1 session inside Boa
Don Robertson
Founder, STAX
Don founded activewear brand STAX in Perth, screen printing hoodies and selling leggings out of the back of his car and at markets before launching online as staxliving.com in 2015. He had earlier worked at Foot Locker and interned at Nike. His partner Matilda, who came from a recruitment background, joined the business and built its Instagram presence and community, and together they now run a group of around 70 to 80 people.
The session
What Don teaches
Set a daily revenue number before anyone quits their job
Don did not wait for a million dollar plan. The first milestone was a consistent $500 a day, enough to cover rent, before he left his job. Matilda's trigger was ten times that, roughly $5K a day, before she left recruitment. Pick a daily number tied to a real bill, hit it consistently, then make the leap.
From STAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →Hire for demand, not for the org chart you want
STAX's first meaningful hire was customer service, not marketing or brand. They had oversold a collection and were drowning in around 800 emails overnight on Outlook with no ticketing system. Matilda was answering them at 3am and giving things away for free. Hire into the place that is currently breaking, and hire someone who loves the brand but is not so emotionally invested that every angry email ruins them.
From STAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →If you have to negotiate with yourself to hire someone, it is a no
Don's rule after several bad hires. Matilda adds that every time they second-guessed their gut and hired anyway, it was a disaster. She also warns against treating interviews as a PR pitch: they used to run a PowerPoint on why you should work at STAX, and people arrived expecting the Instagram personalities rather than bosses. Make interviews an even exchange so both sides can test the fit honestly.
From STAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →Promote from within, because external executives usually collide
STAX's leadership team has been with them four to five years, and their best people started in customer service or pick and pack. They also tried the other route, paying a recruiter a handsome fee for executives, and found the worlds collided. Don's caution: you read that you need a CMO, a CFO, a chief anything, but be realistic about what a small business actually needs.
From STAX: 10 Years of Building a Cult Activewear Brand →
Watch the full sessioninside Boa.
Session notes are free. The recordings, the live advisories and the founders in the room are for members.