Startup Sapience's Podcast

The Rise and Fall of Circuit City

Circuit City grew to be one of the largest electronics retailers in the U.S. at some point. It was the best performing stock in the 80s, delivering more than 9,000% returns to shareholders. Its stores were carrying all the electronics one could think of. So, how come such a big name declare bankruptcy in 2008? Let’s dive in.

The Rise and Fall of Tony Roma's

I recently came across some news that Tony Roma’s was continuing to expand internationally. But I do recall them having scaled down. There were more than 25 of their restaurants in Canada at some point. Now, its website displays 11 locations in total for Canada. Thus, I decided to look into what happened. Let’s dive in.
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The Rise of Waffle House

I did not realize how big Waffle House was until I found out that it operates more than 2,100 locations across 25 states. I decided to do some research to find out how they grew over the years. Since Waffle House is so secretive, it is hard to get a complete financial picture of their performance. But it is now estimated that the chain brings in more than 1 billion dollars in revenue. That’s still an impressive number.

The Rise of Panera Bread

Panera Bread grew into one of America’s biggest chain of bakery-café restaurants offering bakery items, pasta, salads, sandwiches and soups. During its years as a public company, Panera was the best performing restaurant stock gaining over 8,000%. Let’s take a look at how they pulled that off.

The Rise of Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A grew to be one of the largest restaurant chains in America, operating over 2,300 restaurants and generating over 10 billion dollars in annual revenue. Let’s take a look at how they grew into such a big chain.

The Rise and Fall of Luby's

Luby’s had a big impact on the Texan dining experience. Their famous LuAnn platter that serves square fish planks with macaroni and cheese became a Texas food staple. However, the company has undergone a long period of lack luster performance. Let’s take a look at what happened.

Snapchat - The Rise and Fall and Rise Again

Facebook had acquired Instagram for 1 billion dollars in 2012. But Snapchat was amassing users so quickly that it caught the eye of Facebook. And it seems that Instagram was repurposed to essentially become a Snapchat killer. It could incorporate nearly all features that Snapchat introduced.

The Rise and Fall of Casper

Not too long ago, people had to make trips to mom-and-pop stores to buy mattresses. Don’t get me wrong, they still do. But now more than ever, they have the luxury of buying it online.

The Rise and Fall of Applebee's

At the turn of 2015, Applebee's was having trouble attracting millennials, who were attracted toward fast casual chains such as Chipotle instead of casual dining places.

SodaStream - The Rise and Fall and Rise Again

SodaStream found a way to enter the carbonated soft drink market without having to pile on billions of dollars in CapEx. Coca-Cola and Pepsi had to spend a lot of money to set up their bottling and distribution system.