Podcasts · The Knowledge Project

Bernie Marcus: The Story of Home Depot

16 Dec 2025 · 1 h 01 min

Bernie Marcus co-founded Home Depot and served as its first CEO.

This is the wild and crazy story of how he and his co-founders got fired and went on to build one of the best-performing businesses in history.

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Approximate Timestamps:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:00) Part 1: An Accidental Miracle

(09:29) Part 2: A Golden Horseshoe Kick

(25:49) Part 3: Building From Nothing

(38:53) Part 4: Orange Everywhere

(49:40) Part 5: The Legacy

(54:17) Lessons

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Sources:

Marcus, Bernie, and Arthur Blank. Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion. New York: Crown Business, 1999.

Best Practice Institute. "Bernie Marcus Interview." YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNP0YYDi1FY.

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Links in the notes 5

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• https://www.linkedin.com/in/shane-parrish-050a2183/
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