Vizio: William Wang
Episode 721 of the How I Built This with Guy Raz podcast, hosted by Guy Raz | Wondery, titled "Vizio: William Wang" was published on April 14, 2025 and runs 57 minutes.
April 14, 2025 ·57m · How I Built This with Guy Raz
Summary
When Wiliam Wang started selling flat-screen TV’s, he used a winning playbook: partner with an efficient manufacturer, cut out the middlemen, and price your product as low as you can. William used a similar strategy at his first company–making computer monitors–and he built it into a multimillion dollar business. But he wound up mismanaging it into the ground, and spent years working to pay off millions of dollars in debt. After surviving a catastrophic plane crash, William embarked on a new venture, Vizio, and returned to his “cut-out-the-middlemen” playbook to sell one of the world’s first internet-connected televisions. Today, Vizio is one of the top-selling TV’s in the US, and in 2024, sold to Walmart for $2.3 billion. This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei. Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng. You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at [email protected]. Sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Episode Description
When Wiliam Wang started selling flat-screen TV’s, he used a winning playbook: partner with an efficient manufacturer, cut out the middlemen, and price your product as low as you can. William used a similar strategy at his first company–making computer monitors–and he built it into a multimillion dollar business. But he wound up mismanaging it into the ground, and spent years working to pay off millions of dollars in debt. After surviving a catastrophic plane crash, William embarked on a new venture, Vizio, and returned to his “cut-out-the-middlemen” playbook to sell one of the world’s first internet-connected televisions. Today, Vizio is one of the top-selling TV’s in the US, and in 2024, sold to Walmart for $2.3 billion.
This episode was produced by J.C. Howard, with music by Ramtin Arablouei.
Edited by Neva Grant, with research help from Alex Cheng.
You can follow HIBT on Twitter & Instagram, and email us at [email protected]. Sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.