Copy This!: Lessons from a Hyperactive Dyslexic Who Turned a Bright Idea into One of America's Best Companies
, Autobiography, 2005
A founder memoir about working around personal limits, trusting capable colleagues, and noticing what a customer may need beyond the transaction.
About the book
Co-written with Ann Marsh, this memoir connects Orfalea's learning differences to Kinko's operating model: local autonomy, profit sharing, customer-first problem solving, and a founder who traveled between stores collecting and spreading useful ideas.
Reading perspective
Orfalea recounts his school struggles, his temper and his mistrust of authority in a candid, irreverent voice, and treats those difficulties as what pushed him toward unconventional thinking. His stated creed is simple: customers come first, and co-workers should be kept happy and motivated.
What you’ll learn
Build the team around complementary strengths
Rather than treating the founder as the person who must excel at every task, Orfalea’s approach depended on managers bringing their own judgment and abilities to the work.
Look past the routine transaction
A copy order may be tied to an urgent need, such as a job search or a notice for a missing pet. Considering that situation can clarify what the service means to the customer.
Editorial sources
Book guidance draws on these sources; Founders evidence determines the ranking.
Why it ranks here
Reading rank #84. First covered in Episode #181. 20 scored evidence components. 12 Founders episodes. Coverage Score 157. Praise on record: David calls the book's practical, simple knowledge fascinating.
Explore evidence and score breakdownOpen timeline
How the Coverage Score works
Reviewed Founders evidence adds points: a dedicated episode, a qualifying reread, explicit praise, or a reference in a later episode. Repeats of the same kind in one independently recorded discussion count once, including reviewed reused passages. Genuinely new qualifying discussion adds points. The score measures coverage, not quality.
Sources: official Founders episodes — #181, #183, #184, #188, #190, #192, #203, #225, #231, #246, #248, #279
The largest contribution to this Coverage Score is Dedicated episode · Primary coverage (45 points).
Original Founders sources
- Paul Orfalea (Kinkos) — Episode is built around Paul Orfalea's Kinko's memoir, Copy This.
- Johnny Carson — David names the Kinko's founder's autobiography and applies Orfalea's habit of asking questions rather than pretending to know every answer.
- Isadore Sharp (Four Seasons) — David explicitly returns to the Kinko's book for its customer-first operating lesson.
- Joe Coulombe (Founder of Trader Joes) — David identifies the Kinko's book from a few episodes earlier and recommends listening to or reading it while discussing differentiated retail opportunities.
- Henry Ford and Thomas Edison — David identifies the recently covered Paul Orfalea book while comparing founders' strengths.
- Jim Casey (Founder of UPS) — David applies Orfalea's unfiltered-voicemail practice and decentralized-store information lesson.