Original subtitles

When I do think that Nikes culture is a big part of its reason

for Success.

Hello and welcome in 1963 Phil Knight co-founded Nike under

the name Blue Ribbon sports with a five hundred dollar investment

from his former track coach Bill Bowerman.

He made his first sales by going to track meets and selling

the shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant now Nike

is a multinational corporation or a thigh over thirty four

billion dollars starting.

Business today is a lot different than it was in the 1960s

when Phil Knight started Nike.

He told his 20 year old sister to go to City Hall and get

a license.

There were no accountants and no lawyers involved and some

ways though night think starting a business today can be

easier. He said his biggest struggles growing the Nike brand.

We're not having enough money.

I'll produce entrepreneurs go to lunch.

They'll go off by themselves.

That's me since Venture Capital firms didn't provide funding

them like they do today.

However, despite a lack of money Phil Knight doesn't think

success is all about money and his shoe dog Memoir.

He says when it came in the money affected us all not much

and not for long because none of us are driven by money,

but that's the nature of money whether you have it or not

whether you want it or not, whether you like it or not.

It will try to Define.

Your days are tasks as human beings is to not let it and

I guess that's one thing that shown in the book and I think

in research Really have to have a passion about it and you

have to have a reason to succeed.

He began his career like most ordinary College grads.

No money.

No clear Direction and what looked like a lifetime at a desk

job as an accountant what transpired instead was one of the

greatest stories of American entrepreneurship first called

Blue Ribbon Sports nights business began on a whim when he

convinced a group of Japanese businessman to export their

popular tiger sneakers and Grant him, exclusivity and selling

them after Selling Tigers out of the trunk of his car night

saw the demand was there it wasn't always a smooth ride despite

night doubling his sales constantly Banks were reluctant

to provide the loans needed and to Banks ultimately dropped

him as a customer after years of strong growth, but with

struggles to stay in the Black Knight and his team decided

in December of 1980 to finally take Nike public.

Well, we a sportswear and shoes and closes still a fairly

significant part of our business.

We were concerned about losing control said night who added

that ultimately it was one of the best things the company

ever did nights advice to other entrepreneurs be prepared

for a lot of hardship and unexpected setbacks.

We started out the total branded athletic shoe sales the

United States for about 2 million dollars.

So last year we did nine and So based on the original year

were four hundred fifty percent more.

Bashar so it's you know, we took advantage of the running

boom, which became a jogging boom which became a fitness

boom and we've benefited from all of that.

Well, what I've always said is we're marketing company and

the product is our most important marketing tool I if there's

one thing it's been I've been pretty good at evaluating people

and that was one of the things that I wanted to get through

and I hope did come through in the book was how valuable

those early, you know Partners were the kind of my fellow

employees my teammates.

Five words or less a shoe dog is somebody that really loves

shoes and that was me that that I was a runner.

There's no such thing as a ball in the mile that all you

really care about it at the shoes.

And so that became important to me and it's been with me

ever since so we summed it up in the book that way that but

most people thought it was crazy that I know I want to finally

got going a little bit by people around Portland Oregon which

is kind of a small City atmosphere and a larger City.

They said Phil Knight.

He's got a Stanford MBA.

Ba and he selling Japanese sneakers.

And so most people thought I was crazy but I didn't think

it was crazy.

And and the good thing was my college professor that I wrote

the paper for didn't think it was crazy.

Well, my first part was baseball, but I got cut from the

baseball team and we were talking earlier before what the

coincidences in life.

I was the last guy cut on a twenty five Man team.

Just think if I too made that team, where would we be today?

So basically I get on weekends and in the evenings and I

go out to high schools and Save, I've got this great shoe

and it's at a good price and it's a good value and you should

have your kids buy it and then someone would Place orders

there and some of them would walk in that ring the doorbell

at seven or eight o'clock at night.

My father be watching TV and there'd be a kid trying on a

pair of shoes in his living room and he was quite surprised

at the whole thing with what intrigued as well that you go

out 20 years or so and you haven't been back for a while

and he come back and it's more about just sharing a moment

with family.

And friends, it's for a moment.

You step back in history.

And remember when you had all the worldwide laying out before

you and you decided the things that you are going to find

important was really the start of you becoming what you ultimately

became when I come back for just a moment always hear the

voice Frank shallenberger Bob Davis Jim Porterfield, and

I know that sounds sort of corny to educated group.

But I promise you that over half the people in this room

when they come back here 20 years from now, we'll have those

same feelings, you know for me, you know.

Well, yeah that I was the guy that thought an extrovert was

the person that started other people's shoes.

It was a time for me to kind of grow and and Chase what I

was really going to become and so it was really a big transitional

period for me in my life.

And as I say to this day when I come back I still get inspired

and lift it up.

So basically it was we're relying on Banks and the banks

you had to put the money up before you could import the shoes

so you You are kind of a reverse leverage situation.

It's the opposite of buying a house where you can live in

the house before it's paid for so the banks had to loan us

the money to get the shoes in and they became apprehensive

about their collateral was track shoes and what if they have

to collect I going to pile them up in the lobby of the bank

and so it was difficult getting financing and it was very

important that we make profit every year and so they would

give us a little more alone each year which they did and

and that was the process and we pushed the envelope pretty

hard since we Got kicked out at two banks for being too aggressive

and But ultimately a Japanese Trading Company show.

Ey were not bound by really kind of the same rules that US

Banks were they could charge more interest and that was fine

with us.

We were interested in volume.

And so we got hooked up with them and that really allowed

us to grow fast.