The Empire Builders Podcast Podcast Por Stephen Semple and David Young arte de portada

The Empire Builders Podcast

The Empire Builders Podcast

De: Stephen Semple and David Young
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Reverse engineering the success of established business empires.The Empire Builders Podcast Economía Gestión Gestión y Liderazgo Liderazgo Marketing Marketing y Ventas
Episodios
  • #215: Oliva Gibbs Law – Part 1

    #215: Oliva Gibbs Law – Part 1
    Jul 23 2025
    Zach Oliva had just graduated from law school when Ohio discover a huge natural gas shale. Well, he went digging where no other lawyers were... Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. Here's one of those. [Oliva Gibbs Law Ad] Stephen Semple: Hey, it's Stephen Semple with the Empire Builders Podcast. We're doing something a little different this week. We've given Dave the day off, and I've got a really special guest with me, Zach Oliva. He's the co-founder of the law firm Oliva Gibbs, in Texas. They're an energy law firm. You guys, you've done something special in terms of what you've grown into. How many lawyers are you now, Zach? Zach Oliva: I think probably close to 60 attorneys across six offices in the U.S. It's been a lot of fun. Stephen Semple: You always know you've grown to a size when it's like, "I think it's 60." Zach Oliva: Yeah. Well, we're always looking for rock stars. I know that there's probably some offers that went out this week, not sure what the status of those are and things. We're blessed with a really great team. Stephen Semple: How long have you guys been around for now? When was the firm established? How many years ago now? Zach Oliva: 2013, actually. Stephen Semple: 2013? Zach Oliva: 12 years, yeah. Stephen Semple: Yeah, that's phenomenal. In 12 years, it has grown from yourself and Brad to basically being now 60 odd lawyers, and being in that magic- Zach Oliva: Yeah. Well, we started the business with another partner who has since retired. Stephen Semple: Okay. All right, there was three. Zach Oliva: I think I was 26 years old. I was reflecting on that the other day. I think I was 26, which, I was pretty dumb then, so I didn't know how stupid of an idea. I also didn't have kids, which makes the decision a little bit different. Stephen Semple: Tell me about how all of this started, because the thing that's also interesting is the area you've gone after, oil and gas. Look, it's not the glamorous space. It would be a bit of an easy one to overlook and not get excited about, and you guys have built this amazing business. As we've worked together, I've learned more and more about how it's actually a far more interesting and innovative industry than people give it credit for. How did it all get started? Zach Oliva: Well, I was in law school in Ohio, where I grew up, and Ohio got just destroyed by the Great Recession. I got out of law school around 2011, and there were no jobs. I was reading the paper, and I noticed that in the paper, they kept talking about this thing called the Utica Shale and the Marcellus Shale, which, they were calling it the most prolific natural gas discovery ever in the country. It was under Ohio, so under the land, under the state of Ohio and New York, and parts of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and no law firms in Ohio at that time had an oil and gas practice. I was going to these firms, saying, "Hey, I think there's going to be something here. I would love to come work for you, even for free, because I really think that this is going to be a big industry in Ohio. By the way, there are no big industries in Ohio anymore. If anything's going to work, it's going to be this one." None of them were interested in a kid fresh out of law school working for free, doing something that they had no idea how it worked, which, I don't blame them at all. I had a professor who was a really bright guy, and he was really knowledgeable about the country. He was previously an advisor,
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    22 m
  • #214: Mr. Coffee – So Easy a Man Can Do It

    #214: Mr. Coffee – So Easy a Man Can Do It
    Jul 16 2025
    Vince Marrotta realized that the percolated coffee at home was not as good as the coffee at restaurants. Mr. Coffee is how he fixed that. Dave Young: Welcome to The Empire Builders Podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom and pop to major brands. Stephen Simple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. So here's one of those. [Waukee Feet Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to The Empire Builders Podcast. Dave Young, here alongside Stephen Semple, and he whispered in my ear that today the topic and keeping with our current theme is Mr. Coffee. Stephen Semple: Mr. Coffee. Dave Young: That's Mr. Coffee to you, sir. Stephen Semple: That's it. That's it. Dave Young: So we're talking about the machine, right? Stephen Semple: Correct. Dave Young: Mr. Coffee is not a coffee brand, it's a machine. Stephen Semple: That's correct. It's the home brew coffee machine. Dave Young: Yeah. I'm trying to think of the associations that come to mind and thinking maybe one of their first spokesmen was Joe Garagiola. Stephen Semple: No close. Dave Young: No? Stephen Semple: Joe DiMaggio. Dave Young: Joe DiMaggio, that's right. Stephen Semple: So close. So close. Dave Young: Joe. I knew it was a Joe and it was related to baseball. Stephen Semple: Well, that's why I'm saying you were like, it was so close. Dave Young: I remember. Yeah. Stephen Semple: But yeah, it's an interesting part of the whole coffee story. And as we talked about in the last one, Folgers, and I'll tie it together at the end of this, if you actually take a look at Gaggia, Starbucks, Folgers and Mr. Coffee, you basically have got the story of coffee in America. And it was actually after I was doing the research on Mr. Coffee, I went, holy smokes. Here's how these four go together. This is really quite remarkable. So we'll touch base on that at the end. Dave Young: Can I make a guess as to the evolution of this? Stephen Semple: Sure. Dave Young: Because remember we talk about when you're looking at innovation, take a product, take a service, whatever it is, and remove friction, make it easier and better. Before Mr. Coffee was a thing, you had these percolators at home. I remember my mom would, it's a metal pot that plugged into the wall and had a little light on it, and then when it's plugged in it's on and when it's unplugged it's off. Had a metal basket, like a stem up from the bottom that would shoot boiling water up into the top of the percolator and the little glass cap on the lid so that you could tell that it was working. And then that would just spray down on the coffee grounds in the metal basket and then drip into the hot water. And when enough time had passed, I'm not sure what the timing was on it, but then you had a pot of coffee. You waited until either the light went out or stayed on, or the bubbles, the percolating quit happening. I don't know how that worked. Well see, now I'm- Stephen Semple: I forget how that worked. Dave Young: ... going to go about that. But here's the thing. The problem is, it seems to me like it took a long time for that to actually happen and at the end of the process, you've got this metal basket full of wet gross coffee grounds that you have to clean. You have to get rid of it. So you dump it in the trash, and now you've got wet coffee grounds in the trash, or you run it down the sink and now you've got a plumbing problem. But those are problems that I think Mr. Coffee aimed to solve. Stephen Semple: Well, and there's a problem you're also not even talking about is the coffee was not as good because of ...
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    19 m
  • #213: Folgers – The Best Part of Waking Up

    #213: Folgers – The Best Part of Waking Up
    Jul 9 2025
    From a horrible caffeine delivery system, Jim Folger takes a huge interest in making coffee better and we thank him for it. Dave Young: Welcome to the Empire Builders podcast, teaching business owners the not-so-secret techniques that took famous businesses from mom-and-pop to major brands. Stephen Semple is a marketing consultant, story collector, and storyteller. I'm Stephen's sidekick and business partner, Dave Young. Before we get into today's episode, a word from our sponsor, which is, well, it's us, but we're highlighting ads we've written and produced for our clients. So here's one of those. [Pin Point Payments Ad] Dave Young: Welcome back to the Empire Builders Podcast, where Stephen Semple, who's the guy that you're going to hear next, and myself, David Young. We talk about empires and how they're built and what makes them tick. And if you're listening to us in the morning, it's totally appropriate for the topic that Steven just whispered in my ear, which is Folgers, and immediately popped into my head was the old jingle. The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup. Stephen Semple: And Folgers is what a dominant, dominant, dominant force in the coffee space. In the home ground space the data that I was able to find as they do close to 900 million in sales are basically 27% of the market. Dave Young: My guess is that they in the past have been more than that, but the crafty roasting kind of people have probably been nibbling away at that over the years, but I'll be back in the '70s or '80. Stephen Semple: I didn't go back. Dave Young: They were just a juggernaut. Stephen Semple: And I didn't go back and take a look at that. But look, when you're number one, you're number one, right? That's a big deal. Dave Young: When you and I were kids, nobody was grinding their own beans. You bought a big can of coffee and put it in a percolator. That's what coffee was. Stephen Semple: But the interesting part, we will talk a little bit about that campaign. The best part of Waking Up. That campaign came out in 1984, and prior to that, Maxwell House was actually number one. That campaign allowed them to surpass Maxwell House and become the leader in the space. So it was a very, very successful campaign. Dave Young: It's one of those jingles. I don't know if it's out yet, but I did a copy or a copy, an episode of Sticky Sales, sales stories with Matthew Burns, and we talk about Winston and the power of the Winston Jingle can get in people's heads. And if you were a kid before 1971, you still remember that jingle? Stephen Semple: Yes. Dave Young: And so Folgers, and gosh, you were inundated. You couldn't escape the Folgers jingle. Stephen Semple: And there's the power of the fact that it's a rhyme. The best part of Waking Up. Like rhymes, as we know, have got a rhythm and a power to them. We'll come back to the jingle later, but let's go back to the beginning. Dave Young: Let me put one more little plug-in for that episode with Matthew, because we talk about the scientific reason that audio is so sticky in your head. So it has to do with the brain and humans' unique ability to process sound. And that's the fun part. It's more than just a story of, oh, this is how we sold cigarettes. So anyway, check that out. Stephen Semple: That's awesome. That's awesome. So as we all know- Dave Young: But wait till the end of the podcast. Stephen Semple: So as we all know, the Boston Tea Party was a thing in the United States, and in fact, it actually led to the growth of coffee being something that people started drinking in the United States. It ended up becoming a statement and a revolutionary idea. And coffee houses started to pop up both in the United States and around the world. Dave Young: But it was [inaudible 00:04:58] that tea and the tax on it. Stephen Semple: Yeah, that started getting things going but-
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    18 m
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