He Built a $250 Million Brand. Then He Left to Start Over | While on Earth

In 2015 Todd Meleney, a young inexperienced newcomer, helped build Nobull from a three-person startup to $250 million in annual revenue. Then just 18 months ago he walked away to do it again, from scratch, in one of the most competitive markets on the planet.

The result is While on Earth, a performance wellness footwear and apparel brand he launched in fall 2024 out of Providence, Rhode Island. Less than two years in, the brand is in hyper growth mode, operating primarily direct-to-consumer, with a product line expanding in 2026. Meleney also has three big-name pro athlete co-founders to help design, develop and legitimize the brand, including arguably the best player in the NFL who gave up a multi-million dollar deal with Nike to join them.

Meleney is a visionary entrepreneur who believes time is our most valuable currency, and he’s passionate about helping people reach their full potential through performance and wellness.

Before launching while on earth™, Todd was the award-winning CMO and first employee at NOBULL, where he oversaw marketing, content, and revenue from pre-launch to $200M+ in annual sales. He’s known for building a cult following and orchestrating some of the largest and most highly anticipated product launches in the athletic space.

In this episode, Todd talks about his philosophy behind while on earth and how he’s scaling the brand as an influential leader in athletic performance wear and wellness; lessons from growing NOBULL from the ground up and building an engaged community; collaborating with elite athletes like Christian McCaffrey and launching authentic brand partnerships that actually move the needle; his insights on marketing, product launches, and entrepreneurship in the performance wellness space.

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

That's a great question. Uh I built this job and created an environment uh that was gonna, you know, get me out of bed every morning um and fire me up. And uh after, you know, trying to find that through um a kind of winding career journey, um, I was ready to build it for myself and for those around me.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Let's go back in the chronology a little bit. Let's go actually way back in the chronology to young Todd. Um, I asked this question for younger people, maybe coming out of school. Um, I've been surprised. Like sometimes I'm at the gym, uh especially like after 6 p.m. when all the gym bros are there. And some of these teenagers who are done with, you know, school are there lifting for football base or whatever support they're in. And I get recognized sometimes. They're like, hey, I watch Behind the Brand. This is so cool. Um, you know, what advice do you have? So let's talk to that younger crowd, either you know, high school or college student, trying to find their path. What did what did young Todd want to be what when he grew up?

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah, great question. I mean, you know, when I was, you know, really young, before I was thinking about a professional uh journey, I wanted to be a pro athlete. You know, I the first dream was to be in the Olympics as a swimmer or to be, you know, a professional basketball player. And, you know, um pursuing those types of things taught me a lot about, you know, cause and effect between hard work and results and um being a part of a team and you know, pursuing a common goal. And I think those have remained foundational to how I think about everything I still do today. Um, but frankly, you know, once I once those dreams kind of faded, uh the the idea of having to work for the rest of my life was like the scariest, you know, possible um path forward that I could imagine. So, you know, I I honestly um always loved sports and felt like if I have to work for the rest of my life, like I I want to be around sports. Yeah. And that feels like the the most exciting, um, interesting route to grow. Uh so I so I went to school for sports marketing. Um, and that kind of was a closer step to what I was interested in doing. Um, but ultimately, uh, where I fell in love with uh where I fell in love, what I fell in love with, ultimately what I fell in love with was the um the journey of building something and creating something from nothing into something new.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Yeah. How did you find that path though? Did you kind of stumble into it? Did you try things on for size that fit or didn't fit?

SPEAKER_03 2:44

Yeah, when I was, well, when I was 18 years old, uh my best friend passed away. And he and I were, you know, like brothers growing up. He was capped on the football team, I was capped on the basketball team. We grew up down the street from each other, and we just um were really, really close. And he was a passionate surfer. And after he passed away, I started a scholarship fund in his memory. And it was really a passion project. We hosted surf competitions and golf tournaments and all sorts of fundraisers um to endow a scholarship fund where we gave um scholarships away back to our high school. And that taught me, you know, like what it felt like to do something. And out of that, I built my first apparel brand, which was a surfing brand in memory of my friend that gave proceeds back to the scholarship fund uh in his memory. And it was t-shirts and hats and sweatshirts, and I built the website on WordPress and received email notifications when we had orders. And um, I would go back to my dorm room and package up uh orders and ship them out of the college mail room. And it uh, you know, it felt like I had it all figured out at the time.

SPEAKER_01 3:56

That's amazing. I'm really sorry to hear about your friend. Uh that's so hard. It sounds like though, you what you identified was purpose, which, you know, more than happiness or like an emotion or a feeling. Um purpose can I think really be a compass, you know, to help guide you. It's your North Star. And it sounds like you found purpose in um wanting to help your friend or give back or um contribute in some way, and and that's what drove you. And it sounds like a part of the key to finding the path that you know you're on now, you're still, you know, following that purpose-led uh mission or vision. Talk more about that.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Yeah, it's exactly it, honestly. You know, it started out as this passion project. Um and, you know, there was this desire to build something that was timeless and substantial and could leave a legacy for my friend. Um, but it also became, you know, a process that I fell in love with. And it didn't feel like work. And it created this outlet that removed the fear from what am I gonna do for the rest of my life, into here's what I can do today that's gonna be really exciting and gonna be really meaningful for myself and for those around me.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

That's another super good point. So if you missed it, uh what Todd is saying, I think, is uh, you know, in in terms it's called thin slicing or, you know, eating the elephant, which is, you know, if you think about what you're gonna do for the rest of your life, it's daunting. Uh, if you think about what you're gonna do today or how you can contribute, it's it's smaller baby steps. Um, and it's not always maybe the end goal where you end up 25 years in the future, but it is the path today.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

That's exactly right. And you know, it actually I I worked on that brand for about three years when I was in college. I was interning for the New England Patriots. So I was able to kind of tap into all these more experienced people around me and show them what I was working on and kind of get some positive reinforcement or what to, you know, pivot and change. But it actually was really frustrating because, you know, I was a solopreneur, you know, it was just me. I had, you know, one investor who was a family friend who uh invested$10,000, which was the most amount of money I had ever had in my life at the time. Um and um I quickly realized that I can't do this alone. You know, I don't know how to make product. I was literally submitting our tax returns on printed out spreadsheets. And it just became um this realization that that I wasn't quite ready to build the brand or the business that I dreamed of. Um and, you know, I started to pivot off that path to find ways that I could learn and grow and mature to be ready for the future.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, again, another good lesson I'm hearing you say, which is um it's it's all about action. Like you can sit there and think and dream and plan and plot, you know, but like if you don't move your feet, you don't really discover uh you don't know what you don't know. So the only way like to get into the thick of it is to get into the thick of it and figure it out. And then you realize, okay, um, this is where I'm lacking. So maybe you know you need to hire your first employee, or maybe you don't. Maybe you know you realize, okay, this is the end of the road for this. Or but the literally the only way to get into it is by doing.

SPEAKER_03 7:29

Yeah, without question. Uh ironically, one of my early mentors used to say, don't let school get in the way of your education. Um, and obviously I learned a ton at school, but um the most lasting lessons I've learned have come through experience. Yeah. And everything that, not everything, but many of the important lessons I've along the way have come from trial and error and, you know, and learning. And I think the ability to learn is one of the most important skills there is. And it takes practice and repetition and motivation and so on and so forth. But um, you know, it's something I I work really hard to continue to do today, um, just as an avoidance of complacency.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Yeah. And so where did that take you then? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:15

So after three years, I I sunsetted that brand, you know, which was hard to do, but also felt like the right step at the time. And I pursued uh wanting to be a part of early stage businesses or startups so that I could, you know, maybe have some skin in the game still or participate, but really learn from folks who were much more experienced than I. So um, you know, I was obsessed with company founders. I was reading every book about founders and entrepreneurship that I could find, which was kind of scratching this itch as to who I would want to be down the road. Um, but ultimately connect me with uh two former executives from Reebok who were leaving to build their own brand. And ironically, uh, they were starting a cold water surfing brand because uh Michael, who was the former creative director at Reebok, um was a big surfer. And I came from that space with, you know, my own startup, and it just kind of led us to each other. Um, and I actually tried to sell them my company at the time. And they were like, no, we're not gonna buy your company. But over time we developed a relationship and they said, you know what, you should come really be a part of what we're building. And I had read enough stories at the time to, you know, you know, think a few steps ahead. And it just felt like all of the stories I had read about about successful entrepreneurs and their path to being there and the lessons they had learned. And I felt like I could be a part of this and contribute to it in a really powerful way, but also learn, you know.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:52

Hit your wagon to people who've done bigger things than you. Of course. About what year was this? So this is in early 2020, uh, 2013. Okay. And um, we started building a cold water surf brand. And we quickly realized after about a year that that wasn't going to work. Turns out the cold water surfing community is very small demographic. Um, and we started working on building a training brand for people who work hard and don't believe in excuses. And that brand became Noble, and we launched in January of 2015.

SPEAKER_01 10:31

And what was your role at the time at Noble?

SPEAKER_03 10:34

Uh, we didn't have titles, you know, it was just three of us. So Marcus and Michael, and they were 20 years my senior, you know, with a wealth of experience in entrepreneurship and you know, shoes. And, you know, footware, yeah, footwear. Um, and you know, what I was really bringing was this kind of scrappy youthful ignorance um in you know, building websites and fulfilling product and using social media and digital content because that those are all the things I had done for my own brand. And it was still like really early on in that process. When I was running my brand, you had to have a college ID to be on Facebook. Instagram didn't even exist. Yeah. Um, so we launched um on Instagram and Facebook pretty much exclusively, which was really the only kind of experience I had. But it it was at a time where it was like critically valuable and it actually became a differentiator for us because the billion-dollar Goliaths in that industry like weren't even on the platform yet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Isn't it wild to think if you just take a step back and realize it? That's only 10 years ago, basically. It's 11 years ago, but like that's 10 years ago. It's nothing like this whole even internet thing, it's a baby. And yet, yeah, here we are in the AI revolution, everyone, you know, talking about all these different things, like it's still so early. Yeah. Even in social, it's it's moving target, but it's just it just kind of smacks you right in the face sometimes on how how early it is.

SPEAKER_03 12:03

Well, that that to me reinforces how important the ability to learn is. Because just because you did something a certain way, you know, three, four, ten years ago does not mean it's going to apply to the future. But your ability to gather, you know, breadcrumbs from that to apply them to whatever the next thing is, yes, is what is the most scalable path forward.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

Yeah, I I totally agree. Uh, because in many ways, everything and nothing has changed. It's still about people, it's still about relationships. Yeah. It's still about, you know, I think people buy things because of uh how they identify about themselves. It's about status. Uh, we can break that down. We talk about brand, but uh yeah, I'm I'm on the same page. Yeah. Yeah. So eventually you built Noble into something pretty significant.

SPEAKER_03 12:55

Yeah. So it started with the three of us. We had been working on it from 2013, and then we ultimately launched in early 2015, and uh, we quickly became this challenger alternative footwear brand to rebock into Nike, who were leading the CrossFit space and the growth there. But then also, it was actually the same month that Nike launched their Nike training category. Um, and we became this brand that rode in the wake of all of this momentum in e-commerce and fitness and training and CrossFit. Um, and the business grew rapidly.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Yeah, I feel like, and you can tell me because you're you're in it. Uh it feels like we've been in this well n wellness era for about a decade. I mean, I'm sure arguably even before that, you know, a long time before that. But at the same time, um these sort of more niche categories of fitness, um, you know, in addition to just the standard running or specific football, basketball, baseball, soccer, et cetera, uh, didn't really exist more a little more than a decade ago, right? And so there was a real I think the timing really played a big difference in the factor there.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Yeah, it was the timing and the growth, um, and then also the virality of how people shared what they were doing and what was working for them in such a way that it became a snowball rolling downhill. And I think, you know, CrossFit was one example of that, also born out of California. But um, there were many other examples of that, and they're now more nuanced and overlapped and growing probably even more rapidly than they were then. Um, but that married with the explosion of e-commerce, um, is what uh just kind of commercialized it in such a way that was a bit more fragmented previously, although it did exist.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

And was it strictly D2C?

SPEAKER_03 14:59

Yeah. So we started as uh direct to consumer, and it was in 2015. Nike put out this strategic plan in their public company. So all this stuff is you can find it, but they put out a strategic plan that was uh how to take Nike.com from 1 billion in sales to 7 billion in sales from 2015 to 2020. And we looked at that as like, wow, if they're remotely successful at this, everybody is gonna be comfortable buying shoes online. Yeah. And we can be an underdog alternative to that. And during that period, we grew, you know, to a multi-hundred million dollar direct-to-consumer challenger brand, uh, you know, to those.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

Yeah, the rising tide, right? It just floats all the all the other boats up top two. Yeah. You don't even need seven billion in sales. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:54

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. And people are always looking for something different. And I think, you know, the um, you know, the thesis of the adoption curve and how innovators and early adopters are seeking new and different things so that they can connect their own identity to it and then, you know, share it with the people around them, um, is, you know, representative of a small piece of a much bigger market. And and we experienced that, and so have many other brands.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

And so you did pretty well there. Uh you you built what was your revenue like when you left Ish?

SPEAKER_03 16:33

You know, was it we were so I oversaw customer acquisition, growth, um, brand, and creative. And we uh and that was from pre-revenue when we, you know, launched to 250 million annually when I stepped away.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

Yeah, not bad. And your title at the time was CMO or? Yep, I was the chief marketing officer there. Let me ask you a CMO question. Do you think the CMO role is going away? I mean, we need someone to oversee the brand and be the brand steward, but like I kind of feel like that role is more of a growth marketer role now, don't you?

SPEAKER_03 17:08

Yeah, and I think that happened pretty rapidly during the same direct-to-consumer explosion. And, you know, to me, marketing is about creating influencing a behavior and creating an action, and brand is about creating a connection or an emotion. Um and they're very different skills, you know, frankly. You know, and and marketing has become more and more analytical and measurable and predictable, and that helps inform leadership and planning and um all of those sorts of things. Um, but functionally it's it's very mechanical in a lot of businesses now. Um, whereas uh brand is what's differentiating um, you know, those who are winning, in my opinion.

unknown 17:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:56

So let's unpack it. So uh to you know, double double question here. The first part of it is what's your definition of a brand or brand? Um and then I want to talk about the while on earth brand.

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Yeah. So to me, a brand is a feeling, you know, and it's not something that you can um place. Uh you know, to me, the a brand is a feeling, and it's not one ingredient of the brand um that defines it, it's a collection of them. And I believe that the strongest brands don't just have a great relationship with their customer, they strengthen the relationship their customer has with themselves.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 18:41

I totally agree.

SPEAKER_01 18:42

Say more about that.

SPEAKER_03 18:44

Uh well, if we think about fitness and moving, movement and wellness as a category that we're so excited about, it is scientifically proven that when you move, there are uh endorphins that are released in your brain that make you feel good. So if you can live at this intersection of that feeling, then you are uh encouraging positivity, you know, and people are willing to invest in that feeling because it's it's the relationship they have with themselves. Um so the brand being the wind in the sails of that self-improvement um is uh an unfair advantage if you can if you can pull it off.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah, I love that description of it. Um it it almost feels like even Pavlovian, like you put on uh, you know, a pair of your shoes and all of a sudden you transform into this person who this is what you know this this is who I am, this is what I do. Um it's more about identity.

SPEAKER_03 19:54

Yeah, I mean footwear, especially in footwear and apparel, I mean, footwear and apparel is an energy.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah. You know? Yeah, and I think um I kind of I kind of got this from uh James Clare's book, uh, The Toma Cap, it's a where he wrote a lot about behavior. So it made me think about when you're saying that, like when I put on my gym shoes, you know, I am someone who goes to the gym to get fit. Or I put on my running shoes, I am someone who runs to feel the wind in my face. Or, you know, like I it you're right, it's like sort of that endorphin feeling, but also it's Pablovian because if I just have my jeans on, let's say, I don't feel ready to move my body as much as when I put on the uniform or the gear that I'm supposed to wear or usually wear when I'm doing that particular activity.

SPEAKER_03 20:43

Yeah, well, you're communicating to yourself and those around you your intention.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah, it's like priming almost. Yeah. Like I'm getting ready for it.

SPEAKER_03 20:52

Yeah. Um, and it it shapes your identity and it shapes your feeling. And um, you know, that's a pretty special opportunity as a business.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Some of the things I've heard about brand that I like, uh sort of a collective of asking 500 different people this question, I really feel like um, you know, definitely your brand is not your logo. Has anything to do with the packaging, the window dressing. Um I feel like once once you leave the room uh and people can experience the the thing that you've created for them, then they get to define the brand, right, in their own way. So they interpret sort of what you've uh created and then the brand lives in them. So if you have a hundred customers, a thousand or a million, you might have that many different representations or um interpretations of what your brand is. You know, depending on who they are, it's a reflection of them and how it makes them feel when they put it on or they step in it, right? Um I also like this idea that a brand is a shorthand for what you stand for. If you kind of close your eyes, Equinox, for example, just launched a string of hotels. Right. If you kind of close your eyes and if you've ever been to an Equinox, you kind of get the vibe of what an Equinox hotel might smell like, feel like, you know, what the experience might be like. You know, um there's probably a lot of really crisp white towels rolled up tightly. There's probably a lot of black and gray. Um you know what I mean? Like so you can sort of visualize it when you close your eyes. That's how you make it how it makes you feel. Um it's that shorthand. Um I also think strong brands are distinct. That they're not better. So, you know, if we think about automobile marketing these days, it's like our engine's got 500 C you know, 500 horsepower. Well, ours has got five hundred and fifty. Well, fine, but like to the consumer, it's still, you know, they're not buying maybe the engine unless they really care about what's that in particular a feature and benefit. It's it's more of um Is it different, not better, right? So to your point, how there's all this fragmentation or even splintering or specialization, maybe is the better word for these particular sports or activities that people are doing, they're gravitating towards your brand because it's distinct and it's specialized to that particular activity. Would you agree?

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Yeah, I absolutely would agree. And that was a huge part of you know, creating the identity for while on Earth. And, you know, it's interesting. We talked about kind of this um chapter of the e-commerce explosion and direct to consumer and the plethora of you know, athleisure lifestyle apparel brands that were born and died during that kind of 10-year decade as things evolved and changed. And, you know, my observation of that was, you know, in some ways, some of these products became commoditized, right? Like we talk about, you know, the energy it creates. Well, there's you know, there are many different options for black tights, you know. So and sneakers. Right, sure. Right. So what's what's going to differentiate you? Yeah. And, you know, when we set out to build while on earth, it wasn't that the logo or the packaging or the colorway or one particular item was going to do it. But we considered each one of those an ingredient in what the ultimate perception or feeling may be. And you can't predict which of those elements are going to connect with each and every person who will interact with the brand over time. Right. Um, but we were thoughtful and meticulous with every single decision because how competitive it is.

SPEAKER_01 24:52

Yeah. So be before, and I'm on the edge of my seat, I want to understand what the Wild on Earth brand is, but before I go there, I have one other question, which is uh how did you leave this high high profile job with such a successful company, you know, quarter billion dollars in revenue, you're the CMO, you know, you're at the top of the mountain. How did you leave that all behind to start this? You know, basically hit the reset button and start all over. Yeah, that was the that's not yeah, that was the that's not um hardest decision of my career without a shadow of a doubt.

SPEAKER_03 25:26

Unconventional path. Yeah, I mean, we had, you know, we were the title sponsor of the NFL Combine. I started my career in sports marketing. That was a dream kind of pinnacle moment. Um, you know, we're title sponsored the crossword games. We had, you know, global Olympians wearing our product. We were growing at nearly a hundred percent at a hundred million for multiple years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:48

I mean, are you crazy? Like uh perhaps, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Um, but you know, businesses go through different stages. Um, and the things that got you through one stage may not get you to the next, or they may actually prevent you from becoming the business that you want to become later. You know, and I was very close in observing, you know, some of the the ways that business was evolving, and um, what were the things that I was most excited about? And what were the things that started me on that journey to begin with, you know, and it take it took a tremendous amount of self-reflection to just kind of connect with myself. And, you know, there were incredible relationships that I had built there over a long period of time at a hundred-person department that I had built and hired every person and had real relationships with. Um, but you know, I remember being on the field at the NFL Combine on the 50-yard line and thinking like everything that I hoped to accomplish when we set out on this journey over a decade ago, we've done. And it was a very kind of lonely feeling, to be honest with you. And as we grew and became more high profile and we had a lot of you know, notoriety at the time, um, it was uh it was a lot less fulfilling than the actual climb, yeah, you know, and the build. And those were the things I loved. And my role as the CMO was largely to be the spokesperson for the brand and the direction we were going in, and then helping others execute it. And I love to execute it too. Um, and I love to get my hands dirty and have a real relationship with the audience and the customer, and then take those insights and make sure that the things that we're doing are living up to what we feel like the customer needs and wants and loves from the brand. Yeah. And that became harder to do as we grew. And I also just had this something inside me, you know, that was just burning up inside of me. And, you know, it was there was this one moment where um I was cleaning out the basement. This is like in COVID, you know, when you're just desperate to do something. So I was cleaning out the basement and I opened up this Tupperware, you know, storage bin, and on the top of it was my senior thesis from college. And the senior thesis that I wrote was titled How to Start a Brand in a Competitive Industry.

SPEAKER_02 28:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 28:39

And I sat on the bottom steps of our unfinished basement and I just skimmed through it. And I had been wrestling with like what was next for me and what was going to light me up and fulfill me and you know, be this next chapter of growth, whether it be at Noble or not. And I read and discovered this thesis, and it just reminded me that I have been on this journey all along. And there were chapters before Noble, and there will be chapters after Noble. And maybe I'm now ready to pursue uh building something that um I wasn't ready to do when I started that first brand back in college. Yeah. Um and I I had also seen so much change in the fitness and wellness and training economy. And I felt like there was a white space to build a brand for the modern customer.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

Well, we're we're full circle back to purpose, you know. Um, and it does look like there's this pattern in your life where you're sunsetting uh ideas, you're comfortable with that. And then on to the next chapter. And these are just chapters. So now let's ask, you know, so what is the while on earth brand?

SPEAKER_03 30:00

Yeah. So while on earth is a performance wellness brand as we describe it. And we make athletic footwear and apparel for fitness and wellness enthusiasts. The ethos of our brand is that time is our most valuable currency and how we use it is what shapes who we become and uh with our time on earth. So while on earth. And um our mission is to inspire people to reach their full potential through movement.

SPEAKER_01 30:30

I love that. Very succinct. Uh you're right. I mean, we get about 4,000 weeks, we get about 77 summers uh here on the earth, you know, and that's the average lifespan. It's crazy. Uh some people live longer, some people don't. But yeah, it's like you got one shot. And so where do you fit in the market? How do you define performance wellness? Like it's a beautiful term, but like it seems like I could take that and slap it on or try to imitate that easily. How how do you define it?

SPEAKER_03 31:06

Yeah, great question. So we create performance product. So we aspire to create the best high-performing athletic footwear apparel in the world. And we are on the path to do it. We have some great products that we've started with and many more that are coming. So we make performance product. Um, and the definition of wellness and how we married performance with wellness and performance wellness is just that there has been this kind of radical explosion, like you and I have talked about, around you know, self-betterment and self-improvement through all different vehicles: sleep, nutrition, meditation, contrast therapy, low-intensity training, walking, you know, endurance running, and then all of the kind of nuances that flow beneath all of them. And we want and we believe that all of those ingredients are things that people can use to be a better version of themselves. Um, so we wanted to build a brand that spoke that language. And we also feel that by incorporating those practices into your life, you can live a healthier and happier life. And that's ultimately what we want to inspire and the energy that we want to create through our footwear and apparel. Um, but not in this amorphous, unclear six trillion dollar wellness economy way. That's a great way to get lost and have absolutely no traction. So to us, performance wellness is not just the absence of illness, it's the pursuit of reaching your full potential. And movement is the vehicle to do that, in our opinion.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

And our products are created for that. Yeah. A lot of people watch the show, you know, they have their own brands or they're thinking about this great idea, maybe they're tinkering the garage on something. Did you struggle at all with a naming convention or you know, all of that? Because communicating your ethos is it's not easy, right? Um, you've also got a three-word uh name instead of a one-word name. You know, if you think of some of the bigger players in the footwear space, um, they're one or two words. You've got three now. Um did you have other iterations that you played with? Uh I'm curious like what what you what was on the board and you were narrowing it down in the middle of the yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:40

Yeah, well, even yeah, no, for sure. I think there's this conventional naming ordinance that something has to be really short and a max of one or two syllables, um, so that it's shareable and easy to remember and punchy and all these things. And we space its place. Absolutely. I mean, we we even had that was noble, right? It's it's short and it has an edge and it has all these things. Or rebuck, you know, it's like sure. What does that even not even mean? But it's memorable, right? Right. Um, and there's absolutely some truth to that, but the most important thing to us is that we wanted the name to have meaning and we wanted it to be memorable and we wanted it to leave a taste in your mouth that you're thinking about beyond just your immediate interaction with the product and have a call to action.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:28

You know, and create virality and word of mouth. And because of that, that was like the number one must-have is meaning.

SPEAKER_01 34:36

And by the way, because it's different with three words, it also then becomes distinct, right? It's like, oh, you know, we're not that one-word, you know, punchy Greek or you know, whatever made up word. It's like we're more intentional, uh, we say what we mean. Yeah. And then then you also be sort of set apart. So that's another strategy to becoming memorable or distinct. I think that's a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 34:59

Yeah, absolutely. And like, you know, truthfully, you know, I I joke about this because they're an iconic brand that we it look up to, but you know, if you can name a brand Lululemon, you can name a brand anything, you know, so long as you create meaning in it. And they've done that such a phenomenal way with through the products they create and you know, all the things they've done. Um, but we felt like it was about what we do with the name that matters more than what the name is. So we we created, we went on the soul searching exercise of what is this going to be. And we had any number of different options that were short or were long or what have you. Um give me a couple of the runner-up names, do you remember? Uh one of them was called obsessed. Okay. Um, just you know, the you know, passion is required to pursue things. Uh, another one was called Thieves of Doubt. Okay. So if you've heard the saying, um comparison is the thief of joy. Yeah. Thieves of doubt, you know, the work that you put in, the dedication you have and your commitment is what removes doubt. Yeah. So thieves of doubt was a was another one. Yeah. Um, and we had a variety of others. Um, but while on Earth, as soon as it kind of came on the bull came up on the board on the, you know, on the table around the table, we never really turned back.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

I love it. Um I I love playing around names too. And I I have this um uh idea for a future clothing brand that I will create probably in the next 10 to 20 years. We'll see. Um and it's uh it's a fiercely remember the um oh gosh, what what's the uh oh remember no fear? Mm-hmm. So uh in the vein of a no fear, but like think 20 years in the future. Um the acronym is T-O-M-A. So it's Toma The Tears of My Adversaries. So it's a very like Yeah, love the jab there. Yeah, but no, I it's fun to play around naming conventions. It's very difficult to come up with something meaningful. It's sort of I'm I'm telling you just go telling tongue in cheek because I have a hundred different ideas for different products um that I like to dabble in in my garage and some fizzle out, some put it on a shelf. Yeah, some I buy the domain name. Yep. Um anyway, that's fun. Uh yeah, naming is tough uh because you're stuck with it, right? It's hard to you know pivot. It's also the longer it is it's hard to print on a label or a you know, but it's I think you guys have chosen a good path because it is very distinct. It's it's unlike anything else. It says what you mean. Um, it's it feels very clear, at least to me, um, and the implication of hey, time is short, you know, make the best of it. I think that's what you're implying.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

Right. It's a call to action. Call me action. It's a reminder. Yeah. And we also created, because it is longer, we created uh a logo that we call the pathway mark, um, which is a reminder to uh leave your mark as you find your way, yeah, you know, with your time.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

And so you have um some other people involved in the brand, some professional athletes, talk about their involvement and how how that's been going. Like, was that pretty easy to attract that kind of attention, or was it, you know, uh talk to people who are thinking about doing either deals, partnerships, or bringing people in with equity on the on the on the table, yeah. Uh how that goes.

SPEAKER_03 38:32

Yeah, well, for sure. I mean, for one thing, you know, the biggest lesson I learned from that brand I started at the in college was that you can't do it alone. You know, it's lonely, it's frustrating, it's hard enough as it is. It takes a team. Um, so as I considered leaving Noble, you know, I knew that I was not gonna try to do this alone, that we were gonna build, you know, a really strong foundation of expertise that would serve us for the long term. Um, and I was fortunate enough to have three of my top team members from Noble come over with me uh as operators and executives in the business. And that's been absolutely incredible. We wouldn't be here without them. Um, and we wanted to be able to have authentic, organic amplification of what our ethos is embodied through athletes. Um, so we started the brand with five-time CrossFit Games uh world champion Matt Fraser and 10-time CrossFit Games uh athlete Brooke Wells, who was the original female athlete at Noble. So her and I had worked together from when she had 2,000 followers to now she has, you know, over 2 million. Um and that gave us real authenticity within a you know very important functional fitness audience that had been built over 10 years. Matt was the original Nike training athlete, and we talked about how big of an influence they had on the market. Um and we knew we wanted to have a broader, more mainstream appeal to the brand. So as we were building out the structure for the organization, I had always earmarked space for who would be the kind of non-endemic face of this business and help us kind of accelerate through the awareness phases of starting something new. And fortunately, based on some relationships that I had in the sports industry, um, was able to pursue who I felt was the perfect face for our business. And that's Christian McCaffrey. And we announced him as a co-founder very early on. And over the last, you know, six to eight months that he's been, you know, publicly with us, it's been totally transformative.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

What are some what's some advice you can give other people about working with professionals for the cabal of Christian? I mean, that's top of the top.

SPEAKER_03 41:05

Yeah, it's gotta be, it's gotta be a real relationship because you're giving up equity in the business. And especially at an early stage, like he left, you know, a long-term relationship with Nike to be a part of while on Earth. And, you know, he was a runner-up for MVP this year, and he was uh comeback player of the year. Um, he has a world of opportunity out there. Um, and you know, you don't want to, you know, just be, you don't want to have some sort of transactional relationship. Right. And so often in the kind of influencer creator economy, there's this uh direct response expectation of these type of you know partnerships.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Yeah, it's cloud chasing.

SPEAKER_03 41:55

Yeah, and and the customer can see that. Yeah, you know, and it's going to cost you something no matter who you're working with. Um, but if you're trying to build something meaningful and lasting, be patient and build something that's really authentic. And, you know, I was very fortunate in that, you know, Christian's an extremely open-minded and bright person and was willing to even consider, you know, something like this. And we had an almost four-hour meeting on his back deck. Um, this is last off season, where, you know, I was able to, you know, pitch him on the vision that I had for what we were building and how he could be a part of it and where I saw this, you know, not you know, two years from now, but 10 years from now. And, you know, paint a picture of what we can build and do as a team. And, you know, I think in and it's different per different sector, whether it's tech or what have you, but you know, there's all sorts of, you know, these kind of like high growth stories of, you know, direct-to-consumer brands and you know, venture-backed and private equity and all this stuff. And it becomes, you know, really like just headline chasing, if you will. Yeah. Um, and you know, I've been a part of a lot of really exciting, successful moments in time that have received some of that. But I always felt like to build something meaningful, it starts with people, product, and process. Um, and we're really careful about who's a part of this team because it's the foundation that we're laying. It's it's real, it's real world building.

SPEAKER_01 43:38

Yeah. What's what's Christian good at that we might not intuitively know off the bat? I mean, obviously he's a machine. When it comes to like his fitness and discipline, I've seen all the videos and just like his workout regimen where he's like almost like I've seen him like um almost look like he's leaping like a cheetah over things. I mean, he's just incredible the weight training and the Strength and fitness, mobility. But what's something in uh that we might not know he's good at?

SPEAKER_03 44:04

Uh great question. I mean, it's almost like what is he not good at? Um, and I'm actually out here in LA this week because we're doing several days of product testing on all sorts of new things. So he and I have been together testing product in the gym for eight hours a day the last few days, which is my favorite part of the job. Um, but what is Christian good at? I mean, he's just so naturally athletic that even when we're hanging around the house or we're on the football field and a soccer ball rolls by, he can, you know, paint the corner of the soccer net. And I'm like, well, that was abnormally athletic. Built different. Yeah, built different. But I would say um he plays the piano, which is something I don't know if everybody knows. So um, in the announcement campaign that we made with Christian, he played the piano, which was the music for the campaign. He played Claire de Loon, which is um just an iconic classic, my favorite classical song. Um, and even just you know, a few weeks ago, we're at the Super Bowl, and uh Zach Bryan, who's uh you know, a great, you know, newer artist, uh his pianist was sick. Um, and he texted Christian, he said, Can you play the piano in my concert tonight?

SPEAKER_01 45:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 45:18

And uh Christian was like, I don't know the songs, but he was out there playing the piano with Zach Bryant. So but he's just a really um sophisticated person. Yeah. Um, and he approaches everything he does with a level of meticulous attention to detail, um, which has served him, you know, of course, professionally as as you know, the best player in the NFL, yeah um, but in in other areas of his life as well.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

That's so interesting. Uh as we wrap things up, you know, um, a lot of people don't like to talk about the F-word failure. Uh, you know, depends how you frame it. You can you know, there's this idea of sometimes you win and sometimes you learn. Um, but in that context of like mistakes or things that you have learned from in order to get to where you are now, what would you say were a couple of the key uh missteps with while on earth to get you to where you are now? And then kind of bring us up to speed and help us understand. I mean, uh you you left something that was 250 million to start something new, but uh let's start with the failures and mistakes. What l what lessons?

SPEAKER_03 46:27

Yeah, well I would say like um a failed adventure or a failed project, it doesn't make a failed entrepreneur. You know, I I think there's a really important understanding of that. Otherwise, most people would never try anything.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:47

Um and you have to be okay with that, you know, because it's not the ultimate outcome, it's who you become along the way. And that's the part that is immeasurable. And over the course of my career, I suffered tremendously from what's called a rival fallacy, which was I didn't go to an Ivy League school, I didn't, you know, have an MBA and all these, you know, accolades to become the CMO of a high growth brand. I just did it. And I learned all along the way. And I believed that I was capable of doing it, which is just because you haven't done something yet doesn't mean you're not capable of doing it in the future. Um, and a rival fallacy is this belief that once you accomplish this thing or that thing, you will feel this sense of fulfillment that you've been chasing. And it's not until you accomplish it that you realize it doesn't provide that. And what was providing it was the pursuit.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:51

You know, so for me, it is all about the pursuit.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

There's always one more peak beyond the hill that you just climbed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:58

Right. And that gives me peace. With I don't know what the ultimate outcome will be. All I know is that I'm going to wake up every day and try to do the best I can in that moment based on all the information I have at the time to lead our business forward for all the interests of everybody involved and our ult and our customer ultimately. Um, and that's enough.

SPEAKER_01 48:24

Yeah. And so any key missteps um along the way that were these really good, you know, learning experiences?

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Uh well, I would say tons of uh learnings from Noble, you know, and especially as we grew and got to some of those later stages, you know, maybe there was things we could have done differently to kind of help sustain that in a more longer-term way. Um, I would also um point out that, you know, what was really challenging then was to grow outside of our core demographics. We started as this hardcore training brand for people who work hard and don't believe in excuses. And we really did saturate that market over the course of 10 years. And then what happened ultimately was that harsh identity became alienating for people who were on other types of, you know, wellness journeys. Right.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Um not that hardcore.

SPEAKER_03 49:20

Right. But you know what? You are meditating three days a week and you know, walking, you know, 10 miles, you know, a week or what have you.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:29

And those are really healthy practices. Yeah. And they're lowering your cortisol and you're managing your central nervous system better than those who were training so hard. Yeah. You know, so there's all these different types of, you know, pursuit that are really healthy that we want to encourage for people. And we wanted to build a brand that had the largest addressable market out there within movement and wellness. And we built while on earth to do that.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

Uh, so you guys launched 2023, 2024? We launched in late 24. Okay. And so give us some context of where you are now, uh, basically 24 months later.

SPEAKER_03 50:08

Yeah, not even, not quite. So eight, we are 18 months since we sold our first pair of shoes. Um, we are in hyper growth mode. Still D D C. Still D D C. We have a couple specialty retailers we work with and helps us just, you know, get the product physically in front of people so we can learn what that uh is like. But uh primarily direct to consumer. We're in hyper growth mode. We have one core footwear franchise, which is called the Move Trainer, which is your all-purpose fitness shoe. Um, you know, can stand up to the most hardcore workouts in the world, but it's going to be extremely comfortable and be versatile and look great in or outside of the gym. And we're expanding on that footwear uh product line throughout 2026 with running, which will launch in May, and then with more training products that we've created with Christian um in August. And then we're supporting that footwear um with really great um apparel um that will grow alongside it as well.

SPEAKER_01 51:09

So final words, leave maybe some words of advice for um aspiring or peer-to-peer, you know, um founder, CEO, CMO, C-suite people and building this brand.

SPEAKER_03 51:21

Don't lose touch with the customer. Personally, you know, for me, I spend as much time in the gym in these environments where the customer is using the product. You know, the the case studies and the polls and the surveys are great, but they are in support of truly understanding how your end user is using your product so that you can make their lives better. And that's where you win.

SPEAKER_00 51:50

I mean, we were just sitting back, you know, chopping it up, reminiscing about the good old days and all that. You know, tracking my roots, where I came from and where I'm going. But like I say, man, I say, man. Always city. It's not about the destination. It's all about the journey. It's all about the journey, but we turn it. Ain't nothing changed with the weather, but the weather. The dangling carry that aim from the river. Your dreams in the past ain't nowhere to be gone. Back speed drivers got nothing but two cents. Shotgun riders, two fire, stay all liars. I should get an A fore, but I'm too tired, but I'm never giving up. That's why I'm kinda admired. Role model, like it or not, I gotta play it. Sugar cook the rhyme sometimes, but still stay. Said I was quitting that 40 is just a fib. I'm still a kid, it's wiping the food off of my fib. Whoever wanted something so bad that you can taste it, just cry.