TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie explains why he turned to AI therapy tools to manage middle-of-the-night anxiety episodes.
Insight
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…”
Disclosure
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.”
Insight
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…”
Insight
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…”
Disclosure
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…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Blake Mycoskie started TOMS with just $3,000 in initial capital
“But I mean, Tom's, the entire company has started at 3000 dollars.”