Blake Mycoskie
Founder, ENOUGH. On 2 shows, 3 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
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Blake Mycoskie is the founder of TOMS Shoes and creator of the "One for One" giving model, which he detailed in his book Start Something That Matters. Today, he leads the lifestyle brand ENOUGH and hosts the No Magic Pill podcast.
2shows
3appearances
43statements
11resolved
8supported
1contradicted
73%fully supported
44said about them ↓ Everything Blake Mycoskie said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Hiring big-company executives for scaling is 'the biggest bunch of bullshit'
“Once you grow and you get to a certain size, you need experts. That's the biggest bunch of bullshit ever. I mean, literally like the number of people that I brought in to Tom's later, like once we were like a couple hundred million dollar business that quote h…”
Blake Mycoskie lost $3.5M on Huberman-advised habit startup Madefor
“I started a habit formation company called Made For with a good friend of mine Navy SEAL, amazing. We had Andrew Huberman as one of our advisors. Like, it was locked and loaded, and I put three and a half million dollars in it. Zero today.”
Industry experience limits founder innovation by reinforcing existing rules
“I don't think that having experience in an industry makes you more likely to have success. Because when you have experience, you kind of know the rules, so you don't have, like, the courage to break them. And you're limited. You already start with a set of bel…”
AI therapy fills a critical gap for off-hours 4 AM panic attacks
“And one of the things that's really a bummer with therapy is if I have a panic attack, it doesn't happen at two o'clock on a Thursday, two o'clock on a Thursday. It happens at four fucking in the morning. And my therapist, I don't care how much money you have,…”
TOMS manufactures over 40% of its donated shoes in recipient countries
“Back in 2000, I think it was, no, 12, actually, we made a pledge to manufacture as many shoes as we could in the countries that we give in, and today, we're manufacturing over 40% of our giving shoes in countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, India you know, lots of d…”
Mycoskie: For-profit giving models are more sustainable than charitable donation drives
“Dependent on other people's donations, and what if they don't do it, and, you know, that doesn't seem like a very sustainable way to give these kids shoes, and then that led to, you know, well, what if there was a business, you know, instead of a charity and d…”
Hire creatives for distinct personal style rather than general taste
“I care more about someone having a sense of style than taste, and I don't care if it's my style or not. Like, they could be hardcore cowboy. Great. But if they lean into it, and like, that's them, I respect that. You know, or they're really into, you know, vin…”
Hundreds of cold calls to celebrity advocates yielded only six partners
“You can think of any mental health celebrity, any celebrity that has had a mental health challenge that has talked publicly about it, or any Olympic athlete that has a huge platform about mental health. I have cold called every single one of them now, and I on…”
Sunset Boulevard billboard prices are driven by studio ego, not CPMs
“Because there's no way that could make sense. On a, you know, cost per thousand or an advertising metric. I mean, there's just not enough people that drive on sunset is what I was thinking. And so the reason that I basically came up with in my mind was it had …”
Pitch property owners an established business, never just an 'idea'
“The thing you don't ever want to do, especially when you're 22 years old, and you're trying to talk to, like, 50 and sixty-year-old people who own apartment complexes, you don't want to use the word idea. Because if it's just an idea, then it's like, you're no…”
Mycoskie exclusively hired part-time models and actors for online driver's ed
“And the best way I could figure out to do that was I hired only models and actors and actresses part time.”
Business models are more sustainable than relying on recurring charitable donations
“That's, once again, dependent on other people's donations, and what if they don't do it, and, you know, that doesn't seem like a very sustainable way to give these kids shoes, and then that led to, you know, well, what if there was a business, you know, instea…”
TOMS pioneered the one-for-one giving business model in the fashion industry
“No fashion company or shoe company had ever, like, given something away every time they sold it”
Mycoskie admits early TOMS shoes were poor quality; charity drove sales
“Yeah, I mean, in the early days, I think that's the primary driver of why people bought Toms. The shoes were, frankly, not that good a quality. They didn't last as long as we had hoped they would. I mean, you know, they were different, they were stylish, et ce…”
TOMS scaled revenue from $300K to $450M in its first seven years
“At that point, we were, I mean, we did the first year in business, I want to say we did about 300,000. In the second year, we did about three million. And the third year, we did Like, fifteen million, and the fourth year we went to, like, sixty million. Wow. I…”
Blake Mycoskie: Never pitch property owners by calling your proposal an 'idea'
“The thing you don't ever want to do, especially when you're 22 years old, and you're trying to talk to, like, 50 and sixty-year-old people who own apartment complexes, you don't want to use the word idea. Because if it's just an idea, then it's like, you're no…”
Mycoskie: Drivers Ed Direct hired only actors and models as driving instructors
“And the best way I could figure out to do that was I hired only models and actors and actresses part time.”
Mycoskie: TOMS was the first fashion company with a one-for-one model
“No fashion company or shoe company had ever, like, given something away every time they sold it”
Mycoskie: Early TOMS shoes were low quality and lacked durability
“The shoes were, frankly, not that good of quality. They didn't last as long as we had hoped they would.”
Mycoskie: TOMS scaled from $300k to $60M revenue in four years
“The first year in business, I want to say we did about 300,000. In the second year, we did about three million. And the third year, we did Like, fifteen million, and the fourth year we went to, like, sixty million.”
Mycoskie: TOMS reached $450M in annual sales within seven years
“We went from basically from zero to four hundred and fifty million dollars in sales on an annual basis in, like, seven years.”
Mycoskie: TOMS manufactures over 40% of giving shoes in recipient countries
“But ultimately, back in 2000, I think it was, no, 12, actually, we made a pledge to manufacture as many shoes as we could in the countries that we give in, and today, we're manufacturing over 40% of our giving shoes in countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, India you…”
Mycoskie: Committed half of personal wealth to investing in social entrepreneurs
“We made a real conscious decision to take half of it and commit it to investing in social entrepreneurs, so that's a big part of my life now is actually investing in the next generation as a way to solve problems that, that we are faced with”
The other half of the tape: Blake Mycoskie's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 38 times in 6 episodes across the shows. 6 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Guy Raz 22Paige Mycoskie 16
Statements about Blake Mycoskie, by other people (6)
Mycoskie: We lost The Amazing Race by four minutes
“We ended up losing the race by four minutes and In the end, and I always joke with him that he owes me a million dollars, and he agrees.”
TOMS took zero outside investment until selling 50% to private equity
“Back in 2014, Blake sold half of the company to a private equity group. Up until then, Tom's had never had a single investor.”
Blake Mycoskie bootstrapped TOMS without investors before selling 50% to private equity
“Back in 2014, Blake sold half of the company to a private equity group. Up until then, Tom's had never had a single investor.”
Blake Mycoskie sold his shoe brand TOMS for $600 million
“Least interesting thing about you is that you sold your company for six hundred million bucks.”
Raz: Paige Mycoskie designed the logo for Blake's company, TOMS
“Paige actually designed the logo for Blake's company, Tom's.”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 38
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2024 32 mentions in 1 episode
2023 2 mentions in 2 episodes 1 per episode
2020 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Blake's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder, ENOUGH | 2 | 30 | 67% 6/9 | full record on How I Built This → |
 BIGDEALLEDGER | Founder, ENOUGH | 1 | 13 | 100% 2/2 | full record on BigDeal → |