#216 Paul Van Doren (Founder of Vans)

**David Senra** (0:00)
I want to tell you about a one-time only limited event that I don't think you're going to want to miss. I am doing a live show with Patrick O'Shaughnessy from the Invest Like the Best podcast in New York City on October 19th. Patrick has interviewed over 300 of the world's best investors and founders for his podcast. I've read over 300 biographies of history's greatest entrepreneurs for my podcast. We'll be talking about what we learned from seven years of podcasting, sharing our favorite ideas and stories, and doing a live Q&A. There will also be special event-only swag. If you live in New York City, I think it's a no-brainer. But if not, I think it's a great excuse to fly in. I've already heard from a bunch of people that bought tickets, they're flying in from other cities. Some people are flying in from other countries. That's setting the bar really high, so I will have at least four shots of espresso or four energy drinks before or during the show so we can make it a night that you'll never forget. If you're interested in attending this unique live event, I will leave a link down below. I highly recommend you get your tickets today, and I hope I get to see you in New York on October 19th. My entire life, I've never had one big idea. I'd like to think I woke up one day, figured out how to make the world's best canvas and rubber waffle sole deck shoes, how to distribute said shoes, and thus create the first vertically integrated tennis shoe company in the world. But the fact of it is, I could have been growing potatoes.
Actually, shoes has nothing to do with my success. What I've accomplished comes down to one thing, my knack for identifying and then solving problems. What I do better than anyone else is cut out distractions. If a system isn't working efficiently, I can see where it's jammed, eliminate the problem, and find a way to keep everything moving forward. Everyone has something that they naturally do better than anyone else. This just happens to be mine, and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to leverage it.
Then there's everything I learned by doing. Much of Vans' early success was the happy result of hard work and creative troubleshooting. It helps that at Vans, we used vulcanized rubber on the soles of our shoes. It helps that we identified retail spaces. It helps that we dialed in production like Leigh Iacocca on his best day at Ford or Chrysler. It helps that we knew our customers, especially the skaters and the surfers and the moms. It helps that I handed over the reins in 1980 when I got burned out, and was able to return in 1984 per an order from a judge in bankruptcy court.
It also helps that we were tenacious. I learned that what makes a successful entrepreneur is the same thing that makes a good skateboarder or a good surfer. You need grit and determination to get back up every time you're knocked off the board. In the world of successful entrepreneurs, I'm not Phil Knight. I'm not Yvonne Chouinard. I'm not Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk. My guess is I'm unlike any other founding CEO. I'm just a small business owner who did well and found the right partners.
When I was approached to write a business memoir, I wondered how I could explain my life as a series of tidy lessons learned. Eventually, I realized that what I could offer to other businessmen and women is less formula and more whatever the opposite of formula is. Let's call it fluidity.
I don't know where to draw the line between the business me and the personal me. It's something that I failed to teach my children. The lines have always been so damn blurred. The way I've run my business is the way I live my life.
The one thing that has always been sacred to me, and this goes for life as much as business, is just this. Always try to do what's right. I learned early on, what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. If you put thought into something and do what's right every single time, you won't be far off from doing the best you can. The best any of us can. Many of my guiding principles are equally simple and they've served me equally well. Don't rest on your laurels. Do the work. Don't just look to others to do it.
Get your hands dirty. If a young entrepreneur came to me today and asked how to start a company, I would say right off the bat, know what goes into making what you're selling. If you sell from a place of total confidence in the quality down to the details, you will succeed.