Podcast appearances and mentions of Ryan Sheckler

In this motivational podcast, X Games gold medalist Ryan Sheckler discusses the important role his mother has played in his life, including the moment he called her for help with alcoholism. He describes entering rehab as the scariest day of his life, requiring complete surrender to the program. Sheckler also shares his 2020 relapse, which began around his 30th birthday, and how a renewed focus on his Christian faith and a call from Michael Phelps inspired him on his journey to sobriety.

Professional skateboarder, entrepreneur and star of MTV's reality television series Life Of Ryan, Ryan Sheckler joins Frank Mackay on this episode of The Frank Mackay Show!

Send Mary and Kelsey a Message!The Olympics may be over, but Mary and Kelsey aren't done talking about sports. In this episode, the girls award gold, silver, and bronze medals to podium-worthy athletes of Y2K both real (remember Ryan Sheckler?!) and imagined from their favorite Disney Channel Original movies like Brink, Gotta Kick It Up, Johnny Tsunami, and Luck Of The Irish. Tell us if you agree with their y2k podium in the comments or at @whentheypoppedpod on IG! Instagram: @whentheypoppedpodTikTok: @whentheypoppedEmail: whentheypoppedy2k@gmail.comWebsite: linktree.com/whentheypopped

Man! We see it all over now! Young humans just killing the game. On the BASS Elites, the rookies are like professional snipers. I remember seeing these two children who were incredible at skateboarding back in the day. One was named Ryan Sheckler, the other went by Nyjah. And here we are in the big toothy fish game. Fischer (pretty perfect name eh?) has boated something like 40 million musky at the ripe old age of 15. Lucky for us, he's kinda local here and we got him on the podcast. This episode has been one we've been wanting to line up for a LONG time, so we're so glad to have the Smiths, father and son, on the show. We talk fishing of course, how to fuel your kids passion without pushing too hard, tacos, and what makes fishing so dang fun! Come on with us, it's a fun one! REMEMBER - FROM NOW TILL THE END OF JULY - IF YOU WRITE A REVIEW ON APPLE PODCASTS, AND LEAVE A 5 STAR RATING, AT THE END OF JULY WE WILL PICK ONE REVIEW AND THEY WILL GET ONE OF EVERYTHING ON OUR WEBSITE'S STORE!!! https://www.tackleandtacos.com/shop POSITIVITY IS WORTH THE EFFORT! ALL FISHING IS FUN FISHING! https://www.grizzlycoolers.com- code WCB for 10% off https://hookandarrowsupply.com https://www.leupold.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@tackleandtacos https://www.workingclassbowhunter.com/ THE SMITH'S LINKS YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/@smithsfishingoutdoors INSTA - @smithfishingoutdoors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The X Games is the pinnacle event in action sports, and while it's not what it once was, the new ownership group, MSP Sports Capital, plans to not only turn that around but make the X Games property bigger than ever. There's a lot of excitement around the new regime and its plans, and the X Games media team invited me down to get my unbiased take on what X Games has turned into. As I do with all my events, I make sure to talk to athletes, legends, behind-the-scenes players, and more to uncover the future of X and give you insight into what X was like this year. Think everyone from X Games ownership to P-Rod, RWilly, Selema, and many more. X Games Show Notes: 14:00:  Jeff Moorad, Executive Chairman of the X Games and Principal of MSP Sports Capitol 18:00:  Ryan Williams 20:30:   Liquid Force: Since 95, Liquid Force has outperformed the competition and turned a sport into a lifestyle. Use the code POWELL15 for 15% off LF orders at LiquidForce.com Stanley:  Save 30% off at Stanley1913.com Using the code SNOW30 at checkout Best Day Brewing:  All of the flavor of your favorite IPA or Kolsch, without the alcohol, the calories and sugar. 23:30:  Ryan Dickerson, Sonic CMO 27:30:  Shaun Neff, Branding Legend, X Games Owner 30:00:  Rick Thorne, BMX Legend 34:00:  Mike Jaquet, Industry insider 38:30:  Elan Skis:  Over 75 years of innovation that makes you better. Peter Glenn Ski and Sports:  Over 60 years of getting you out there.  Outdoor Research:  Developed in the PNW to keep you dry in the wettest condition in the world 42:00:  Selema Masekela, Legendary Human 45:30:  Damon Way, Skate and Snow Legend 48:00:  Jack Mitrani, Pro Snowboarder, X Games Host 51:30:  Ryan Sheckler, Skate Legend 55:30:  Bucky Lasek, Skate Legend 58:00: Paul Rodriguez 61:00: Lenny Rivas, Skateboarder 63:00: Tom Van Steenbergen 67:00: Dylan Stark 69:00: Garrett Reynolds 73:00: Mitchie Brusco  

On this episode of the world's greatest action sports podcast, Chris and Todd go head to head in a game of SKATE NERD hosted by Blair Alley of TransWorld SKATEboarding, the boys talk Margret River Pro, the mid-season cut, new surf sponsorship stuff, Laura Enever at Shipsterns, Palm Springs Surf Club is back on, Ryan Sheckler joins the Olympic commentary squad, Valentino Guseli and rook D'Hont break high air snow world records, outdoor snowboarding coming to Des Moines, Iowa, and more. Oh yeah, this episode sounds like total crap because of construction happening literally inches away from our microphones, good luck getting through this piece of shit podcast. Good questions at the end tho.   Presented By:   Sun Bum @sunbum Spy Optics @spyoptic Opus Footwear @opusfootwear Bachan's Japanese BBQ Sauce @trybachans MachuPicchu Energy @machupicchu.energy  Pannikin Coffee And Tea @pannikincoffeeandtea New Greens @newgreens Mammoth Mountain @mammothmountain  Pedal Electric @pedal.electric Vesyl Shipping Vesyl.com  Mint Tours @minttours Die Cut Stickers @diecutstickersdotcom Dana Point Film Festival @danapointfilmfestival May 2-5

Topics this week: Sk8mafia's "Micro Dos", Mark Suciu in Stugartt, Mike vs Bike, and Ryan Sheckler's new Olympic commentator gig.  Intro/Outro music by Andy and Bobb Amidon Ryan Sheckler on CBS Mornings Mike vs Bike Eazy-E "We Want Eazy"    

O.J. Simpson, the former football star and central figure of a sensational 1995 murder trial, passed away from prostate cancer. Simpson was found not guilty of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. The charges, the trial and the verdict exposed a dramatic divide among Americans along racial and cultural lines. Bill Rhoden, a columnist for ESPN's "Andscape" who covered Simpson for decades, talks to "CBS Mornings" about Simpson's complicated legacy.Gen. Charles "C.Q." Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the nation's highest ranking military officer, is someone President Biden relies on for advice on how to handle some of the world's most dangerous situations. He discussed his position and major issues facing the U.S. with CBS Mornings.Ryan Sheckler, celebrated as one of the most influential skateboarders and the youngest gold medalist at the X Games, announces exclusively on "CBS Mornings" his new role as a commentator for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.Country music artist ERNEST talks to “CBS Mornings” about releasing his new album, “Nashville, Tennessee.” He opened up about his life journey that took unexpected turns and led him to a career in the spotlight.In the “CBS Mornings” series, Kindness 101, Steve Hartman and his children share stories built around kindness and character and the people who've mastered those qualities. Today's lesson is altruism. This week, we hear a story about a young man who finds a 20-dollar bill in a Cracker Barrel parking lot. What he decides to do with it is priceless.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

R.I.P. to my microphone. Sorry for the poor quality this week.  Topics this week: TJ Rogers joins the Skate Mafia, Torey Pudwill now rides for P448, Ryan Sheckler teams up with Mark Wahlberg, Tokiya Imamura wins me over, and Ryan Lay can walk 35 miles like it's nothing.  Intro/Outro music by Andy and Bobb Amidon www.nomongo.com  

Today on The Neil Haley Show, Neil "The Media Giant" Haley interviews Ryan Sheckler. Ryan Allen Sheckler is an American professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, and the star of the MTV-produced reality television series Life of Ryan, which ran from 2007 to 2009. He also starred in four seasons of the short-format video series Sheckler Sessions on Red Bull TV.

Candice Lim is joined by Link in Bio writer Rachel Karten, whose Substack breaks down how Stanley Cups went viral, why the Duolingo owl got a BBL and how “seemingly ranch” hit supermarket shelves. Karten was a social media manager who started her newsletter after leaving Bon Appétit following a racial and labor reckoning in 2020 that exposed — what the publication themselves called — a “toxic, top-down culture.” Since then, Karten has found a rapt audience of more than 55,000 subscribers who are social media managers like herself, marketing insiders and curious readers who just want to know how and why they're being influenced at. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Link in Bio writer Rachel Karten, whose Substack breaks down how Stanley Cups went viral, why the Duolingo owl got a BBL and how “seemingly ranch” hit supermarket shelves. Karten was a social media manager who started her newsletter after leaving Bon Appétit following a racial and labor reckoning in 2020 that exposed — what the publication themselves called — a “toxic, top-down culture.” Since then, Karten has found a rapt audience of more than 55,000 subscribers who are social media managers like herself, marketing insiders and curious readers who just want to know how and why they're being influenced at. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Link in Bio writer Rachel Karten, whose Substack breaks down how Stanley Cups went viral, why the Duolingo owl got a BBL and how “seemingly ranch” hit supermarket shelves. Karten was a social media manager who started her newsletter after leaving Bon Appétit following a racial and labor reckoning in 2020 that exposed — what the publication themselves called — a “toxic, top-down culture.” Since then, Karten has found a rapt audience of more than 55,000 subscribers who are social media managers like herself, marketing insiders and curious readers who just want to know how and why they're being influenced at. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Link in Bio writer Rachel Karten, whose Substack breaks down how Stanley Cups went viral, why the Duolingo owl got a BBL and how “seemingly ranch” hit supermarket shelves. Karten was a social media manager who started her newsletter after leaving Bon Appétit following a racial and labor reckoning in 2020 that exposed — what the publication themselves called — a “toxic, top-down culture.” Since then, Karten has found a rapt audience of more than 55,000 subscribers who are social media managers like herself, marketing insiders and curious readers who just want to know how and why they're being influenced at. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Candice Lim is joined by Link in Bio writer Rachel Karten, whose Substack breaks down how Stanley Cups went viral, why the Duolingo owl got a BBL and how “seemingly ranch” hit supermarket shelves. Karten was a social media manager who started her newsletter after leaving Bon Appétit following a racial and labor reckoning in 2020 that exposed — what the publication themselves called — a “toxic, top-down culture.” Since then, Karten has found a rapt audience of more than 55,000 subscribers who are social media managers like herself, marketing insiders and curious readers who just want to know how and why they're being influenced at. This podcast is produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support The Brain Drain Show by hitting the "THANKS" button under this video. Brain Drain Episode 24 with Forde Brookfield & Toby Batchelor

Jaxxon Podcast Presented by Jaxxon JewelryShop the best Men's chains

En este episodio tenemos como gran invitados a Juan Pablo De La O y Sobarin quien nos platica su experiencia en USA con las leyendas de Bones Brigade, la experiencia conociendo a THE GOAT en Venice Beach y patinar USA training facility, hablamos de la videoparte de Ryan Sheckler y mucho mas X Efecto Ollie...

Moe's! Huck and Olivia and Sing 2. Pokemon. "I'll remember that". Basketball. Skateboarding and Ryan Sheckler. 7 hours of Dungeons and Dragons.

Ricki Bedenbaugh is a professional cinematographer based in Southern California. Originally born in Tennessee before moving down to Florida, Ricki grew up in the skateboarding world with dreams of becoming a professional skater.While Ricki didn't end up as a professional skater, he did end up as a professional cinematographer in the skate world. Ricki has been apart of some of the biggest skate parts in the industry, working at 411videomagazine, and is also responsible for shooting two of the biggest kickflips ever done in skateboarding: that of Dave Bachinsky at El Toro and Ryan Sheckler at the Costco Gap.We dive into all of this, plus Ricki's transition out of skating and into the dirt bike world working for Fox Racing and shooting projects with Adam Cianciarulo, Josh Hansen, Ken Roczen, Hunter Lawrence, Jett Lawrence, along with the struggles of learning a new action sport that wasn't skating, his new freelance career and working with Sony Cine on the new movie, Gran Turismo, to shoot the Sony Venice 2 with the Rialto 2 in action. This episode has a lot of rad stories, insights, and laughs about Ricki's long and very impressive career behind the lens. And, it's all thanks to the skateboard. This was a fun one and hope all enjoy!View Ricki's portfolio: https://www.keeponpushin.com/Follow Ricki on Instagram: https://instagram.com/rickithedude?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==The Failed Experiment on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheFailedExperimentFollow The Failed Experiment on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_thefailedexperiment/Follow Kyle Cowling on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kylecowling/Support the show

Ryan Shecker's most notable skating moments, including hitting the Costco gap.

Skateboarding Legend Ryan Sheckler joins Tony and Jason in this episode of Hawk Vs Wolf and goes down memory lane with some nostalgic never heard before stories detailing how they first met , Ryan's life behind the cameras of his hit reality tv show, and much more.   Wonderful Pistachios will be your new go to snack. Check out https://WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more about how these little green wonders can power up your day! Get 25% OFF @trueclassic with promo code WOLF at https://trueclassictees.com/WOLF ! #trueclassicpod  Thank you Bear for sponsoring! Click here https://bearmattress.com/HAWKWOLF to get 35% off your Bear mattress during their Labor Day Sale. If you miss this limited time offer, you can still get 30% off using our link! Offers subject to change. BlueChew.com, promo code HAWKWOLF to receive your first month FREE. Visit BlueChew.com for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast. Listen to Hawk vs Wolf Spotify -- https://spoti.fi/3YmTQer Apple -- https://apple.co/3KYh3Rk Follow on Social Tony Hawk  https://instagram.com/tonyhawk  https://instagram.com/skateparkproject https://twitter.com/tonyhawk Jason Ellis  https://instagram.com/wolfmate https://twitter.com/ellismate Hawk vs Wolf is produced and shot by @malka_media . MALKA is a creative studio leveraging the instincts of a creative agency but built on the backbone of an agile production company. We are the makers. We don't just dream it, we create it; because we know how. This is content at the speed of culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Skateboarding Legend Ryan Sheckler joins Tony and Jason in this episode of Hawk Vs Wolf and goes down memory lane with some nostalgic never heard before stories detailing how they first met , Ryan's life behind the cameras of his hit reality tv show, and much more.   Wonderful Pistachios will be your new go to snack. Check out https://WonderfulPistachios.com to learn more about how these little green wonders can power up your day! Get 25% OFF @trueclassic with promo code WOLF at https://trueclassictees.com/WOLF ! #trueclassicpod  Thank you Bear for sponsoring! Click here https://bearmattress.com/HAWKWOLF to get 35% off your Bear mattress during their Labor Day Sale. If you miss this limited time offer, you can still get 30% off using our link! Offers subject to change. BlueChew.com, promo code HAWKWOLF to receive your first month FREE. Visit BlueChew.com for more details and important safety information, and we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast. Listen to Hawk vs Wolf Spotify -- https://spoti.fi/3YmTQer Apple -- https://apple.co/3KYh3Rk Follow on Social Tony Hawk  https://instagram.com/tonyhawk  https://instagram.com/skateparkproject https://twitter.com/tonyhawk Jason Ellis  https://instagram.com/wolfmate https://twitter.com/ellismate Hawk vs Wolf is produced and shot by @malka_media . MALKA is a creative studio leveraging the instincts of a creative agency but built on the backbone of an agile production company. We are the makers. We don't just dream it, we create it; because we know how. This is content at the speed of culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 On this episode of The World's Greatest Action Sports Podcast, Chris and Todd talk for nearly two hours about The Wallex US Open Of Surfing, Beach Grti calls Chris a “WSL Shill”, Ryan Sheckler's amazing month and life in skateboarding, Lakai's new flick “Bubble”, Kings Of The Concrete 2023. STAB Highway, Tahiti, Dog Surfing Championships, The Four Seasons Maldives Surfing Champions Trophy, 25 Years Of Nixon doc, the state of the surf industry, Xavier De La Rue's new boards, Mammoth finally closes, Billabong, Quiksilver, RVCA, Roxy, DC, Von Zippper, and Element purchase stuff elicits passion from Todd and Chris, and TONS of your questions are answered, we love you, thanks for listening!   Presented By:   1620 Workwear @1620usa Oleu @oleu_originals Mint Tours @minttours Machu Picchu Energy @machupicchu.energy Hansen Surfboards @hansensurfboards BN3TH @BN3THApparel Bubs Naturals @bubsnaturals  Bachan's Japanese BBQ Sauce @trybachans Pannikin Coffee And Tea @pannikincoffeeandtea New Greens @newgreens Die Cut Stickers @diecutstickersdotcom

This week, Templeton Elliott, Patrick Kigongo, and Jason From Frozen in Carbonite are joined by Ted Barrow to talk about the first season of This Old Ledge and Ryan Sheckler's Lifer part.

Sk8 Liborius update with new renderings, BATB 13 Jamie Griffin vs Sewa Kroetkov & Leo Romero vs Braden Hoban, This Old Ledge Pier 7, Josh Kalis the King of Plazas, and Plaza Etiquette, Felipe Munhoz "Devaneios" part, Budget or Buttery, Taylor Swift & Chris Roberts seen together at Arby's, Ryan Sheckler "Lifer" part, Is Thrasher's Skater of the Year rigged & does it still mean something, Henry Gartland's "Forever" Santa Cruz Part, 25 Years of Nixon, Erased x Lakai, Luis Mora & his Youtube Channel and much more! Timestamps 00:00:00 Nine Club Live #10 00:00:01 Dubs is back! 00:01:00 Doing the dishes 00:05:00 Show Rundown 00:05:46 Intro 00:08:00 Playing Sports As kids 00:09:30 Actual Intro 00:11:00 Sk8 Liborius Renderings 00:17:30 BATB 13 Bracket update 00:18:40 BATB 13 Jamie Griffin vs Sewa Kroetkov 00:23:00 Chris meeting Braden Hoban at Xgames 00:24:00 BATB 13 Leo Romero vs Braden Hoban 00:28:00 BATB 13 Next week predictions Andy Anderson vs Torey Pudwill, John Chyk vs Tj Rogers 00:30:00 Kelly's Vegas trip and gambling 00:35:00 This Old Ledge Pier 7 00:36:00 Josh Kalis the King of Plazas, and Plaza Etiquette 00:44:00 Where should this old ledge go next 00:48:00 Felipe Munhoz Devaneios 00:55:00 Instagram clips, Jonathan Perez, Will Marshall, Muni's Last Days 01:06:00 Budget or Buttery 01:20:00 Taylor Swift 01:25:00 Hypebeast Starbucks Louie Lopez & Brian O'Dwyer 01:34:00 Ryan Sheckler Lifer part 01:38:00 Is Thrasher's Skater of the Year rigged? Does it still mean something? 02:00:00 Henry Gartland's "Forever" Santa Cruz Part 02:07:00 25 Years of Nixon 02:17:00 Erased x Lakai, Luis Mora and his Youtube Channel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

X has me hooked, my wife offended me to the maximum, and Ryan Sheckler is a bad man.

Topics this week: X-Games highlights, Ron Allen's "Krooked" guest board, Ryan Sheckler's "Lifer" part, and Tyshawn + Zay's Ferrari ollies. Intro/Outro music by Andy and Bobb Amidon Grind - Tom Green Ron Allen Guest Board Ron Allen "Shackle Me Not"

Ryan Sheckler discusses filming his new video part “Lifer”, the physical & mental battle to get his ender, sponsoring 8 year old Wyatt Hammond, what it was like for him growing up in the limelight, how much he got paid for the Axe deodorant Double Pits To Chesty commercial, how many deals he actually turned down. being back in SLS, working with Woodward Skate Camp, his new documentary “rolling away”, Ryan's take on the Olympics and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ira Ingram discusses working his first live skateboarding event, Battle At The Berrics finals night live production, filming Red Bull's “You Good" video & Sheckler's drop in on a Taipei freeway overpass, the dangers of using a bungee, how he got the name CurbKiller, his curb part “Mid Life Crisis”, getting a guest board on Heroin Skateboards, Filming Ryan Sheckler's new part “Lifer”, growing near El Toro and trying to grind the lesser known 22 stair handrail, getting fired from 411VM, working the live shows for ETN, the Zane Timpson documentary and much more! Timestamps: 00:00:00 Ira Ingram 00:00:54 Working his first live skateboarding event 00:03:43 Being a producer on live events 00:05:11 Battle At The Berrics finals night live production 00:13:16 Getting jobs in live broadcasting 00:22:48 Our Sponsor: Athletic Greens 00:24:23 Working for ETN 00:27:31 Ryan Sheckler's live slam on Facemelters 00:35:38 Bonded cellular packs for doing ETN live shows around the world 00:47:05 Red Bull's "You Good" video and Sheckler's freeway drop in in Taipei 00:55:05 Filming Ryan Sheckler's new "Lifer" part 01:00:53 The dangers of the bungee 01:04:01 Getting to film the best of the best 01:08:17 Ira the skateboarder 01:09:09 His curb part "Mid Life Crisis" 01:13:31 How Ira got the name "curbkiller" 01:16:13 Growing near el toro and trying to grind the lesser known 22 stair at el toro high 01:24:50 Front crook or bail tail down el toro - which do you choose 01:28:35 Getting detained in China 01:41:31 Van Life 01:47:37 Sheckler's "Lifer" part coming soon 01:55:12 Street Pirates 01:58:44 Getting fired from 411VM 02:06:00 The Zane Timpson documentary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TJ Rogers Cold Call, eS Ronnie Creager Shoe Re-Release, FTC x Deep Fried video, Jeron's FTC "Finally" part, Manny Santiago on Ryan Sheckler's Company Sandlot Times, Fire At The St Louis Sk8Liborius, Budget or Buttery, Nine Club Fills Out Their BATB 13 Brackets, Storied Tony Hawk 900, Vert Alert Salt Lake City Tony Hawk Returns, Nike SB 7 Ball Video, Nike SB Yuto Dunk & Apparel and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the second part of In Search of Excellence episode featuring Ryan Sheckler, one of the greatest skateboarders of all time!Ryan turned pro when he was only 13 and became the youngest gold medalist in X Games history. At 17, he was the star of his own MTV reality show, The Life of Ryan. And in 2008, he created the Sheckler Foundation, whose goal is to support and enrich the lives of children and injured action sports athletes.Tune in to hear about his experience with the reality show, how success led him to a very dark place of alcohol addiction, how he fought hard for his recovery and found Jesus, and so much more! 00:47 The good and the bad of Ryan's reality TV showThe first season was super funDidn't think much about it or about anything else except himselfStopped filming at season 3 because he was absolutely over itHis parents split up in the middle of the seasonHe was a vulnerable, confused, sad, and angry teenagerWent crazy on the streets, pushed the boundaries, and filmed 08:08 A crazy lifestyle and losing controlYears 17 to 21 were crazyBought a Ferrari at 18, constantly threw partiesThose days were a learning experienceTurned into a character that people wanted him to beUsed alcohol to quiet the noiseBelieves that God had a plan for him 12:40 The drinking addiction and recoveryStarted drinking around 17Alcohol was at him to kill himHe thought he had a good tolerance to alcoholStarted partying and drinking every night, then during the dayHe was confused about who he wasThankfully, no social media back then22:10 The relapse in NorwayRyan was 25 and preparing for X Games in OsloJust ended a toxic relationshipHad a bunch of drinks and got on the planePrayed to God to make him fallFlew home the next morningLasted for 4 years and then relapsedThough he could be a normal drinker, but he could never be 31:21 Clay Thompson and Michael PhelpsClay was friends with his friend TonyThey talked a lot during the recovery phaseThey keep in touch regularlyGot in contact with Michael Phelps during his rehab 35:12 The Costco Gap and skating in TaiwanSearch on YouTube - Ryan Sheckler Costco gapHe did the basic jump successfully on the first tryFour tries later did a kick-flipIn Taiwan, almost got run over by a truck on a freewaySkateboarding in Taiwan is epicAt the time, just healed from a knee surgery51:15 Three to five most important ingredients of successPresenceFocusVariableCareBeing O.K. with failure53:53 Family life and his dogsWalter - a seven-year-old French BulldogLeo - a 10-year-old lab mixMet his wife thanks to their dogs58:10 The Sheckler FoundationHad an experience with Make a Wish FoundationRaising $240,000The Sheckler Foundation1:03:25 Fill in the blanksOne thing in life that you haven't done yet, but always wanted to doThe proudest moment of his lifeSponsors:Sandee | Bliss: BeachesWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

Welcome to another episode of In Search of Excellence! My guest today is Ryan Sheckler, one of the greatest skateboarders of all time! He turned pro when he was only 13 and, in that same year, became the youngest gold medalist in X Games history. At 17, he was the star of his own MTV reality show, The Life of Ryan. And in 2008, he created the Sheckler Foundation, whose goal is to support and enrich the lives of children and injured action sports athletes.Tune in to hear about his beginnings, the skateboarding community, Tony Hawk, the crucial X Game competition that made him famous, and so much more! Time stamps:00:50 Ryan's first skateboarding experienceHe was around 18 months oldA wild kid that moved around a lotDiscovered skateboarding as a toddler and naturally took it to the next levelAll his neighbors skatedLoves free-falling and speedThe reaction of parents when they got hurtBroke his arm when he was 505:48 Wearing helmets and padsVery important for kids that are still learningWore helmet until 14There is always a risk of fallingToday, it's all about social mediaSocial media can work for you or against for youKids should learn in their own way and at their own paceThere're no rules to skateboarding, you've got to feel itRandall's experience in Venice skate park15:00 Meeting Tony HawkTony Hawk skated at the YMCARyan's dad emailed him and asked to come to a birthday partyTony asked for $500 and a chocolate cakeIt was an incredible experienceHis coming and the way he treated them stuck with him17:22 Skater community is a giving communityWas in Cuba years agoThe skate scene in Cuba is epicThey build their own incredible skateboards from various materialsLeft everything he brought with himself thereThe skater community is special and very givingRyan traveled the world as a skateboarderYou don't have to speak the language, speaking skateboarding is enoughWhat they all have in common is painRyan had 12 broken bones, ligaments injuries, surgeries, and pinsDo good things for people in silenceRandall's son skateboarding themed Bar MitzvahAs getting older, Ryan wants to be more selfless27:50 Rodney Mullen and his impact on Ryan's lifeRodney Mullen is the best skateboarder alive everRodney is the forefather of skateboardingA Skateboard company called AlmostUnexpectedly, Rodney Mullen called RyanRyan was obsessed with skateboarding and won many competitionsBut didn't expect to go pro before 21Started traveling with RodneyThe impact he had on Ryan's life is immeasurable 33:57 Winning the X Games at 13Getting invited to X GamesAlways enjoyed skateboarding contestsGot the opportunity to go to X GamesHe was stoked to be around all the skateboarding superstarsPreformed excellently and his score was the bestHe won the competition but it didn't make sense to himHad to go to school the next day 38:50 Learning wrestling in high schoolWon Sponsors:Sandee | Bliss: BeachesWant to Connect? Reach out to us online!Website | Instagram | LinkedIn

X-Games champ, Ryan Sheckler remembers his rocky road to sobriety

Tom Curran discuss moving to California from Ohio, getting Scarecrow boards from Russ Pope, getting a job at Vans, winning 800 bucks on a scratch off and moving to San Francisco, working for World Industries & meeting Ryan Sheckler, Globe buying Dwindle & having to fire people, leaving Dwindle for Red Bull, what a Red Bull budget looks like Vs a skateboard company's budget, changing directions and entering the agent role for skateboarders and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When it comes to the action sports world, if you haven't specifically heard the name Steve Astephen, then you have 100% heard of at least 15 of his clients. I feel confident in saying that because he has represented some of the biggest names in the game. From Dave Mirra, Travis Pastrana, Ryan Sheckler to Ken Roczen there are almost too many to name.Steves career started as the Familie over 25 years ago before he was made was one of only 4 partners at Wasserman Media to now back on his own with the Familie V2. This is a podcast that I have wanted to do since I started the podcast and I am stoked that we were able to make it happen.We have just launched our new membership platform that will become the first place ALL of our content is going to be launched. We have a Members Only podcast feed that is ad free and posted the same day that we record the ep. We also have a bunch of members only content, merch, Gypsy Gang Book Club and much more! Oh and I am also giving away my 125 Dream Build.Win my Bikesales 125 Dream Build:https://gypsy-tales.com/gypsy-tales-125-giveaway/Check out our new member site:https://gypsy-tales.comWin my Bikesales 125 Dream Build:https://gypsy-tales.com/gypsy-tales-125-giveaway/Check out our new member site:https://gypsy-tales.comSPONSORS:SSRV RENTALS SoCal: http://www.ssrvrentals.comKTM NEWCASTLE: http://www.ktmnewcastle.com.auKTM PARTS ONLINE: http://www.ktmpartsonline.com.auUse the code 'gypsy10' in the comments of your order for 10% off!MANSCAPED: http://www.manscaped.comGet 20% Off + Free Shipping, with the code GYPSYGANGBOOST MOBILE: https://boost.com.au/pages/winKRUSHOZ: http://www.krushoz.comDriTimes: http://www.dritimes.comRIVAL INK: http://www.rivalinkdesignco.comCODE: GYPSYGANG 15%MXSTORE: http://www.mxstore.com.auFIST HANDWEAR: http://www.fisthandwear.comCODE: GYPSYGANG 15%DIXXON: http://www.dixxonquality.com.auCODE: GYPSYGANG 15%SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST ►https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBG...ADD GYPSY TALES ON INSTAGRAM ►https://www.instagram.com/gypsytalesp..See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Hyphenate talks with Oscar Loreto Jr. in this episode of the Doubt Me Podcast. He is an adaptive skateboarder and a board member of the Sheckler Foundation. They talk about Oscar's birth defect that affected his growth in the womb, growing up and having good friends that didn't treat him any differently, learning an important lesson to always try in life, discovering skateboarding and skating with a prosthetic leg, learning to film and edit skate videos which led to going to school, competing in skate contests and getting sponsored, selling his own skate videos at contests, starting to work more behind the scenes to contribute to the growth of adaptive skateboarding, becoming a board member for the Sheckler Foundation, recently having a dream come true by getting a "Guest Board" with Ryan Sheckler's skateboard company (Sandlot Times) and the Sheckler Foundation, and so much more. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/doubt-me-podcast/support

Graham goes In Depth with seven-time X Games medalist Ryan Sheckler as they spend two days together in Southern California in 2021. The former star of his own MTV reality show looks back on wild years as a teenager at the top of skateboarding, including celebrity-filled house parties and awkward breakups in front of TV cameras. Now married in his early 30s and expecting a child, Sheckler opens up about a drastically different lifestyle, focused on sobriety, abstinence and faith.

Ryan Runke is the Co-Founder of Homestead Creative and Vice President of Action and Olympic Sports at evolution management + marketing.Runke grew up in Kansas City playing traditional sports and soccer competitively. He learnt to snowboard in Snow Creek Missouri when he was 15 and started skateboarding and the rest is history. After finishing school he headed to Southern County to be a snowboard bum and ended up in Breckenridge, Colorado with the goal to snowboard everyday. Runke got his start in the action sports industry as a buyer and manager of a snowboard shop. He knew the industry was in California so he packed up his stuff and moved to San Diego and was going to figure it out. Ryan got a job with Version. This lead to working at K2 Snowboards overseeing Global Athlete Marketing. He then moved to Rome SDS as Team Director and Global Marketing Manager. Red Bull came knocking and asked Ryan to look after Travis Rice and the Art of Flight Production which became a role managing their skate and snow athletes including Shaun White and Ryan Sheckler. Staying within athlete management he moved to the agency side first to Prime Athletes and then to evolution management + marketing where he still looks after a roaster of some of the best athletes in the surfing, snowboarding, mountain biking and skateboarding world. Tune in to find out about how Runke got into managing athletes, what is was like when his client and friend Red Gerard won Olympic Gold in Snowboarding slopestyle at Pyeongchang, South Korea. How he is creating campaigns for some of the world's biggest outdoor brands through his agency Homestead Creative and loads more!Enjoy and get rad!You can follow what Runke is up to on Instagram at ryanrunke and be sure to check out his website Homestead Creative. Like what you hear?  Please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts. It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference.  The Rad Season Action Sports Podcast come out across all podcast players with a new episode every Monday. For show notes and past guests, please visit: radseason.com/magazine/Follow Rad Season:Website: radseason.comTwitter: twitter.com/radseasonInstagram: instagram.com/radseasonFacebook: facebook.com/radseasonLinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/rad-season/YouTube: youtube.com/c/RadSeasonPast guests on The Rad Season Show include  JJ Thomas, Circe Wallace, Sue Izzo, Keir Dillon. 

Mitchie Brusco on the trials and triumphs of life as a skate phenom: Fateful encounters with Ryan Sheckler and Rodney Mullen, early pro success, challenges balancing career, family, and partying, finding peace through therapy (and skydiving), landing a 1260, and thoughts on X Games. Plus, a fresh batch of Aqua Farts! -- Thank you to our sponsors: BuckMason: For a limited time you can get 15% off on great gifts for dads - or for yourself - when you spend at least $100 atBuckMason.com/ELLIS BetterHelp: Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com/ELLIS AthleticGreens: Simply visit AthleticGreens.com/JES for your FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 free travel packs with your first purchase! BlueChew: Go to BlueChew.com and use promo code: ELLIS to receive your first month FREE! Raycon: Go to BUYRAYCON.com/JES TODAY to get 15% off your Raycon order! Onnit: Go to Onnit.com/ELLIS for 10% OFF your order now! -- To watch this episode in video subscribe here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCioxyKNRYJhYFCi85Nvnn3g Website: www.theJasonEllis.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/ellismate -- Jason Ellis @wolfmate Mitchie Brusco @mitchiebrusco Katie Ellis @underwearwolf Michael Tully @tullywood Kevin Kraft @kevinkraft See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ryan Sheckler discusses growing up in Southern California, starting to skate at age 2, coming up in the CASL contests, skating for World Industries, turning pro at 13 for Almost Skateboards, why he decided to quit doing his MTV show Life Of Ryan, winning Thrasher's Bust Or Bail contest, the El Toro backside flip, leaving Almost for Plan B Skateboards, skating the freeway overpass from the "You Good" video, 25 years with Etnies Footwear, breaking both ankles & crushing his L1 Vertebra during ETN's "Face Melters”, why he decided to leave Plan B, going to treatment for alcohol addiction & now being sober, starting his new company Sandlot Times, filming for his new Red Bull part and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week's motivational moment comes from seven-time X Games medalist Ryan Sheckler. The pro-skateboarder shares how granting a wish for a girl with cancer motivated him to start his foundation and explains the joy he gets from helping others.

Amber and Lauren catch up on the latest tidbits they've gathered over the past few weeks, including Kimmy K stooping to a new carpet-photoshopping low and Ryan Sheckler... finally finding the love... he always dreamed about... in San Clemente. Amber talks about her recent trip and the celebrity who would live and die for that city (or at least bake his bones there). To top everything off, the Ketchup Queens share celebrities that scare them. Grab some hot yogurt and get excited!

In this week's episode, I am dishing on: 1. Ryan Sheckler & Billie Lourd are off the market. Plus Millie Bobby Brown and Daniel Radcliff go red carpet official with their SO. 2. Major news for KUWTK and Vanderpump Rules. 3. Amy Schumer outs Michael Cera, Grimes and Elon have another baby, & Kravis is trying! 4. WTF is going on with Jussie Smollett & RHOC Dr. Jen Armstrong? 5. Obama, Dylan O'brian, and Hailey Bieber get COVID 6. Kanye is banned from Facebook for harassment. 7. Florence Pugh cast in Dune 2! Let me know your thoughts by sending me a DM on Instagram @meginthemorningpodcast! #ryansheckler #billielourd #milliebobbybrown #danielradcliff #KUWTK #vanderpumprules #michaelcera #elonmusk #grimes #kravis #dylanobrian #haileybieber #kanyewest #florencepugh --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/meginthemorning/support

Deanna is joined by the hilarious and talented Emily Batek to crush on early 2000's reality TV show stars! We claim our favorite JoBro and take a trip down Orlando Bloom's hair memory lane. Listen today!Follow Emily @emilybatekFollow Deanna @deannaortiz_ @crushespodcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Our next Guest Ira Ingram, Skate Filmer and Funny Wise Guy talks getting fired at 411vm, Mid-Life Crisis, Getting his first Guest Model for Heroin Skateboards, Memes, Ryan Sheckler's Famous Bridge Tail Drop, all the while jacked up on Espresso and much more. ||||||||www.heroinskateboards.com ||||||||||||www.idabblevm.com |||||||||||||||||||||insta: @curbkiller

Our next Guest Ira Ingram, Skate Filmer and Funny Wise Guy talks getting fired at 411vm, Mid-Life Crisis, Getting his first Guest Model for Heroin Skateboards, Memes, Ryan Sheckler's Famous Bridge Tail Drop, all the while jacked up on Espresso and much more. ||||||||www.heroinskateboards.com ||||||||||||www.idabblevm.com |||||||||||||||||||||insta: @curbkiller

Matthias Matternich is the co-founder and CEO of Art of Sport. We discuss growing up as the son of a German ambassador, starting his first company at 14, when Brexit devalued his investment capital, selling women's smimwear, pitching Kobe Bryant, his 500 mile trek in the Alps, and redefining body and skincare for athletes. Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up. A podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders. Matthias Metternich:I remember Brian and I thinking, well, who represents the kind of tenacity, and focus, and mental and physical commitment to being the best version of yourself possible. Done so successfully that they've transcended their sport. And it really took us almost no time to say, well, that's Kobe Bryant. And we asked ourselves, "Do we think we could get him involved?" And our path took us to his door. Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Matthias Metternich, the co-founder and CEO of Art of Sport. Matthias was born in Germany. And because his father was an ambassador, he had lived in nearly 10 different countries by his teens. And he began coding at age seven, and began pursuing it seriously a couple of years later while living in Mongolia, as it helped him pass the time during the harsh winters. Soon after Matthias' entrepreneurial streak kicked off. He started his first company at 14, and since then started over five businesses, ranging from women's swimwear and enterprise software to his current company, Art of Sport, where he's redefining body and skincare products for athletes. Chris Erwin:So this interview is a bit on the long side and covers more topics than most. It's because Matthias' intellect and passion is far reaching. We discuss why he's not a good video game developer. How the founder of MySpace became his mentor during undergrad, how Brexit devalued one of his companies, and what it was like to recruit basketball legend Kobe Bryant as a co-founder. All right, let's get into it. Let's rewind a bit. You had told me that you originally grew up in Germany. Tell me about that and your household. Matthias Metternich:I grew up in Germany until about the age of eight months. So it wasn't my whole life. It was a very short moment. I was born there and then my dad was in the foreign service. So every three years we would get posted somewhere else. And so, from the age of eight months onward until really, I mean, even to this point, I've been moving around the world every two to three years. So we moved to the Soviet Union and I lived in Leningrad, then we moved to Los Angeles, then we moved to Mongolia, then we moved to the Middle East. And so there's been a lot of transition in my life. So that was a very interesting experience, that was quite formative for me. Matthias Metternich:But went back to Germany for high school for about two or three years for boarding school. And then I continue to... I went back for college for a very brief period, and then always go back whenever I have time to see friends and family, but I'm a bit of a nomad. Chris Erwin:What was your father doing in the foreign service? Matthias Metternich:My dad was an ambassador. He represented the German government in different countries. So that meant that he would often be the man in charge to present German interests, build relationships politically, economically, drive through cultural agendas. And it was an interesting time because that was really... His formative years in the service were deep within the cold war era. So there was a lot of really exciting espionage, nuclear proliferation, all kinds of stuff like that is what I grew up with. And I do remember it was even a period where if your listeners remember their history, there was an east and west Germany for about 40 years. Matthias Metternich:And so east Germany had embassies in countries that west Germany didn't. But when the wall fell and east and west Germany came back together, my dad was responsible for actually going to these places in these countries that west Germany didn't have a political presence and taking over those embassies. So I remember a lot of the places I lived was right next to the "access of evil" types of Eastern Soviet bloc embassies, like North Korea and whatnot. And if I kicked the ball over the fence in the wrong way, there would be a military procession where they'd pass the soccer ball back to us. Chris Erwin:What a unique childhood. Now, did that peak your interest, and did you think about going into government or the foreign service? Matthias Metternich:So my family has been in the political arena for several hundred years, and there's a lot of tradition there that I think my father [inaudible 00:04:25] spouse. But I think he was actually quite remarkably aware of how the role was changing in a more and more connected world. And what does a public servant, government figure head do in a foreign country where now you have video conferencing, you're on a jet, you're there in a couple hours. So there's diminishing opportunities over time as we become more and more connected. And because of his role, he was also always interfacing with and exposing me to really remarkable walks of life, business people who are sometimes coming to China for the first time, like large industrialists, well-known household names who would be coming and stopping through the house and having dinner with us. Matthias Metternich:And you'd hear their stories about this global world that was changing and forming. And in that context of the diplomats role diminishing over time or sunsetting a little bit on golden era of what that diplomat would do. And I don't want to take anything away from those folks doing that. It's still a very important part of the civil society and political arena. But with that sunsetting and this coming online of this connected industrial world, for me as a kid, I saw very clearly the writing on the wall that committing my time to something that was sunsetting versus something I was actually passionate about, which was shaping the planet or trying to shape the planet in some way, that's where my future was. Chris Erwin:And so speaking to that theme, which I think also relates to the compression and changing of information cycles and dynamics, you mentioned that at a pretty early age you had bought your first computer or connected to the internet and you were coding very young? Matthias Metternich:Yes. Chris Erwin:When did that first happen? Did that start in Mongolia or another country? Matthias Metternich:It started in Los Angeles. My parents bought it, and I was about seven but really I appropriated it fully when I was nine. And we moved to Mongolia, and Mongolia as a really pretty horrible.... Really beautiful country, but it has a very harsh winter, which can last upwards of six months. And so when you're in a place like that, there's only so much your parents are willing to entertain you. I found a lot of entertainment from the computer, and folks in the embassy who knew their way around this. And there was one guy in particular who was a bit of a hacker gadgets guy. And so, he gave me a running start at it, but I taught myself how to code because I wanted to make games for myself. I had exhausted the two games that I had. Matthias Metternich:And that took me on a journey into figuring out how to connect to the internet, talking to people all over the world at a time when very few adults knew how to do this. I felt incredibly empowered. And then I had the tools to come up with ideas and articulate those using code and using design. And I realized very quickly that my video games were pretty shitty because I was actually not a very good storyteller, but I was good at some of the code. And that's where I started to lose myself in the world of storytelling, and design, and empathy, and understanding what connects with people and why people get inspired or sad or happy or excited. And I tried to weave that into my games. Matthias Metternich:So in a way it was a little bit of a workshop for me. I was a craftsman honing my own craft at my own pace with the world's information, gradually coming online and being available online for me to learn from other people. It was a really powerful period for me. Chris Erwin:This reminds me of another interview that we did on the show with Christian Baesler, who is the president of Complex Networks. He was born, I think, in the late '80s in Germany. So there must be something in the water there, because he also began coding at a very young age himself, or his uncle had bought him a computer. I think he was born within a month of the Berlin Wall coming down. And he was in a small town, and he felt the need that through his computer he can express himself through coding, developing games, and also through the internet, connecting with people that were outside of his community, craving that need for connection and new information and exposure. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Very similar stories. Chris Erwin:After this, you then go and you do your undergrad, and that's at... Did you say UCLA? Matthias Metternich:Yes, that's right. Chris Erwin:You do your undergrad at UCLA. And what's going through your mind while you're there in terms of fast forward, you clearly have a very impressive entrepreneurial career, which leads to founding Art of Sport a few years back. Was this in your mindset when you were going through undergrad as well? Matthias Metternich:Yeah. So I started my first company when I was about 14 years old, and it was out of necessity. It was really not necessarily... I mean, I always had an entrepreneurial bent. I was intrigued by money, but it wasn't a means to an end for me. But the idea of having something that someone wanted and being able to charge for it, was an interesting idea to me. And I remember, I mean, my first businesses were trying to sell my video games, and then it was actually building out a bigger video game library, where back in the day, it was fairly easy to just copy CD ROMs and sell those. And that was illegal obviously. But buying a video game for $35 and then selling a piecemeal for $5 a pop to a 100 kids was pretty lucrative. Matthias Metternich:It then snowballed into my first formal business, where I refurbished and sold computers in bulk to schools and to small businesses. And I would have ongoing service contracts where I would keep them updated, and fix those computers. And it was a really, actually pretty easy job for a kid in high school. And the pocket money was really good. Chris Erwin:Wait, so I have to pause there. So did you have a team that was helping you to do this or was it all by yourself? Matthias Metternich:It was all by myself. I didn't have a driver's license. So I would have to ask older friend in high school if they could drive the computers around in bands and stuff like that to get places. But I never employed anybody. It was just myself. And then I was part of the Computer Lab Society and whatnot. And there were folks there that were just excited to help. And I also was on the basketball team. So I sold these computers to the schools I was playing against. And so, sometimes I'll try to put the computers on the team basketball bus and transport them that way. But no, it was a great to work. It was a great way to learn. And then that's snowballed into one day walking down to my local staples and I needed business cards. Matthias Metternich:I realized I needed to have some way for people to call me. And so my parents were kind enough to have set up a dedicated line in my room. And so I went down to staples and had these business cards printed, and I didn't have that much money. And there was this offer, I think, for small businesses for 10,000 business cards or whatever for $100. It was a special or something like that. But you had to let them put the staples logo on the back of the card. And it was essentially their version of us know co-marketing that day. And I took it because it was the cheaper route. But then when I started putting those through mailboxes and small businesses to help them build websites and stuff, people thought I worked for staples and they actually called me back. They called me back probably at a higher rate than if I didn't have the staples logo on the card. Chris Erwin:That logo gave you legitimacy. Matthias Metternich:Gave me a legitimacy. And because I was doing so much of this remotely, they very rarely... Fortunately puberty hit me when I was about 14. So I had a voice that occasionally cracked, but sounded a little older, and they had no idea who they were working with. So I then started building websites. And by the time I got to college long way of telling you... Long story here, but by the time I got to college, I had a few businesses under my belt that I was running. I felt it was the most empowering and exhilarating experience. I had done lots of mixed media things, where I tried to make music, and produce music, and made websites, and build computers, and tried build apps. Matthias Metternich:And so, for me, it was very strange to think of studying something to go within into a function, into a single domain, or expertise, or functional expertise, or focus, when I was already relatively fluent. I'll be amateurish across all these different buckets that I felt were... When you paired my experience back to how that manifested within academia, those were all separate degrees and people were studying those things separately. So, I fell out of water. I felt weird about what I was doing in college. I felt like a complete fish out of water also just culturally. It was tough for me to connect with kids who had probably mostly grown up in the same town or same city, and were going to college in their same city. And I started another company while I was in college. So to answer your question, yeah, the intention was always to build businesses, but never just to build businesses. It was because I loved the process of making things and seeing opportunities, and asking myself questions about where the world was going, and then try and articulate those. Chris Erwin:Wow! So when you say that you had fluency in a lot of different, call it the capacities and how you build a business and how you run a business, and that you felt that those were modularized when you were in undergrad and that's not how you looked at it. What did you perceive as those core competencies that you had already figured out by your undergrad years? Matthias Metternich:I don't want to overstate it. I mean, I still knew nothing about very much of anything, and probably still don't know anything about anything. Chris Erwin:Beginner's mind is a good place to be. Matthias Metternich:Yeah, absolutely. But look, this was still a time in an era where somebody who could use Photoshop fluently and design something leaks ahead of entire digital agencies that were just starting to become proficient in digital stuff. I mean, this was 2004. And so, I don't want to overstate my skills, but by that point I was fluent in Excel, and basic financial modeling, building up PnL, and managing that, and forecasting and that sort of stuff, pretty rudimentary arithmetic. I was fluent in designing things, both physical and not structural design, but physical media billboards, or postcards, or whatever else. I was packaging and so on. Matthias Metternich:I was pretty fluent in designing digital products, whether those were app style products or just informational websites. I've had experience copywriting and telling stories that I thought could lead to consumers clicking on things, and seeing things. So I had some proximity to search and search optimization. I was fluent a little bit in having talked to people who were open to putting some money into my projects, which at the time I wasn't really familiar with institutional capital, institutional investors, or even angel investors, but I understood what that- Chris Erwin:You had bootstrapped everything yourself to dig, right? Matthias Metternich:... totally. Yeah. Bootstrapped, but also with the luxury of safety net for my parents. I wasn't paying rent. So, it was the best time to be trying things, because I still was fed at the end of the day. And so, when I looked at college, it was a case of saying, okay. Well, there's, there's an accounting degree, there's an economics degree, there's a bit poly-psy, which I felt like I had from home. There's the design school. Okay. That seems pretty limited. And where does that lead from a career perspective? And then none of those things had really tentacles that led out of the institution into the real world. Matthias Metternich:So all these kids were studying this thing within this echo chamber and then going to a job fair. And I just thought that seems so backwards. You'd want to accelerate your craft and accelerate your learning into something actually relevant in the real world. Those things shouldn't be distinct, where there's a learning center and then there's the real world. Those things are probably the same space. And there's no reason why you can't learn on the job. Chris Erwin:And speaking of reaching your tentacles out into the real world, is this around the same time when you sneak into, I think a speaking event of the founder of MySpace, Brett Brewer? Matthias Metternich:Yeah, it was. It was actually my... I want to say it was my sophomore year. And UCLA business school, these are young executives or corporate leaders coming back to get their MBAs. And here is this 19 year old kid who's loitering around their departments and walking into the buildings, and just walking into different classes. And there was a business plan competition for its students. I think the best business plan was going to get $10,000 or something like that. And I went around asking different MBA students if they'd be willing to let me join their team, because I personally couldn't really apply myself to this. I wasn't a bit in the business school. So I could be part of a team, but I couldn't be leading it. And two guys were kind enough to take me on. Matthias Metternich:And basically then I worked with them to come up with a business plan and design the deck, and do the financials, and do it all with them. And during one of the mentor classes, Brett Brewer was speaking. I'd snuck in to attend this. Again, I'm never really allowed to be present in these spaces as an undergrad. And Brett Brewer was standing on stage and he was being interviewed, and he went to UCLA as an undergrad. And the moderator said, "Tell us about your college experience." And he said, "I snuck into the business school as an undergrad. I met somebody who was talking on stage and that person was able to help me enter into the internet space as I was running a company from my dorm room." And of course that spoke to me perfectly, because that was me. Matthias Metternich:And I felt almost like he was talking to me and inviting me to come talk to him, which I did afterwards. And I walked up to him and I told him this, and he was incredibly gracious. And I bumped into him since a few times and I never let him forget it. But he was my first real person that had built internet companies, built successful internet companies, embodied in a person, and was willing to talk about the inner workings of the tech industry. And at a time when very few people were trying to be tech entrepreneurs. Now every day there's a new startup. But then it was really hard to get an understanding of, how do I enter this space? Who are the players? What are the rules of the game? How does it actually work? Matthias Metternich:And at least what he did was, he looked at my business plan and I showed him the products, and he saw talent and he made introductions. And he made some introductions to some very interesting people who have become tech Titans and were tech Titans then, and have continued to be tech Titans now. But that was one of the most formative moments for me, where it was really a validation of, okay, someone great things that I can play ball. And I felt like I had been basically recruited onto a team. I wasn't a starter, but I had at least made it into the NBA. And the question was like, what do I do with this? Chris Erwin:My next question is, so you graduate from UCLA. And in terms of your next step, was it directly inspired or related to your relationship with Brett or something else? Matthias Metternich:I wouldn't say it was directly inspired. What I was doing in college, my company was essentially a creative digital agency. But I only did that so that it could cash flow into my real passion, which was to incubate our own products. And I did that because I didn't really want to be dependent on outside capital and raising capital. And I wanted to actually have good bread and butter work coming in, people getting paid, and then use whatever leftover cash to come up with our own products that we owned entirely and can scale maybe into an internet company. And that was the real business model. And in a way, because of my proximity or at least my exposure to Brett and his way of thinking, and then all these other folks. I don't want to overstate the relationship at the time, but definitely he was an inspiring figure locally. I continued to build this agency with an aim to try and launch new products. Matthias Metternich:And right at the time I was graduating, there was an opportune time for me to exit the agency and sell it to my partners. But also I had heard of a couple of agencies in London that were really remarkable working with really big clients, and were the ideas of the digital arena. These think tanks that were also creative. They knew about marketing, but they were also about creating valuable products and services. And these were bigger agencies. And I hadn't really realized there were big agencies doing this. And so I decided to move to London and joined those firms, and then start firms like that with them. And so that gave me exposure to a ton of global brands and really big brands and exciting big projects that I would have never ever done in my small studio. But I was serving global clients very quickly at a young age, working on some very challenging and complicated platforms and services and products across insurance, across consumer goods, across whatever it was. And so I had some really remarkable opportunities in that context. Chris Erwin:I think that your agency/incubator was called Popsicle Vision. Matthias Metternich:That's right. Chris Erwin:And so did you end up selling it to a London-based incubator? Matthias Metternich:No, I didn't. I sold it to my local partners in California, and then I moved to London to join this firm. Chris Erwin:You move to London, you kick off this journey. Is this your first career moment where you're actually working for someone else? Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Chris Erwin:It's not a business that you had founded? Matthias Metternich:Yes. That was the first time working for someone else. And I had the opportunity to sit down with the partners of this firm, and they had no idea what to do with me. And I had no idea what I was going to do there. And credit to them they said, "Well, why don't you just hop a board and see what happens? And you can help us with the business and help us think about building the business because we're also stuck serving all these clients. Maybe you can pull out to [inaudible 00:21:24] and help us understand what services we're offering, what should we should be doing more of, whether it's intellectual property that we could maybe build out." And I was thinking very much from Silicon valley startups, building tech companies, building products and services. And these guys didn't really have proximity to that in London. Matthias Metternich:I was put in a role that was very fluid and they gave me a lot of runway to do whatever I wanted. To the extent that one day I got a call, and I could barely understand. It was a very thick accent. And I hung up a few times, and they kept calling back, until they finally said, "Hey, we're a publicly listed $10 plus billion telecoms company based in Istanbul. And we'd like to fly you out to Istanbul." And I looked over at one of the partners and I said, "I think I'm going to go down in Istanbul and talk to these guys. I have no idea who they are, what they want, but it sounds fun." And I got on a plane and I went down there. And sure enough, it was the biggest company in Turkey, 90 million plus subscribers. Matthias Metternich:It's Turkcell, it's the largest telco company down there, huge offices, beautiful offices, huge budgets, massive projects, total desire to transform their organization, build all these new products and services, and no real domestic talents, no real Turkey based agencies, able to pull any of this stuff off. And so there I was feeling like a kid in a candy shop, and also feeling really comfortable in that environment, having lived in all these different countries, where I basically called the partners back in London and I said, "I'd like to build the agency here. We'll share the business. And I'll drive business back into London. I'll use the portfolio and we'll see where it takes us." That was a chapter that moved me from London to Istanbul. Chris Erwin:So I have to ask Matthias, if I'm following your timeline right, you're right out of undergrad call in your early 20s, maybe mid 20s max? Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Chris Erwin:I assume that in the London office, looking around the different cubicles, you have people that are right out of undergrad analysts, junior level, and you're getting calls from major executives in Turkey that are then flying you out. So it feels like your role is more like that of a partner. Is that what it felt like to you and did that felt natural? Matthias Metternich:100%. Totally felt national. It wasn't pretentious on my part. It was just that I also wasn't... In some cases I was noticing these junior staffers or mid-level staffers were vastly more proficient in the one skill they'd been honing for years. So I wasn't going to compete with them. And also I didn't want to compete with them because I wasn't wanting to work within that silo. And I didn't see myself progressing from a junior level person to a mid-level person, to a senior level person within that function. And then maybe get into graduate into the executive suite that never really made sense for me, because I was perfectly proficient by that point to speak relatively fluently with partners about some of the actual business challenges and some of the business logic, and what we should be going after or not going after. Matthias Metternich:And so, when you're in that growth mindset of making things and creating things that isn't limited by the bread and butter of what you already do, then you'd just by definition, get to live at a more fluid state. And by the way, it wasn't just me being exceptional or anything like that. Consultants have the same privilege. There are a lot of second or third year analysts out of college who work at McKinsey or Boston Consulting Group who have exactly the same experience. Because that's what they do. They get to parachute into an organization and work with the senior leadership on what the future should look like. So it was unique to me, but I was doing it within a function that wasn't necessarily the big four cost and consulting or McKinsey type places. Chris Erwin:I think you assumed this consultant advisory role for around five years after undergrad, before you returned to the US. Is it true that you bounced around to a few different companies? And I'm probably pronouncing this wrong, but Poke MEA and a global partner at Aqua. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. AKQA. Chris Erwin:Okay. AKQA. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. So these are two of the sort of leading digital transformation agencies. And I worked with clients across the gamut of industries. But when I was sort of tired of doing that because we sold the agency to publicists and then AKQA had been sold to WPP, I wanted to go back to building products cause that's what I was doing, advising clients, that's what I was helping them think about. So I wanted to go back to building my own company. So I started an enterprise software company that was backed by a bunch of venture capital funds in London, and spent three years building that. And that was an enterprise software business in the FinTech and marketing automation space. Chris Erwin:And what was the name of that company? Was that Believe.in? Matthias Metternich:Yeah, that's Believe.in. Chris Erwin:I look at what you're doing now at Art of Sport, which is you're disrupting the body and skincare industry. And there's also a major intersection of media around the talent network that you're building out, very different from enterprise software. So was your heart in this product that you had created back then or, hey, you perceived opportunity, you had a unique set of skills. There was a moment in time.? Or was it something that you were generally very passionate and interested in as well? Matthias Metternich:I can be very quick to fall in love with opportunities that don't exist in the white space. And so because I think the world of having built different things in the fluid nature of digital businesses and products and servicing all these different clients, and some might have been banks, or insurance companies, or race teams, or Skype, or [inaudible 00:26:37], seeing all these different types of companies, I think you come away with an appreciation for different types of businesses, at least a fidelity of understanding what the rules of the game are within those different verticals. Matthias Metternich:So when you see, hey, I can bring this design thinking, or this distribution differentiation, or this ability to scale to something that hasn't been done before, I tend to fall madly in love with those. So I love B2B businesses, I love B2C businesses. But with Art of Sport, it was a very clear white space to go after, creating the first sports brand to define application what you put on your skin every day. And so I took inspiration from Nike, and Nike did that for decades with what you wear. Gatorade did that for decades with what you drink and defined what that should look like. And really built a team that was focused on the athlete and creating real cultural residence, but no one had ever done it in the skincare space. Matthias Metternich:And I felt that was a huge opportunity having played sports my whole life, and knowing the category, knowing very well that consumer who chooses a brand tends to stick with that brand for decades. And that to me, was a very powerful opportunity to not just define what the Nike of skincare should look like, but also have that proximity to a consumer who applies this to their skin every day for the rest of their lives. Chris Erwin:And before we go deeper into art of sport, actually want to go back to when I think it was the early days when you were actually really interested in the intersection of culture and commerce. You had founded, I think a digitally native brand called COCODUNE back in 2014. What's the story behind that? Because I felt like that kicked off your artist sport journey in a way. Matthias Metternich:It did. I mean, it transitioned me back to the United States and I saw an opportunity where I want him to get in on the e-commerce game. And what I liked about e-commerce compared to software was, I liked the idea of a physical asset. And I liked understanding the balance sheet from the perspective of future earnings and lifetime value of consumers to individual one-off orders, where you're selling a product, and you're making it for X and you're selling it for Y, and you have the potential to scale that business off of that model. And so I was very intrigued by the fundamentals of e-commerce. I was very intrigued by what I was seeing in the social media space. And I was interested about every product having its own set of variables that expresses what I call the physics of that opportunity. Matthias Metternich:So certain products weigh a certain amount, certain products you can sell for a certain amount, because there's ambiguity about the actual cost of making them. Certain products are hard to shop for in the real world, therefore they're more suited to online. Certain products haven't seen a lot of innovation. So there's a lot of really interesting questions to be asked about a category. And I honed in on what I thought was a very interesting one, which was swimwear for women. And it sounds crazy. And I certainly had a lot of people in my world who thought I was crazy going from all the things I was doing before to bikini's. But there was something really interesting in the fact that, okay, this is a product that weighs almost nothing. It's a product that sold for 350, sometimes, dollars. It costs about between six and $10 to make. Matthias Metternich:And paradoxically, the less fabric there is the more expensive these products are. There were all these friction points that I saw, plus all of these variables within swimwear that I thought, "Hey, this might lend itself very well to be commerce, especially if we can predict the integrate, especially if we can create a really seamless experience for the consumer trying this product on at home, free shipping and free returns. Maybe we send them a several sizes so that they can find their size without friction, and they could send back what they don't like, because there's that lower weight." And so therefore the shipping rates aren't going to necessarily be arbitrarily that much higher or lower, depending on if we send them actually more inventory, we can always bill them retroactively. In some cases. Chris Erwin:That's like the Warby Parker model in a bit. Matthias Metternich:Exactly like the Warby Parker model, except with eyewear you choose one model and you stick with that. You don't really explore things. But with fashion, you might go with the polka dot one, you might want the black top, and you might also want the striped one, and you might want this color, and so on. So there was a lot of opportunity for cross and lateral selling. We also were making silhouettes that were sometimes very fashioned bourbon. And then sometimes we were making them a little bit more sporty. And people who are swimming or going on holiday, in some cases, were buying four or five, six, seven, eight, nine pairs of swimwear, and then those fade, and then you buy them again for the next season. Matthias Metternich:And so, there was a very rationalized construct behind why I did this. And one thing that I had learned from that business that was so interesting was, one, people buying things online and what triggers them. But two, we had a, surprisingly, very successful offline business through wholesale. And I remembered we had these two young women who were hosting a pop-up in Nantucket of all places. And they have this tiny little store, and they asked if we could send some product. We sent product, and the next day it was gone, sold out. And then we sold more and it sold out. We sold more, it sold out. And we were doing tens of thousands of dollars for this one, tiny little pop-up in Nantucket. Matthias Metternich:And I remember thinking to myself, this is actually putting some burden on our inventories, it's annoying actually. I mean, it's great that we're getting this revenue, but we're trying to build an e-commerce business. And I remember ignoring the wholesale business. And I remember thinking to myself, the offline business is not what I want to be building because I was buying into this mantra that it was all about pixels and not bricks. And have everything centralized in the warehouse, low cost of operations, warehouse vertically integrated and ship it. Have those DTC metrics really prove out because you can scale it into a unicorn. Matthias Metternich:And I was never delusional enough to think that I was going to be as big as Warby Parker, but I did remember hearing that Victoria secret had a $500 million swimsuit business, and they were discontinuing swimwear. And I thought to myself, there's a big of an opportunity to get something like this to 100 or 200 million revenue, except I can't get distracted by wholesale. And so I remember as we started to try and rationalize the business and figure this business out, we neglected the wholesale business. We also found that the cost of acquisition was creeping up because social channels are really saturated and becoming more and more saturated. And so we ended up leaving that business where we were selling it for... We sold it for parts. We had different types of attributes and assets that were interesting to a different parties in different ways. Matthias Metternich:And that's how we moved off of that business. And it was also an interesting time not to get too lost in the weeds here, but I raised a bunch of capital from fashion and tech investors in London because I had been in London and I was operating out of California. And my capital was partly held up in pounds, in British pounds, Sterling. And when Brexit happened, the pound massively devalued against the dollar. Part of the reason we ended up selling it for parts is because we were in a position where an enormous amount of our runway basically disappeared overnight with the de-valuing of the British pound when Brexit happened. Chris Erwin:It's one of those things that you can never anticipate. Matthias Metternich:Never anticipate. Chris Erwin:It's like you're building a startup. You know you're going to have many headwinds. And this is, as they say, the unknown unknowns. Matthias Metternich:I've always said this, everything that could possibly go wrong doesn't help describe enough how many things can go wrong when you're building a startup. And that was one of them where I just was thinking to myself, "This just can't be possible. How are we going to position where the future of the business is dependent on currency exchange?" That's insane. Chris Erwin:So I'm curious, because looking back when you were growing up, Matthias, you had bootstrapped companies that were cashflow positive, recurring revenues through these amazing service contracts with the schools that you had structured in your teen years, which is very impressive. Then you go into raising capital from other investors for enterprise software at Believe.in, and then for COCODUNE. And then you have... These aren't material exits for you they're challenges. And so does this start to dissuade you from, "Hey, the next company I built, I'm going to do differently?" What was going through your head? Matthias Metternich:That's a great question. Because I think that that's really fundamental to, I think, of a lot of entrepreneurs journey is when they think about the venture capital versus self-funding and profitability. And I had this conversation just last night with someone, where... I mean, look, it depends partially on your risk profile and what you're in the game for. I'm motivated by money. No question. I mean, we all are in some ways. But I'm also motivated to make something of my time and I want to make sure that I'm doing stuff that's exciting to me. And as much as I can. And the idea of spending 15 years building a cashflow positive business slowly, but surely it doesn't necessarily appeal to me. Matthias Metternich:I mean, I like the idea, but that's slow going. That's a lot of risk that you're taking on yourself. And this is the really, the big point of discussion me, is if you look back historically... And I like to think of myself as somebody who studies this a little bit and you look back to the 17th century, 16th century around businesses, most of these were family run, small operations that had a really tough time getting loans, really tough time having any liquidity whatsoever, really tough time being able to fund inventory. Matthias Metternich:And so we've migrated over hundreds of years to a place where access to capital is not only available in the form of these really great debt instruments, but we're also talking about a new frontier in asset class, which is called venture capital. And venture capital provides capital to entrepreneurs with ideas at stages of their development, where they have no idea how it's going to shake out. And it's right at the beginning. And not only that, the capital's available at prices that are very, very effective and accommodating for entrepreneurs to own. Most of their intellectual property that in into itself is an enormous privilege, that we live in an era where theoretically, you could raise a million dollars or more for 20% of your business. And there you are with 80% of your business and a million dollars, and hopefully a good plan to go and execute this, but you have the whole world ahead of you to go after. Matthias Metternich:And depending on the type of business, it might be 5 million, it might be 100 million, it might be a billion dollars. But we are in this very unique period in our world, in our lives, where we get to articulate ideas, we get to get funding for them, and we get to own meaningful stakes in those endeavors. And typically, you get to do that with relatively limited downside of personal risk in the way of liability. And that, to me, fundamentally from just a historical perspective, the time that we live in a generational perspective is one of the greatest, most remarkable things that I'm privileged to experience in this era. And so, to that end, it's a case of all... I mean, excuse my French, and you might have to bleep this out, but why wouldn't I fuck with that? Why wouldn't I go after that? Even if the risks are such that you lose everything at least on paper. You fail the endeavor. Okay, fine. Get up again and try it again. Chris Erwin:I'll poke one part of that, because this has come up something that I think about for myself and also from some of my peers is, Matthias, the argument that you just made in terms of the financial opportunity, the risk profile and ownership is very compelling. A potential counterpoint though, is that if you're doing, say, a 15 year cashflow business versus a venture funded business, the pressure from investors, the feeling of a bit of lack of control, and that you have to grind, and this word hustle, which is increasingly going out of fashion, could be very unappealing to entrepreneurs that are like, "Look, I want to work hard, but the classic venture hustle maybe is not and I don't want to burn out early." Matthias Metternich:100%. Chris Erwin:There's certain operators, maybe like you who have more grit resilience, and are actually better at finding the balance with a venture business. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. I think those are valid points. I don't think those things are mutually exclusive. And I think you have to ask yourself, who am I, and what do I want? I think that if you're going to take venture capital, then you can't delude yourself to think that you can somehow not play the game. You're entering into a contract that is just like any pro athlete. The expectation is that, "Okay. If I'm going to go sign for the NFL and play for a franchise team, or the NBA, or MLB, then I'm expected to put my life into this thing," because it's an opportunity. That's an enormous privilege. But it also in the case of the startup world, the upside could potentially be enormous. Matthias Metternich:And so from that perspective, I think it's a mindset. And I think it's really about asking oneself, "Am I that person," or does that just really sound cool and sound fun? Because you'll very quickly realize that, "Hey, if you're not willing to put that time in and willing to orchestrate or structure your life to prioritize that as the number one, because you've entered into this contract, then maybe you shouldn't play in the professional sports," at least if venture is... We're calling professional sports for this analogy sake. I 100% here you. Look, I think amongst entrepreneurs and most of my friends are entrepreneurs and they're venture backed, and many of them are also self-funded, there's always that discussion. Matthias Metternich:And I think some of them that are funding it themselves can really stand there and point to having built something slowly, being able to control their own destiny, being able to pay themselves what they want to pay. And they've gone through that ringer in the wars in ways that venture capital folks or venture funded people might not have gone through. And I think a lot of venture-funded startup entrepreneurs look at people who own their whole businesses and are, let's say cashflowing positively with massive admiration, because they know what tip to get there. But the stresses within venture capital are very different, and turning something from zero value into 100 plus million valuation in three or four years is also extraordinary. Matthias Metternich:From my perspective, it's all good. But still it's a privilege and it's an opportunity, and it's a flexibility that the entrepreneur, the operator has never had historically. All of those instruments that are available to us, all come with different conditions, different expectations. And I think one thing that I think entrepreneurs also get wrong is they point often at venture funded businesses and look at those boards. And they say, "By definition, the pressures are going to be crazy. Expectations are going to be out of saying, everyone's going to expect to make a shit load of money really quickly. I don't want to do that." But that is a trope. Matthias Metternich:Because I've only had experiences where my board is aligned, where my investors understand the business we're in, they understand the challenges, they understand not exerting too much pressure onto something and doing something that's super inorganic or unhealthy. And so, I think it's on the entrepreneur and on the partners to all find alignment and understand the physics of the game that they're in. And that alignment will create solid expectations and solid foundations for running something that is hot pressure cooker, but it's within reason and it's within rationale. Chris Erwin:In a way to sum it up, I think it's important to know thyself. Know who you are and also know the people around you that you're getting into business with. Hey, listeners. This is Chris Erwin, your host of the Come Up. I have a quick ask for you. If you dig what we're putting down, if you like the show, if you like our guests, it would really mean a lot if you can give us a rating wherever you listen to our show. It helps other people discover our work. And it also really supports what we do here. All right, that's it, everybody. Let's get back to the interview. So look, speaking of sports analogies, I think this is a great transition point to talk about the founding of Art of Sport. After COCODUNE, you ended up founding Art of Sport. How did that come to be? Matthias Metternich:Well, it came to be because I was coming out of that pressure cooker, and I was looking for my next one. But I also was looking to roll my experience, building products into something where I would avoid the same pitfalls. I'd be able to do certain things a little bit better. And really, it was just a matter of time before landing on a big idea that I saw real passion for and excitement for. Only this one, Art of Sport, was one that was very, very deep to my heart. I was introduced to Brian Lee, who's my co-founder in Art of Sport. And he's had an incredible career and someone I really look up to. He founded LegalZoom in his 20s. The defacto online legal platform in the country, is just remarkable. Chris Erwin:The trademark for RockWater I think was done through LegalZoom. Matthias Metternich:Very good. And then he went on to found on his company with Jessica Alba, which was the first player probably since Pampers to go into the children's baby early family stage arena with products that were better for you, made more natural, under the banner of trying to create a safe, happy world for children and young families. And it was a very exciting trajectory that he, took going from a D to C to an omni-channel brand. And I think north of a billion valuation. And so Brian and I have over the years, shared a number of venture capital investors who've invested in our businesses respectively. And there was a lot of good connective tissue there that facilitated our meeting and facilitated, our both as entrepreneurs, just rolling our sleeves up and starting to share notes on what we've learned in the past and what we want to do in the future. Matthias Metternich:And we landed on the very early innings of a rough idea around Artist of Sport when Brian visited Target and saw a bunch of copper tones sport sunscreens on the end of the aisle, and just, I think, probably being in the Headspace of having looked at brands and looked at formulas and wondering what makes a good formula [inaudible 00:44:54]. I think he asked himself, "Well, why is this sport formula? What makes it sport?" When he shared that idea with me, we walked the aisles together. We looked at the sunscreen aisle, and then we walked over to the deodorant aisle, and then we walked into the body wash aisle, and then we walked into all the other aisles of application and products and formulas. And we saw sport being used by a number of these legacy brands. And we asked ourselves, well, do we think of Coppertone or [inaudible 00:45:21] when we think of a sports brand? Matthias Metternich:Do we think of a sports brand when you see Axe sport blast or Old Spice, [inaudible 00:45:30], probably not. You really think of the Nike's, the Addidases, the Gatorades, the Powerades, brands that were born on the field with the athlete, and developed by athletes and made for athletes, and that's your north star. And everyone in the organization is serving that one unique mission. And we thought to ourselves, no one has touched the application. Nike, and Adidas, and Puma, and Under Armour, and you name it, they've touched what we wear, [inaudible 00:45:57]. We've got the Gatorades of this world and the Powerades, and the body armors, and the Vegas, and the RX Stars and whatever it is, and power bars that touch nutrition, and you put in your body. How is it possible that no one's touched what you put on your skin? Matthias Metternich:And we intuitively knew that that was a huge market. And we intuitively also knew that application spans a lot of different types of categories and a lot of different types of products, and then there's a lot of really interesting connective tissue into that athletic world through sunscreen. But there's also interesting applications in pain and recovery, showering when you've been taking multiple showers in a week or a day, even because you work out so much and dry skin. The way you smell, the way you feel in your skin, feeling confident, feeling fresh, feeling ready to go challenge the day. We knew in our bones that there was something very big here if it could be executed correctly, and that was the Genesis of Arts of Sports family. Chris Erwin:And it's interesting to hear you describe the story. So personally as a surfer, I look at different types of skincare and sunscreen. I would go down to the aisle like the CVS, and I would look at, okay, Neutrogena skincare and the Neutrogena sport, and then other brands are regular and then sport. And then I would look at the ingredients on the back and then be like, wait a minute, literally the exact same ingredients, it's just branded differently. And I've found that very frustrating and also very confusing. What am I missing here? And then I think about, I use right guard deodorants. The one that I ended up using is Right Guard Surf. Now, is there anything related to surf? Not at all. It's just the branding that I like, but it does resonate with me. Matthias Metternich:Yeah. Well, I remember when we were exploring the idea, we happened, I think quite serendipitously, to meet the guy who at Gillette, was the guy who created Gillette sport. And he was describing that he had no budget for any innovation. And there was nothing that was new about the product. It was the same product. And he had to figure out a path to creating something meaningful. So he slapped sport on the label. And I think it three X the business, and he was chuckling at that. And I was, on the one hand amused by it, and the other one, I was completely agas, that this is a proxy for that entire arena where sports been used as a marketing device, less as an actual purpose, and mission, and focus, and design with intention, and the same way that these other sports brands that we love have devoted all their resources to doing this. Matthias Metternich:And so, when we started the business, we knew we needed to be as authentic to the process and deliberate the process as Adi Dassler, who was literally cobbling shoes together for Jesse Owens at the Olympics, and Phil Knight at the University of Oregon, with people on the track and field. And we knew we needed to have deep proximity to the athletic community and have them deeply involved in our business. And I remember Brian and I thinking, well, who represents the kind of tenacity, and focus, and mental, and physical commitment to being the best version of yourself possible in the sports space, that has done so successfully that they've transcended their sports? And it really took us almost no time to say, "Well, that's Kobe Bryant." Matthias Metternich:And we asked ourselves, well, what would that look like if we got him involved? Do we think we could get him involved? And our paths took us to his door and we presented what we had, which was very rough at the time. Chris Erwin:How did you actually get to Kobe, did you go through his management or an agency? Matthias Metternich:Brian, had some, I think distant connective tissue there. They'd come across each other, of course, over the years. Brian's been an entrepreneur in LA for 25 plus years. So, he's made a name for himself. He has a great reputation. He's got the Midas touch. And so doors open whenever Brian wants to talk to folks. But we also had really one of Brian's old friends and somebody who was deeply involved with LegalZoom as well later in the business, was a guy named Jeff Stibel. And Jeff Stibel founded the Bryant Stibel fund when Kobe retired. And it was essentially one of his investment arms. And so we went to Jeff and we spoke to Jeff about the opportunity, and Jeff facilitated a conversation. And we went down to Newport and that's how we ended up sharing the idea with Kobe. Chris Erwin:What was his reaction in the room? Did he immediately get it, or did it take a few sessions to explain how big this could be? Matthias Metternich:I mean, he just had this incredible beaming, natural charisma, incredibly handsome, charismatic, sharp, fun person, and walked into the meeting room and instantly commands the space he's in, and sat down. And I had a bunch of samples from my factories that I'd been working with for several months on early iterations, new fragrances, and oils, information about the ingredients and why things were being constructed. We'd been working with some scientists that were some of the leading skincare scientists in the world to really cement the innovation and cement the formula standards around athletes. We have tested some of these with young athletes. So we had a body of work. It was really not a sketch on a napkin, hoping that he'd see the vision. We showed him the vision and we showed him our focus on how we would execute it. Matthias Metternich:And he sat there very quietly. You could tell he was very absorbed in the information. Instantly grabbed all the samples and played with them, and smelled them, and looked at them from all different angles. And then the first thing he said was, "How does this not exist yet?" That was a relief. Chris Erwin:It's exactly what you'd want to hear. Matthias Metternich:That's exactly what you want. That's exactly what you want. But it was almost like this is too obvious. Am I missing something here? This is so obvious that maybe it's not even an idea. Or is it such a big idea that it's... It's so obvious that it's such a big idea. And fortunately for us, I think he had gone through the experience of building Body Armor. And Body Armor massively successful competitor in the drinks space, going after Gatorade, $6 billion business. Matthias Metternich:And he always had lots of proximity to that in the early stages, was an investor in the business. And they had, I think, just sold part of it for a billion plus to Coca-Cola. I mean, the timing was quite fortuitous, in that, you have to remember Kobe helped build the Nike brand, so what you wear, for 20 plus years. He was involved with them in China and everywhere else. Then he was involved in a beverage player and what you put in your body. And so it was only natural for him to see that sequence, and say, "Hey, I think I have a role to play in defining what applications look like." Chris Erwin:Did he challenged you in any areas where he said, "Hey, this about the product design, the packaging, the ingredients, the perfume," anything like that, where he had a pretty strong differing opinion from the start? Matthias Metternich:Immediately. So one of the areas that is always an interesting talking point is how do you design a sports brand that doesn't just appeal to gym rats and hardcore athletes? How do you build one that transcends time? How do you build one that connects with all walks of life? How do you build a culturally resonant brand in the same way that Nike has done it, or Adidas has done it, because these are brands that people are wearing. Nine times out of 10 they're not going for a run. Nine times out of 10, they're wearing it because they connect with the lifestyle. They like the brand, they like the vibe, they like the aesthetics, and they feel it represents them and their values. And it's cool. And so you have to have a very careful balance between those two things. And one of the areas that he was very adamant on and wanting to speak about in detail was, how do you stay resolutely focused on performance? Matthias Metternich:How do you stay resolutely committed to the athlete, and how do you not get too caught up in trends? And how do you not get too caught up with what Adidas is doing with all of its fashion labs, the stuff that takes it out of the lane of sport, versus Nike that remains deeply wedded to sport constantly and stays focused on that and still manages to create a cultural halo around it? So we were operating, I think, at quite a high level when it came to just general strategy and brands. That was an area he had a lot of passion for. And then he wanted to go away with the products and use those products a lot and pass them around to his network of athletes so that he could gather his own data rather than just assume that our data was accurate. Chris Erwin:And it feels like everything that we read about and that we talk about with our clients is, when you look at the chance to partner up with talent, that could have not only just incredible insights into unique product or unique audience, but the exposure, the audience that they can bring, their brand awareness. But if you solely rely on the latter of that relationship, you're not getting the full force of everything they could bring to that company, that startup, that idea, that vision. And so it seems that you approach this with Kobe from the start thinking in a much broader way. Does this conversation happen... Because I think the company was founded around 2018 when you first had your seed. When was the Kobe conversation? Matthias Metternich:The conversation with Kobe was in 2018, and we launched the business in 2019. Chris Erwin:Fast forwarding a bit here, but him being a key integral thought partner to the business and an ambassador, and then the unfortunate circumstances and Kobe's passing in early 2020, how did you manage around that? What was the direct impact of the business? Matthias Metternich:Obviously an enormous loss. And I think we were just shellshocked for months, and just trying to process the information was hard enough. We didn't rush to just define the business, and define the impact on the business, and define what it would do to our bottom line, and these sorts of things. I think we were pretty deliberate. Not even deliberate knowingly, but just really prioritizing the loss of a partner and a friend, and someone we respected deeply. So that's where our hearts were for a long time. And then when we started to come up for air, what we saw were athletes rushing to us. We saw the community come to us. We didn't see people running away. And we saw people wanting to support us more, then we saw that the permanence, let's say of his legacy, was even deeper in a way that is unfortunate when you see brilliant people, brilliant minds, brilliant artists, brilliant athletes pass away in their prime, they pass away too prematurely. Matthias Metternich:And so, the outpouring of love and support that we saw was enormous. We were a couple of weeks away from launching the biggest partnership of its kind with Target nationally in the skincare space. It was a huge, huge partnership. We'd spent over a year, quietly and carefully crafting. And Kobe and I were going to do a media tour to promote the brands. And, of course, the first folks that we ended up calling to let them know what had transpired and what we were going to be doing, and how things were going to continue to work was with Target. And Target were very supportive. Matthias Metternich:They were very keen to make sure that we didn't actually heavily promote the brand when we launched, because we were all cautious of not wanting to be commercializing the passing of one of our founders, which was a pro and a con, because we were doing the right thing and we all felt very good about it. But it was also launching a new brand at that scale nationally and not being able to talk about it was a scary idea, because that's the moment you really want to be talking about it. Matthias Metternich:And then we rolled from that into peak lockdown with COVID, which was also incredibly challenging for everyone. And so, a really tough time to launch a consumer brand offline, especially for us. That was one of the sort of unfortunate sequences of events that had the potential to put a really dark cloud over the organization, a really dark cloud over the team. But we came together as a team and just like in sports, you have to overcome some pretty devastating losses. And I think we really banded together to try and continue on with our mission, and things were looking very bright now. That was a testing time for everyone. Chris Erwin:So it raises the question in that moment where you had this outpouring of love and support for the passing of one of your co-founders. Did that also cause you to think about the business and say, "Wow, look at all these different relationships, personalities, potential partners that we can maybe think differently about how we're building off of this magnetism and this energy that Kobe had created around his whole life. And there's a way to actually take that energy and propel it forward in thinking about your talent network differently?" Matthias Metternich:Yeah. I think what we did was, when we started the business, we started with Kobe and we had seven other athletes. So we had a round table of athletes that we felt represented a cross section of America. We did that very purposely and intentionally because we believe sport is one of the great equalizers in this world. It's one of the great ways for everyone to access it and participate. It's inclusive by design and it's diverse by design. And so, there's something really special in that. So when we brought seven of the athletes around the table, we chose people from different sports, different ages, different ethnicities, different genders. And we gave them all platforms to participate in communicating what our brand represents, and why their followers should care. So my point is this, we were always believing that the brand and the story was never going to be told by one athlete alone. Matthias Metternich:It was going to be told by, and was going to incorporate lots of different perspectives. So our storytelling was as it was before. And to an extent, because we looked at Kobe as our business partner, only as our business partner, rather than an endorser of our deodorant sticks, we captured the mantras, we captured the guidance that he's given us over the years, we captured that north star, we codify that mission and that purpose even more. We've retained, I think, the spirit of why we started this

Brendan Kane is an out of the box thinker for Fortune 500 corporations, brands, and celebrities. He thrives on helping individuals and companies systematically find and engage new audiences who reward relevant content, products, and services with their attention and spend. He started his career at Lakeshore Entertainment where he oversaw all aspects of Lakeshore's interactive media strategy. While there, he worked on 16 films that generated a worldwide gross of $685 million dollars and pioneered the first-ever influencer campaign to effectively promote Lakeshore's movies. Brendan went on to build applications and platforms for celebrity clients Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Michael Strahan, supermodel Adrianna Lima, and pro skateboarder Ryan Sheckler. The applications and platforms Brendan created for his celebrity clients have been accessed by over 50 million people worldwide. Get The HookPoint Book https://book.hookpoint.com/ Get The 1 Million Followers Book https://onemillionfollowers.com/

Skatercon 7 was going down at etnies skatepark in Lake Forest, Ca. We head down to SkaterCon 7 to check out the music line up & the skateboard vendors. We caught up with: Steve Olson, Don Brown, Tony Medina, Shanon Dolen, Chad Jackson, Chris ‘Dune' Pastras, Makayla Ramirez, Grant Brittain, Sean Cliver, The Entreprenurs of Skateboarding, Ryan Sheckler, Eric Dressen, Lance Mountain, BlockHead Skateboards, & Tony Briseno Muisc: Ron Allen Host by Tommie Zam film/edit by Carl Carpentier sponsor by Keen Ramps, Lakai, Couch Curbs, Speed lab Wheels, Resurgent Skateboards, Tru Grind, Beebad Energy, Lowell Farms, Killah Koffee, Rad Jerky, True Grind http://www.tsmmedia.website #tsmmedia #skateboarding #interview Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/true-skateboard-mag/message