Chris Paul, Steven Bartlett, and More: The Moment That Almost Broke Them - Build or Break

August 25, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

"Build or Break" is a podcast hosted by Danny Lubetsky, founder of Kind Snacks, that collects stories from leaders like Chris Paul and Steven Bartlett about the specific moments when their careers or identities nearly collapsed. The episode's throughline is that the difference between building something lasting and breaking under pressure is rarely about talent or luck—it is about how a person responds to a single, devastating moment of rejection, failure, or loss. The show does not offer a tidy formula for resilience. Instead, it surfaces raw, specific accounts of what those moments felt like, what the individuals did next, and what they learned about themselves in the aftermath.

The Moment of Near-Breaking

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What you'll learn

1 (00:03) **Episode Opening Montage** - A rapid-fire collage of voices from past guests sets the theme: founders and leaders sharing moments of doubt, rejection, and the choice to build or break.
2 (00:23) **Danny Lubetsky's Founding Story** - The host shares his personal experience of having one idea and facing 100 rejections when starting Kind Snacks.
3 (00:45) **The Adventurer vs. The Documenter** - A guest reflects on a personal identity crisis, revealing they dreamed of being an adventurer, not someone documenting another's journey.
4 (00:51) **First Jobs and Humble Beginnings** - The conversation shifts to the grounding experience of early work, with a guest sharing their first job shoveling horse stalls.
5 (00:57) **The Garbage Bag Insight** - A guest named Mark recounts a seemingly trivial discovery about garbage bags that sparked a larger business insight.
6 (01:10) **The Unsung Mentor** - The show highlights a critical figure who was instrumental to a guest's success but remains unrecognized.
7 (01:15) **The Three-Month Diagnosis** - A guest describes the surreal experience of being at a milestone event (Munch 5) after receiving a terminal three-month medical diagnosis.

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Guests on this episode

Chris Paul Steven Bartlett

Show Notes

Chris Paul. Steven Bartlett. The moment before everything almost fell apart.

I'm Daniel Lubetzky — founder of KIND Snacks, a Shark Tank investor, and a "confused Mexican Jewish social entrepreneur." I started KIND with one bar and a hundred rejections. Now I'm building the most ambitious project of my life: a podcast about what it actually takes to build something — and the moments almost nobody talks about, when it nearly broke you instead.

This is Build or Break.

In this series, you’ll see Chris Paul reveal the moment he went into shock. Steven Bartlett, host of Diary of a CEO, open up about his early struggles. Kevin O'Leary on his greatest personal trial. Andrew Yang on living up to the expectations of immigrant parents. Plus Mark Cuban, Kendra Scott, Fareed Zakaria, Jason Alexander, Lucy Aharish, Robert Rodriguez, Jamie Siminoff, Ben Sasse, and Melva Wallace — builders, investors, and leaders who've all faced the same decision: build, or break?

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Music: Amos Cochran https://www.editscoremusic.com/

Production: Straybird Studios https://www.straybird.studio/

Post Production: Jennell Lewis & Scott Convery

Social Media Production: https://www.edits-etc.com/

Build or Break Team:

Executive Producer & Host: Daniel Lubetzky
Executive Producer: Kristin Schneider

Head of Programming & Production: Joel Rubin

Marketing & Communications: Sarah Black

Associate Producer & Social Media: Taylor Larned

Booking & Scheduling: Kayla Rose

Network Relations: Julianna Cohen