How the Bombas founders navigated tumultuous early careers to create the best-selling Shark Tank product in history

Fortune

Randy Goldberg and David Heath’s certified B-Corp apparel company Bombas is one of the biggest-ever brands to appear on Shark Tank.

Transcript

00:00I think on our first two days, we ended up doing like $300,000 in sales.

00:05Mind you, our business up until this point in the first year had done about $900,000.

00:09So we did a third of our business in two days than what we had done in the first year.

00:14Our website crashed.

00:15Horrible.

00:16We had all these really challenging experiences for what was at the time

00:20was the biggest moment in our company's history.

00:24Hi, I'm Dave Heath.

00:25I'm the co-founder and CEO of Bombas.

00:27I'm Randy Goldberg.

00:28I'm the co-founder and chief brand officer of Bombas.

00:31And this is the secret to our success.

00:33Going back to 2011, scrolling on Facebook, I came across a quote that said that socks

00:39were the number one most requested clothing item at homeless shelters.

00:42And it kind of stopped me in my tracks.

00:44I took a step back and was like, wow, here's an item of clothing that I don't really spend

00:49more than a few seconds a day thinking about.

00:51And yet it's being perceived as a luxury item for over 600,000 people living here in the U.S.

00:56I remember I shared this fact with Randy, and he had kind of a similar reaction that I had.

01:01And we started asking ourselves if there was anything we could do to solve this problem.

01:05And I think naturally, both being interested in entrepreneurship, I think our brains went to,

01:11you know, is there a way to incorporate business to help solve this problem at scale?

01:15Took a lot of inspiration from brands like Tom's Shoes that kind of pioneered the buy one,

01:20give one model.

01:21And then I think we asked the question to ourselves, like, could we create a sock company

01:25that donates a pair for every pair that it's sold to have some small impact on this problem

01:31facing a community here in our own backyard?

01:34And having no experience in retail or manufacturing or apparel outside of, I think,

01:40a three-month job that I had at The Gap, we went to the whiteboard and we started concepting

01:44and thinking to ourselves, like, how can we differentiate a product in the marketplace?

01:48We spent two years developing this product and ended up putting it out into the world,

01:52and people really loved it.

01:54We were obsessed in that moment with making something that was going to blow people's minds

01:59just because we had started to get obsessed with the idea of what a pair of socks could do for you

02:05in terms of your comfort.

02:06When you put on a good pair of socks in the morning, it changes the way you feel for the day.

02:11It's small, but it has a big impact on how you feel.

02:14So we decided to launch the business on Indiegogo, the crowdfunding platform.

02:18We launched that in August of 2013, and in 30 days, we had sold $150,000 worth of product.

02:26And at the end of that, we were like, wow, okay, I feel like we have something here,

02:30built a website, placed our first production run, and then started shipping orders.

02:34At that point, we were like, whoa, we can't really even keep up with the demand.

02:38We were selling out of the product long before we were able to replenish it.

02:42So we did decide to go out and raise some capital.

02:45We ended up raising a million dollars from Angel Investors.

02:48And then in June of 2014, we got a call from Shark Tank to see if we wanted to audition

02:55to be on the show.

02:56Obviously, we said yes.

02:58When you walk down that hallway in Shark Tank, you're kind of thinking,

03:01oh, this looks like that TV show Shark Tank.

03:03And then you sort of realize, wait, we're on the show.

03:05This is really happening.

03:06And the one thing you can control is that pitch in the beginning.

03:10So we were really focused on making sure we got that right.

03:12You know, you're on national TV, and you say the wrong thing, and millions of people

03:16are going to see it.

03:17So there's definitely a lot of pressure that comes along with that.

03:19The thing that's within as much of our control is whether or not we are prepared enough to

03:25not necessarily look like idiots on national television.

03:29So we ended up creating a spreadsheet of 200 of the most commonly asked questions from

03:34watching previous episodes.

03:36And we had an answer written out for every single one of those questions.

03:39We had also run through scenarios of like, well, what if this shark goes out first, and

03:43then these sharks are remaining?

03:45We had kind of played out every single scenario so that we went into it as prepared as possible

03:50for almost every outcome.

03:52And I think that helped us feel a little bit more confident going into it, knowing that

03:57we had an answer for almost every question we knew that they were going to ask us.

04:01Fast forward a few months.

04:02They ended up airing our episode on the season premiere in September of that year.

04:07And we got a deal with Damon John.

04:09And then we get a call from Shark Tank about two weeks before Black Friday, letting us

04:14know that they were going to re-air our episode on Black Friday, biggest shopping day in the

04:20U.S.

04:20And we ended up getting another big gangbusters day.

04:23Our website crashed again.

04:25Before Christmas of that year, we had completely sold out of all of our inventory.

04:30I think from the moment we aired on Shark Tank to that moment where we completely sold

04:36out, I think we did about $2 million in revenue.

04:38And that's really kind of where we feel like the business took off.

04:46It's a success beyond what we imagined.

04:49And the impact that we've had proving out the original thesis of the business through

04:54donations, through making amazing products, it's been incredible.

04:58It's way beyond what we thought.

05:00And we enjoy it every day.

05:02Most days.

05:02We enjoy it every day.

05:04Almost every day.

05:06Some days.

05:07Some days.

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