Sol Price: The Retail Legend Who Taught Sam Walton, Jim Sinegal, and Jeff Bezos [Outliers]

What does it take to build an empire? For Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, it took a lot of hard work, a little genius, and one crucial ingredient, theft. Or has he preferred to call it borrowing? In his autobiography, Sam freely admitted I've stolen I prefer borrowed as many ideas from Saul Price as from anyone else in the business. He wasn't the only one.

Jim Sinegall, co founder of Costco, was even more direct when a reporter called him one day and said, Gee, you knew Saul that long since nineteen fifty-four. You must have learned a lot. Jim's response was blunt. No, that's inaccurate. I didn't learn a lot. I learned everything I know. Jeff Bezos did the same thing. So do the founders of Home Depot. The list goes on. All of these people pointed back to one man, Saul Price. A man most people have never heard of, a man who never saw it the spotlight, but whose shadow covers the entire landscape of modern retail.

A man who didn't just create a business but a school of thought. His classroom was the warehouse, and his students changed the world. Welcome to the Knowledge Project. I'm your host, Shane Parrish. In a world where knowledge is power, this podcast is your toolkit for mastering the best what other people have already figured out. This is the story of Sol Price, a man who invented the warehouse club.

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