In the third episode we feature StockX co-founder Josh Luber. We hear all about his one-in-a-million idea, how he connected with Dan Gilbert and Eminem, what StockX is doing to attract talent to Detroit and why the path to success is never a straight line. Luber’s honesty will make you look at entrepreneurship in a whole new way. Prior to StockX, he had a several startups and for one he had to call his list of investors — including friends and family — and explain that the money was gone. Listen in on why Mark Wahlberg, Eminem and Scooter Braun are just some of the lucky few invested in the startup that is making $2 million a day in sales and is on track to being the fastest growing company in the world.
Just like the city of Detroit, our guests have stories of perseverance and creativity. Why should you care? You’ll find motivation and inspiration to apply to your own life from listening to the dreamers, future leaders and risk-takers who are making a direct impact on the community. We talk about lessons learned the hard way, what it took to reach success, business advice and what makes Detroit special.
This season we’re partnering with Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit whose mission is co-creating independence and dignity through the power of personal and workforce development. Goodwill Detroit works to ensure that every neighborhood of Detroit experiences the kind of renaissance that we’re seeing in downtown and Midtown. We welcome Jessica McCall, the vice president of marketing and external affairs at Goodwill Detroit, as our special co-host. We’re asking listeners to use “#WhatsGoodDetroit“ when you come across something inspiring, notable or just plain good in the city.
We’re recording in the Foundation Studio at Detroit Foundation Hotel. Our official podcast studio is located within the beautiful boutique hotel which is the former Detroit Fire Department Headquarters and Pontchartrain Wine Cellars.
Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts or SimpleCast.
Just a taste…
Did you ever imagine StockX would grow this rapidly?
No. No one did … If we’re not the fasting growing company in the world, we’re pretty close. This is completely crazy. When you look at our growth versus some of the other big marketplaces like Etsy, Airbnb or Uber, we blow them all out of the water in terms of how quickly we have reached this level of transactions. Even the team itself, right? In January we had 120 people, we now have 350 and there’s 100-200 people I’d hire tomorrow if we had the right people. That’s a big bottleneck here to growth… people and getting the right people in. You’d rather hire no one than the wrong person. This is still a day zero startup. There are 350 people and it still feels like there’s no one there to do anything. It still feels like there’s just an infinite number of things to do. It’s extraordinary. No one doubted the logic behind the idea— like it made sense— and we certainly were positive about it but this level of growth at this stage is unheard of, so it’s amazing.
” I share [the idea] with Dan [Gilbert] and the two guys looked at me with pure shock. It doesn’t really register at first why and then Greg [Schwartz] takes out a piece of paper and is like, ‘Yeah we have one of those. That is exactly what we want to build… a stock market for sneakers.’ The crazy fact is that there was only one person in the whole entire world trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time and it happens to be one of the most successful business people in the world.”
If you could have a drink with anyone, who would it be?
Selfishly from a business standpoint, right now, it’s Kanye for every reason. There’s definitely a better answer for an all-time. Here’s the thing, he drives so much of our business just in general. Yeezy and Adidas drive the majority of our sales but I also genuinely believe that he’s smarter than people think he is. Every part of it is crafted and structured. I do think he also has some mental issues, too. I just think it would be a fun conversation to have because I also really like that antagonistic type of conversation. I’d start a basic conversation around the perception of his shoes on the secondary market and what that means. When he went from Nike to Adidas he famously said, “Everyone will be able to get Yeezys. They will all be available for everybody,” and it is literally the exact opposite of that. There couldn’t be another shoe that is more expensive and harder to get. I also think there’s probably a divide with Adidas and Kanye and I would love to be a fly on [the wall] and learn what that whole relationship looks like. There’s no question he’s this generation’s Jordan or Jesus.
Photography by Derrick Busman
Listen to the full conversation on Apple Podcasts or SimpleCast.
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