orange County Choppers, a business that was once doing $40 million a year in revenue. At its peak, the company had built a $13 million headquarters in upstate New York and was drawing 3.4 million viewers per episode. By the time that viral moment resurfaced online years later, the business was already falling apart. Paul Sr., the majority owner, had filed for bankruptcy, and that $13 million headquarters was eventually sold for pennies on the dollar. This is the rise and fall of Orange County Choppers.
Michael Girdley766,947 次观看 • 4 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of Target $50 billion. That’s how much Target’s value dropped in just three years after being named America’s most beloved retailer. You might assume the reason is competition from Walmart or pressure from Amazon. But the real cause is more complicated, and it’s something most people don’t want to talk about. This is the rise and fall of Target.
Michael Girdley293,193 次观看 • 2 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of Kraft Mac and Cheese: From 80 million boxes to a $15.4B collapse Warren Buffett, often considered the greatest investor of all time, once went on national television to admit a mistake. One of those mistakes involved Kraft Heinz. He publicly acknowledged, “I was wrong in a lot of ways about Kraft Heinz,” and added that the first error was overpaying for Kraft. Just days earlier, Kraft Heinz had announced a massive $15.4 billion writedown, wiping billions off its balance sheet and sending the stock plunging. In a single day, the company lost roughly a quarter of its market value. At the center of that collapse was what had once been Kraft’s crown jewel: its instant macaroni and cheese. For decades, Kraft Mac and Cheese had been a staple in American households. Families relied on it through the Great Depression, through World War II, and for generations after. It was dominant, dependable, and deeply embedded in American culture. Then, suddenly, it started to fail. How does a product that thrived for nearly a century stumble so quickly? Was it management mistakes? Shifting consumer tastes? Billionaire greed? The real answer may surprise you. This is the rise and fall of Kraft Mac and Cheese.
Michael Girdley406,442 次观看 • 4 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of Groupon: Their $6 billion mistake In December 2010, Google offered $6 billion to buy a two year old coupon website run by a 30 year old college dropout. At the time, it would have been the most expensive acquisition in Google’s history by a wide margin. That founder, Andrew Mason, turned the offer down. He said he wanted to control the company’s destiny. Early on, it looked like he made the right call. The company went public at a $13 billion valuation and became one of the hottest tech stocks on the market. But the success didn’t last. Over the following years, the stock fell more than 80%. The company went into a tailspin and eventually had to do a one for 20 reverse stock split just to keep its share price above $1 and remain listed on the Nasdaq. So what went wrong? This is the rise and fall of Groupon.
Michael Girdley234,645 次观看 • 2 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of 7-Eleven In 2020, a Canadian gas station chain approached the owners of 7-Eleven with a $47 billion offer to buy the company. They wanted everything: the Slurpees, the Big Gulps, the stores, and even the iconic 7-Eleven brand itself. And 7-Eleven said no. But just eight months later, the company began announcing major store closures. More than 1,000 locations would eventually shut down, including several hundred more announced here in 2026. What makes this story so surprising is that 7-Eleven was once one of the most dominant retailers in the world. At its peak, the chain operated more than 85,000 stores globally and helped invent the modern convenience store industry. So how does a company that powerful end up in decline? This is the rise and fall of 7-Eleven.
Michael Girdley139,195 次观看 • 1 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The rise and fall of Papa John's In 2017, John Schnatter was worth over $1 billion. He transformed Papa John’s from a broom closet into a company with more than 5,000 locations worldwide. It became the third largest pizza chain in America, and he was a prominent sponsor across NFL broadcasts. He famously put his face on every pizza box the company delivered. Then one day, on an earnings call with investors, he opened his mouth and said a few sentences that would cost him half a billion dollars and send the company into a tailspin. By the time it was over, the company began acting as if he had never existed. They scrubbed his name and face from advertisements and pizza boxes, and they even created a poison pill to prevent him from ever returning to control of the company. Today, Papa John’s is still operating, with over 6,000 locations in 50 countries, but the stock remains down 77% from its peak. And it turns out the problems that hit Papa John’s were not just because of what he said publicly. The real trouble had started long before that. This video is the rise and fall of Papa John’s.
Michael Girdley269,408 次观看 • 3 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: Why air travel sucks now In November 2024, Spirit Airlines, the carrier famous for the $49 flight, filed for bankruptcy. That alone wasn’t shocking. But just five months later, they went through bankruptcy again. During that process, the airline’s debt dropped from $7.4 billion to $2.1 billion, and its fleet shrank from 214 planes to just over 100. Around the same time, another low cost airline, Southwest, made historic changes of its own. For the first time in 54 years, passengers had to pay to select a seat. They also eliminated free checked bags, meaning it suddenly cost $35 just to bring luggage. Back in 1978, a round trip flight from New York to Los Angeles cost about $1,400 in today’s dollars. Then the government deregulated the airline industry, and fares dropped nearly 50% almost overnight. It was supposed to be one of the greatest consumer victories in history.
Michael Girdley204,573 次观看 • 3 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: The real reason Applebee's is dying (it's not what you think) Applebee’s was once the most recognizable casual dining chain in America, with more than 2,000 locations and $4.7 billion in annual sales. It seemed unstoppable. But then a series of decisions by the people running the company set it on a path that would leave the brand culturally irrelevant and struggling to compete. Today, while Applebee’s fights to stay relevant, Chili’s has staged a remarkable comeback and is winning over customers. So what happened? How did the king of casual dining lose its crown? This is the rise and fall of Applebee’s.
Michael Girdley80,432 次观看 • 1 个月前
NEW LONG FORM VIDEO: From 8 million viewers to irrelevant: what happened to Shark Tank Shark Tank went from a television phenomenon that drew nearly 8 million viewers per episode and changed how many Americans thought about entrepreneurship to a show that is increasingly becoming culturally irrelevant. Along the way, it helped launch hundreds of businesses, made household names out of its investors, and turned entrepreneurship into mainstream entertainment. But times have changed. Viewership has declined, the startup world looks very different than it did a decade ago, and Mark Cuban, arguably the show's biggest star, has announced that he’s leaving. So what happened? How did one of the most influential business shows ever made lose its place at the center of the conversation? As I go for a walk today, this is the rise and fall of Shark Tank.
Michael Girdley61,221 次观看 • 1 个月前