Inside the Mind of KIND Founder and Shark Tank Investor Daniel Lubetzky, Who Says ‘Failure’ Is the Ultimate Teacher (Exclusive)

Lubetzky, who is also a ‘Shark Tank’ investor, launched his new podcast ‘Build or Break,’ available now

NEED TO KNOW

Daniel Lubetzky’s new podcast Build or Break explores how failures shaped the success of notable guests like Barbara Corcoran and Matthew McConaughey

Lubetzky, who is the founder of popular snack brand KIND, says he, too, faced failure numerous times throughout his career

His Art of Failure exhibit in New York City also highlights resilience and is free to the public through Sept. 5

Daniel Lubetzky isn’t afraid of failure. In fact, he’s built an entire career—and now, an art exhibition— around it.

Lubetzky is a multi-hyphenate: During the Sept. 2 opening preview of his Art of Failure exhibit, more than one attendee could be heard describing the social entrepreneur as “a man with many commas” for his work as a Shark Tank investor, KIND Snacks founder, New York Times bestselling author and now, podcast host.

The art exhibit (located at 22 Wooster Street in New York City) dovetails with Build or Break: Lubetzky’s new weekly podcast (the first three episodes are available now). Featuring the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Barbara Corcoran, Kendra Scott and more, the podcast focuses on the guests as they discuss their paths to success— and the failures that shaped them along the way.

“[Barbara] is comfortable talking about her failures and what she learned,” Lubetzky tells PEOPLE of his friend Corcoran, whose contribution to Art of Failure is a persuasive letter she wrote to the executive producer of Shark Tank rebuking (and ultimately, reversing) their initial decision not to choose her for the show.

“She got passed for Shark Tank and she wrote a letter to Mark Burnett and convinced him to give her a shot. What’s really, really important is that a lot of people just accept their fate, but builders learn how to overcome that. Barbara didn’t give up. Even when she’d been rejected, she decided to try again,” Lubetzky says.

That ethos is what inspired the very name of Lubetzky’s podcast.

Related Stories

“For me, a builder is somebody that wakes up in the morning and thinks, ‘How can I try to make the world a better place? How can I build something and unite people?’” Lubetzky says. “And everybody [featured in the exhibit], everybody we have on the podcast, the common theme is that they’re builders. They really care about others. They care about how you get to the destination and about not giving up until you get to the destination.”

That ideology rings true for Lubetzky himself, too, as he’s faced failure time and time again in his own career. He tells PEOPLE that his famous KIND brand was “almost never born.”

“I had setbacks like crazy that just destroyed me. It’s not that they don’t hurt you, it’s what you do after,” he says.

Lubetzky, whose dad was a Holocaust survivor, credits his father’s experience with shaping his own resilient spirit.

“When I was 12 years old, I developed insomnia when I learned about what my father went through. I couldn’t put myself to sleep, so I dreamt that I was going to be a magician, but with authentic, magical powers to force people to get along,” he says.

And, while he says he did actually do a stint as a real-life magician, Lubetzky eventually realized that he was meant to be an entrepreneur.

“I realized that the private sector holds more keys to bring people together through business and commerce,” he says. “So many times I was this close to thinking that I was going to give up, and thank God I didn’t. Failure actually teaches you to be resilient in your purpose.”

Subscribe to @bulidorbreakpod on YouTube and listen to Build or Break starting Sept. 3 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and all major podcast platforms. Art of Failure is free to the public for the duration of its pop-up at 22 Wooster Street in New York City from Sept. 3 through Sept. 5.

Human Interest

Real People