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Emma

๐Ÿ‘ค Speaker
3546 total appearances

Appearances Over Time

Podcast Appearances

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

No, that's true. And what's really interesting is how that extends to your customers as well. I think that what you do feels so authentic to you, but I want to kind of get into a bit of your origin story and understand it, you know, because, and I'm sure you've told this so many times. I don't want to belabor the point, but I do want to understand a little bit. You grew up in Philadelphia.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

No, that's true. And what's really interesting is how that extends to your customers as well. I think that what you do feels so authentic to you, but I want to kind of get into a bit of your origin story and understand it, you know, because, and I'm sure you've told this so many times. I don't want to belabor the point, but I do want to understand a little bit. You grew up in Philadelphia.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

It feels like you were just a born hustler, but you have been in business for a very long time. And since you were a kid, essentially.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

It feels like you were just a born hustler, but you have been in business for a very long time. And since you were a kid, essentially.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

And when you were that young, like when you're eight years old, what was the thrill for you then? Because it's obviously so different when, you know, you don't have bills to pay, you don't have anything. What was the thrill of actually going out and making those like, you know, partnerships with like people in your neighbourhood?

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

And when you were that young, like when you're eight years old, what was the thrill for you then? Because it's obviously so different when, you know, you don't have bills to pay, you don't have anything. What was the thrill of actually going out and making those like, you know, partnerships with like people in your neighbourhood?

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

I love that you say you actually work harder now. So at this level of success, when you have a company that's worth $25 billion, you think you're working harder than you did in your 20s and your 30s and your early 40s when you were actually building?

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

I love that you say you actually work harder now. So at this level of success, when you have a company that's worth $25 billion, you think you're working harder than you did in your 20s and your 30s and your early 40s when you were actually building?

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

One of the things I hate- You feel like a startup with a $25 billion valuation. Yeah.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

One of the things I hate- You feel like a startup with a $25 billion valuation. Yeah.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

So, I mean, I would imagine that keeping that mentality, that startup mentality and that kind of drive, I get that you can have that as the founder, but how does that actually manifest within the company? How do you make everybody else? Because when you have a company with that, you know, that many people, what you're 20 something, 20,000, 22,000 people.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

So, I mean, I would imagine that keeping that mentality, that startup mentality and that kind of drive, I get that you can have that as the founder, but how does that actually manifest within the company? How do you make everybody else? Because when you have a company with that, you know, that many people, what you're 20 something, 20,000, 22,000 people.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

So I get it, but you're going to have an executive leadership team and senior leaders. How do you create the conditions and the environment for them to all feel like that too.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

So I get it, but you're going to have an executive leadership team and senior leaders. How do you create the conditions and the environment for them to all feel like that too.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

When do you tell them that? Like in the interview?

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

When do you tell them that? Like in the interview?

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

I love the way that you talk about that, actually, like stopping dumb shit from happening, because I feel like as a leader, and you spoke about it as well, like this idea of being this excellent communicator, right? My job is to paint the vision, make sure everybody understands what are the three most important things that we're doing and how we all collectively go in towards those things.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

I love the way that you talk about that, actually, like stopping dumb shit from happening, because I feel like as a leader, and you spoke about it as well, like this idea of being this excellent communicator, right? My job is to paint the vision, make sure everybody understands what are the three most important things that we're doing and how we all collectively go in towards those things.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

And that takes you being a really amazing communicator, being an excellent, almost like a salesperson to your own organization. I know what my strengths are, is that I can tell everybody like, hey guys, we're going this way. This is how we're going to get there. All come with me.

Aspire with Emma Grede
The Founder Playbook: How Michael Rubin Built Fanatics by Betting on Obsession

And that takes you being a really amazing communicator, being an excellent, almost like a salesperson to your own organization. I know what my strengths are, is that I can tell everybody like, hey guys, we're going this way. This is how we're going to get there. All come with me.