Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to How I Built This: Sara Blakely, CEO of Spanx

How a pitch in a ladies room changed Sara's life

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. How I Built This: Sara Blakely, CEO of Spanx launched in 2016; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1
Harvard Innovation Labs' The Other Side - Maria Thomas, former CEO of Etsy▲65
Maria Thomas shares her journey to success
2016 · its alternatives →
2
Shopify Masters - Building an Advisory Board w/ The B. Side Founder▲54
How Tiffany Tibbot built her Advisory Board from Scratch
2016 · its alternatives →
3
Cowgirl Up! A Woman's Guide to Navigating the Corporate Frontier▲62
Navigating the corporate frontier
2016 · its alternatives →
4
Smart People Should Build Things: Steven Mazur, Co-Founder & CEO of Ash & Anvil▲61
On creating shirts for short guys
2016 · its alternatives →
5
F =▲91
Inspiration, information and swag for women on the rise
2018 · its alternatives →
6
Boss Girl Creative: Interview with Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge▲54
Grace's Boss Girl journey with Design*Sponge
2016 · its alternatives →
7
Female Founder Stories▲136
A collection of interviews with Y Combinator’s female alumni
2014 · its alternatives →
8
Well Made – Permission to Think Smaller with Matt Alexander▲61
Experiments in modern fashion retail
2016 · its alternatives →
9
Call To Action - Julien Smith of Breather: I Was a Thought Leader Before a CEO ▲74
Don't tell people what to do, show them.
2016 · its alternatives →
10
Design Life - 001: Why We Have a Side Project▲92
Filling the female design podcast gap
2015 · its alternatives →
11
Awesome Office - How to Empower Your Team to Succeed▲61
Hulu director of workplace experience, Sara Mailloux
2016 · its alternatives →
12
The Pitch - 35: Infraspeak—Facilities Management via NFC Tags▲85
Felipe pitches his SaaS/IoT startup to Christie Pitts
2016 · its alternatives →
13
Entrepreneur Network▲55
Jenny Griffiths - SnapFashion Founder/CEO
2015 · its alternatives →
14
The Pitch - Havenly w/ Phil Nadel, Millie Tadewaldt & Nikhil Kalghatgi▲81
Lee Mayer (in 500 startups) pitches her startup to investors
2015 · its alternatives →
15
Awesome Office - How a Painful Customer Experience Inspired a Winning Business Idea▲62
with The Black Tux CEO Andrew Blackmon
2016 · its alternatives →
16
The Start-up Sessions - "From Stressed & Broke to Triple Digit Growth"▲60
Michael Knouse, Genevieve LeMarchal talk start-ups and sales
2016 · its alternatives →
17
SaaStr 078: Kathryn Minshew, Founder & CEO @ The Muse▲61
You have to make customers uncomfortable in the early days
2016 · its alternatives →
18
The Growth Show By HubSpot: Nir Eyal▲79
The psychology behind your favorite habit-forming products
2016 · its alternatives →
19
Women Product Leaders▲135
Podcast featuring women who build products loved by millions
2020 · its alternatives →
20
Growth Everywhere - How Twenty20 Burned $10M and Still Emerged as a Successful Company▲61
Matt Munson, founder and CEO of Twenty20
2017 · its alternatives →
21
The Notion Capital Podcast - 11: Sofia Quintero, Founder and CEO at NomNom ▲73
Building a growth culture experience.
2016 · its alternatives →
22
Awesome Office - How to Build an 8 Figure Business with a Remote Workforce▲61
Mindable CEO Daniel Matishak shares his secrets
2016 · its alternatives →
23
Dear Female Founder▲89
66 letters of advice from women who made $1 billion
2016 · its alternatives →
24
Dreamit Ventures #Get2A Podcast: Scaling Businesses with High Touch Services▲56
Founders discuss moving from pilots/early customers to scale
2016 · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →