Michael Rubin's Early Empire
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A story about Michael Rubin's entrepreneurial journey from childhood to building multiple billion-dollar companies.
"At age 12, he started a ski tuning shop in his parents' basement. Then at 14, he got $25,100 in bar mitzvah gifts and leased a shop near his parents' house. By age 16, he was already $120,000 in debt and had to settle with creditors. His dad had to bail him out for $37,000 and said 'I'll bail you out but you have to go to college.'
He goes to college but drops out after a couple semesters because he already had 5 new ski shops. He eventually sells that and at age 21 starts KPR Sports, an equipment closeout company. By age 21 it has $1 million in sales, two years later at 23 it hits $50 million in sales. In 1995, he purchased 40% of women's shoe company Ryka.
Then he started GSI Commerce, buying brands and handling their logistics and backend operations. He sold that at around age 28 for $2.4 billion, netting him $150 million personally. A few years later he bought the business back and formed three companies: Shoprunner, Rue La La, and Fanatics. He sold Shoprunner recently for $228 million.
Fanatics became massive - they're now the official merchandiser for major sports. Collectively these businesses make about $2 billion a year in EBITDA. He also owns the 76ers and New Jersey Devils, and spends time on prison reform with Meek Mill."
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.