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Caspar Coppetti

Co-Founder and Executive Co-Chairman, On · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

founderexecutiveon.com ↗

In 2010, Coppetti co-founded the Swiss sportswear company On alongside Olivier Bernhard and David Allemann, helping build it into a publicly traded global running brand. He previously worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company and as Chief Strategy Officer at Young & Rubicam.

17statements → 9claims → 6claims resolved → 67%fully supported → 4/5average certainty → 1.53/5average debate potential → 1said about them ↓

4 supported 2 partly supported 0 contradicted 3 not checkable as stated how the 9 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

9 assertions · 1 insight · 7 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 9 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, and 3 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Caspar argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
On had roughly 160 million in revenue when Roger Federer approached
“At the time we were about a hundred sixty million in revenues.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:04:11 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
none yet certainty 3
90% certainty 4
50% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: not measured why? →

We measure speaking style by listening to the audio itself, and a fair number needs at least 2,000 words from one person on tape we have measured. There is too little of Caspar Coppetti on measured tape to publish a rate. This says nothing about how they speak.

Everything Caspar Coppetti said on How I Built This that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Disclosure
Coppetti conditioned joining On on ousting co-creator George Brunsweiler
“And so I made a pretty bold move and said, yes, I'm going to get involved, but without you, George.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 31:27 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Disclosure
On founders faced mandatory share forfeiture for any side income
“We actually wrote in our shareholders agreement, and it lived there all the way through the IPO. We put down this thing when if someone, someone of us took another job or, you know, even like a side hustle or any income from any other source, we would have to …”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 34:42 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Insight
Coppetti: Trying to compete directly with Nike is suicide
“And frankly, you know, if you look at the Under Armour story, to try to compete directly with Nike is suicide.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 55:35 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Not checkable as stated
On's partnership agreement with Roger Federer fit on a single page
“Literally our agreement fit on one page. And it had none of the usual clauses, like no minimum days that he has to you know, spend with us. No, no licensing fee, nothing.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:05:00 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Disclosure
On launched with 300k CHF cash and 150k CHF sweat equity
“Yeah, so we each put the 150,000 in, and Oli didn't have the cash, so we basically Took his efforts so far into the company and valid that at 150. So, so that's how we started.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 40:13 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Not checkable as stated
On secured roughly 500,000 CHF in orders at its first trade show
“And so we went to the show in January, literally like a couple days after we started the company with, I don't know, five, six samples. And we left the show with, or I would say about half a million Swiss francs in orders.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 40:48 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Disclosure
On launched without writing a business plan or sizing the market
“We never did a business plan. We never did like a proper market sizing. All we knew was this is a big market.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 52:50 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Disclosure
On founders resented customers wearing their high-tech shoes with jeans
“We were going to be a running company, and actually, it pissed us off. When somebody dared to wear our high-tech product industry with jeans, it really bucked us.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:00:42 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Disclosure
On's initial patent license included an outright purchase option
“So what we did is we agreed on a licensing agreement, but we also put a clause in there, luckily, that we could terminate the license agreement and purchase the patents outright.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 32:50 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Partly supported
On launched across six countries on day one due to market size
“So we knew on day one that we couldn't be just a Swiss company. So, so we started out in six countries at once.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 39:34 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Not checkable as stated
On generated $1 million in revenue in its first six months
“Yeah, we did a million in the first half year, which, you know, was obviously great.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 49:52 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Disclosure
On buys Google search ads for "QC" due to logo confusion
“We actually, you know, buy the QC. Keyword on, on, on Google.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 57:13 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Partly supported
On achieved profitability in 2014 and has stayed profitable
“2014 was the year that we actually then broke our first profit, and we've been profitable ever since.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:00:15 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Supported
On had roughly 160 million in revenue when Roger Federer approached
“At the time we were about a hundred sixty million in revenues.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:04:11 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Supported
On search traffic doubled permanently after announcing Roger Federer partnership
“When Roger came on board and we announced it in New York, Search traffic doubled and stayed there.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:07:30 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Supported
Coppetti: On founders hold about 60% of voting rights post-IPO
“And today we have about 60% of the votes but still have access to the capital market.”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 1:10:03 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti
Assertion Supported
Coppetti and Bernhard's partnership began by publicizing Bernhard's doping clearance
“That was actually the first assignment for me as this press agent, like basically how do we make sure that like this makes the front page and we managed to get the story about him being cleared into pretty much every newspaper. We went on, on Swiss national TV…”
Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 17:31 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti

The other half of the tape: Caspar Coppetti's own voice is left out of every number here. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Statements about Caspar Coppetti, by other people (1)

Disclosure
On secured early retail sales by running with store owners
“Casper and I, we you know, attacked the German, Austrian, and Swiss market. I think it was year one and two. Not very successful until I think it was Casper coming, you know, and saying, hey, all these retailers are actually, you know, they're runners, you kno…”
Olivier Bernhard Jul 22, 2024 ▶ 44:49 On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti

Appearances (1)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
On athletic shoes: Olivier Bernhard and Caspar Coppetti Jul 22, 2024 24m
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