Shane Parrish
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He launches into his pitch.
It's basically his Stanford paper all over again, delivered with all the passion of a man who has nothing to lose.
Japanese shoes can capture the American market.
The quality is there.
The price is right.
All they need is the right distributor, someone who knows American runners, someone who is a runner.
When he finishes, there's a long silence.
The executives confer in rapid Japanese, talking over each other.
And then they stand up and leave the room.
And Knight sits there.
He's certain he's blown it.
But a few minutes later, they come back carrying shoe samples.
They want to make a deal.
Phil orders 12 samples of tigers shipped to his father's house in Oregon.
The deal is tiny.
It's almost trivial, but it's a start.
He finishes his trip around the world, and at the Acropolis in Athens, he stops in front of the Temple of Athena Nike.
Nike is the Greek goddess of victory.
He feels an inexplicable connection to the place.
He has no way of knowing it yet, but soon that name will become the most famous brand in sports.