From an early age, it was clear to Kevin Plank and those around him that he had incredible entrepreneurial skills. Later, these skills were developed and harnessed to create a 4-billion-dollar company, Under Armour.
Some of Plank’s earliest memories were with his two brothers, buying cheap bracelets and t-shirts and then selling them for a profit on the street. Plank always came away with the most profit. As he grew up, another thing that Plank was very passionate about was football. To combine his love of business and football, Plank began brainstorming things that he believed he could change, for a profit. The problem he settled on was the weight of a cotton t-shirt under a football uniform after a game or practice; football players needed something that would dry faster and stay lighter while they sweat.
With his connections that he had made in his years playing football, support from his family, and a lot of credit card debt, Plank was able to get more and more orders. Word-of-mouth was a massive selling strategy for Under Armour because when one team liked it, five other teams wanted it.
Plank’s journey to make Under Armour is not glamorous or easy. He had to work hard, and at one point was at rock bottom with lots of debt. However, the vision he had and the smart marketing decisions that he used worked well for him. All of that combined with his hardworking nature rewarded him well.
Sources
How I Did It: Kevin Plank of Under Armour (2003 Column) | Inc.com
I love how you identified Plank combining his two loves of football and business to start up a billion dollar company. He created his business idea through his passions that created the large market that he has.
This is such a good example of an entrepreneur identifying a pain and then coming up with a perfect solution to it! I know the exact feeling of having a heavy cotton shirt on under football pads.
It’s neat to see the entrepreneurial process in this story–he merged his passions and then identified less then ideal elements to cater to a common need. Furthermore, the entrepreneurial spirit is also apparent in this journey as he had many failures and points at which he could have given up and yet he persevered!
Really nice post! Plank is a great example of a person who was just born to be an entrepreneur. I love how you talked about his childhood and how it led to him creating an obviously successful business, Under Armour.
This is an another excellent example of entrepreneurship. He needed shirts that were wicking for practices so the players wouldn’t be drenched in sweat. So he started making shirts out of polyester and other similar materials. This was a genius idea by Plank.