00:00But putting that aside, I think there's a lot that we can learn from the story of Crocs.
00:05Most obvious is the importance of distribution channels.
00:08If Crocs only sold their shoes directly to consumers, they would have never become as big as they are today.
00:14Instead, they leveraged key partnerships to get into the hands of millions of customers.
00:19But I think the most important lesson from the story of Crocs is that it's okay to start out as
00:25a commodity.
00:25A lot of entrepreneurs get caught up with the idea of creating the next iPhone or the next Facebook.
00:31And while those are cool, most of those won't work out.
00:34At the same time, there's nothing wrong with starting out as a commodity and then gradually upgrading your product.
00:40Take Kleenex, for example.
00:42When they first launched, their product was essentially a generic facial tissue.
00:46But over the years, they've managed to build a brand and sell their products for a premium.
00:51Same thing with Band-Aid.
00:52They first launched with a generic bandage, but nowadays people will pay extra for the brand.
00:58This shows us that you don't need to reinvent the wheel to be successful.
01:02Sometimes it's okay to simply offer a better version of an existing product.
