Everything Peter Sterios said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Manduka's original yoga mat material was engineered as AstroTurf underlayment
“This mat was engineered as the backing for AstroTurf to be durable and to have a certain amount of stretch, but not too much stretch, and a certain amount of cushion, but not too Soft, not too cushiony. And in the same factory that, that the carpet underlaymen…”
Manduka operated without premium yoga mat competitors for three years
“I mean, for years, first three years, I was the only person in that space.”
Manduka's acquirers paid Sterios for two years without ever calling him
“At the end of three years, they stopped communicating with me, and the last two years of my employment with them, they paid me, and they never called me, which is the way it happens, I guess, sometimes.”
Sterios funded Manduka's first $25,000 order using 0% credit card checks
“And I, we were remodeling our house, 80,000 dollars in debt with credit card debt, and the way I was funding
The house remodel was at a time when credit cards had these things called convenience checks, where you could get an advance of 10 to 20,000 dollars fo…”
Sterios seeded Manduka's launch by gifting 75 mats to celebrity teachers
“I gave 75 mats for free to every celebrity yoga teacher I knew.”
Manduka priced its early mats at $65 against a $15 market
“You get them for like 15 bucks. And these were like 60, 65 dollars was the advertised price.”
Manduka's first Yoga Journal print ad caused weekly sales to double
“The first week that ad ran, we doubled sales, and then three weeks later, we're still doubling every week our sales, and it got to the point where that first year, I think we were on back order for three months out of 12, just because we couldn't keep up, and …”
German factory required Manduka to finance 100% of inventory before shipping
“In the early days, I had to pay half at the time of order, and half at the shipping date. So basically, I had to pay a hundred percent of that inventory before it even left Germany, or on the day that it left Germany.”
Manduka's acquisition closed just one month before the 2008 financial crash
“It took a year. From that moment in the warehouse to the day we signed on the dotted line, and it was unbelievable timing, because a month after we signed, the whole economy collapsed”
Manduka operated without a dedicated sales department for six years
“I didn't have a sales department until year six, I think.”
Sterios's napkin-drawn frog logo survived four generations of VC ownership
“I drew that frog on a napkin, and that frog symbol has survived, you know, four venture capital groups, and I'm seeing it in some little village in Spain.”
How I Built This 1