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03 Aug

Posted at 20:52h in Authentic, Dave Knox, entrepreneurship, human connection, Thought Leaders

The story of Blake Mycoskie starting TOMS Shoes is well known in entrepreneurial circles. While many would be content after building a half billion-dollar business, Blake is not one of them. After experiencing his own burnout after TOMS, Blake was inspired to start Madefor, a 10-month program where people learn a new habit or practice each month. We sat down to talk about the inspiration for Madefor and why this focus on well-being is more important than ever.

Dave Knox: With Madefor, you are in the middle of building your second business. What is the biggest lesson you took away from building TOMS that you are applying to Madefor?

Blake Mycoskie:  I think the biggest thing that I took away is really when you’re focused on building a business that has a big mission and specifically one that can serve so many people, it’s really easy to build incredible culture in your company and attract amazing talent as a result. At first, when I was trying to put together this kind of dream team of scientists on human behavior, I thought it was going to be really challenging to do because they are very busy and get a lot of requests for their time and attention. But when we told them that our mission was to eliminate some of the suffering that comes from modern living, and use the science that they have studied in their lab to help people sleep better, and eat better, and feel better, and be more connected and more grateful, every single one of them just signed on immediately. So many of these scientists dedicated their lives to something very specific. How do you optimize the perfect night’s sleep. How do you really declutter your life, both in your work life and in your personal life, in a way that frees your mind up to be more creative? Giving them the opportunity to get that science out of their labs and into the hands of people in a way that they can not only learn these habits, but more importantly, sustain them, everyone jumped on. I think I learned that because that was the same case with TOMS, when we said,” We’re going to sell shoes so that we can give shoes to children in need,” we had some of the top talent in the country join the company. I think having a big mission and especially one that hits home is an incredible way to build the necessary talent for a new startup.

Knox: Building a company is a roller coaster. What was the impetus that had you want to jump back on and build a second venture?

Mycoskie: After spending over a decade building TOMS to a half a billion- dollar business and giving 96 million children’s shoes, I felt pretty dang content with the entrepreneur business aspect of my life. I wasn’t really thinking that I was going to jump back into a startup or a business, at least until my kids went to college. But what happened was is I had a deeply profound, personal experience that radically changed my life, and my mental health, and my wellbeing, and my physical health, and so much so that my only response out of the gratitude from my experience was to share this with as many people as possible. In doing that, I developed this Madefor program, which is a 10- month program where people learn a new habit and practice, one a month for 10 months. And they are the exact habits and practices I learned from some of the top scientists in the world. I just felt like I had to share it, and that turned into a new business.

Knox: How did you go about finding those experts and the habits that inspired Madefor in the first place?

Mycoskie: I was on this journey to really learn from the best minds in science, around how people would really live their best life, who’s really flourishing and why, and most particularly why I wasn’t feeling that way. I had all the kind of markers of success, an incredible business, helped millions of kids around the world, a great family and friends. But in 2017, I found myself quite burned out and actually diagnosed with mild depression. As I looked deep into it, what I recognized was there were a lot of these basic things from a physical and mental and even purposeful level that I kind of put on the back burner when I was charging and working so hard in building TOMS. And at that same time, I met a gentleman who ultimately became my business partner, named Pat Dossett, and he was a Navy Seal for nine years and had a very specific focus on after his time on the teams of really human potential and flourishing. When I talked to him about some of my own struggles, he and I together, agreed to reach out to the scientific community. The first person we reached out to was a neuroscientist at Stanford named Andrew Huberman who really opened our eyes to this idea of a fixed mindset versus growth mindset, and how the neuroplasticity in your brain can allow you to learn and sustain new habits that will make a huge difference in your life, no matter how old you are. The other thing that Andrew really helped us do is identify the other top scientists studying really critical habits like human connection, gratitude, breath work, sleep, all around the country. We just went on this one-year-long research and experimentation phase where we not only tested these practices on ourselves, but really learned from these scientists. Ultimately, after doing extensive research for over a year, we found that there weren’t 12 things, there were only 10. So the Madefor program is only 10 months. And with those 10 things, we spend a lot of time testing on ourselves and with beta groups to really understand what is the proper order. And the order is really set to coincide with neuroplasticity and how you can not only learn but sustain these habits. Some people would say they sequentially get harder. I actually think that you are just priming your brain so that you can take on different ones in the order that they go. But ultimately, they end with helping all of our members answer this question that I believe all of us answer or want to answer at some point in our life, and that is what am I made for? And that’s where the name Madefor comes from.

Knox: One of the most fascinating parts of the program is the fact that while everything in the world is going digital, you guys chose to go analog. What drove that choice?

Mycoskie: The answer is science. My business partner, Pat Dossett, is the most non- bullshit guy you’ll ever meat. He is just allergic to anything that feels like a fad, or a trend, or anything like that. While there are huge trends in using digital devices to tell us our heart rates and our sleep and all of these things, what the science showed was it is extremely difficult to learn and sustain a new habit if you’re constantly digitally distracted. We decided to make our program completely analog by sending you a kit once a month. And in that kit, you are going to learn one basic thing. Now, these are not crazy, bio-hacking, out-there stuff. This is stuff like, how can you absolutely know that you’re doing everything possible, in a very simple way, to optimize and get the perfect amount of sleep? The right amount of deep sleep and the right amount REM sleep where you are looking at how do you wake up feeling more refreshed than you’ve ever felt in your life? And why, scientifically is that so important for your longevity and your mental clarity, and your mood? The thing is, is we decided that it was going to be more expensive, and it was going to take more time, but ultimately we’re all about effectiveness. And the most effective way to help someone learn a new habit or practice and sustain it is to eliminate the digital distraction from the program. Once you sign up, there’s very little digital interaction beyond that, and everything that you need comes in the box each month. In that box, we have the curated science. We take literally decades of science and curate it to about a 25 minute read that has been written by an incredible writer, who really can distill complex science into a very easy to understand concepts. The second thing is either one or two tools that Madefor has designed specifically for helping you adopt and learn that habit. And then the third thing in the box is your challenge card and your accountability measures so that you can really stay on-track during the month, as you learn that new habit and practice.

Knox: As you launched the business, what do you find is the spark for somebody signing up for Madefor?

Mycoskie: I think at some point, just like my own journey, is you need some form of a pain point. I don’t think it necessarily needs to be a huge pain point like I was experiencing, mild depression and burnout, but it kind of is one of those things where you wake up one day and you’re like,” You know what? I really just don’t sleep as well as I did when I was in my twenties, and it’s getting worse as I get older. I don’t really know what to do about it.” Or,” I always am dependent on that double espresso shot in the afternoon to give me energy and something innately just doesn’t feel right on that. I feel like I’m running my adrenals and that’s going to catch up with me.” Or,” I’ve been working so hard as an entrepreneur, or a CEO, or an executive that I’ve really lost touch with some of my closest friends. I really want to understand how that human connection and what are some very simple but effective ways that don’t take a lot of time, but maybe will help me feel more connected, and that might help me feel better in my life?” It’s all these little things that lead. It’s usually not a big thing. We’re trying to get to people early. The thing is, if we can help people develop these strong baselines that will really make them feel great and help them mentally and physically, and connect them more, and help them sleep better, and help their bodies move better, and get rid of those aches and pains, if we can do that, then they’re less likely to go down this path of having what I would call a real mental health crisis.

Knox: With TOMS and now Madefor, your focus is on sparking positive change. What advice do you give to people on their companies authentically making a difference and not having it come off like a marketing play?

Mycoskie: I think so many companies and CEOs get this totally wrong, to be honest. You already kind of answered the question by using the word authentic. That word gets thrown around a lot, so I am sometimes hesitant to use it, but truly I haven’t found a better word that better describes how a company can integrate a cause or a mission into their business. It has to be authentic. Usually, the way it is most authentic is if it comes from a personal experience that the CEO or the founder had. So obviously TOMS, I saw many children who were suffering from not having shoes in South America, and that personal story is what led to the initial growth of TOMS, and so many people connecting to the brand and the one- for- one movement. Now, my experience with having some burnout and dealing with the challenges of modern living and looking to science to help me feel better, is how we can authentically share that our mission is taken from a personal experience that wants to be shared with the world. And so that’s the exact same type of situation. I really think that it’s so critical that there’s that personal story, that personal connection, from the leader of the organization, if you’re going to integrate a cause or a mission into your business.

*This article first appeared in Forbes on August 3, 2020

Dave Knox has been recognized throughout the industry as an innovator who bridges the world between brand marketing, digital and entrepreneurship. Invite him to speak at your next virtual or LIVE event!

11 May

Posted at 00:18h in Dave Knox, entrepreneurship, innovation, marketing

John Tabis, CEO of The Bouqs Co, believes that the consumer brands that are going to win are the ones that are where customers want them to be. That is why he thinks of Bouqs as much more than just an e-commerce company, with plans to be in retail and anywhere else a customer might want them to be. I sat down with John to talk more about the journey of Bouqs, his viewpoint on business models, and how launching a brand has changed in the last decade.

Dave Knox: Let’s start with the origin story of Bouqs. How did the company come to be?

John Tabis: This whole thing started with my good friend, Juan Pablo Montufar, at the University of Notre Dame. Born and raised in Ecuador, his family was in the floral business. Even as a teenager, he had a passion for floral and he had always planned to move back to Ecuador and run a flower farm at some point in his life. He and I started talking about the pain that he was having as a farmer in the industry and I identified a lot of pain points on the consumer side. I learned about his business and where he was struggling, and I thought more and more about the category and the lack of a true large aspirational brand in the space. We put our heads together and said, “Hey, let’s try to build a solution here that actually fixes it for the farmer and for the customer”. And that’s how we got started.

Knox: When you think about the business today, are you an e- commerce company, a technology company, a consumer brand, or a mixture of the three?

Tabis: I think people perceive us as an e-commerce company. The real foundation of the company is the technology and the data, because what we’re really doing is we’re taking a perishable supply chain and streamlining it. In floral, there are five or six layers typically between the farm and the consumer. We have shrunken that down to one layer, which is the Bouqs supply chain logistics system. That technology platform and the data are really the basis of the business.

But that is only part of it because what it enables is a just in time, real time supply chain and logistics network that moves those flowers around the country and eventually around the world in a way that’s just much more efficient than anyone else, at scale. I think of us as a supply chain logistics company as well. If I was gave us percentages, I’d say we’re 50% a data and technology company, 25% a supply chain logistics company and 25% an e- commerce company But long term, ultimately what we will be is just a really big floral brand, and all the rest is as a means to that end.

Knox: Diving into that supply chain side, the flower industry, in the very seasonal with peaks around the big holidays of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, etc. What unique opportunity did you guys see when you thought about approaching the industry different to avoid those peaks and valleys around?

Tabis: The way we think about it is the relationship with our customers shouldn’t be once or twice a year. If that’s the case, then we’re not doing a great job because there’s many other reasons to buy flowers. What we want to be is a brand that is there for people year round. But the reality is if you can’t handle a really big spike at a Mother’s Day or Valentine’s Day, then you can’t be there for your customers when they really need you as well. It’s building a brand and a relationship with a customer where they say, “Hey, I want to use them year round. I want to make them a partner,” and we’ve actually made that sort of the linchpin of what we do. We have invested pretty heavily in the past six months in our subscription service and we introduced it to every customer as 30% off plus free delivery if you sign up. We give them flexibility to skip it and send it to one person one month, themselves the next month, or somebody else the next month. They can use it in that way to really be a tool to help them just gift in a better and more efficient way. And that’s great for the customer and that’s great for us.

Our ultimate goal for the company though is not to be a gifting floral e-commerce company. Flowers play this massive important part in our lives. We are born and our parents get flowers, we achieve something and we get flowers, we go to prom, we either get or give flowers, we get engaged, flowers, we get married, flowers, we have babies of our own, we get flowers and we die and there are flowers there. This product is really genuinely a part of our lives the entire way. And as a brand today, we play in some of those places, but we don’t play in all of them. And we really want to be that brand that people think about across any of their needs, whether they’re getting married, whether they have a business and they need flowers for the front waiting room, or within the office. But ultimately we want to be that brand that people think about and go to for all of those occasions. We want this supply chain and logistics platform that we’ve built, which is super powerful, to serve customers in a much broader way.

Knox: What impact has the current environment had on Bouqs?

Tabis: We’re seeing a surge in interest in the category. And I think that’s for a few reasons. First, people were very used to traveling places to visit people. Those are just not options anymore. So people are looking for a way to be there without being there, and sending a gift is often what people think about. Second is that people just want to be connected. And in times of crisis where we are all struggling – personally, professionally, economically, or other ways – people want to be connected and kindness always comes out. We always say internally, “kindness always.” But I feel like in this time, at the end of the day people revert to kindness.

We’ve seen a pretty nice increase in our business at a time where a lot of businesses are struggling, which I talk about with my team is a very strange place to be. We’re thrilled to be there for our customers and that people want to send kindness and they want to use flowers to do it. That’s an amazing thing. But it’s also really weird to have a business doing as well or better at a time when so many businesses are struggling. It’s a weird cognitive dissonance. As a company we are just trying to do our best to help people feel connected and to honor one another and to honor their personal connections at a time when it’s harder to do that than ever.

Knox: In the early days, you pitched on Shark Tank. How do you think the landscape has changed since then when it comes to launching consumer brands?

Tabis: It’s certainly a very different world. When we came out with this business, Shopify didn’t exist. The amount of investment, development, and building of tools for launching consumer brands has proliferated so much since we launched. There are dramatically more brands, not just in our category but across all categories because the barrier to entry has just gotten smaller and smaller. When we launched Bouqs we had to hire a developer, build all the tech from scratch. Today you can get somebody who can sort of point and click with a mouse for a mobile app through a company or go through Shopify or a myriad of other number of tools. It just makes it easier.

The barriers to getting something up and running are lower but the barriers to scale remain there, and they’re significant. This is what I say to anyone who wants to start a consumer brand. If you can’t get to a million dollars revenue, you have no right to be in the game whatsoever. Getting to a million bucks a year should be super easy if you have any kind of chops. But going from a million to a hundred million is a heck of a challenge, because of all the things that come with it. How do you acquire customers at scale? How do you service customers at scale? How do you handle technology and order routing and customer service and data management. All these things are really hard and there aren’t off the shelf easy tools for that. That does not exist. You have to build, you have to raise money or be able to create enough revenue to build those things yourself. And it’s why you don’t see a lot of companies that grow to 100, 500, 1000 employees in consumer, because the game is just really hard. But for those that can get there, the world is our oyster because there’s no one else that’s gotten there. So there’s a lot of opportunity if you can get through what I call like the teenage years for any given company.

Knox: On that note of scale, how do you think about the choice of staying true to the business model of e-commerce or moving omnichannel with physical retail?

Tabis: The consumer brands that are going to win are the ones that are where customers want them to be. If they only want them to be online, then being a direct consumer only brand makes sense. But a lot of customers don’t only shop online, they don’t only exist online.  You have to know what the customer wants and you have to serve those needs. I think a lot of brands came into this game saying, the future is only online because this next generation is only going to want to shop online, and that just isn’t true. Millennials and post-Millennials, they go to stores and they shop. They like the social nature of shopping. They like touching and feeling things. So you’ve seen a bunch of different approaches to it. You’ve seen own stores, you’ve seen Bonobos launch guide shops, which are sort of smaller footprint stores. You’ve seen Harry go into Target, you’ve seen expansion of digital brands and third party retailers. You’ve seen brands go into Amazon, and ultimately have to find out where your customers are and what they want. In our business, we talked announced our own plans for going into retail and its not just because we just think it’s what’s next. It’s because when you look at what the customer is looking for and the services they want, like consultative services for a wedding, customers have demands for these things and we want to be able to be there for our customers every time they need flowers. So that means we have to be in those places. Now we announced that and then a global pandemic hit that sort of essentially killed all retail, because we all have to stay home. So the timing of that may shift, but that’s certainly what we see as the future is. If you have customer needs that can be better satisfied by being in all those places, you should be.  As Amazon went from being digital only to now having stores and Walmart sort of went the other way, you’re going to see that same trend happen at businesses big and small, and those that don’t get to where their customers need them to be just aren’t going to win.

*This article first appeared in Forbes on May 8, 2020

Dave Knox has been recognized throughout the industry as an innovator who bridges the world between brand marketing, digital and entrepreneurship. Invite him to speak at your next virtual or LIVE event!

 

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