Caspar Coppetti, co-founder of On running, explains the lasting impact that bringing Roger Federer on board as an investor had on brand visibility.
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.”
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 …”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”