00:10view is way more intimidating.
00:11>> [LAUGH] Tristan, a very warm
00:14welcome back to Stanford GSB.
00:17It's a great pleasure and
00:20>> As I was researching your
00:22fascinating story for
00:23this interview, Tristan, I was most
00:25impressed by the refreshing candor
00:28of the mission you set for yourself
00:30when you were just a young boy.
00:32Back then, the ambition you had
00:34was not to change lives, change
00:36organizations, change the world.
00:38But rather something more
00:40pragmatic- >> [LAUGH] >> Which was,
00:42in your words, to become as wealthy
00:43as possible as quickly as possible.
00:45>> [LAUGH] >> That's right,
00:48Well done, well done.
00:49>> Could you share with us how your
00:51upbringing shaped that
00:53>> Yeah, glad to be here.
00:58We were broke, [LAUGH] and
00:59as you said, I realized I had one
01:01goal in life was good as wealthy as
01:02possible as quickly as possible.
01:04The story that I share I had three
01:09The first was to be an actor, or
01:14>> [LAUGH] >> The second way was to
01:16work on Wall Street, which I had
01:18the great fortune to do,
01:19and I'll kind of tell you
01:21how I got there in a second.
01:24[LAUGH] And then ultimately I
01:26realized that there was this third
01:28one called entrepreneurship and
01:31Look, my ambition was quite humble,
01:35I realized I was a victim of
01:38I was a victim of bad situation,
01:40the victim of bad culture, and
01:41realized that I had something in
01:43me to create good circumstance,
01:46A lot of which I learned from
01:49I had the good fortune when I was
01:50in high school to go to one of the
01:52top high schools in the country,
01:54a boarding school on full ride.
01:56It's called The Hotchkiss School in
01:57Lakeville, Connecticut.
01:59And it was the first time I got to
02:01see how the other half lived.
02:03I went to school with Rockefellers
02:06I think the most transformative
02:09point of that experience for
02:10me is that I recognized the value
02:14Just like we had Rockefellers and
02:16Fords, what does Walker represent
02:19What are the values that kind of
02:21come with that name that I want to
02:25And the experience was really
02:27formative for every single thing
02:30that I've done from then to date.
02:33And it's carried with me ever
02:35I still want to get as wealthy as
02:36possible as quickly as possible.
02:38That has not changed.
02:40But there's some things that kind
02:42of came along with that, ie.,
02:44kind of firmness around values that
02:46really do matter to me and
02:47explain the majority of my story.
02:50>> And tell us about your path
02:58This idea of desire, right?
03:00I think it's also important to talk
03:01a little bit about why I wanted to
03:03get as wealthy as possible as
03:04quickly as possible, right?
03:06We think about desire as this kind
03:08of straight line, this thing
03:09between what we think we want
03:11versus the thing that we desire.
03:12But desire doesn't really work
03:15It tends to work through a model of
03:19I want the money, I want the trip.
03:20I want like all that stuff because
03:22these models of influence,
03:23these celebrities, these
03:25Wall Street is in a nice suits,
03:26made me want to desire that thing.
03:28I realized very quickly,
03:29when I wanted to be an actor,
03:30an athlete, didn't work out for
03:32me because I was also good at math,
03:34[LAUGH] that that conversion
03:35rate wasn't going to work
03:36as effectively as I wanted it to.
03:37But I did see those models of
03:39influence on television, wearing
03:40the nice suits working on Wall
03:42Street, and they had the money.
03:44And I was very much a kind of
03:46I didn't know anything about
03:48I didn't know anything kind of west
03:50of New York, so I gravitated toward
03:53where the money was,
03:55I worked at Lehman Brothers and
03:58I did that for about two years, and
04:03And I talked about being the victim
04:06of bad culture, I was that.
04:08I got laid off, this was 2008.
04:12I got laid off in January of 2008.
04:15Fun fact that I've never talked
04:18about to this day, I don't
04:20even think I told Derek that.
04:22The day I got laid off,
04:23this is about seven or
04:25eight in the morning in January.
04:28I got on the phone, and
04:29I was expecting to kind of get this
04:31story from kind of my manager, and
04:33I get on the phone with the person
04:35who calls my phone, and it is this
04:37number that I didn't know, right?
04:39Telling me the story, high anxiety,
04:42I'm like, what's going on here?
04:45And this gentleman on the phone is,
04:47wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,
04:49Tristan, this is Derek Bolton from
04:51Stanford University.
04:52>> [LAUGH] >> You were admitted
04:54to Stanford Business School, right?
04:57it was fascinating, even a couple
04:59hours after that, then my manager
05:01kind of laid me off.
05:02Also said, we're going to give you
05:06because it was around bonus season.
05:07And we're going to give you nine
05:09months of severance, right?
05:10So you talk about kind of this idea
05:15just being thankful.
05:17That was a kind of real wonderful,
05:18informative moment for me,
05:20but Wall Street just didn't work.
05:21They put, had the wrong person
05:23in the wrong situation at the wrong
05:26very grateful to have been ejected,
05:28[LAUGH] from that industry.
05:30>> Indeed, great timing, and
05:31speaking of Stanford- >> Wonderful
05:32>> GSB, this is where you got your
05:34first taste of entrepreneurship,
05:36as a second year MBA student.
05:38You were working pretty much
05:41a promising new startup at the time
05:44The story of how you landed that
05:46opportunity with Foursquare
05:48offers us a lesson in persistence.
05:50Tell us how you got that job.
05:51>> Yes, so between my first and
05:52second year of Business School, and
05:54this was around the time when
05:55Stanford was starting on, the GSB
05:56was starting its new curriculum,
05:58which was particularly challenging.
06:01you couldn't do anything
06:03extracurricular at Stanford
06:05during your first quarter or two.
06:10So the first year I actually joined
06:12this company called Twitter at
06:14They're about 20 people
06:16We had like fewer than
06:17a million users at the time,
06:18and I saw the way that it was
06:20changing communication,
06:21I got really excited about it.
06:23a lot of my GSB classmates were
06:25like, what is this shit?
06:26Nobody cares about this thing,
06:28you're crazy to even kind of
06:30But I knew that I had to be a part
06:32Now was really my first foray into
06:35kind of what Silicon Valley
06:37In between my first and
06:38second year of business school,
06:41Boston Consulting Group.
06:42Did that for about half the summer
06:44because I wanted to do this Twitter
06:45thing for the second half of
06:46the summer, and Stanford gave me
06:48some grace to do that.
06:49There's a little bit of drama
06:50in the beginning but
06:51they gave me some grace to do that.
06:52And at that time I heard about this
06:53company called Foursquare.
06:55So in the same way that
06:56Twitter helped me really think
06:57about the changing landscape of
06:59communication, Foursquare helped me
07:01really think about kind
07:03of my connection to place in a way
07:04that got me really excited.
07:07two employees at the time.
07:08We had like 8,000 users, and
07:10I was just genuinely and
07:11authentically excited about what
07:15I found the founders' emails on
07:16the Internet, Dennis and Naveen,
07:18emailed them eight times, the
07:20eighth time Dennis gets back to me.
07:22He says, you know what?
07:23I just may take you up on some of
07:24this, are you ever in New York?
07:26I was in LA at the time working for
07:28I looked over to my wife and
07:31how am I going to reply to this?
07:33I just email this guy like eight
07:35finally like he gets back to me.
07:37I replied back, I said yes,
07:38I'll be in New York tomorrow.
07:40I booked my flight that night,
07:41flew out the following morning,
07:42hung out with him for a week, and a
07:43month later I was running business
07:44development for the company.
07:48>> Completely changed my life.
07:49I showed up at the door.
07:51He wasn't thinking I
07:52I showed up at the door,
07:53opened the door, and there's a look
07:55of just like a surprise, like,
07:57And I sat down and got to work.
07:59changed everything for me, and
08:01I'm most grateful for that.
08:04>> You said you sent eight emails,
08:07Foursquare before you got a reply.
08:09For all of us hustlers out there,
08:12in your professional opinion,
08:14how many follow-up emails are we
08:16permitted to send before we
08:20>> [LAUGH] >> It probably
08:22was going to be my last one, right?
08:25a testament to faith.
08:27I think authenticity matters in
08:30this, there's no kind of set and
08:34I knew I had to be a part of that
08:39My life has been really about
08:41movement work, all right?
08:42Only doing the things that kind
08:44of adhere to the personal values
08:46in Foursquare was movement work.
08:49Twitter was movement work.
08:51Now looking in hindsight,
08:52people were like yeah,
08:53of course Twitter, right?
08:54But it wasn't that obvious back
08:57And I think especially in
08:59Jeff talked a little bit about
09:01the classes that we had previously.
09:04You'll find that a lot of business
09:06school classmates chase
09:08sameness with the same jobs
09:10with the same roles, right?
09:13And little do we realize that that
09:15sameness creates conflict because
09:17you're chasing these finite
09:19resources and that conflict leads
09:23me, I think the thing that kind of
09:25stood out was my difference.
09:28I was not chasing the thing that
09:30other people were chasing.
09:32I was chasing the things that live
09:34the wonderful thing about values is
09:37that they're infinite.
09:38I can't keep courage to myself.
09:40I can't keep inspiration to myself.
09:42I can't keep loyalty myself.
09:44Those are things that can be
09:45infinitely shared, right?
09:47So I try to gravitate all of
09:49the things that I choose to do,
09:51to be in line with the values that
09:54So, one lesson to be heard here is,
09:57send us any emails as you want as
09:59long you're authentically committed
10:02to following through what you're
10:05saying in those emails.
10:07And that is a missing link that I
10:08think a lot of folks don't
10:11>> Wonderful, after a three year
10:13stint at Foursquare, you joined
10:15Andreessen Horowitz in 2012 as
10:17an entrepreneur in residence,
10:19tasked with brainstorming big ideas
10:21for a future business.
10:23So how did you eventually settle
10:25on the idea of shaving products for
10:28>> Yeah, the jig was you have six,
10:30nine months to figure out if you
10:32want to start, right?
10:34I got paid to do that [LAUGH] it's
10:37absurd as best job I've ever had.
10:39I spent seven months there wasting
10:41their time, I spent seven
10:42months wasting their time,
10:44here's what I mean by that I was
10:47chasing the thing that I felt would
10:49make them proud to support me with.
10:53It's very like business
10:55I see a business model that needs
11:00show how smart I'm, right?
11:02So I was chasing things that I had
11:05I remember I had one idea that
11:07changed the way we thought about
11:09trucking in this country,
11:11I don't know shit about trucking.
11:14I've never been at a kind of truck
11:16stop to speak with truckers, right?
11:18But I had this idea,
11:19commerce moves on trucks and
11:21it should be more efficient and
11:22that's when Uber was getting
11:23started, right, this is smart.
11:26And I remember going down all these
11:28VC shops on Santo Road as this
11:30Andreessen Horowitz entrepreneur in
11:33And I thought I'd just walk in and
11:35kind of own the place, right?
11:37And a lot of these VCs would say,
11:38great idea, go after it.
11:40And when I'd show up at
11:41Andreessen Horowitz, they say,
11:43no, it's a terrible idea, and
11:45I come up with another idea and
11:46I go down Santo Road and
11:47they say go after it.
11:49And Andreessen Horowitz say,
11:50it's a terrible idea.
11:52And I think the lesson that I
11:54learned, the first idea that
11:55Andreessen Horowitz said,
11:57that's a great idea was the one
11:59that they felt that I was
12:00uniquely positioned to do.
12:02It was a real great lesson for
12:04me where I recognize that each of
12:06us in this room has something that
12:08we are uniquely positioned to do,
12:10that we are singularly the best
12:12person in the world to try to solve
12:14that was based on your own lived
12:18It was the first idea at least as I
12:20think about Walker and company and
12:21I'll kind of talk about
12:22how I kind of got to that.
12:24I got Andreessen Horowitz said
12:25great and everybody else said no.
12:27And it was the first time in my
12:28life I started to hear no, and
12:30I knew that there was
12:32an opportunity in that, right?
12:34Usually, what looks like good ideas
12:36or bad ideas, usually looks like
12:37bad ideas are good ideas.
12:38The problem with good ideas is that
12:40too many people try to do them
12:43And it wasn't until I came up with
12:44this bad idea, difference, that
12:46the breakthrough kind of happened.
12:48Now shaving, I spent the majority
12:50of my life shaving with products
12:52that we were relegated to having to
12:54use that didn't work for me, and
12:59into this idea authentically,
13:01not as a business model.
13:02I was actually somewhat
13:03embarrassed, I was like,
13:04do I want to be building the thing
13:06for black folks as the black guy in
13:09doing the obvious thing.
13:10And it wasn't until I embraced that
13:11difference that really things
13:13started to take off for me.
13:14I'm just being like straight up and
13:17But it really started with this,
13:18hey, I needed a better way
13:20And every single way I encountered
13:22facial hair removal sucks.
13:24Down to the experience of walking
13:26into these retail aisles, seeing
13:28dirty boxes with dudes with Jheri
13:31curls on the box and the packaging.
13:33Right, it didn't really
13:35reflect kind of like the culture
13:38that I respected so much.
13:41And I felt when I talked about this
13:43idea of unique difference not only
13:45did I have authentically
13:46the problem that I was trying to
13:48solve for myself, I was one of
13:50the few black folks in Silicon
13:52Valley at a major venture capital
13:54firm that really liked the idea.
13:57I felt like I was the best person
14:00in the world to start this company.
14:03I would not say that in 2023, but
14:06in 2013 I was in the rest system.
14:10>> Well, the idea you articulated
14:12just now sounds like a no-brainer,
14:13after all, when you think about it,
14:15people of color need shaving
14:17>> [LAUGH] >> Established
14:19brands like Gillette and
14:21others have been around for many,
14:23many years, in the case of
14:25Gillette, I believe over a century.
14:29Why is it that they haven't already
14:31exploited the market opportunity
14:33you wisely identify?
14:36capitalism is a cool game,
14:37some of it is about incentive.
14:39Our technology was built on hundred
14:41year old technology, right?
14:43We just encourage people
14:44to shave with single blade razors.
14:46I had one kind of interesting
14:49experience around the time that
14:52I was at Andreessen Horowitz,
14:55I was shaving, some satisfied.
14:59I walked into an Art of Shaving
15:00store, I don't even know if it's
15:02still here at Stanford Shopping
15:03mall right down the street.
15:05I was walking into the store and
15:06I said, hey, I've had to deal with
15:08this issue related to restaurants
15:09and stuff my entire life,
15:11And the Art of Shaving is owned
15:14time for Procter and Gamble, right?
15:17And they have all the incentive in
15:19the world to take me to those like
15:21three, four, five, six blade,
15:23multi-blade razors with the nice
15:25handle on it where they can get
15:29And I did this at this store,
15:30I also did it at one in DC.
15:33They never took me to
15:34any of those products.
15:35They always took me to use these
15:36off brand, single blade,
15:38double edge safety razors.
15:40So I tried it, woke up
15:40the following day, and
15:41it was the first experience of my
15:42life where I didn't have
15:43razor bumps on my face and I knew
15:44that there was a breakthrough.
15:45I said, why is this the case,
15:49I started to kind of learn a little
15:50bit more about the history of
15:51shaving, and I learned,
15:52everything started about 100 years
15:54ago with a single blade,
15:55double edge safety razor.
15:56It cuts the hair level with
15:58the skin, not beneath your skin, so
16:00if you have curly hair it's just
16:01going to grow into your skin, so
16:03really effective for that,
16:04it's one clean cuts and no pulling
16:06or tugging obvious stuff, right?
16:08Think about starting that in year
16:101900, 20 years later uses
16:11the patent for it, right?
16:13Then you make a two-blade razor,
16:14and 20 years after that,
16:15you lose the patent for it.
16:17Then you make a three-blade razor,
16:1820 years after that,
16:19[LAUGH] you lose the patent for it,
16:20then you make a four-blade razor.
16:22But the thing that they had started
16:24with was the most efficacious thing
16:26So why would they ever be
16:27incentivized to go make that again,
16:28where they can't maintain and
16:29secure their margin?
16:31So it was a good kind of lesson for
16:33me around innovators' dilemma-type
16:36And we're able to kind of package
16:37that in a bow because we knew how
16:39to speak to the consumer that we
16:40were targeting because I
16:41was representative of that same
16:43So why weren't they able to do it?
16:45a little bit of that.
16:46But also, if you're a brand manager
16:49at any of these companies, and
16:51you're making $80 billion a year in
16:53revenue, are you going to chase any
16:55new kind of innovation?
16:58You're going to want to see
17:00a billion dollars of return
17:01in the first couple of years.
17:03So you're going to get
17:05some brand manager who says, okay,
17:07it looks like black men shaving in
17:09the United States, right?
17:11It's a $200 million industry, so
17:13that same brand manager is going to
17:15say well even if we captured
17:17market share it's not big enough.
17:19And I realized that perhaps that
17:22person asked the wrong question.
17:24Because the reason the market is so
17:27small is because you make things
17:29that don't work for it, you know?
17:31And until you can start to
17:32articulate that reason why and
17:34actually have a new kind of
17:35different product for it,
17:37I thought about market expansion as
17:39opposed to just value capture.
17:41So those two things I think cut
17:42a lot of the competition on their
17:44back foot was why we're able to
17:46innovate so quickly.
17:48>> Not withstanding the intense
17:50conviction you so clearly displayed
17:52when it came to raising money,
17:54a venture capital firms were not
17:56exactly enthused by your idea
17:58initially, many of us in
17:59the audience may have pitched or
18:02how did your first pitch event go?
18:05>> I hate raising money.
18:09I think every single mistake that
18:12I've ever made as an entrepreneur
18:14is a result of me having
18:17I think that there is an incredible
18:19incentive mismatch behind the kind
18:22of moneyed interest in what you
18:26I wanted to build something that
18:27was going to be around 100 years
18:29from now, but VCs need their return
18:32So it creates like this weird
18:35So for me, I had to adapt and shift
18:37my pitch in a way that didn't make
18:39sense for the long-term outcome for
18:43put me in a position to
18:44just raise that money, right?
18:46So, we were pitching this well,
18:48we're going to be a direct and
18:50consumer brand that xelebrates
18:52there's technology, right?
18:54But ultimately we're a consumer
18:56package to good company.
18:57And I remember, I talked a little
18:59bit about walking down those
19:01consumer retail aisles and getting
19:03packaging that look dirty and
19:05the guy with the jerri curl and
19:07all that other stuff and
19:08folks would laugh, right?
19:10And then my first slide would be
19:13they would all shut up, right?
19:15And I think that is indicative of
19:18the difficulty that I had because
19:21folks had their assumptions for
19:24what it was like to shop as a black
19:26person as a non-black person,
19:31And they couldn't kind of rid
19:33themselves of those assumptions as
19:36So you're pitching to venture
19:38capitalists who don't understand,
19:41pitching to a lot of venture
19:42capitalists who don't want to
19:44understand, and that's where
19:46the difficulty came in.
19:47And you ask enough people,
19:49you get a couple who will give you
19:52But when I kind of compare our
19:53situation versus other competitors
19:55in the space to focus on the mass
19:57market, the amount that we
19:59raised and the amount of support
20:00that we got pales in comparison.
20:04>> Now in the face of this pushback
20:05you described from investors,
20:07how were you able to maintain
20:09the confidence that your idea is
20:10the right one, that the problem
20:12lies with these investors who just
20:14don't have the right contacts or
20:16who don't understand the market or
20:19>> Yeah, there's nothing that they
20:20could tell me because I felt like I
20:22in the world to solve that thing.,
20:23I live the problem, right?
20:24I don't need to convince you,
20:26I've already convinced myself and
20:28I'm going to make my life a little
20:31And I think that's something that's
20:33kind of carried with me ever since.
20:35Now I also want to say like I'm
20:36up here, speaking from view from
20:39the top, person of incredible
20:43I raised some $39 million,
20:45but look, I mean, I went to one of
20:47the top boarding schools
20:48in the country on full ride,
20:50I'm a Stanford GSB person, right?
20:52I was an entrepreneur in residence
20:53at Andreessen Horowitz.
20:55So my situation was a hell of a lot
20:58easier than some others I want to
21:00kind of acknowledge and respect the
21:03privilege that I received there.
21:05But it's hard, [LAUGH] It is hard.
21:10But there was no convincing that I
21:13wasn't solving a problem that was
21:16not only important to me, right?
21:19When I show up in offices with
21:20razor buffs on my face for
21:22the sapping of confidence and
21:24my ability to convert into getting
21:26the job that I want.
21:28If you are in the military and
21:29have to shave every single day,
21:31there's actually studies that talk
21:33about how your performance is
21:35impacted by your the pain that
21:36comes from the razor bumps
21:38that are on your face, right?
21:40So I had a story that was wholly
21:42authentic, and it was my goal at
21:44that point to find other folks that
21:46actually kind of felt what I felt.
21:48And look, meanwhile,
21:49this is a problem that 30% of black
21:51men and women have, or
21:5280% of black men want to have,
21:5430% of everyone else has it.
21:56Eventually, I found some
21:58>> Yeah, and you were able to find
22:01including high-profile investors,
22:03people like Carmelo Anthony,
22:05John Legend, Magic Johnson.
22:06How did you market yourself and
22:08your brand to these big-name
22:10investors given your limited
22:12public profile at the time?
22:13>> Yeah, I mean, the interesting
22:15thing about those folks is they
22:17shop at the same place as I do.
22:20There's no like special health and
22:22beauty store for NBA players who
22:24can find solutions [LAUGH] for
22:26their shaving needs, you know?
22:28They've had the same experience
22:30their entire lives and
22:31they have someone who looks like
22:32them that respects and
22:34understands the culture and
22:35speaks the language, and kind of
22:36knows what he's talking about,
22:38it might give me a good steward for
22:40my capital and they gave it to me.
22:41And that's why I say at that point
22:43they weren't hearing stories like
22:45that from anybody else from
22:47someone that reflected that same
22:48diversity authenticity, so
22:50I was able to convert those folks
22:52a hell of a lot better than I was
22:53able to convert other folks.
22:55But now we're in a position where
22:57there are so many folks that do
22:59the sorts of things that I do, that
23:01they're spreading their capital to
23:03support folks like me back in 2013.
23:05But it was a real easy pitch then,
23:08those were some of the easier
23:09pitches that lasted five minutes
23:11because they got it right away and
23:12I didn't have to explain it.
23:14>> So now that you've secured
23:16a financial cushion from these
23:18investors, you could then focus on
23:20scaling your business,
23:21including getting your products
23:23onto the shelves of retailers
23:24like Target and Walmart.
23:26What new skills did you have to
23:28develop as you transitioned
23:30from founder to operator?
23:32>> It's a good question.
23:34I've had to reflect on this quite
23:36a bit, because there's a lot of
23:38entrepreneurs who would come to my
23:40office and ask me for
23:41advice like say I want to start
23:42a company like how can I
23:44raise money and all that stuff and
23:45I always ask them a question
23:47in return and I say, all right,
23:49you want to start a company but
23:50do you want to run it?
23:52And no one has ever had an answer
23:53to that question, immediately 90%
23:57of my job is just people stuff.
24:02I don't focus on any product stuff
24:06And I learned at least in my role
24:09I get to go through something that
24:1299% of the world does not.
24:15I've gotten to go through
24:17a layoffs, terminations, raising up
24:19rounds, raising down rounds,
24:21being very close to running outta
24:24money, lawsuits and all that.
24:26And I relish in it in
24:27a quasi-sadistic way, but
24:30having gone through it, now it
24:32makes me wise on the other side.
24:34The thing that I hated most was
24:36getting advice from VCs who never
24:38did anything [LAUGH] Getting advice
24:40from operators who didn't do
24:41the thing that I'm asking for
24:44but now having gone through it and
24:46now I can actually say that
24:47there is a difference between being
24:49a founder, and an operator.
24:51Eben Haritz prepared me for this.
24:54He said, being a CEO sucks,
24:57is the worst job I've ever had.
25:03It is the worst job that I've
25:05But I can't see myself doing
25:08Like there's something I think
25:10powerful and inspiring about having
25:12gone through all that stuff that
25:14makes me a better father and
25:16makes me a better brother.
25:17It makes me a better manager.
25:19It makes me better friend, right?
25:23to live that difficulty.
25:25So that's how I tried to articulate
25:26it to people that might not
25:28I tried to prepare them for
25:31that they'll be ready to like show
25:34up when they're people need them.
25:37I would imagine running a business
25:39As you alluded to, comes with its
25:41fair share of disappointments.
25:44the major setbacks you faced and
25:46how did you overcome them?
25:48>> I'll start in 2018.
25:492018 was the worst year of my life,
25:52It started really in that way and
25:56On December 12th of 2018,
25:58we announced our acquisition by
25:59Procter & Gamble, which was a kind
26:01of great and wonderful moment.
26:03Look, I sit on the stage and
26:04folks are like, well, it's probably
26:07a pretty successful guy, right?
26:09[LAUGH] But ultimately,
26:10that was a year when we
26:12were close to running out of money.
26:14If we didn't get that acquisition,
26:16we probably wouldn't be around
26:17three months after that, right?
26:19[LAUGH] We couldn't raise any
26:21money, we had to do a down round,
26:23I had to do a reduction in force.
26:26God, it was 2018 and I was around
26:3035 or so 34, something like that.
26:35I got shingles all right?
26:37For folks of you who are not
26:38familiar with it if you've had
26:40chickenpox before right like
26:41the only reason you would ever
26:43get shingles is because of stress.
26:45it was the first time when I
26:47heard that diagnosis I realized
26:49that there was a difference
26:51between what I felt and what was
26:53actually happening to me right I
26:55started therapy around that time.
26:57I did therapy for about six months
26:59by the time we sold the company,
27:01and my therapist was like, Tristan,
27:04when you started here,
27:06you didn't do layoff, right?
27:08You didn't have the down round.
27:10You were not speaking to
27:12any of these companies for
27:13potential acquisition.
27:15You didn't know that you're
27:16going to have your second
27:18You didn't like move or
27:20think about moving to Atlanta
27:23like these are all happening
27:26all at the same time.
27:28That was a terrible, terrible,
27:32But it really taught me about how
27:34much faith actually matters, right?
27:36And if you kind of stick to
27:37the guns, stick to the values, know
27:39that you've been here before and
27:40have values that will guide kind of
27:42making moving forward,
27:43it'll end up in an okay place.
27:45And fortunately it did for us.
27:47But I was well prepared by that
27:49time knowing that this stuff sucks,
27:52[LAUGH] It sucks, but you can get
27:54to the other side quite nicely.
27:56>> When you sold your company in
27:582018 to Procter and Gamble for
28:02presumably large sum of money,
28:05>> [LAUGH] >> You don't have to
28:07tell us how much, it's okay.
28:09>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> Although
28:13>> [LAUGH] >> When he sold your
28:17company to PNG you became the first
28:19black CEO of a PNG subsidiary what
28:22does that milestone mean to you.
28:30I've shared the story
28:33quite a bit >> It was a story of
28:35when I first saw our products show
28:38up in Target stores.
28:40So if you heard this before, I
28:41apologize that I'm repeating it but
28:43it really doesn't matter.
28:45We started selling our products in
28:47Target stores in 2016.
28:49We started our distribution in
28:51February of that year.
28:52We were really busy at the time we
28:54were launching new products so
28:56I couldn't see what our products
28:58look like when we started there, so
29:00about April or May of that year,
29:02I said, let me go to Target and
29:05Make sure that they put our
29:07stuff on shelves in the right way,
29:09and I took my oldest at the time,
29:11he was two, his name's Avery,
29:13and we went to the Target in
29:15Mountain View, California And so
29:18I put him in the cart and
29:19we turn into the aisle.
29:21And we get about a quarter of
29:23the aisle down, and my son points
29:25behind me and he says, dad, right?
29:29>> And one of our boxes was
29:30turned around and I was on the box.
29:32So he saw me and like that, dad,
29:35and there's two things that I
29:37thought about in that moment
29:39knowing that he wasn't going to
29:42realize it as a 10 year old, but
29:44over time ultimately he will.
29:47Number one, Dad is on the box.
29:51>> Particularly coming from
29:53a culture that is appreciated for
29:55its kind of consumer influence Who
29:58are less respected for
30:00our ability to produce.
30:01And here's my son, a black two year
30:04old, who can look at that and say,
30:08And I can be respected as much as
30:10a producer as I am as a consumer.
30:12And second, we weren't in this
30:14ethnic beauty aisle with like the
30:16packaging at the bottom and having
30:18it be dirty and all that stuff that
30:20matters like we were above Gillette
30:22[LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] >> And you know
30:25when I think about the meaning of
30:27being like first black CEO and 180
30:30year history when we were acquired
30:32We're taking it to the boardroom of
30:39And in the boardroom is like this
30:42mahogany walled office and there's
30:45a painting of every single P&G CEO
30:47since the beginning of time.
30:50And they're like 15 paintings,
30:53And there's It's a profound impact,
30:56like being in that room,
30:58like wow, these are like excellent
31:00people that worked for
31:02an excellent organization that has
31:04sustained itself excellently for
31:07a long period of time.
31:08And there's a picture of me under
31:10Procter & Gamble, and
31:11they're right next to each other.
31:13And I think that the juxtaposition
31:16of that was really meaningful and
31:18powerful because now we're in
31:20a position to scale Avery story to
31:26who's going to be that first
31:28painting that looks markedly
31:31different from every single
31:33other one that's on the wall.
31:36And that is a story that I think,
31:38our acquisition makes possible.
31:41And I'm only hopeful that we
31:43see more of that over time but
31:45that's what it means to me and
31:47they really started with that kind
31:50of innocent target story.
31:52>> I have a final question for
31:53you Tristan before we turn it over
31:55to the audience, You are the
31:57protagonist of a GSB case study
31:59called the Extroverted Introvert.
32:02What does it mean to be
32:04an extroverted introvert and
32:06how has that disposition helped
32:08you personally and professionally?
32:10>> That's a great question.
32:15I am an introvert that recognize
32:18job requires my extraversion.
32:21I'm just not naturally
32:23[LAUGH] And I find that it takes
32:26a lot of energy for me to show up,
32:29but it's a part of my job, right?
32:32So, I kind of understand that and
32:33respect it and know that I have to
32:34do that excellently as well.
32:37The way I've been able to cope with
32:39that though is I've curated my life
32:42in a way that is very deliberate.
32:46Around the time I started my
32:47company, I went to Starbucks
32:48in El Camino Real down here, right
32:50down the street, you veer right.
32:52And I spent 45 minutes writing down
32:57And they were as follows, courage,
32:58inspiration, respect, judgment,
33:00wellness and loyalty.
33:04At that moment, I said I'm going to
33:05make every decision.
33:07I am going to hire people.
33:09I am only going to have a set of
33:11friends that share those values,
33:15You find that there are few people
33:17that have ever done that.
33:18And they find themselves
33:20wasting a lot of time and expending
33:22more energy than they need to.
33:24So, I think I've done a good job
33:26curating my life around those folks
33:28who share those values which
33:30minimizes my requirement to have to
33:36And be around people that give me
33:38permission to continue to be
33:40myself knowing that I have
33:42that kind of introversion about me.
33:44But I'll do this in delight because
33:46I have to do it excellently and
33:49[LAUGH] But I think a bit of my
33:51power, or my superpower,
33:52has been knowing who I am and
33:54curating my life around not having
33:58>> And would you say there
33:59are certain personal attributes or
34:01qualities that are more conducive
34:04>> I don't think so.
34:05I think it's consistency.
34:08Just be consistent about the things
34:12I was telling one of the classes
34:14that I was teaching at and
34:15I was like, man, where I came from,
34:17if you're loyal, you could die.
34:18[LAUGH] You know what I mean?
34:19That's stuff that is carried with
34:21me every single time.
34:22So if I've ever had a colleague who
34:25moves on and does something else,
34:27maybe Tristan was a loyal dude.
34:30That stuff matters to me.
34:33I want folks to know that I did
34:35things courageously, right?
34:37When you're with me or
34:39I was a courageous dude.
34:42And I think consistency really is
34:43the thing that matters most.
34:46>> Consistency, I love it.
34:47Thank you, Tristan, for
34:48sharing with us your wisdom today.
34:50Would you like to take a few
34:51questions from the audience?
34:52>> Sure, please, I won't bite,
34:57>> [INAUDIBLE] >> Hello.
35:03>> What's your name?
35:06>> A second year MBA.
35:08My question is, do you believe in
35:10the future of more diverse brands
35:12or in a future of a diversity of
35:14brands crafted to single groups?
35:22>> I believe in a future where
35:24people will choose to
35:26gravitate towards brands, people,
35:28entities that share their values.
35:32I think we're in a bit of a cool
35:34renaissance right now where only
35:36Bevel Walker and Company can exist
35:39because we make space for people to
35:41reclaim their own values again.
35:44I don't think the world needs more
35:47brands, it needs more authenticity
35:49and consistency, right?
35:51We have enough brands.
35:53brands that you can go to, but
35:55what about you that kind of
35:56establishes that connection?
35:58People will buy Gillette,
36:01Like, there are enough people
36:02who'll buy Bevel too.
36:03And I think the trick will come for
36:06founders to not chase the greed,
36:08right, versus finding your tribe
36:10and kind of going in.
36:12So, I think the future is founders
36:14who care about the tribes that they
36:15want to build and sticking with it,
36:17because that's a big
36:27We got her working out.
36:33we met earlier when you were in
36:35my Paths to Power class.
36:37And you had mentioned that
36:38you ask one question in interviews,
36:39you ask people, what's the hardest
36:41thing you've ever been through?
36:43So I wanted to turn that
36:46>> Yeah, that's a good question.
36:48So, I shared that I usually ask
36:50kind of one question during my
36:53Usually by the time that folks kind
36:56of come to me, the team has really
36:59vetted can the person do the job,
37:02So, I tend to ask that question
37:04because I think it gets at
37:06the heart of values very quickly,
37:09And I've interviewed hundreds and
37:11hundreds of folks, and
37:13I've only had one person tell
37:14me something work related,
37:16which is a bit interesting, right,
37:18because you think that folks
37:20would try to say, all right,
37:22let me prove that I'm smart.
37:24But folks really will get to
37:26the heart of everything,
37:27talk about divorce, they've talked
37:30about deaths in family, right?
37:32Folks cry on the other side
37:34And one thing that I do after they
37:35articulate the story, I try and
37:37recite it back to them kind of in
37:38line with the values that we have.
37:40And then we have a really wonderful
37:42me nobody's ever asked them
37:43that question before, right?
37:44It's a bit cathartic.
37:46But I usually give them
37:47my answer first to make them
37:49a little bit more comfortable.
37:51me it's getting married.
37:55I've been married and
37:59Derek, who's here has met her since
38:05And especially the first two
38:07years of marriage for me.
38:09Because it was a process of
38:12my relieving myself of my ego.
38:16And I didn't know, it was
38:18the first time in my life I had to
38:19start thinking about things for
38:21two people instead of one.
38:23And that tension is rich, right?
38:25Because it forced us to really
38:26think about the values that
38:28were going to be foundational and
38:30allow us to sustain ourselves over
38:3317 years, I got married really,
38:36But we set that foundation so
38:38that now our sons, we have shared
38:41language to articulate to our sons
38:43why courage matters,
38:44why loyalty matters, why practicing
38:47good judgment matters,
38:49why having faith matters.
38:51So it was a real good
38:52transformative moment of difficulty
38:56And the reason I bring that up,
38:58because it's so personal, but
39:01closes the distance between me and
39:04the other person in a way that I
39:06think has proven productive and
39:08shows that person why these values
39:10actually do matter to me.
39:12Nobody ever did that to me, so
39:14that, I appreciate that.
39:20My wife's going to see that
39:22on YouTube and be like, shit.
39:23>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH] I love you.
39:27>> [LAUGH] >> Hi, Tristan,
39:30my question is about the time in
39:322018 when you mentioned that you
39:34went through some of
39:35the hardest time in your life.
39:37And there was a lot of pressure
39:39because the company also was
39:41everything that was going through
39:44with your personal life as well.
39:47I'm curious about how did
39:49how did that come about, because
39:51at the same time you were thinking
39:52about this is your baby, this is
39:54your brand that you've created, and
39:56you wanted to Go to a company that
39:59would take it and make it better.
40:02>> And not be in the pressure of
40:04just selling it off because it's
40:07So what went through at that time?
40:09>> Yeah, it's a great question.
40:12The acquisition process is
40:13an interesting one because I think
40:15a lot of folks think about it
40:16as like big company comes in take
40:17small company, right?
40:18But we got agency in that
40:21We weren't only speaking to
40:22Prockner Gamble we were speaking
40:23to quite a few folks, right?
40:24So for me, it was like if we were
40:26going to do this, and
40:27at that point, we kind of made the
40:29decision, there's some terms that
40:31were going to be important, right?
40:33I still wanted to build
40:34something that was around a hundred
40:37I never said that I wanted to own
40:38it in perpetuity, [LAUGH] right?
40:41I just wanted to build something
40:42that was still going to be
40:43sustainable and support
40:44the community I cared a lot about.
40:46So that was important number one.
40:49Does it have a pathway to
40:50sustenance over the very long term?
40:54Two, the best way to prove it
40:56is to show me that you've done it
40:59And you think about 180 years of
41:01that kind of sustainability that at
41:04least Prockner Gamble anyway showed
41:06me that they can do it if they
41:11I wanted to make sure that we were
41:13still going to have the ability to
41:15offer our point of view in a way
41:19So that requires setting up a
41:21system that enforces that autonomy.
41:24I think I have a PNG email address
41:27but I wouldn't even know how to use
41:31We're a completely separate entity
41:32we can't even take advantage of
41:34their health insurance if we wanted
41:35to we had to create our own, right?
41:37So there's a system that really
41:40enforced, that autonomy for me.
41:43And then lastly, let me just kind
41:45of wrap this in a boat and
41:47to really talk about on December
41:4812th when we kind of announced
41:51something that happened to me
41:53that I think made me a better just
41:54leader on the other side now.
41:57It was the first time that
41:58I realized what freedom was,
42:01And for me, I defined freedom is
42:03not owing anybody anything and
42:05was the first time in my life I
42:07I didn't know investors anything.
42:10I didn't owe P&G anything, right?
42:13So it put me in a position where
42:15now I can actually again have
42:17the agency to show up in a way
42:19that the opportunity deserved.
42:21And it was important that whoever
42:23we were merging with getting
42:25acquired by respected it, and every
42:27step of the way, P&G showed her
42:29respect for it, and they still do,
42:31and it's the only reason I
42:33still continue to be around.
42:44Thanks for coming, Tristan,
42:45>> Where's that coming from?
42:50I was having trouble standing up.
42:53>> So thank you, Sara, NBA2.
42:55So I was wondering at the GSB,
42:57a lot of us want to be founders,
42:59but it often feels pretty daunting
43:02if you haven't done it before.
43:04So I was wondering how did you
43:06convince others to believe in
43:08you as a founder, maybe including
43:10becoming an EIR at AndReessen'?
43:12>> Yeah, I mean, first, again,
43:14I go back to the privilege thing.
43:16The only reason Andreessen Horowitz
43:17gave me the opportunity is because
43:18they wanted the board a four square
43:20and I told them what I wanted to do
43:21and they said that there's
43:22an opportunity, right?
43:23So some of it is access and
43:27But I'll be honest, I still find
43:30myself having to prove that working
43:33company matters to people, right?
43:36That's just what founders
43:37are going to have to do.
43:38And I shared a little bit about
43:40the quality around what makes you
43:43good in its consistency.
43:47But I'd add something there I
43:50founders entrepreneurs whatever you
43:53want to call it have stamina.
43:55You just have to have the stamina
43:57to know that you're going to get
43:59a lot of people to just say
44:01your ID is crap or you can't do it.
44:04The only reason I got to
44:06most of the reason why I was able
44:07to raise the money that I was able
44:09to is because I was in a position
44:11of privilege that allowed me to.
44:13fathom how difficult this would be.
44:15And if I ever started another
44:17company again, I would not raise in
44:20the way that II did, I would not
44:22try to secure money from the types
44:24of kind of investors that I did,
44:27because I know how hard it is and I
44:29know how destructive it can be for
44:31certain types of companies who
44:34are not ready for it.
44:35So some of this, once you realize
44:37that you want to be a founder,
44:39there are a lot of questions that
44:44Do you want to raise money?
44:48Are you understanding around
44:50the trade-off of what comes with
44:51raising money because you have to
44:52grow it and return it?
44:55Do you want to hire a lot of people
44:57and manage a lot of people?
45:00And are you comfortable and
45:02understanding around what it means
45:05manage a lot of people, right?
45:07So it's just not enough to say you
45:08want to be a founder but I think
45:10asking the second and third and
45:11fourth question around like,
45:13do you really want to run it?
45:15And I think that the more
45:17comfortable you get with that,
45:18then the onus is on you because
45:20you've made that decision for
45:22yourself that you can't blame other
45:24people for, and I found myself
45:25blaming other people that
45:27I shouldn't have because I wasn't
45:29thoughtful enough in the beginning
45:43>> Hi Tristan, my name is Maria,
45:46I've been very inspired to hear
45:48your story how you became a leader
45:50in the CPG industry and
45:51have created such a groundbreaking
45:54I wanted to hear at such a young
45:56age, what's next on your career
45:59How do you plan to leverage
46:01your current position to grow
46:04it's kind of unbelievable I'm
46:06even on the stage right now.
46:08It's like, I love my job.
46:13I love what I do every day,
46:15I love the people that I get to do
46:17it with and I love the tribe we're
46:19able to build, right?
46:20And the importance of
46:23what we've built matters.
46:27And I was sharing with a couple of
46:29the previous classes that I was
46:31helping to teach that
46:32there are only three things
46:33that I've cared about that I think
46:35explains every single thing that
46:37I've done for my career.
46:38The first is the demographic shift
46:40happiness country cultural
46:41influence of black people.
46:43I think I can't see myself being in
46:46a position where I am not helping
46:50that we matter in ways that most
46:52people don't understand.
46:55Second, technology's impact on
46:59If you can apply technology in
47:01the hands of curators of culture,
47:04the fundamental power of that
47:06asset is meaningful beyond belief.
47:09And then lastly, I love
47:11the development of great brands,
47:13not just because they're cool, but
47:16they can be a force for
47:19So everything that I've done for
47:21Walker and company code 24,
47:22the great fortunes done on
47:24the boards of like footlocker,
47:25Shake Shack etcetera, can really be
47:27explained by the intersectionality
47:29of those three things.
47:30Whatever I do today,
47:32whatever I do tomorrow will be
47:35the results of my kind of situating
47:38myself in the middle of those kind
47:41of intersection points.
47:43I could do anything with
47:45And I think about the application
47:47of those three things in every
47:50I think it's inevitably a creative.
47:55I'm trying to not be vague but
47:57vague at the same time so
47:58I don't get in trouble.
47:59>> [LAUGH] >> But But
48:01I can only see myself doing things
48:03that celebrate each of those three
48:08>> We have time for one more.
48:11>> Hi, my name's Andrew.
48:13>> Andrew, is that your name?
48:16You managed to join two eventually
48:17very, very successful startups
48:19while at business school, I'm
48:21curious, how did you identify that
48:23these would be the next big thing,
48:24did you have a feeling for that?
48:26And especially curious about
48:27Foursquare when you joined the two
48:28people which is very impressive.
48:30>> Yeah. I don't start by trying to
48:31think about what's going to be
48:34I just think about doing things
48:36that improve my life and lifestyle.
48:38Twitter improved my lifestyle.
48:41Foursquare improved my lifestyle.
48:44And I think it's okay to be
48:46selfish about that stuff, right?
48:48I can't purport this like
48:49being authentic and living your own
48:50values and then say, I'm going to
48:52chase the next big thing, right?
48:53Because who knows if it's going to
48:55be the next big thing?
48:56If you have enough authenticity,
48:58that tends to win itself out every
49:01So for me, I just thought about
49:02the things that I was using, and
49:04it just happened to be those things
49:06and more often than not,
49:07your classmates aren't chasing
49:09those same things, right?
49:10Because you were thoughtful about
49:12why you liked them in
49:15So hopefully that answers
49:16But I'm very selfish about
49:19doing things that I like and
49:28Well, Tristan, before you leave,
49:30it is a view from the top tradition
49:32to close each session with a number
49:34of rapid fire questions.
49:36>> Okay. >> If you don't mind,
49:37I've prepared some for you.
49:39So to start off, the Super Bowls
49:42coming up, Eagles are chiefs.
49:45>> [LAUGH] >> I'm just worried
49:50>> [LAUGH] >> Eagles.
49:53[LAUGH] >> [APPLAUSE] >> What was
49:58your favorite class at the GSB?
50:00>> Jeff, Ice still here?
50:01>> [LAUGH] >> I actually didn't
50:04acting with power but Deb Grunfeld,
50:05it's my favorite class.
50:07>> Best piece of advice
50:10>> Tyler Perry told me that
50:11the trials you go through and
50:12the blessings you receive
50:13are the exact same things.
50:15That stuck with me ever since.
50:16>> Okay, the next three are fill in
50:18the blank questions.
50:20>> So my friends would describe
50:24>> Wow, [LAUGH] Hey handsome.
50:28>> [LAUGH] >> I think magnetic.
50:37My next one was actually my wife
50:39would describe me as?
50:43going to see this too.
50:48>> [LAUGH] >> I'm thoughtful.
50:55I would describe myself as?
50:56>> [LAUGH] >> [LAUGH]
51:04>> Wonderful, you're very humble
51:05Tristan, thank you very much,
51:06that's all the time we've had.
51:07It's been a great pleasure.
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