Business Wars

It's 1990 in Champaign, Illinois, and 15-year-old Tony Xu is washing dishes in the Chinese restaurant his mother manages. He wants to help people like his Mom, but it'll be many years before he hits on his solution for small businesses.  Across the Atlantic, Bastian Lehmann forgets his snowboard while moving house. He can't find a way to get it shipped to him cheaply, and the idea for Postmates is born...

It's December 2011 in San Francisco. Bastian Lehmann is getting ready to launch his courier app, Postmates. But when he and his co-founders discover people want food delivered, not objects, they pivot to a business already cornered by Grubhub.  Meanwhile, 30 miles away in Palo Alto, a business school student called Tony Xu is trying to figure out how to help a small macaroon shop fulfill delivery orders. His solution? DoorDash...

WWE might have thwarted WCW’s effort to claim the pro wrestling crown, but after 20 years of unchallenged supremacy, a new competitor has entered the ring. Bankrolled by a billionaire sports owner and airing weekly on TNT, All Elite Wrestling is, in many ways, the second coming of WCW...

It’s 1998 and the slugfest between Vince McMahon’s WWF and Ted Turner’s WCW is reaching a critical juncture. McMahon’s on a mission to pull wrestling fans back to his TV shows with a strategy focused on maximum controversy. And to help him in his mission, he’s getting back-up from a high-flying TV executive and a bunch of Wall Street bankers. WCW chief Eric Bischoff is determined to stop WWF’s comeback at all costs...

It’s 1996 and with Monday Nitro topping the TV ratings, WCW is out to end WWF’s time as the biggest player in the wrestling business. It’s plotting to establish two brands: one that WCW boss Eric Bischoff hopes can suck away WWF’s family audience, another that will seek to capture the young males who crave more violent and outrageous entertainment than the WWF offers. But Vince McMahon has a plan of his own. He’s going to push the WWF in a new direction by embracing controversy...

It’s 1995 and the Monday Night Wars are underway. WCW’s new show Monday Nitro is grappling with the WWF’s Monday Night Raw to win TV viewers’ attention. WCW isn’t pulling its punches either. Under the command of Eric Bischoff, WCW is dropping spoiler bombs, luring away WWF’s top wrestlers and trashing the WWF brand. And as WCW gains momentum, Bischoff is plotting a killer blow – a shock role reversal that will force WWF boss Vince McMahon to rethink how his wrestling promotion works...

It’s 1994 and WCW is stepping up its game. To get the jump on WWF, Ted Turner is writing big checks to steal away the WWF’s biggest stars and sponsors. And as WCW’s star power increases, so does its popularity with wrestling fans. But the WWF is in no position to fight back. It’s struggling to keep the lights on, there’s discontent among its roster of wrestlers, and Vince McMahon is preoccupied with staying out of prison. And now Turner wants to deliver a killer blow...

Two young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs set out to rid the world of smoking with an incredible new product. The device stands to disrupt the tobacco industry and make them rich, until it falls into the wrong hands and lives are ruined...

It’s the dawn of the 1990s and Vince McMahon’s WWF is the king of wrestling. But trouble’s brewing: a steroids scandal is about to deal a body blow to the WWF and its family-friendly reputation. The scandal will leave WWF stuck in damage control mode as it fights to stem the losses from falling TV ratings, ticket sales, and pay-per-view buys...

This episode is brought to you by Wondery in partnership with Dell Technologies. In honor of small businesses, we're featuring inspiring stories of successful companies that started out small. It’s 1970 and Gert Boyle’s life is in ruins. Her husband’s just died, and now, as a middle-aged stay-at-home single mom, she’s become the boss of the family’s debt-ridden outerwear company. No one – herself included – thinks she can save the business...