Connor Wilson is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Thursday Boot Company.
What started as a business school surfing trip to Nicaragua in 2014 quickly turned into a quest for Connor and his future Co-Founder Nolan to reimagine the men's boot from the ground up. Their goal was to combine the durability of a work boot with the sophistication of a fashion boot to make a product that could stand up to the work and play of a Thursday.
After raising 9x their initial goal on Kickstarter, the duo was off to the races. Over the past 6 years, they've sold to tens of thousands of customers in 60 countries and launched product lines for men and women across boots, shoes and other leather goods.
Tune in to hear Connor's inspiring story and leave a review!
EPISODE TOPICS:
- (1:41) What does Thursday Boots look like today (mission, vision, products, team)?
- (3:29) What is your background and where did you grow up?
- (5:08) Where did the spark for Thursday Boots come from?
- (10:39) What excited you about chasing the idea?
- (16:11) How did you socialize the concept early on to get feedback?
- (19:32) How did go from idea to a kickstarter-ready product?
- (28:39) What was the strategy with kickstarter and how did the launch go?
- (32:58) How did you convert paying customers after kickstarter?
- (36:03) How do you think about product iteration and launching new products?
- (43:13) How do you think about brand collaborations?
- (46:00) What other marketing strategies worked for you?
- (48:15) After kickstarter, how did you approach fundraising?
- (53:07) What is your hiring process and what do you look for?
- (57:27) What was the most underrated or most valuable hire you've made?
- (58:55) What is one thing you know now that you wish you knew when you started?
- (59:42) What questions kept you up at night early on and what keeps you up at night now?
- (1:00:49) Fast forwarding 10 years, what do you want Thursday Boots to be when it grows up?
- (1:03:06) What qualities do most good founders have?
- (1:05:06) What key resources would you recommend?
- (1:06:58) Connor's startup manifesto
- (1:09:50) Connor's founder nomination
- (1:11:15) Where should we look to contact you and explore Thursday Boots products?
Thursday Boots - www.thursdayboots.com
The Founder - www.thefounderpod.com
Don't have time to listen to the full episode? Read the 5-minute version here
