Ben Gilbert: belief

Transcript context

…And even continued through to the Jordan story. Nobody else was going to do that deal. Yup, exactly. Phil Knight basically never took on any equity investors, so he took no dilution. He, his management team, and Bill Bowerman owned 56% at IPO, him owning 46% because he just kept betting the farm all on debt and basically had no buffer at all. What that means is on IPO day, he was worth $178 million. Today, he's worth about $40 billion. When you own 46% of your company at IPO, and it goes on to become a top 50 company in the world, that is how you become the 25th richest person in the world. He shot the moon, and he kept ownership the whole way. Okay. We talked a lot about this brand halo idea. I want to put a specific fine point on what the strategy is. They create pinnacle products for athletes. I think, oftentimes, without even thinking about how does this translate to something the ordinary person could buy or wear, the athletes find their way to it either through a brand deal nowadays, or in the early days, through their local running shop who has something cool and exclusive. You build brand with that niche athletic community by being obsessed with that particular athlete's journey, designing products for them, and customizing experiences for them. That brand then seeps out into the broader consciousness, either through paid media or through just organic word of mouth that Nike stands with athletes. They're obsessed with it, they make the experience of being an athlete the best thing possible, and then they extend. When I say they extend, they figure out what products that need to make that fit into the universe of the consumer psyche of, how could I be like that dream that I'm watching? How can I participate in this feat of athleticism and show that this is like me, too? The hardest thing is figuring out how to extend to that audience and make products for them to buy without compromising that step one, that belief that you make pinnacle products. What Nike has been able to do, thread that needle, and figure out how to make the $15 t-shirt that you get at Dick's Sporting Goods with the swoosh on it, and also convinced me that the very best shoes to run in is the Nike Vaporfly NEXT%, whatever, whatever, again, just like our LVMH episode, it's amazing that they can make a little wallet clutch for our credit card an ID and a $200,000 handbag. Yup. All the thing I would add to that is to just reiterate what has hit me through doing the research in this episode. Athletes are Netflix shows.…

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