Nov 25, 2019 · 1h 5m · how-i-built-this
Outdoor Voices: Tyler Haney
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of NPR's 'How I Built This,' host Guy Raz interviews Outdoor Voices founder Tyler Haney, charting her journey from a casual jogger with an unconventional activewear concept to building a multi-million-dollar recreational apparel brand. Haney discusses overcoming initial manufacturing failures, venture capital skepticism, and rapid retail scaling by championing the joyful spirit of '#DoingThings' over hyper-competitive athletic culture.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 33.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 4.8 Guest teaching 2.1 Guest disagreement 1.1 Guy pushing back 1.3
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 8:17 Haney clarifies the recreational athlete concept
Haney directly pushes back on Raz's comparison to the movie Dodgeball and 'Average Joe's', refining her brand philosophy around self-competition versus winning.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 56:07 Raz probes board dynamic and governance tensionRaz directly challenges Haney on managing board tension, asking if veteran male retail executives like Mickey Drexler ever tried to talk down to her.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 44:29 Haney details the blind spot of male venture capitalistsHaney explains to Raz how male VCs were conditioned only to recognize hyper-competitive branding until she bypassed them by sending product directly to their partners.
Guy holds their own ▶ 38:37 Raz cites Sara Blakely on big retail complianceRaz leverages insights from his interview with Spanx founder Sara Blakely to highlight the intense logistical and packaging pitfalls of fulfilling major enterprise department store orders.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Market Positioning: Finding a Differentiated Niche in Saturated Markets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Host monologue framing the competitive athleisure landscape and drawing business analogies to Clif Bar and RXBAR. | |
| From Parsons Design School to the West Side Highway Epiphany | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Raz guides Haney through her background at Parsons and the pivotal jogging moment that reignited her passion for movement. | |
| Challenging Performance Culture and Conceptualizing Recreational Fitness | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | Raz proposes a Dodgeball 'Average Joe's Gym' analogy which Haney reframes around recreational mindset versus high-intensity pressure. | |
| Designing the First Kit and Defining the Material Aesthetic | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Haney details the inception of the crop top and two-tone legging kit, explaining how tactile fabric choices separate daily recreation from shiny synthetic activewear. | |
| Hunting for Technical Fabrics at the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Raz brings up Chip Wilson's deep manufacturing experience at Lululemon to question how a novice like Haney navigated trade shows like Outdoor Retailer. | |
| Developing Proprietary Fabric and Managing an East Village Bunk Bed Studio | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Haney describes receiving sample headers from Stefan and turning her East Village bunk bed into a fabric storage unit. | |
| Midtown Garment District Prototyping and Initial Production Failures | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Haney shares the trial-and-error process of working with Midtown fashion factory Sunshine, culminating in disastrous prototypes with popping seams. | |
| Mastering Flatlock Stitching in El Monte and Early Micro-Testing | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Haney explains discovering flatlock stitching in South El Monte and micro-testing durable prototypes among roommates and running companions. | |
| Naming the Brand: Outdoor Voices and the Spirit of Play | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | Raz and Haney share a lighthearted exchange about parenting phrases and how 'outdoor voices' captured childlike play. | |
| Magic Las Vegas Debut and the Breakthrough Garbstore Order | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Haney describes taking 200 units to Magic in Las Vegas and landing her first boutique wholesale purchase order from London's Garbstore. | |
| The Game-Changing J.Crew Partnership and Leaving the Day Job | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Raz cites Spanx founder Sara Blakely when pressing Haney on the logistical hurdles and compliance involved in fulfilling J.Crew's massive 11,000-unit order. | |
| Pitching Silicon Valley VCs and Securing Institutional Seed Funding | 6 | 3 | 2 | 2 | Haney discusses the male-dominated VC climate that overlooked recreational wear until she gifted kits directly to the investors' partners. | |
| Transitioning to DTC, Dog Jogs, and the Austin Flagship Store | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Haney recounts pivoting to DTC, organizing viral dog jogs in New York, and discovering the recreational culture of Austin for the flagship store. | |
| The Man Repeller Collaboration and Viral Endorsement by Lena Dunham | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Haney describes the organic celebrity endorsement from Lena Dunham wearing the Man Repeller kit on the set of Girls. | |
| Series A/B Expansion, Board Dynamics, and Mickey Drexler's Role | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3 | Raz pushes on whether Haney experienced patronizing behavior or executive conflict with veteran male board members like Mickey Drexler. | |
| Balancing Executive Leadership, Pregnancy, and Personal Resilience | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | Haney reflects on navigating pregnancy as a fast-growing tech CEO and battling founder self-doubt with unrelenting persistence. | |
| Interview Conclusion and Transition to How You Built That | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Show wrap-up and Beth Finbo's guest feature on inventing the Busy Baby Mat. |
Statements from this episode (21)
The future of athletics is consistency, not competition
“For me, I realized that the future of athletics wasn't about being there first, but about being there most frequently and consistently,”
Outdoor Voices' first two product sketches remain its best sellers
“The crop top and the two-tone legging, which are some of our best sellers today, are the first two things I sketched.”
Outdoor Voices launched with fabric passed over by Nike and Lululemon
“Stefan, he and his team were constantly making new materials to present to the likes of the Nikes and Underembers and Lulus, so they had created a material kind of at a similar time that they ended up showing me and maybe they had shown it to the other compani…”
New York's Garment District factories initially refused to manufacture activewear
“Most of them, almost all of them, only made high-end fashion product, so they weren't wanting to make activewear”
Haney's first 10 Outdoor Voices apparel samples cost roughly $1,000
“It wasn't that expensive. 10 samples, I think, probably cost me a thousand dollars, but it was all money that I was collecting from having a full-time job.”
Founders should keep their day jobs as long as possible
“I was intent on keeping my job as long as possible and I think that's something that I'd recommend for people in, in the startup space or wanting to create something. Hold on to that job as long as you possibly can.”
Outdoor Voices produced 200 initial units for $5,000
“After that initial run of 10, I think I paid 5000 dollars to get 200 units, or 200 tops and bottoms made so that I could show up to this trade show.”
Haney fulfilled five of seven initial trade show purchase orders
“I think I left with seven purchase orders, and I ended up fulfilling five, and so financially I was able to make it happen from savings.”
J.Crew placed a massive $500,000 initial purchase order with Outdoor Voices
“It was 500,000 dollars. A 500,000 dollar purchase order.”
Outdoor Voices raised $400,000 in months to fulfill J.Crew's massive order
“I think I raised within two to two and a half months, 400 K, which was more than I needed to fulfill that 500 K order.”
Angel investor Kal Vepuri invested up to $50,000 from a cold pitch
“There was a guy named Cal Vipuri, who I remember reading a ton about, and so I went to him, knocked on his door and said, hey, this is what I'm doing would love for you to put 25 to fifty-k in, and he did.”
J.Crew sold through 50% of Outdoor Voices inventory in week one
“It did phenomenally, and so I think within the first week, they had already sold through 50% of the product.”
19 of 25 VCs responded to Haney's student email cold outreach
“Of the 25, let's see, I would say probably 19 got back to me.”
General Catalyst's Peter Boyce led Outdoor Voices' seed round
“Yeah, Peter Boyce from General Catalyst. General Catalyst is a big VC. You're probably familiar with him out of Boston. He saw the product, saw the pitch, had gotten product on his girlfriend, Natalia. She loved it, and he said, I love this concept. I want to …”
Offline community gatherings are the best driver of word-of-mouth marketing
“Back to when I was initially starting the product, I had always brought these groups of people together to do an activity, and at this stage, I started realizing that this offline kind of gathering of community was really the best way to drive word of mouth, a…”
Outdoor Voices spent $150,000 to build its Austin flagship store
“So we spent a 150,000 dollars to build out our first store in Austin, Texas.”
Lena Dunham organically endorsed Outdoor Voices while filming 'Girls'
“And pretty quickly after that launched, got a post in from Lena Dunham in this kit, the man repeller kit. And she had been running for the first time on the set of Girls, something for the episode. And on Instagram, she had a caption that said, I've never been…”
Former J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler joined Outdoor Voices as chairman
“We've been lucky with the funding and engagement around the brand to have Mickey Drexler from J. Crew actually joined as the chairman of the board in 2016.”
CEOs must take control and not listen to all board voices
“To be a CEO, you have to learn how to take control and not necessarily listen to all the voices around the table.”