YouSaid · the spoken record

Mike McGowan

lines on the record: 80
first: 2026-06-29
most recent: 2026-06-29
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Really integrating my C suite and then moving it out to the rest of the organization. And really we're still in that process. It's going to take me another year to fully get that done. But the results are phenomenal and the momentum has been building and it's really coming together.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“At Weber, who were just dedicated phenomenal employees who may have a little bit of pent-up ideas and ambition and wanting to do things differently, and that's certainly been the case. So I got to unleash those people and let them go do things the way they thought that they wanted to and that the way that they thought would be better. This is a better way to serve our customers. Let's do it this way instead of that way. So that's been really fun. I did hire a consulting firm to come in and help me with the integration. And it was a good decision. I didn't really start hard on integration until November of last year. I took the first four or five months to try to learn and see and understand and get to know people. And candidly, I had to really evaluate the C-suite that merged in together and see how that all worked. And I had to make some changes there. So it took a minute from the top.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Little bit, there's there were some hurt feelings here and there and kind of on both sides. That's been really interesting to me. It's just kind of watching the way the team at Blackstone reacted to this and the team at Weber. One thing I absolutely knew, and this proven to be true, is that Was going to find people”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That comes together, right? But you've got to change the culture at Weber. You got to go into this company that has a different business process, right? You've got to take your company, which approaches the retailers like Apple and go into a company that approaches the retailers like Samsung, and then you've got a functional structure, and you've got to go into a very rigid, process-oriented divisional structure. It's been about a year. Did you just smash glass and make all the changes? Like, how does this work?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I make the comparison to tech companies. This is why I love doing the girl episode every year. You're describing a lot of things that obviously you've thought about very deeply in your corner of the industry. Tech companies do this all the time. Samsung makes a different phone for every carrier, right? The Samsung Galaxy S26 is actually slightly different for every carrier so they can play these same games with MAP, right? Minimum advertised prices. Apple won't do it. The iPhone's the iPhone and maybe there's like radio differences, but the iPhone's the iPhone. And you see there's competition in the market in that way, right? With Blackstone, I think that's what the culinary line is at low's, but it's not at depot. You're literally making different products, or at least different branding for all of your partners. You're also describing what I would call peer decoder bait. That Weber had this extremely divisional organization that was very process driven. And you have, it sounds like, I want to ask you the question more directly, but it sounds like you have a more functional structure. You're really product-led, product development-led.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Products of families that we sell to our retail customers. And that way everybody kind of has their own product and it works great because we merchandise with the retail customers to their customers. And that's really what we try to focus on is the end user, the people who are walking in. Laying down a credit card to buy a griddle or a grill. They're expensive. This is not a hand of the moment flight decision that people make. This is an expensive product that they buy that needs to last for a long time. So they take their time to make a decision. And so we like to give our retail customers features and benefits and the value proposition that they're really trying to get for their customer who walks into their retail store.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, MAP stands for maintained advertised price. And so Weber sells a $4.99 gas grill. Everybody's the same retail. And they can't control retail prices, but what they can do is say, this is what we want you to advertise it for. If you do that and maintain that advertised price, you will be eligible for the rebate you get from our advertising department. And so nobody can control retail prices. That's anti-competitive. But you can have a map policy with your retail customers. So everybody's the same retail that sells Weber, whether you buy it at Walmart, Lowe's, Ace, Depot, wherever you buy it, if it's the same grill, it's going to be at the same retail price point. I've never been a mapped price policy with Blackstone, and I don't want to cause confusing with my confusion with my customers. And so what we've done successfully is we've developed”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so, out of respect to their co workers, as strange as this sounds, they stay really siloed and they start here, they end here, and this is what I do. And if I try to expand beyond that, it throws off the whole system of the way we do things. It's very, very structured. Everything has to be tidied up, put in place perfectly before the next step can even begin to happen. We start off at Blackstone, we've always done the speed to market with new product, new product development to me is critical and essential. I can't take three years to get a new product in a box. I got to take three months. And so that's the differences that I'm talking about. Philosophies, speed to market. Their mapped price and were not. I've never been a mapped price. I don't know if you're familiar with that policy.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When I got to Weber, I wondered if that was the culture. And what I found out was it was not. And not that they wouldn't bend over and pick up a piece of carbonage. They'd be more than happy to do that. They're not too proud. They're not, it's not beneath them. If they do that, they fear that they might be taking the janitor's job away.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“An entrepreneurial led business, and that's the way I like to think and operate and spend money and not spend money. And I don't think Weber's alone in this. Whenever you get a company that's been around 70 plus years, you start getting two structured, you start getting two layered, and you start getting too siloed. And that's completely opposite of the way we do things. Let me explain it this way. Part of the culture at Blackstone that I've always tried to instill is if you're walking through my parking lot and you work at this company and there's a piece of garbage on the ground, you bend over and pick it up, put it in the garbage can. Not because you have to, but because that's what you do. That's your culture. You want to make this a great place to work, great environment.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Me about the mechanics of this. You're saying the way you do things is differently than the way that Weber had done things traditionally. They are a legacy brand they've been around since the 50s. There's a world in which they just have to keep selling Weber kettles and that is the thing they have to do. It's literally the logo. I have a summit grill, one of the fancier grills. My father-in-law bought it for me ages ago. The thing has been rocking and rolling for a decade. What does Blackstone do differently that Weber wasn't doing that created the opportunity”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I don't think they were really looking for a buyer. The merger made a lot more sense, especially by combining the strengths of both companies and then just cleaning up. It's a phenomenal opportunity. You know, we have legacy brand and then Blackstone's innovative and disruptive and still growing. Yeah, it's a great combination. It's been a lot of fun so far.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, the timeline here, I just want to clear it out for listeners because you're talking about BDT a lot, and they've been in and out of Weber for a long time, it's true. So they bought a majority stake in Weber in 2010, then Weber IPO'd in 2021. It didn't go well, right? They only raised $250 million. I think their target was $500 million in 2022. BBT took Weber back private. So then they were the full owners. And then obviously in 24 you announced you're going to combine. So the P firm took the company back private where they sort of immediately looking for a buyer or was it just you showed up and they happened to know you quite well.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And as a result, expenses got way out of hand. And then, as you know, a private company versus a public company, the cost structure is completely different. And there's a lot of expense in being a publicly traded company. That hadn't come out of the business yet. So the product sell-through at retail and the perception with end-user customers has never been better. It's extremely well. But the profitability of the company was challenged and needed a different, I think this is why Byron wanted to merge this is because we just do things completely opposite of the way they had done it traditionally at Weber. And especially over the last, I'm going to say seven years, because for many years, the Stephen family, who were, George Stephen is the founder of the business, then his son Jim took over as CEO for a long time until they sold to BDT. They're great, profitable business up until...”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, BDT is a phenomenal financial partner. I mean, I love working with them and Byron Trott is at the top of the list, I think, behind the scenes in that industry. Weber, in my opinion, in my assessment when we took over and started being able to look because until we had FTC clearance, 100% clearance, we couldn't really see anything other than public information. But it's a typical legacy type company with a big brand and great presence, great product, phenomenal quality, really good people. I love the people that we're working there and the culture that they had. But in my opinion, there had been some C suite turnover that was way too high and different philosophies on how to serve the customer.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Oh, yeah, no, I want to come to manufacturing the products. You've mentioned China several times already. That obviously that's changing that dynamic the hardest summer, I'm sure this is the high season for you. It's not getting easier. So I want to come to that. But I just want to stay in the deal for one second. Weber is the household name. Like I said, we made the list of grill CEOs and obviously you put Weber at the top. You are now the CEO of Weber. My understanding is that Weber's business was not doing very well, that there was some inherent flaw in that business. We've done a lot of episodes about private equity, takeovers, and how the PE firms tend to extract the profits and not invest in innovation, especially for big legacy companies. Was that your assessment of Weber? Was that the opportunity?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's really kind of a go-to-market strategy that each retailer deploys and how they think about it and what retail prices they want to offer their customers and what features benefits they want to offer at those price points. And so if they can better serve that price point and that feature set using their own label, they will. But if a brand, for example, Blackstone for a long time, none of my customers carried an in-house griddle, for example, because they wouldn't sell. They put them out there and people would step over them, around them. I don't mean physically, I mean over the price point to buy a blackstone. So we were very fortunate that way. But if you look at gas grills, Lowe's depot, most of the retailers, Walmart, carry a house brand because they can offer their customer the value they want at that retail price point. It's really a merchandising strategy that they use.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Are they competitive with you? Are they price sensitive to you? This is just a market that I think it's so physical. The products are so big. And then they do turn. People buy new ones kind of all the time. So it's just a different kind of competitive dynamic. To have the white label supplier right there and so top of mind for you”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And so, if retail prices get out of hand, or if they think they're too high or if they think a product has been more commoditized, they put their private label brand on it and offer it to their customers.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Competitions always there. And the other thing about our industry as an outdoor cooking, every major retailer has their own in-house brand, private label. I could own every outdoor cooking brand in the world, and I still couldn't affect the consumer retail price. Because my customer is really in charge. They walk into a store online, wherever they might find our products for sale. And if they don't like the retail price, they don't buy it. So the FTC is really focused on competition and making sure the consumer is protected, which I love. I think I have no problem with that. I want the consumer taken care of and protected as well. But my business is very competitive. There's always somebody new coming along like Shark Ninja who'd never been in the business before. And then people who've been around for a long time, competitive companies have been around for a long time. And then on top of it, I have my retail customers with their own private label brand.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, I look at the grill industry, the outdoor cooking industry, as you call it, and there seems to be a surplus of competition. There's infinite brands showing up constantly. Last year we had the CEO of Sharkin Ninja. They had just put out a grill because they saw opportunity in the space. Do you feel like you've reduced competition by acquiring Weber? Do you think the competition is getting more ferocious?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Was an easy deal. Unfortunately for us, we signed our agreement in December, and that's when the clock started ticking with the FTC. Well, they're not getting anything done December with all the holiday breaks. They have 30-day windows to look at your deal and say, yes, you can merge, or no, we want to take a further look. So they extended that till the end of February. Then they extended it one more time because all the commissioners and the new administration hadn't been appointed yet. We just really got stuck in no man's land because they have five commissioners in Washington, D.C., as I understand. And I think two were in place, three, but they needed all five to be in place. As soon as they were fully staffed, they called us up and said, yeah, your deal's fine. Go ahead.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Decided to test the waters and see what the next transaction looked like. Byron found out that I was thinking of that again, called me up, and said, let's do a merger, let's not do acquisition, but let's merge these two companies together. And so we came to an agreement in 24, end of 24, and then we had to go through antitrust process with the FTC, and that took until May of 25. So we've been merged together now for just barely over a year.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Back originally, yeah, but it just wasn't right. Timing wasn't right. There were just a few things that didn't line up at the time. So we ended up not doing that transaction. That's when we almost went public via the spec. And then, as you know, the financial markets fell to pieces. And Weber and Traeger coincidentally had already gone public and their stocks had horrible experience. They came out, ran high, and then went really low. So the SPAC deal didn't work. And at that point, I did find a financial partner, a private equity group. Who took possession of my Chinese manufacturing partner's shares? That was in 22. And then in 24, we had continued to grow at Blackstone and had phenomenal success. We were very fortunate. Again, we had accomplished really in two years what that financial partner thought would take five. So we.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Which led to almost going public via the SPAC. During that time and through some of those roadshows, I met Byron Trot, who owns BDT. He actually has owned Weber since 2010, if you can believe it. So his company's held on to that position for over 16 years now. And he loved the story of Blackstone. And we actually went through a pretty serious process with them about a potential acquisition of Weber of Blackstone.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Nua family from Taiwan that had facilities in mainland China, father-son combination, good friends. And they had never been in outdoor cooking before. So we started together and they, in fact, became an equity partner in the business in 2015. They were building for me a little bit before then. The business was so successful and grew so rapidly from 15 through 2020 that the father of the father Senkampo was at retirement age and he wanted to slow down. So they were looking to sell their equity in the company, which started this whole process. Me going into the financial markets and talking to investment bankers and going through that whole process.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lot has happened Weber was bought by private equity. You had a SPAC that came and went. You didn't go through with it, and you bought Weber. Let's just talk about how all of this came together. Blackstone's been around since 2008. We won't go through the whole history. People can go listen to that episode if they want to. 2008, you started it, you went super viral in 2021. You did a lot. How did you end up in the position to combine with Weber, which really turned out to be more of an acquisition?”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I am thrilled to have this conversation. Five years ago, 2021, we thought it would be so fun to talk to grille CEOs in the summer because one of our theses here on Dakota is all these companies have the same problems and it's the summer and we should go talk to grill companies. And at the time we made a list of all the companies we want to talk to and we put Weber at the top. The big brand name, and they said no. And I was like, we got to talk to Roger at Blackstone because I'm watching TikTok every day and Blackstone are going viral on TikTok. And so we start with you. You are first ever guest in this series. And now you're the CEO of Weber. And I feel like that is just about as perfectly full circle as it gets. So thank you so much for coming”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tails for a merger of grille companies and what it takes to manufacture these products overseas and import them to the United States in an age of high tariffs and even higher energy prices which are pushing consumers down market. Of course we also talked about what it means to merge with Weber. A storied company with iconic products that had gotten really stuck in its ways and pretty siloed. Roger seems very eager to break those silos down. And create a new company with a new culture. Like I said, there's a lot in this one, including whether or not the chip market is affecting Weber's connected thermometer business.”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And welcome to Dakota. I'm Emili Patel, editor in chief of the Verge. And Dakoder is my show about big ideas and other problems. It's the 4th of July, and this is our annual grill episode where we invite the CEOs of outdoor cooking companies onto the show to explain just how their businesses kind of look like every other business. And this is a very special edition of our grill episode. Today I'm talking to Roger Dolly, the CEO of Weber Blackstone, a full circle moment for Dakota. Roger was our first ever grill CEO on the show back when he was the CEO of Just Blackstone. He started the company in 2008, but these griddles exploded in popularity during the pandemic when videos of Smash Burgers went relentlessly viral on TikTok. The company grew so fast and so furiously that Roger was able to buy Weber a couple years ago, a legacy company that had fallen on hard times. Fun fact, we wanted Roger on the show last year to talk about that deal, but it was stuck in an antitrust review at the Federal Trade Commission. So Roger and I talked about all that, what competition review in”
2026-06-29 · Decoder with Nilay Patel · He changed outdoor cooking forever — then took over Weber · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT