Nate Randle – CEO of Gabb

Introduction to the Podcast (00:00:02)  

Julian Castelli introduces the Growth Elevated Leadership Podcast and its focus on tech leadership challenges.

Guest Introduction (00:01:14)  

Julian welcomes Nate Randle, CEO of Gabb, highlighting his impressive career in sports and tech.

Nate’s Career Journey (00:02:47)  

Nate shares his 25-year career path, transitioning from sports to tech and his initial law school aspirations.

Decision to Shift Careers (00:03:08)  

Nate discusses his pivotal decision to pursue a career in sports instead of law, supported by his wife.

Starting at Callaway Golf (00:05:05)  

Nate recounts his experience at Callaway Golf, learning from a great leader and starting his career in sports.

Transition to Nike (00:06:05)  

Nate reflects on his time at Nike, the excitement of the brand, and the work-life balance challenges faced.

Family Considerations (00:07:09)  

Nate emphasizes the importance of family in his career decisions, leading to their move back to Utah.

Entering the Tech Industry (00:08:12)  

Nate explains his transition to tech, joining Vivint and Qualtrics before discovering Gabb.

Joining Gabb (00:09:12)  

Nate shares how he became involved with Gabb, driven by its mission to protect kids in the tech space.

Becoming CEO of Gabb (00:10:07)  

Nate discusses his rapid rise to CEO at Gabb and the company’s impressive growth trajectory.

Leadership Team Dynamics (00:10:41)  

Nate highlights the importance of a unified leadership team focused on Gabb’s mission for success.

Gab’s Mission Statement (00:11:05)  

Nate articulates Gabb’s mission: letting kids be kids while providing parents peace of mind.

Challenges in the Telecom Market (00:12:03)  

Nate discusses the competitive nature of the telecom industry and the hurdles Gabb faces as a new brand.

Funding and Partnerships (00:13:26)  

Nate explains the importance of securing investment partners to support Gabb’s growth and operations.

Custom Technology Development (00:14:25)  

Nate outlines Gabb’s partnerships with manufacturers to create kid-safe devices and software solutions.

Understanding Gabb’s Mission (00:15:21)  

Discussion on balancing kids’ tech access with safety and the unique offerings of Gab.

Innovative Product Offerings (00:15:44)  

Gab combines hardware, software, and services to engage kids while ensuring safety.

Parent-Controlled App Store (00:15:58)  

Parents manage app access, ensuring kids only use safe and approved applications.

Development of Gabb’s Solution (00:17:16)  

Nate explains the evolution of Gabb’s products over five years to fill a market gap.

Peer Pressure and Product Design (00:18:01)  

The design of Gabb’s devices addresses social pressures faced by kids regarding technology.

Business Development Team (00:18:47)  

Nate highlights the importance of a strong business development team for partnerships.

Gab for Good Initiative (00:19:25)  

Nate discusses a program allowing kids to take over as CEO for a day.

Impactful User Stories (00:20:37)  

Heartwarming stories of children using Gabb devices for connection during health challenges.

Community Engagement (00:21:12)  

Nate shares experiences of kids taking part in Gabb’s community, creating meaningful connections.

Lessons from Nike’s Challenges (00:22:29)  

Nate reflects on his experience at Nike and how it shaped his leadership style.

Adapting to Adversity (00:24:07)  

Nate discusses strategies employed during challenging times at Nike Golf without Tiger Woods.

Manufacturing Lessons Learned (00:26:46)  

The importance of diversifying manufacturing partners to avoid supply chain issues.

Aligning Personal and Company Mission (00:29:01)  

Nate advises on the complexities of aligning personal missions with career paths.

Supporting Single Parents (00:29:54)  

Nate emphasizes his commitment to helping single parents while connecting with their children.

Connecting with Purpose (00:30:26)  

Nate discusses Gabb’s mission to provide free devices and service for single moms and their kids.

Mentorship in Career Growth (00:31:01)  

Nate reflects on key mentors, Dan Chandler and David Pierce, who supported his career at Callaway Golf.

Inspiration from Podcasts (00:32:35)  

Nate shares recommendations for podcasts that offer valuable business insights and personal development.

Closing Remarks (00:33:41)  

Julian thanks Nate for the conversation, wishing him luck with Gabb and his family. 

Podcast Outro (00:33:54)  

Julian encourages listeners to subscribe and visit the Growth Elevated website for leadership resources.

Speaker 1 00:00:02 Welcome to the Growth Elevated Leadership podcast with Julian Castelli. Each week, we talk with senior tech leaders to explore stories and insights about the challenges involved with growing technology companies. We hope that these stories can help you become a better leader and help you navigate your own growth journey.

Speaker 2 00:00:30 Hello, this is Julian Castelli. I’m the host of the Growth Elevated Leadership podcast, where each week we talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders in the tech industry. Past guests have included CEOs and CXOs of great companies like Work Front, CHG, Healthcare Pathology, Watch in Moment, canopy, the San Francisco 40 Niners, and many more. This episode is brought to you by Growth Elevated. We are a community of tech founders, CEOs, and CXOs who are committed to working together to share best practices and learnings in an effort to help us all become better leaders. We do this through educational programs like this podcast and our annual Ski and Tech Summit, where we bring leaders from all over the world to beautiful Park City, Utah and enjoy some camaraderie and collaboration in the beautiful mountains.

Speaker 2 00:01:14 So if you enjoy skiing in the outdoors and networking with other tech leaders, check us out at growth and please subscribe to this podcast where you listen to podcasts. Today I’m super excited to welcome our guest, Nate Randall to the pod. Nate is the CEO of gab, the nation’s leading kidsafe tech company, and gab is on a tear lately being ranked as one of the top 500 fastest growth companies in the nation and the third fastest growing company in Utah. Prior to joining gab, Nate held pivotal leadership positions at major companies like Nike, Callaway Golf, and the Utah Jazz. He joined Gab in June 2021 as the CMO, and he became CEO in November 2021. Most importantly, he is a husband and father of four. He places the highest priorities on people and family. His focus on family directly traits that translates into his leadership at gab, where protecting kids and encouraging a stronger connection between families are the core to Gab’s mission. Nate, welcome to the podcast.

Speaker 3 00:02:13 Julien. So good to be with you.

Speaker 3 00:02:14 Thanks for the invite.

Speaker 2 00:02:15 Hey, I am so excited about learning more at gab. You guys are, you know, congratulations on all the growth. You’re one of the fastest growing companies in the state and one of the fastest growing companies in the country. And our audience is going to love learning more about it. But before we talk about gab, you know, you’ve had an incredible career. You’ve been at some of the best brands in the world. You know, Nike, the Utah Jazz, Callaway, and then some of the best tech companies, certainly in Utah, Vivint and Qualtrics. So you’ve got the the the winners list there. Tell us a little bit about your career, how to develop. And then we’ll talk about how you got involved in gab.

Speaker 3 00:02:47 Sure. My career is 25 years in sports and tech. You listed them places like Nike, Callaway Golf, the Utah Jazz, Qualtrics and now, now gab. How I decided to get into sports and tech. The reality is I wanted to go to law school, which sounds crazy.

Speaker 2 00:03:05 That is not the most linear path that you would think, right?

Speaker 3 00:03:08 Yeah. So I went to the University of Utah. A finance undergrad, took the Lsat, thought I wanted to go to law school because my dad is and was an attorney, and I was going to go work at his firm, or that was my hope. And then driving home from from my job one night, I thought, wow, I really don’t want to go to law school. I just don’t think I’ll be a great attorney. And so I went home to my wife. We’d been married a couple of months and said, look, I know dating and getting engaged and now married, we’ve been telling everybody we’re going to law school, but I think I want to work in sports. Wow. And in her wisdom, thank goodness it was her and not me because I didn’t have a path. She said, okay, I’ll support you.

Speaker 2 00:03:44 Were you nervous about that? Because law feels like the the logical, scholarly, professional thing, right? And yeah, I’ve got a confession to make.

Speaker 2 00:03:53 I took the Lsat, too, because I had the same thought in college. College, I was a political science major and I thought, man. Going to law school can’t hurt, right? But I didn’t really know if I wanted to be a lawyer. I just thought it was a good thing to do.

Speaker 3 00:04:03 That’s what I thought, too. It’s like, well, I might as well do it. And then if it works out, great. And if it doesn’t, I’ll figure something out. Yeah, I was really nervous. I didn’t want to tell my dad. I thought I’d be letting him down. And I didn’t want to tell my wife. I thought she would think I was directionless, like, how? How have you talked about this for two years? And now you don’t want to do it?

Speaker 2 00:04:19 But she was. She was right on with you. She she was the supporter.

Speaker 3 00:04:22 She was. But she said, if you’re not going to go to law school, then you better get a plan fast.

Speaker 2 00:04:27 And you say sports and she’s is she thinking like, you know, you know, playing playing hoops and shooting hoops or, you know, a career in sports because until you dive into it, you don’t really know what the careers are in sports, right? We’re all spectators.

Speaker 3 00:04:38 I didn’t really know. I didn’t have a great understanding. But she said, you better list 4 or 5 companies and figure it out. And so fast forward, I landed an opportunity at Callaway Golf in San Diego. And a lot of people said to me here in Utah, don’t do it. Why would you ever want to move to California? Golf is not a career. it’s a hobby. All the reasons why I shouldn’t do it. And my wife and I packed up our our little Honda Civic and drove to San Diego. And it’s the best decision I ever made.

Speaker 2 00:05:03 That’s a yeah, that’s a big that’s a big leap right?

Speaker 3 00:05:05 Yep. Yeah. So that’s how it started.

Speaker 2 00:05:08 You started at Callaway Golf and and what did you learn there?

Speaker 3 00:05:11 I worked for an incredible leader, Dan Chandler, who set my career on a path that I’ll forever be grateful for.

Speaker 3 00:05:19 I didn’t know anything about the golf business. He brought me in, told me how much he believed in me, gave me opportunity, guided me, then got out of my way and let me do my job. Let me fail multiple times.

Speaker 2 00:05:30 What was your job there?

Speaker 3 00:05:32 So I was over the sales training for new golf reps. So when you sell clubs and golf balls and apparel and footwear in the golf courses, there’s a rep that does that regionally. And so I would bring them into San Diego and train them in all the product and then go out into their territory with them for a week or two and get them all ramped up on how to sell the product in the golf courses and retail shops. And I did that monthly and then I had other opportunities at the company. But that’s how I got started in sports.

Speaker 2 00:05:58 And and you went from there to Nike, one of the biggest brands in sports. And then then was the jazz. What brought you back to Utah?

Speaker 3 00:06:05 Yeah, I mean, that’s the shortest story is I was at Nike for five plus.

Speaker 3 00:06:09 Incredible. I would probably still be there if it was just my decision.

Speaker 2 00:06:13 I always thought that working at Nike might be the funnest place to be in corporate America.

Speaker 3 00:06:18 It is. It’s really good and you learn a lot. You’re you’re working with a lot of starting quarterbacks and so you learn fast. The reality is all sporting experiences happen on the weekend. The best sporting moments don’t happen on Tuesday afternoon, right. So as you get into year five and six at Nike and you’ve been through the rounds and rounds of all the moments, they’re great moments. They’re great to tell at the barbecue, they’re great to tell it. The family party, the athletes that you meet, the the events that you go to.

Speaker 2 00:06:44 But you’re working on the weekends around the events.

Speaker 3 00:06:46 Yeah. The trade off is you’re missing dance recitals and T-ball games and birthday parties and things that matter.

Speaker 2 00:06:53 So where are you on the family journey at this point? You’ve got a couple kids.

Speaker 3 00:06:56 Four kids.

Speaker 2 00:06:57 But at that point, did you already.

Speaker 3 00:06:59 Know at that point at Nike I had.

Speaker 2 00:07:02 Three. Okay. So so your family life and your career are starting to intersect and you’re starting to think strategically about that.

Speaker 3 00:07:09 Yeah. And again, thank goodness I married who I married. She she always had family first in mind and started saying look if where are we going to move back to Utah and be by family, grandma’s, grandpa’s cousins. We better do it now because if we wait, our oldest is going to get into high school and we just wouldn’t want to move her during high school.

Speaker 2 00:07:25 Right. There’s certain times when you can move with flexibility, in certain times when it gets harder.

Speaker 3 00:07:29 Yeah. So we moved back 11 or 12 years ago. Again, another great decision that I credit my wife with and have had an incredible run here in Utah. Like like anything in life, when you have something and you leave and then you come back. I was gone for 10 or 11 years from Utah, the last ten here. I appreciate this state, the business opportunities, the people, the culture, the community more than I ever did before because I left it, and I know how good it is to come back to it.

Speaker 2 00:07:56 Yeah, right. You’ve seen you’ve seen other things and you can you can appreciate what we have. That’s awesome. So then you, you, you moved out of sports and you got into tech and some of the, some of the fastest growing, you know, famous tech success stories here in Utah, both Vivint and Qualtrics. How did you get into that and what did you learn there?

Speaker 3 00:08:12 The people that I knew. Careers or relationships. And I had a great leader and friend that was at Nike that had gone to Vivint, left Portland and moved to to Provo to work for them. And he recruited me. That was a great experience. And then Qualtrics was going public, and I wanted to be a part of that opportunity. And so I was there through that experience. And then I was at a Silicon Slopes event in Salt Lake, and had somebody from gab come up to me and say, hey, have you heard about what we’re doing? And literally in 30s, as a dad of four, I felt like I’ve got to be a part of this.

Speaker 2 00:08:42 Had you ever heard of the company before?

Speaker 3 00:08:44 I had heard of it because of a billboard on I-15.

Speaker 2 00:08:47 Okay, so you’d seen a billboard. You had a little bit of brand awareness.

Speaker 3 00:08:51 Yeah, but I didn’t know much about it. And when this person said, look, it’s safe for kids. We’re we’re trying to create safe steps in tech so kids don’t get overwhelmed with the dangers and addictions of social media. It immediately.

Speaker 2 00:09:03 Clicked. That is one of the problems of our time. It is. Father of three. You’re a father of four. So how old were your kids at that point? Right, because you’re right in the middle of the key parenting years.

Speaker 3 00:09:12 I’ll miss on ages, but I’ve been here.

Speaker 2 00:09:15 For roughly range.

Speaker 3 00:09:16 I had three older, one was late high school, headed into college, but the the others were in elementary school, junior high and high school.

Speaker 2 00:09:27 And so the age where they say, hey, mom, dad, you know, all my friends have a have an iPhone, I need an iPhone two.

Speaker 2 00:09:33 And yes. And then they get on the apps and you don’t know which apps they’re on, and you have those conversations with your wife. And yeah, as a parent, I think we all go through it. And so here you learn about gab and it just resonate with you as a father, completely connected.

Speaker 3 00:09:48 I became an advisor for the brand. One night a week I was helping with branding and advertising. And then when the Time is right and Qualtrics had made it through the IPO and I’d been there a while left to join gab full time, was here 4 or 5 months, and then the board asked me to take the operational role of being the CEO. And it’s been one of the greatest stretches of my career.

Speaker 2 00:10:07 And it sounds like you jumped on a rocket. My goodness, you guys are growing so fast right now. Congratulations. That’s really exciting.

Speaker 3 00:10:13 Yeah. Thank you. It’s it’s our people. It’s a leadership team that’s completely unified in the mission, which when you have that you can look good on the outside.

Speaker 3 00:10:21 But internally, if you’re not aligned on what you’re doing and what you’re not doing, it’s it’s easy to have it go the other way quick. And we’ve got a leadership team that cares about each other and is completely focused on the mission.

Speaker 2 00:10:32 And was that leadership team in place when you got there, or is that something you’ve built over the last few years?

Speaker 3 00:10:37 Several were here and we’ve added more.

Speaker 2 00:10:40 Okay.

Speaker 3 00:10:41 Core group that was here though, or some of the finest people you could ever work with Lance black, Jared Love, Diane And Acevedo just just so many people. Isaac Jacobson, so many others that were here before I got here and had already laid the foundation.

Speaker 2 00:10:55 And are they all mission driven? Is that what unites you guys? Because you have such a wonderful mission.

Speaker 3 00:11:00 And they all have kids.

Speaker 2 00:11:01 They all have, let’s say, your mission because it’s so great. Can I say it?

Speaker 3 00:11:05 Yeah.

Speaker 2 00:11:05 Please let me I read it, I read it when I’m preparing, letting kids be kids, giving parents peace of mind 100%.

Speaker 2 00:11:11 That’s fantastic.

Speaker 3 00:11:13 We want kids to be safely connected to their parents, but we want them to put down the phones and watches and go live their life off the screen. How can a kid I mean, you and I said we thought we wanted to go to to law school, and then we figured out another path. How can a kid even figure out what they want to do today when they’re stuck on a screen for eight hours a day.

Speaker 2 00:11:31 And to trust their direction to, to, you know, the influence that’s, that’s putting out there? It’s terrifying.

Speaker 3 00:11:37 It is.

Speaker 2 00:11:38 It is. So, you know, when I heard about gab, kind of like you, I probably saw the billboard on I-15. Yeah. And I remember thinking about the telecom industry and how competitive it is and how many startups, you know, came and came and went, in my view, 10 or 20 years ago. And my thought was, man, that must be a hard industry to break into because you’re, you’re you’re you’re surrounded with just some of the biggest, well-funded companies.

Speaker 2 00:12:03 And it’s kind of like an oligopoly. It feels like, how do you break in as a new brand with a new mission into that? What seems to me like a difficult corporate structure.

Speaker 3 00:12:12 It’s impossible to break into. So the reality is, if you care enough about protecting kids, you just don’t take no for an answer. I mean, we were told no a thousand times.

Speaker 2 00:12:21 What were some of the key hurdles that you guys had to establish to, you know, establish yourself as a viable telecom provider in such a competitive market?

Speaker 3 00:12:31 You have to find hardware partners, because out of the gate, you don’t have enough money to make your own hardware.

Speaker 2 00:12:35 Right. It looks like you guys have iPhones. I was looking at your site. It was like, This is Apple for kids. I mean, those those are beautiful looking devices. You got the watches and stuff and, like, you know that that sounds like an overwhelming challenge if you’re not Apple or Google or Samsung.

Speaker 3 00:12:49 Yeah, we so we don’t have iPhones yet.

Speaker 2 00:12:51 But but it looks like an iPhone.

Speaker 3 00:12:53 It’s a Samsung the nicer Samsung phone. But we’re working on some options, some additional options. You have to have manufacturing partners. You have to find the right network partner. There’s just a lot of things stacked against you and the incredible foundation.

Speaker 2 00:13:06 And it’s capital intensive, right? This is the software. You’re not just banging out software, you’re building device. You have to you have to contract for networks. I assume you didn’t build your own network, so you’re subcontracting for a network, or at least you don’t have to do that. But you still have hardware devices and distribution and regional regional sales. I mean, this is not a a capital efficient software play.

Speaker 3 00:13:26 It’s not. And so you have to find the right investment partners. And we were really lucky locally here in Utah. Sandlot firm out of Orem, Provo AME out of Cache Valley and Blue Diamond out of Provo. So our three major investors and debt providers are right here in Utah, which is rare.

Speaker 3 00:13:45 A lot of people find VCs or investments.

Speaker 2 00:13:47 And I imagine it’s not a it’s not a small amount of people. I’m not going to ask you to tell me the exact amount to, to fund an entry into such a big business. Feels like it’s a, some big checks needed to do that.

Speaker 3 00:13:58 It is and it was. And their investment and commitment to helping this mission has been the biggest reason why it’s grown. And I think it’s easy to lose sight of that. A lot of people start talking about, what they specifically accomplished. And the team here at gab has accomplished a lot, but none of it happens without Ames, sandlot and Blue Diamond. Three of the most.

Speaker 2 00:14:17 You need to be funded to take on the Giants. So, so. So you had good funding? Yep. Did you partner with Samsung to create a custom phone?

Speaker 3 00:14:25 we so the we’ve got three partners right now. We’ve got Foxconn, which is the biggest product manufacturer in the world.

Speaker 2 00:14:32 They make the phones, right?

Speaker 3 00:14:34 They build.

Speaker 3 00:14:34 They do. They build our watch.

Speaker 2 00:14:37 Okay.

Speaker 3 00:14:38 And then we have another partner, new new, who builds our entry level phone. or lockdown phone and then Samsung. They don’t build us a phone. We buy one of their online phones, but then they partner with us on a software to strip the adult content and put in our safe tech.

Speaker 2 00:14:54 Okay, so so you have a series of custom apps that are designed for kids to be safe and aligned with your mission, and somehow the phone is configured so it can’t, download the whole world of apps that the rest of the kids are exposed to. Is that the way it works?

Speaker 3 00:15:08 So we take off the adult firmware and software, and we put on the kids protection. And so it eliminates them from going to the internet untethered or different app stores and the parents.

Speaker 2 00:15:21 So I think fundamentally I’m going to just ask as a consumer, it feels like there are two things you’re doing if I want to protect my kids, but let them still be kids, right? So you’re you’re you’re subtracting certain stuff and then I imagine you’re adding certain stuff.

Speaker 2 00:15:33 So you’re subtracting the access to the broader world. and then what are you adding that’s kid specific and unique. And that is consistent with the mission.

Speaker 3 00:15:44 Yeah. So you you nailed it. So you have to add the combination of hardware, software and services. And the services part is what will make a kid want to use the product or not. Safety doesn’t matter. Kid doesn’t want to use it.

Speaker 2 00:15:55 That’s right. And especially when they’re friends of something else.

Speaker 3 00:15:58 Yes. So we’ve added incredible things like a music library of several million songs. It’s actually safe and edited. there are games, but they’re not addictive games. And then for the older kids, we have apps like ESPN, the app, the chick fil A apps, school apps, maps, but it’s all managed by the parent. So a kid doesn’t go to a app store to pull it because we know they’ll have access to everything. They go to their parent, and the parent has an app store that they push or pull apps to the phones.

Speaker 2 00:16:26 That makes great sense. In fact, I recall when my kids were in that call it the 10 to 14 year age. I can’t remember exactly when it was, but it was a multi-year campaign for them and resistance for my wife and I in terms of getting the smartphone and monitoring their apps. And I remember there was a discussion at some point about some sort of app in the regular ecosystem that could do that. You know, our family story is we never found it and never implemented it. And maybe it didn’t even, you know, maybe the forces of the industry didn’t allow it to be there. But that’s what you guys created, which is unique. And so as a parent, the ability to know what apps your kids are using and even, you know, monitor or have some sort of safety parameters on that. I remember conversations with my wife and looking for that kind of solution, at least when, you know, when we were doing it, we couldn’t find a good solution. Yeah.

Speaker 2 00:17:16 How long have you had that solution? Is it relatively new?

Speaker 3 00:17:18 Been building it for five years. So before gab came into the market, there was a flip phone that kids were using, but they were getting teased. I mean, if you pull out a flip phone at school, you’re going to get bullied. Yeah. And then there was an iPhone or a smartphone. So there was a Grand Canyon in between the flip phone and the smartphone, and we dropped in the middle and offered these safe steps in tech from a watch to a more flexible phone for an older kid, and it’s been a winning strategy.

Speaker 2 00:17:44 That’s huge. So the form factor was a big differentiator because I do remember the the early stages of just a simple phone and and the peer pressure you just you just mentioned is a key factor. So when when you pull out a phone today, you can’t tell if it’s a I mean, when I saw on the on the website, you can’t tell if it just looks like a smartphone.

Speaker 3 00:18:01 Yeah. It’s a, it’s a nicer Samsung phone. It’s got all the features and functionality of what an adult Android phone would have. But then we take out the things that aren’t safe for kids and we layer in the.

Speaker 2 00:18:12 Is that a was that a key? Unlock for growth. Once you had the form factor that the kids could fit in, was that did you see a big shift in the curve when that happened?

Speaker 3 00:18:20 Yes. So we our first product was a lockdown phone, no internet, no social media, 14 very basic apps. And it was great for 8 to 12 year old kids. But we didn’t have anything for younger elementary kids, and we didn’t have anything for junior high and high school kids. So we added a watch for younger kids. It’s extremely safe. Only parents can add contacts to the watch. And then we added this nicer Samsung phone or flexible phone that allows kids to have some of the apps they need, but not have the dangers and addictions of social media.

Speaker 2 00:18:46 That’s fantastic.

Speaker 2 00:18:47 So you must have a big business development team or to to create great relationships with all these giants in the industry so that you can you can have that offering as a, as a young startup.

Speaker 3 00:18:58 We do. We’ve got Isaac Jacobson and Chris Meek here, locally in Utah are two of the best biz dev leaders. They manage all those relationships, and they’ve set the table multiple times so that we could find the right partnerships.

Speaker 2 00:19:10 Now that’s amazing. you know, your brand is now resonating. You’ve got the products. And, you know, I like to ask people what is what are some of the things you’re most proud of? You were telling me about about what you do as the CEO for a day. Tell us about that and how that came about.

Speaker 3 00:19:25 Yeah, we Lori Kuhn, who’s over our our gab for good, our nonprofit and our community outreach, came up with this idea to allow a kid once per year around the holidays to take over the gab CEO job. And because our CEOs average it’s it’s always nice to kick him out and and let somebody else run the show.

Speaker 2 00:19:45 Is that a day off for you.

Speaker 3 00:19:47 It’s one of the busiest days of the year because now I got an eight year old telling me what?

Speaker 2 00:19:51 Of course, of course. I’m just joking.

Speaker 3 00:19:53 Yeah. So we have. We’ve done it twice. The first one was Michael, around ten year old young man from Chicago, a brain tumor or a form of cancer in his brain. And he had been fighting it since he was a little kid. And his mom reached out and said to me, your watch has become a lot become a lifeline for my son. And I immediately wanted to learn more. And she shared that when he’s in treatment for 7 to 10 days out of the month and in downtown Chicago, he’s missing his family, friends, schoolmates, teammates, and so he uses his watch during treatment to be able to stay in touch with all those people. And his mom said it literally when he’s feeling lonely at his lowest point in treatment. Seven days in, he’s so bored and he’s sick to be able to use his gab watch to talk to everybody that matters to him means the world to him.

Speaker 3 00:20:37 And that was an moment for me a couple of years ago. We’re not just selling phones and watches. We’re selling life changing connection. And when you view it that way, and then you hear these stories of a young man in treatment for cancer, using our device to talk to the people that matter most to him, that that’s the motivating factor on the really hard days here when something’s not going right or we’ve got a bug we got to work through, or we’ve got inventory challenges.

Speaker 2 00:21:03 I remember that must be so satisfying. I mean, that’s that’s like it sounds like make a wish. It’s it’s I saw the other one on on Nova and I teared up. I saw the video on your website.

Speaker 3 00:21:12 Yeah. So Nova was our CEO this year. The sweetest, boldest, most determined young lady. She came in and took my job. She had been bullied on the playground at school. Extremely unfortunate situation. Didn’t want to go back to that school. Transferred schools and through her gab watch was able to to reset some of her friendships and connections.

Speaker 3 00:21:32 And when she came out, I think about one of her lowest points of being bullied on the playground to this moment of being on stage. Announced as the gab CEO.

Speaker 2 00:21:42 Being a big boss. Like, yeah, she put some sort of, music playlist together or something.

Speaker 3 00:21:46 She put together a playlist and it was featured on Gab Music in front of 400,000 500,000 kids.

Speaker 2 00:21:52 It’s fantastic. So, yeah, she’s the rock star for the day.

Speaker 3 00:21:55 She is. And then she rode around on a scooter and made different assignments. We have a popcorn machine in the kitchen because of her, because she loves popcorn. So just so many meaningful experiences when you get to connect your brand to your customer, which is kids, and then have them come into our world, our HQ and meet our people, it’s it’s the most rewarding day of the year.

Speaker 2 00:22:16 It must be. It looked fantastic on the video. You know, Nate, I was going to ask you about how you bring some of the experience from Nike and Callaway and the jazz or the tech companies to what you’re doing at gab.

Speaker 2 00:22:29 That sounds like one, right? You were talking about the weekends and these special events that you would do at a golf tournament or a basketball tournament. It sounds like you created something like that right there at gab, in the middle of your company that everyone can feel proud of. Is that is that a good example of something that you brought from the sports and entertainment world?

Speaker 3 00:22:47 You could say that. The reality is, it was Lori Kuhn’s idea that’s over community. And as soon as she she shared the idea, I absolutely wanted to be a part of it. But I wouldn’t want to take credit for the CEO of the idea that that wasn’t mine. But when you hire great people and they’re helping to build your culture and they’re completely in on your mission, you come up with great ideas like that. So yeah, I’ll share one experience for my career that I brought here when I got to Nike Golf. Tiger woods was everything. Literally everything. He was bigger than than golf. He was the biggest thing in sports.

Speaker 2 00:23:19 Yeah, he really was.

Speaker 3 00:23:22 I would say at the time, he was the biggest thing in sports when Tiger was playing, the world was watching.

Speaker 2 00:23:26 Yeah, at his peak and Nike signed him some giant. Were you there when they signed him? Wasn’t it something gigantic contract or something that he records.

Speaker 3 00:23:34 He was signed earlier before I got there, but when I got there a few months later, a few weeks later, his life fell apart, which we don’t need to rehash, but everything came out, and the greatest athlete in the world now is a bit of a villain. And and people no longer wanted to support him, and there was just a lot around it. People were framing their opinions. And when you’re running a brand that’s based on the biggest athlete in the world, it’s really hard to figure out how to keep that brand moving forward. And all of the experts and the the golf broadcasters and everybody else said, how can Nike Golf survive without Tiger? And through the.

Speaker 2 00:24:07 Years he was he was the son.

Speaker 3 00:24:09 He was he was. And I was working for some incredible leaders at the time. Cindy Davis, who was the president of Nike Golf, Mike Francis, who was the GM. And with those leaders, Robert Luna, who was over product, we got together and just said, we’re going to do this with or without him. And we almost doubled the size of the business in the time that Tiger was out of the game.

Speaker 2 00:24:29 During his challenging times. That’s amazing. How did you do it? Did you find other golfers? Like what was the what were the key steps to that strategy?

Speaker 3 00:24:35 We signed Rory McIlroy when he had started winning. He was this kid out of Ireland that had brands all over the place. He was wearing five different brands and he was a massive Tiger fan. Tiger was his idol and we went to him and said, look, you want to be one brand, you want to be with the greatest brand in the world. And and we signed him. Having him come on board really helped take some of the focus off of the other athlete, Tiger.

Speaker 3 00:24:57 And while Tiger was pulling everything back together, we still had energy moments with some of the other players that we had signed. And then our product and apparel and footwear teams just made incredible product beyond the Tiger Woods brand.

Speaker 2 00:25:09 Right? You guys had established yourself as a golf brand, so fortunately you were able to ride Tiger into one of the top three categories. I remember just seeing Nike take, share and become one of the key players in the golf world.

Speaker 3 00:25:21 Nike golf apparel, shirts, pants and and footwear for the most part became number one in the category even when we didn’t have Tiger. And then when Tiger came back and started winning. It’s amazing how people’s perspective changes. All of a sudden, everybody wanted his product again and was demanding to have the DT w hat and shoes and everything back in their shops when they tried to, you know, they wanted to kick it out when everything happened.

Speaker 2 00:25:44 But the market.

Speaker 3 00:25:45 I learned how to to manage through real adversity in that because there were days at Nike Golf where I thought, should I leave Nike Golf? Because how are we going to win without Tiger? And I had a leadership team, I was part of the leadership team that said, we’re going to do it regardless.

Speaker 3 00:25:59 We’re going to do it with or without. And I’ve taken that multiple places now of when a real hardship comes up. I’ve been through some challenges and I’m battle tested enough to figure out how to get around it or get through it.

Speaker 2 00:26:11 You just you just have the courage to say, we’ll find a way and be that leader that helped you at Nike.

Speaker 3 00:26:17 Yeah, because I mean, Cindy Davis, she she didn’t even flinch. She was the president at the time and just said, we’re going to do it. And she pulled together a plan on the team and we did it. We kept going.

Speaker 2 00:26:26 That’s fantastic. Hey. So so as you reflect on your your journey at Gab, you’re growing really strongly. I think hearing about how you innovated with the hardware makes a ton of sense. But what are some of the lessons you learned from from your experience at gab that are valuable for other, other tech leaders who aspire to to have success similar to yours?

Speaker 3 00:26:46 When the company started, we couldn’t afford more than one manufacturing partner.

Speaker 3 00:26:50 To start up. A product line is extremely expensive.

Speaker 2 00:26:53 I won’t go see hardware.

Speaker 3 00:26:55 Yeah. Hardware. So you have to have several million dollars to invest in the up front to get it started, to start up a production line, and then you start it. And then because you don’t have a big enough credit line, you have to pay for all the inventory in advance.

Speaker 2 00:27:07 So you’re on the inventory. Yeah, right. Just just the holding costs.

Speaker 3 00:27:11 You’re out millions of dollars before you ever make a dime on it. Then it gets on a boat and comes here. And then by the time it gets here and you actually turn the inventory, it can be months before you’re making money on outstanding, outstanding cash. And so there was a stretch a couple of years ago where we had one manufacturing partner and everything was going great till it wasn’t. And I won’t go into because of time. We lost that manufacturing partner. Went out of business and overnight we didn’t have any product, but we were into the back half of the second year of the company.

Speaker 3 00:27:40 Heading into the third year, we had to hustle and go find an entirely new manufacturing lineup. And one of the biggest mistakes this company has made collectively is to to think that we could ride extensively with one manufacturing partner.

Speaker 2 00:27:53 A single source supply, one that kind of bit you.

Speaker 3 00:27:56 You are cooked. And so we had to we had to go find new manufacturing partners. And we now have three instead of one. So we’re diversified.

Speaker 2 00:28:05 You can sleep a little better at night I suppose.

Speaker 3 00:28:07 We’re in a much better place. But that was a massive learning for me because it almost took us down.

Speaker 2 00:28:13 Yeah, I mean, the supply chain and the working capital needed for physical goods and these are expensive pieces of equipment is is really challenging. So going back to your discussion earlier about having key financial partners, I’m sure you had to lean on them during that time. And you know, that’s not something a thinly funded company can survive typically.

Speaker 3 00:28:31 And and the partners that we have have been understanding the entire way again or the reason why gap’s at where it’s at.

Speaker 2 00:28:38 That’s fantastic. So, you know, what would you say to other people that want to find a company that aligns with a personal mission, whose company’s mission aligns with their personal mission? As a father, you’re probably one of the best examples I’ve ever seen to be able to find something like that and lock it in. What advice do you have to other people who are, you know, having good careers but would love to to find something that’s as mission driven as as you were able to find?

Speaker 3 00:29:01 I’m going to give you a different answer than you, than you’re probably anticipating. I think careers are really hard to align with, with personal missions. And I think you can you can sell yourself short if you’re believing that you’re always going to have this perfectly aligned personal mission and company mission. But the most part of my career, I didn’t I didn’t have that. And I’m very fortunate.

Speaker 2 00:29:21 That’s what makes your situation so unique. Why I was so excited about this interview. Because you found it and you’re and you’re such a great father and it’s so important to you.

Speaker 2 00:29:28 And this is all aligned. It’s it’s something that’s super, super exciting. And, you know, a lot of people are, I’m sure, envious too. So please continue.

Speaker 3 00:29:37 Yeah. My short answer is, so what I have what I’ve learned is to not count on my job, to be my personal mission, to have a personal mission that always matches with any job I have.

Speaker 2 00:29:51 Yeah, that seems like you have a much greater chance of success.

Speaker 3 00:29:54 And what I mean by that is I grew up in a single parent home, and so I have decided that my life’s mission, beyond being a dad and, and, and other service and community and a husband, is to do whatever I can to support single parents. And in doing that, I can do that wherever I’m at. That’s right. Money for scholarships. I can help, but why does it align to what I’m doing now? Because every single parent needs to be safely connected to their kids. And in most instances, a single mom has multiple jobs.

Speaker 3 00:30:20 And when she’s going from job to job and she can’t afford these, really.

Speaker 2 00:30:24 You need that digital connectivity.

Speaker 3 00:30:26 Yes. We can be a connecting point to say to that single mom, we’re going to give you a device and a year of service for free because we care about you and your kids, and we want you to be safely connected. So yes, I have found a company that is mission driven, and I love this mission. But I also have realized that I don’t want my my personal satisfaction at work to be tied to where I’m at specifically, and whatever I do, I always want to have a personal mission so that I can be focused on giving back regardless of where I’m at. And I just so happen now at gab to be aligned with something that I personally care about and the mission of a company. And it’s extremely gratifying.

Speaker 2 00:31:01 Yeah, that’s a that’s a really fantastic story. I’m really happy for you. Thank you. Hey, along the way, any any mentors or key leaders that kind of helped you on your career path? That looking back, we’re we’re we’re key supporters.

Speaker 3 00:31:13 Yeah. I just mentioned Dan Chandler, who I worked with at Callaway. I’ll mention another one for my Callaway days. David Pierce I never worked for him directly as a he wasn’t my boss. colleague and senior leader in the company. When I got to Callaway, I knew nothing about the golf business. I knew nothing about business, really. And I also had to live an hour plus away one way commute from Callaway because California was so expensive, I couldn’t afford it.

Speaker 2 00:31:39 Sure.

Speaker 3 00:31:40 And so there would be times at Callaway where we’d have a 730 or 8 a.m. call with an East Coast partner, where we had a company event going on, and David Pierce would say he lived two minutes from Callaway. Why don’t you just stay at my house? Oh, yeah. There were multiple times where David Pierce is a mentor and friend, was constantly looking out for me and would say, stay at my house. Let me show you the way. Let me help you build that deck. Let me show you how to train golf reps and really set me up for success in partnership with Dan Chandler.

Speaker 3 00:32:09 And those two, 25 years later, are still friends and are two of the most important mentors in my career.

Speaker 2 00:32:15 That is an awesome story. What a gift they gave you, and I’m sure they’re super proud of what you’re doing now and to see the impact you’re having in the world with your family and your business. I’m sure they’re very proud of you and happy to have that relationship as well.

Speaker 3 00:32:28 Yeah. Thanks, Julian. They’re still dear friends. And think of think of them often what they’ve done for my career.

Speaker 2 00:32:35 That that’s a great story and I’m really excited about it. Thanks for sharing this morning. You know, one one last thing. Is there any any public sources of inspiration you get from either podcasts or books out there, things that you, you think are valuable that our listeners might want to check out?

Speaker 3 00:32:49 There’s two and they’re both board members and investors at gab. And they’re they’re so good. Casey Baugh has a podcast called Case Studies, and he interviews everybody from head football coach at BYU to somebody from the the Covey family.

Speaker 3 00:33:05 And they’re really insightful business principles. But he also talks about balancing business with life. A lot of key insights there. And then Jeff Mendez who’s on our board, he started a podcast called Live Life by Design, and he has a lot of great conversations also about growing businesses and isn’t investing, but doing it the right way with character in class. So those are those are two that I often go to when I need a little boost.

Speaker 2 00:33:27 It sounds awesome. I’m going to check them out and we’ll, we’ll, we’ll share them with the growth Elevated community. Perfect. Thank you for sharing those Nate and Nate, thank you for being with us this morning. That was a great conversation and good luck. good luck with your family first and foremost. And good luck with gab Julien.

Speaker 3 00:33:41 Thank you. And we shared at the start you shared an insight that’s going on with your son. An exciting moment. Congrats again. Very cool.

Speaker 2 00:33:48 Thank you so much. Talk to you soon.

Speaker 3 00:33:50 Hey take care.

Speaker 1 00:33:54 Thank you for listening to the Growth Elevated Leadership podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, would you please follow us and subscribe on your favorite podcast player and we’d be grateful if you recommend it to a friend. If you’d like more resources on how to become a better leader in business, we invite you to visit us at growth. Com. We’ll be back next week with more insight from another great tech leader. Thank you.