Mr. Raz seems as surprised as anyone that he has emerged as one of capitalism’s biggest boosters. His background is not in business, but in globe-trotting radio journalism: He was NPR’s Berlin bureau chief by 25, then London bureau chief; he covered the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and spent two years with CNN in Jerusalem; then he returned to NPR, where he was the defense correspondent and finally the weekend host of All Things Considered.

In 2012, feeling ground down at 37, Mr. Raz left the news cycle. He started working on the TED Radio Hour, which is co-produced with NPR and explores one big human experience per episode, like “Why do we have the capacity to imagine?”

“This is going to sound really hokey, but we’re a species, right?” Mr. Raz says. “We’re this species called Homo sapiens, and there’s cats and there’s dolphins and there’s many things we all do. We grieve, we love, we hate, we’re cruel, we’re kind, we’re joyful, we’re jealous. And so I wanted to do a show that went to that 35,000-foot view on all of that. ”

And to Mr. Raz, no stories captured the human experience as much as clawing out a living.

“The question from everyone was, ‘What makes this different from Bloomberg and CNBC?’” Mr. Raz said. “And the case I was making was: I’m not looking for news, I’m not interested in your fourth-quarter strategy, I’m looking to get into your heart and mind.”

He decided from the start that How I Built This would feature only entrepreneurs he liked. He spends months researching them before an interview to make sure they align with what he and his team want to put into the world.

“We had this responsibility to find people who kind of reflected a certain way of doing business,” Mr. Raz says. “People we think are generally kind. Are generally moral and ethical. Did you run your business honestly? Did you treat people well?”

He also demands that those who sit for an interview are completely open. “I ask them, ‘Are you willing to come to this interview and surrender?’” he says.