Jamie Hunt - Former Professional Triathlete - Co-Founder of 2XU
Episode 49: Jamie Hunt - Former Professional Triathlete - Co-Founder of 2XU
See below for Deals and Coupon Codes, Show notes, Timestamps, and Links
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Show notes (please see Timestamps below for more detail)
In this episode of The Greg Bennett Show, Greg Bennett has a delightful conversation with Jamie Hunt. Jamie is a former professional Triathlete who transitioned into the world of High-Performance sports apparel and co-founded the brand 2XU. He built that brand at a mind-boggling pace, to a brand that had over $100 million in transactions a year and sold for a 9-figure sum.
His passion, energy, and hard work were evident as an athlete. We raced each other throughout the 90s and he was a part of the exceptional group of Kiwis that took the world by storm. He took that same passion, energy, and hard work into the world of fabrics and brand building and never looked back.
He’s one of the most genuine down-to-earth men you could meet and combines that with a driven competitive streak that has fueled him to be one of the world’s great high performers.
Jamie is incredibly open and vulnerable in this episode. His journey from being left of the NZ Olympic team to the co-founder of the High-performance endurance and compression brand 2XU is incredibly inspiring.
His drive to produce the world's greatest products and his relentless pursuit of looking to do things better is grounded by his family, community, faith, and his physical training.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing. His family have had to pack up and move, he was on the road for 200 days a year for 13 years and he’s dealt with depression brought on by his anxiety. But, he has come out the other side wiser and more in control of his life. He understands what’s important to him and he’s making it happen.
So many lessons and great advice. His passion is truly contagious.
Incredible insights and remarkable stories. See the timestamps below for more detail.
Timestamps
0.0 - Introduction to show
1.30 - Sponsors
5.05 - Start to show – Introduction
5.52 - General chit-chat
6.40 - Finding a passion for endurance sport. 15 years old 1st Triathlon - the breed of New Zealand triathletes out of the late 80s - "we just raced and didn't realize we were that good" - Junior world championships in 1992 10k run, bike 60km bike, 10km run
14.30 - The 2000 Olympic Games left off the team - "From '97 I dedicated my life to be on that team" - The trials were complicated and political - Jamie shares his story
20.50 - Transitioning into the business world - "If I'm not making a good enough living by the time I'm 30, I'm moving on" - "The biggest blessing of my life was actually NOT making that Olympic Games team" - "I was kind of burnt out anyway" - "My best friend owned a brand called Orca and asked me to work in finance for the brand" - 5 weeks later Jamie moved into production - "I instantly fell in love with fabrics"
27.30 - Transferring skills from sport to business - "Passion has the right of way" - Jamie was constantly asking questions - "Would I want to wear this?"
30,00 - Australian and New Zealand - what people believe - "Our market is so small, we have to prove ourselves more" - The talent Jamie has in New Zealand is incredible - "You got to give these young guys as much autonomy as you can"
33.30 - Moving from Orca to starting 2XU - Jamie never felt he'd be an owner at Orca - Clyde Davenport contacted Jamie and they started the HP sports brand with Aiden Clark - They had 10 months to create cycling, running, and Triathlon apparel - "We were pure performance brand" - Compression became a focus - "Within two years we were the worlds biggest Triathlon brand" - "By year 4 we were Australia's fastest-growing company and were making 30 million a year" - By year 6-7 we had every NBA team wearing our gear" - "We had world-leading products" - "The first 8-9 years when we had complete ownership were incredible" - "For 12 years I had 200 days away each year" - "I spiraled into depression" - "My kids and wife missed out me a lot those years"
46.00 - Compression - The benefits = Recovery and injury prevention - "basically compression holds me together now" - Why compression has fallen away - Jamie believes there are too many brands that made non-compression garments that sold as compression - The area became watered down - Medical brands Sigvaris, CEP is sports - Tights are much harder than socks
55.15 - The exit strategy from 2XU - "it was three phases" - we sold 20% first in year 8-9 to just take some money off the table - "It's very easy to take your own backyard but it's much harder to take someone else's" - "We were tracking faster than Lululemon and Under Armour" - Four equity companies were interested and it was 40% L Catterton that took the 40% and they brought in a CEO from Germany who was very corporate - "It was a bit of a kick in the guts" - "Made me want to do fewer trips" - "We packed up and moved back to NZ" - "It became less product focussed and more marketing focus" - "By year 13 I was exhausted" - "I started to do some work with Kanye West and his brand Yeezy" - The rest of the business was sold and Jamie was given 2-year restraint of trade
1.04.55 - I was unemployed by Dec 2018 and trained like a professional athlete - "Since then I've been planning my new brand" - "I've developed a new type of compression" - "I have a distribution ready" - The brand is called https://pressio.com/ - it will be a running brand and compression with amazing fabrics and its all sustainable
"Nobody could be doing what I'm doing, nobody has my experience" - Jamie is incredibly excited
1.11.15 - Passion and energy - Relationships and team - Jamie's wife Suzanne - Christian faith - Community - Great resilient kids - "Every single Sunday I go to church" - "I'm trying to be someone who serves" - The bible and the church
1.18.00 - Depression and anxiety - "I try to balance my days" - "My morning routine starts every day with 90mins and sit and pray and just think, it brings me into the day slower" - "I cannot burn the candles at both ends" - taking full-control and responsibility of your life
1.21.20 General Health - "I'm a shocker... my diet is not great" - "I'm trying to be better" - Jamie had to be honest and tells that he could be better
1.24.00 - Sleep and Recovery - "I always need 8 hours" -
1.25.15 - Grounding after trips - taking a few days "I workout every day"
1.26.15 - Advice for new business - "Try and own a niche" - "Try and learn as much as you can about that niche"
1.28.30 - Conclusion - moving to the UK for 3-4 years
Links
Be sure and check out bennettendurance.com
Find Greg on social media:
Twitter Greg Bennett Show
Instagram The Greg Bennett Show
Find Jamie Hunt at:
Web: https://pressio.com/ (March 1st 2021)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamie.hunt.3990
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