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How I Built This with Guy Raz
How I Built This with Guy Raz

Advice Line with Neil Blumenthal of Warby Parker

January 15, 2026 • 45m

Summary

⏱️ 7 min read

Overview

On this episode of The Advice Line, Guy Raz is joined by Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker, to advise three entrepreneurs on scaling their businesses. The callers include Kimber Crandall of Pearl Pop (gummy toothpaste), Brian DeMint of Salt and Light Wellness (light therapy centers), and Tanner McCraney of Cowboy Country Club (lifestyle golf brand). Neil shares insights on maintaining a successful 15-year co-CEO partnership, integrating AI into products, prioritizing marketing messages, vetting franchisees, and building entrepreneurial teams.

Neil Blumenthal's Co-CEO Partnership and AI Innovation at Warby Parker

Neil Blumenthal discusses his 15-year co-CEO partnership with Dave Gilboa at Warby Parker, emphasizing that their success comes down to trust, respect, and constant communication - they still sit next to each other after all these years. He also reveals Warby Parker's exciting collaboration with Google to develop AI-powered glasses that can translate languages in real time, identify objects, and reduce our dependency on smartphones.

  • Neil and Dave have been co-CEOs for 15 years since founding Warby Parker in 2010, which is quite uncommon
  • Their partnership works through implicit trust, constantly seeking each other's advice, and sitting next to each other for 15 years
  • Warby Parker is partnering with Google to launch AI glasses that can see what you see, hear what you hear, and translate languages in real time
  • The AI glasses allow phones to stay in pockets longer, reducing our dependency on mobile devices
" I think it comes down to trust and respect. We implicitly trust each other to make any sort of decision, but also to seek each other's advice. "
" I'm excited for that day where it can stay in your pocket or on your desk for a little longer. "

Pearl Pop: Creating Marketing Moments for Gummy Toothpaste

Kimber Crandall, a former Emmy-winning TV reporter turned single mom entrepreneur, shares how she developed Pearl Pop - a gummy toothpaste without fluoride - as a class project during her executive MBA. The product addresses the bedtime struggle of getting kids to brush their teeth while offering cleaner ingredients. Neil and Guy advise her to focus on specific customer segments rather than trying to change everyone's habits at once, emphasizing the power of sampling and finding her tribe of passionate advocates.

  • Pearl Pop started as an MBA class project studying parents' bedtime pain points, specifically the struggle to get kids to brush their teeth
  • The product uses nanohydroxyapatite instead of fluoride, targeting the 50% of parents looking for fluoride alternatives
  • Kimber became a single mom of four girls (ages 1-7) in 2020 and pivoted her career from TV journalism to entrepreneurship
  • The company now has both kids' flavors (peach rings, bubble gum) and adult flavors (mint kiss) after parents requested their own version
" What I think is really interesting about your business is that you effectively have two customers, right? You have the child that is using the toothpaste, and then you have the parent, right, that is generally the decision maker, the purchaser. "
" We spent a lot of time at Warby trying to understand, how do you prioritize a bunch of these different messages? And it should all come back to what is most important for the customer. "
" After survey after survey, what we found was what mattered first and foremost was how these glasses look on your face. Second, price. You know, third, quality. Last, if at all, would be the social mission. "
" You don't really need to convince all of America right away, right? You really just need to get, and I think you're doing it. You need to convince one circle of parents who tell every other parent. "
" If you don't dream and go for it, we'll never know. So we'll just never know. "

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