<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
• Knight had a \u2018crazy idea\u2019 in college, took a traveling break and started by importing and reselling Japanese Tiger shoes while working as an accountant. A sophisticated business plan! Only years later, when Onitsuka tried to cut his supply off, and when faced with an existential threat, Nike was really born. Started as \u201dBlue Ribbon\u201d, with made up offices to give a perception of solidity, years later Knight wanted it to change to \u201cDimension Six\u201d. Thankfully the team won the debate and Nike was picked. There\u2019s no recipe, and everyone figures out as they go along.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  \n
  • The company was about to fail innumerable times. Early banks refusing to do business with them and withdrawing credit (calling an FBI investigation due to low equity & business growing too fast – how vastly different vs now!), competitors trying to destroy them through old regulations & regulatory capture, unhappy \u2018bureau-krakens\u2019 feeding on its success, dangerously empty bank accounts.. the story is filled with near catastrophic moments. The most memorable is when for a few days all their checks bounced, Nike couldn\u2019t pay staff and suppliers, leading to visits from angry creditors. The team\u2019s plan? Allocate a team member to each creditor, arrange meetings in distant rooms, and play a dangerous sliding doors game to make sure no two creditors could ever meet each other in the office. I wonder how many businesses weren\u2019t that lucky and we\u2019ll never know their stories. Many forces will conspire to make you fail. Luck has an incredible role – the greats increase its surface area.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
    • Knight was passionate about war history. He recalls the origins of tycoon from the Japanese word taikun \u201cwarlord\u201d (not exactly, but doesn\u2019t matter). Maybe business is the way to take a dangerous innate push to fight each other and channel it into something meaningful and productive for society. \u201cBusiness is war without bullets\u201d.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
      • He also admired Sony, referencing to it as the Apple of his day. I guess many soon admired Nike, until younger and smaller companies came and took their place, repeating the cycle. Interestingly, running was a small niche community in the 60s, and not very well loved: many people were mocking runners in the 60s, shouting at them from their cars (‘Get a horse!’ they’d yell, throwing a beer or soda at the runner’s head.\u201d<\/em>). This motivated a group of passionate people to fall in love with Nike\u2019s mission, alive these days as a powerful founding story in their corporate culture. There\u2019s nothing more powerful than a compelling story, fighting for a cause that your customers deeply care about.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
        • His closing thoughts, decades later: \u201cNot one minute felt like work\u201d<\/em>. The incredible energy that comes from it. \u201cBelief, I decided. Belief is irresistible<\/em>\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          ..and much more in compelling narrative, incredible storytelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Finished this classic memoir by Nike\u2019s founder – I highly recommend it to anyone interested in business, startup and popular culture in general. Some interesting facts & entrepreneurship lessons: ..and much more in compelling narrative, incredible storytelling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","is-cat-link-borders-light is-cat-link-rounded"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18,"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8\/revisions\/18"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ugodf.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}