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How I Built This with Guy Raz

Faherty Brand: Alex and Mike Faherty. How Jersey Shore + Manhattan Chic grew to 80 stores.

with Mike Faherty, Alex Faherty

Published October 13, 2025
Visit Podcast Website

About This Episode

Twin brothers Mike and Alex Faherty describe how a high-school dream of blending surf culture with Manhattan-quality fashion became Faherty, a surf-inspired clothing brand with around 80 U.S. stores and roughly a quarter of a billion dollars in sales. They walk through their deliberate 12-year preparation period, early careers in fashion and finance, the decision to pursue a multi-channel model combining wholesale, e-commerce, and retail, and scrappy tactics like a mobile beach house store and a print catalog. The conversation covers cashflow struggles, a pivotal hero product, the impact of COVID on their business, rapid store expansion, family dynamics, and their desire to keep Faherty a long-term family-run brand.

Topics Covered

Entrepreneurship Family business Co-founder relationships Direct-to-consumer brands Retail distribution Online retail Outdoor retail Scrappiness in business Branding and naming Small business financing

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Quick Takeaways

  • Mike and Alex Faherty spent over a decade intentionally preparing for their brand by building complementary careers in fashion design and finance before launching Faherty in 2013.
  • From the outset they pursued a contrarian multi-channel strategy, mixing wholesale, e-commerce, and brick-and-mortar retail instead of going purely direct-to-consumer.
  • Their first big product focus was upgraded surf-inspired board shorts using recycled polyester blended with cotton to feel more like everyday fabric while still drying quickly.
  • A custom-built mobile "beach house" trailer used as a traveling pop-up store and later as a trade-show booth was critical to early brand awareness and wholesale relationships.
  • Small specialty retailers and Japanese boutiques adopted the brand earlier and more enthusiastically than large U.S. department stores, helping Faherty gain traction.
  • Cashflow and inventory management were persistent early challenges, forcing the brothers to stretch payables, raise small rounds, and even send Alex back to consulting briefly.
  • The Legend Sweater Shirt became Faherty's first true hero product, selling out quickly and reinforcing the importance of standout, tactile products for direct-to-consumer growth.
  • COVID initially wiped out most of their revenue channels, but excess inventory plus a surge in casual e-commerce demand turned 2020 into their first meaningfully profitable period.
  • During COVID the brothers signed a large wave of favorable long-term leases, rapidly expanding from about a dozen stores to roughly 40 in a few years.
  • They emphasize long-term stewardship over a quick exit, aiming to keep the company family-led and grounded in positivity, persistence, and incremental improvement season after season.

Podcast Notes

Introduction and Faherty Brand Overview

Opening question about leaving Ralph Lauren

Mike describes confidence in his ability to take an original design concept to finished garment[2:54]
• He gives an example of starting from an antique quilt fabric swatch and visualizing the shirt, buttons, wash, and seams he would use
Sense that once he could do this reliably at Ralph Lauren, he felt it might be "go time" for his own brand[2:34]

Show introduction and brand snapshot

Guy Raz introduces How I Built This and frames the episode[3:24]
• He says the show is about innovators, entrepreneurs, and the stories behind the movements they built
Summary of Faherty's scale and positioning[3:40]
• Describes Faherty as a clothing brand inspired by surf culture that grew to around 80 stores and roughly a quarter of a billion dollars in sales
• Notes that many entrepreneurs are told to pick one lane (wholesale, DTC, or retail), but Mike and Alex deliberately chose all three
Background on their contrarian multi-channel strategy[4:07]
• When they launched in 2013, investors were excited about low-overhead direct-to-consumer models, but the twins opted for a mix of wholesale, brick-and-mortar, and online sales
• Guy says many thought their "all of the above" model was outdated or doomed, but it became a key factor in building a $250 million brand

Early dream and long preparation period

Mike dreamed of starting a clothing brand as a teenager[4:56]
• He wrote a college admissions essay about a line called "Coast to Curb" combining coastal and city styles
Twelve-year runway before launch[5:03]
• Mike studied fashion in college and worked at Ralph Lauren; Alex worked in finance to learn business and save money
• Guy emphasizes that they spent 12 years getting ready before launching Faherty in 2013

Childhood, family, and early love of fashion

Growing up on the Jersey Shore and moving to New York City

Large family and surfing background[5:39]
• They are the youngest of seven children, grew up in a small town on the Jersey Shore, learned to surf, and bought clothes at the local surf shop
Exposure to New York fashion[6:13]
• In middle school the family moved to New York City, where Mike noticed different fashion styles, including his dad's Wall Street wardrobe
• He recalls going through his dad's tie closet and being fascinated by colors and paisley patterns and noticing his dad's T-shirts felt better than his surf-brand shirts
First encounters with luxury fabric[6:22]
• Mike remembers going to Bergdorf Goodman, feeling cashmere for the first time, and being enthralled by it
• He began visiting Bloomingdale's and the Ralph Lauren store on his own after school, developing an interest in higher-quality clothing

Concept of "Coast to Curb" in high school

High school essay articulates his future brand[7:24]
• For a college essay prompt about his future, Mike wrote about starting a clothing company that married coastal vibe with city quality under the name "Coast to Curb"
Comfort with fashion as a male teen[7:24]
• Asked if he hid his interest in fashion, Mike says no; moving to NYC helped because art and being an artist were seen as cool there
• He had creative teachers and a supportive, artistic mother who encouraged art classes, and a very optimistic father who told them anything was possible

Twin bond and family dynamics

Early closeness as twins[8:20]
• Their mother recalls that even as infants who couldn't crawl, they somehow ended up in each other's cribs at night
Being the youngest shaped their relationship[11:25]
• Alex says being the last two children meant they were naturally together and that their closeness felt innate and hard to describe
Desire to work together from early on[10:45]
• They often talked about needing to do something together in the future because nothing could be better than working together one day

College years and skill building

Sports and majors

Athletic backgrounds[8:32]
• Alex played football in high school and college; Mike played basketball at Washington University in St. Louis
Mike's fashion design education[8:43]
• Mike majored in fashion design, took multiple years of sewing, and was the only male student in the program
• He describes sewing all night after road games, sometimes sewing seams backwards from fatigue and then seam-ripping and redoing them
Teammates' reactions to his major[8:57]
• He says he definitely got grief, especially from his Midwestern coach, because it was unusual to have a fashion design major on the basketball team
• Despite teasing, teammates came to his fashion shows and he even used some of them as models

Alex's early business experiments

Reselling from discount stores on eBay[12:24]
• Starting sophomore year, Alex went to Marshalls and TJ Maxx around New Haven, bought items, and resold them on eBay to learn about merchandising
Early commitment to starting company with Mike[10:27]
• Alex recalls telling his future wife in their freshman year of college that he was going to start a clothing company with his brother after graduation

Early careers: finance and Ralph Lauren

Alex's path in finance

Goal of saving and learning, not staying forever[13:00]
• Alex went into finance after Yale with the explicit goal of making as much money and learning as much as possible to later start the clothing business
• He gravitated toward consumer and apparel-related deals to gain relevant exposure

Mike's career at Ralph Lauren

Roles and progression at Ralph Lauren[14:04]
• Mike joined Ralph Lauren after graduating in 2005, first worked about a year in kids, then moved into men's design
• He spent around eight years there, much of it on the Double RL line focused on premium, rugged, vintage-inspired American workwear and denim
Learning garment "engineering"[15:09]
• The goal in Double RL was often to replicate garments from the 1930s, requiring detailed analysis of yarn size, finishing, weave density, stitching, and washing
• Mike describes becoming a "garment engineer," taking his passion and technical understanding to another level
Overseas factory and mill experience[14:44]
• At age 23 he was traveling to Hong Kong four times a year and on to India, Taiwan, and Japan, deepening relationships with factories and mills
• He notes that in these cultures, business trips include nightly dinners and meeting families, leading to close friendships with factory owners

Living together and early business brainstorming

Shared New York apartment and contrasting worlds[15:49]
• The twins lived together in New York until Alex moved in with his partner in 2010; Alex did spreadsheets in a bare Wall Street office while Mike lived in a creative Ralph Lauren environment
• Alex recalls Mike dressing in different "costumes"-from 1980s preppy to 1940s lumberjack-which highlighted the creativity of Mike's world
Monthly strategy sessions[17:05]
• Around four or five years into their careers, they began meeting about once a month on Sundays to discuss products, brand concept, slogans, and especially the brand name
• They spent about two years trying to name the brand, ultimately defaulting to their last name, Faherty

Deciding to leave stable jobs and start Faherty

Mike's readiness to leave Ralph Lauren

Confidence in independent design execution[18:19]
• Mike says he felt ready to leave when he could start from a small fabric swatch and confidently envision and execute the full garment on his own
Support from factory partners[18:58]
• After leaving, he took a trip around the world to visit favorite factory owners, presented his plan, and one of them later became both an investor and early production partner

Brand concept: elevating surf wear

Explaining the surf-meets-luxury idea[19:18]
• Mike references 1990s surf brands like Quiksilver and Volcom, which were huge but at lower quality and mid-level price points
• He cites the success of luxury swim line Vilebrequin, noting that customers accepted $250 swim trunks compared to $69 surf shorts, suggesting room for a premium surf-inspired category
• He wanted to take coastal style and merge it with luxury American fashion quality so surf-inspired pieces could hold their own with premium fashion
Board shorts as first focus product[20:30]
• Traditional surf board shorts were long, monochromatic, and not something you'd wear on city streets; Mike aimed to make shorts suitable for both beach and urban wear

Alex's decision to leave finance

External skepticism and internal doubt[21:54]
• A mentor in finance told Alex that leaving to start a clothing company with his brother was the dumbest idea he'd heard
• This led Alex to briefly consider staying in finance and just bankrolling Mike instead of joining full-time
Partner encouragement and sleepless nights[22:54]
• After a tiring overseas business trip, Alex asked his partner Carrie if he should do it; she told him he had to

Father's cautionary perspective

Concerns based on his own career volatility[23:26]
• Their father, who had experienced ups and downs in his own career, advised Alex to keep building his stable finance career and perhaps finance Mike on the side
• He felt that if he had stayed at one firm and moved up, life might have been easier, influencing his caution toward Alex's risk-taking
Reconciling conflicting advice[24:07]
• Alex notes you can get two forms of advice that are both right and must choose what fits you; once he decided, he was convinced the business would work

Designing first products and funding the launch

Technical development of eco-conscious board shorts

Balancing performance and feel[26:28]
• Mike explains that board shorts require synthetic fibers to be hydrophobic, but he wanted the softer feel of cotton
• He sourced recycled polyester filament yarn from Unifi in South Carolina and experimented with blends, discovering that about 17% cotton preserved quick-dry performance while improving hand feel

Initial capital and early spend

Self-funding and first inventory deposit[27:13]
• Alex had been living frugally and saving; he financed early development once Mike left Ralph Lauren
• The first inventory deposit for board shorts was about $150,000
Mike's Union Square studio as creative lab[27:21]
• After leaving Ralph Lauren, Mike rented a small studio near Union Square, set up a concept wall, fabrics, and branding elements, and worked there seven days a week
• Alex visited on weekends to brainstorm, which deepened his desire to leave finance

Friends-and-family angel round

Raising $1 million from 44 investors[32:26]
• Ahead of launch they reached out to friends, family, and loose connections and raised a $1 million angel round with check sizes from about $5,000 up to $100,000
• They later did a few small add-on rounds because inventory consumed capital faster than expected

First year: e-commerce launch and inventory lessons

Launching the website from a surf trip

Symbolic launch in Puerto Rico[32:51]
• In February 2013 Alex quit finance; they planned to launch the site from a surf trip in Puerto Rico from an apartment in San Juan with good Wi-Fi
• Once the site went live, they went surfing; initial offerings were men's board shorts and women's bikinis

Early online sales and marketing

Modest early traction and quick slowdown[34:19]
• They used an Instagram account, some press hits, and word of mouth via email to drive initial traffic, achieving some $2,000-$5,000 days at launch
• After the initial pop, sales dropped sharply and there were days with almost no orders

Steep learning curve on inventory management

Alex underestimates inventory complexity[34:55]
• Despite his finance background, Alex says he vastly underestimated how complicated and difficult inventory management would be, especially with sizes and seasonal risk
• They quickly learned they had to sell a specific daily volume of clothes just to survive and that missteps could be costly

Mobile beach house and early wholesale strategy

Creating a traveling pop-up store

Inspiration from food trucks[37:05]
• In 2012, seeing food trucks everywhere around his Union Square studio, Mike conceived of a mobile store that could travel like a truck
Designing a custom trailer "beach house"[37:22]
• Instead of a simple food truck, he designed a custom trailer clad in reclaimed wood with hydraulically opening sides and birch interiors, resembling a 1940s cape-style beach house
• His mother, an interior decorator, and a friend who is an architect helped with the design
• The trailer could be pulled by a pickup truck and opened to form porches and clothing racks for an instant store

Cross-country tour and events

Plotting a U-shaped route across the U.S.[38:11]
• They plotted a "U" across the country, visiting independent clothing retailers for parking lot events and festivals where they parked near food trucks
On-the-road sales and memorable moments[39:45]
• They handled flat tires and lost keys along the way and sometimes stayed in budget motels, driving eight to ten hours per day
• A highlight was parking on the Pacific Coast Highway in Big Sur, opening the trailer on the roadside, and selling about $1,500 of product to a dozen spontaneous customers

Using the beach house as trade show booth

Trade show season timing[40:59]
• Their road trip was in May; samples for spring 2014 had to be ready by July 1 to show at trade shows
Standing out at New York and Vegas shows[41:14]
• At the New York trade show, organizers let them park the trailer at the front door on Mercer Street, so every buyer saw it on entry despite the heat
• They also brought it to Las Vegas; buyers perceived Faherty as something different and bigger than it was due to the distinctive setup

Scaling wholesale, international interest, and multi-channel vision

Early product line beyond swimwear

First full collection categories[42:15]
• The first spring collection they showed in 2013 included T-shirts, polos, short-sleeve printed button-downs, flannels, washed sweatshirts, chino shorts, board shorts, and jackets

Targeting luxury and specialty retailers

Filling a casual American coastal gap[43:16]
• They aimed at higher-end fashion retailers like Barneys, Japanese boutiques, and stores like Stag in Austin, which lacked rugged, casual, coastal-leaning American brands
• Tommy Bahama was out of fashion in that segment, and Faherty's chill vibe plus high quality and higher price point appealed to those stores

Breakthrough with Japanese boutiques and U.S. specialty stores

Key early wholesale accounts[44:04]
• Fred Segal in Santa Monica gave them meaningful space, influenced by Mike's Double RL background
• A Japanese store, Journal Standard, emailed them (in Japanese) expressing interest; this led to additional Japanese accounts like United Arrows and Isetan
• In the second year, wholesale grew from a mostly e-com and mobile business to placements in some of the best stores in the world

Original business model: balanced channels

Studying public company 10-Ks[45:46]
• While drafting the business plan, Alex studied annual reports of brands like Ralph Lauren, Coach, and Louis Vuitton to understand their revenue mix
Planned channel split over time[46:14]
• He noticed many strong brands were roughly half wholesale and half retail/e-com, so their model targeted a similar balance
• Their year-six plan projected 45% retail, 35% online, and the remainder wholesale; in reality, wholesale dominated earlier because it took off first

Factoring and capital constraints driving wholesale

Using purchase order financing[46:59]
• Alex explains the factoring business, where specialty finance companies advance capital against retailer purchase orders (albeit at high interest) and then collect from retailers
• With limited capital and no venture backing, wholesale plus factoring allowed them to scale without massive upfront marketing spend required for pure e-commerce growth

Product-market fit in wholesale and first retail experiments

Learning where product sells best

Success in small specialty stores vs. department stores[48:26]
• Initial Nordstrom orders were small; they saw more traction in owner-operated specialty stores where the buyer is also the main salesperson
• In those stores, owners had incentive and relationships to move the product, unlike large departments where product might sit unnoticed

Improving department store performance

Finding a hero category for Nordstrom[50:57]
• They eventually discovered that premium plaid shirts and flannels-particularly sun-faded styles-were missing in many Nordstrom locations and became their first high-velocity product there
Hands-on selling and product placement[53:25]
• Alex visited every Nordstrom store that carried them, informally moving competing brands and repositioning Faherty on racks without asking
• He focused on telling the brand story directly to salespeople so they would champion the product to customers

First physical store and pop-up strategy

Tiny Thompson Street pop-up[54:09]
• Their first store was about 200 square feet on Thompson Street between Prince and Spring in New York, initially as a pop-up that lasted about three years
• Mike and their mother designed the space, further cementing the family involvement in the brand aesthetic

Experimenting with print catalogs

Decision to invest in catalogs in 2015[54:37]
• After J.Crew publicly stopped its catalog, Alex noticed a general decline in catalogs and saw an opportunity to stand out by starting one
• Their holiday 2015 catalog was their first paid media, intended to show their products in an interesting, tactile way similar to classic American catalog retailers
• Customers literally called a 1-800 number from the catalog to place orders, demonstrating that the medium still worked

Cashflow stress, Legend Sweater Shirt, and key investor

Running out of money and temporary return to finance

Alex consults at his old firm[55:55]
• Around 2015, two years in, they still weren't profitable and cashflow was tight; Alex returned to his former investment firm for two months as a consultant because he personally ran out of money
• They stretched payables with factories from 60 to 90 to 120 days while projecting optimism to employees and the outside world

Development of the Legend Sweater Shirt

Creating a hybrid flannel-sweater piece[57:07]
• Around 2015 Mike began working on what became the Legend Sweater Shirt, a garment that blends aspects of a flannel shirt and a sweater
• Launched in 2016, it became their first hero product: when they put it in stores, it "evaporated" and nearly everyone who touched it bought it
• Its success helped clarify how they could operate more as a direct-to-consumer brand around standout, tactile products

Email from Nantucket investor and strategic capital

Unexpected outreach via customer service inbox[58:51]
• Around 2016, a customer from Nantucket emailed the generic hello@fahertybrand.com address saying he'd bought shirts there, loved them, and was interested in investing
First meaningful outside investor[1:00:23]
• Alex explained they were a small, wholesale-heavy brand, not a high-flying DTC company; the individual still saw the vision and made a significant investment
• This investor remains, according to Alex, their only non-family-and-friends outside investor and prefers to stay private

Measured growth, comparisons to DTC "rocket ships," and pre-COVID retail expansion

Slower, steady growth vs. hyper-growth peers

Reflecting on brands that exploded quickly[1:00:55]
• Guy notes other brands that hit $2M, then $10M, then $50M, then $100M within a few years, sometimes via capital or zeitgeist, while Faherty took several years to reach about $25M
• Mike admits he wished growth were faster but says they liked being a brand where "if you know, you know" and that they assumed they might be doing this forever
Conscious choice not to go venture-backed[1:01:51]
• Alex, coming from private equity, says they intentionally avoided venture and PE funding because they wanted to do this forever and had no real desire to sell
• On a 2016 ski trip with founders of other high-growth brands, those founders told him they were jealous Faherty did not have to grow as fast or as big under investor pressure

Opening larger flagship stores like Malibu

Malibu Country Mart flagship decision[1:04:43]
• By 2018 they had about seven stores; Malibu Country Mart in California became their first major flagship-type location, important for two kids who grew up on the Jersey Shore
• They signed what Alex recalls as a five-year lease, invested meaningfully in build-out, and were anxious about whether it would work
• On opening weekend the store was busy, the location was excellent, and early sales reassured them the strategy was working

COVID shock, e-commerce surge, and aggressive retail expansion

Impact of initial COVID shutdowns

70% of business disappears overnight[1:06:43]
• Heading into 2020, about 70% of revenue came from wholesale and retail stores, with only about 30% from e-commerce
• When COVID hit and stores closed, that 70% essentially vanished, forcing furloughs and emergency planning

E-commerce growth and inventory reallocation

Casual product fit for stay-at-home life[1:07:18]
• By May 2020 they saw e-commerce performing better than expected; their comfortable, casual products suited stay-at-home wardrobes
Turning excess stock into margin[1:07:56]
• They had purchased inventory intended for wholesale and retail, which became available to sell online at higher direct-to-consumer margins
• E-commerce began growing about 100% year-over-year, and the business turned meaningfully profitable in summer 2020

Resort-town stores vs. city stores during COVID

Resort locations rebound first[1:08:41]
• They had 12 stores at the time; six were in resort destinations like Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Sag Harbor, which initially closed but later saw business up 60-100% year-over-year once reopened
• Urban locations like New York saw much weaker traffic compared to those resort towns

Choosing expansion instead of contraction

Advice to shrink vs. inspiration to grow[1:09:55]
• Some advisors suggested closing non-beach stores and focusing only on resort locations and e-commerce
• Alex recalls hearing an episode of How I Built This with Panera founder Ron Shaich, who argued recessions are good times to expand because real estate and construction are cheaper
Signing 40 new leases in 2020-2021[1:10:32]
• Alex decided COVID was the best time for an emerging clothing brand to secure great retail locations with favorable economics
• Working with a real estate advisor, they prioritized getting long lease terms while rents were low and landlords were eager for tenants
• They signed about 40 leases in 2020 and 2021 for stores opening over the next three years, growing from roughly 11-13 stores to around 40 by the end of 2022
Financing expansion with allowances and existing capabilities[1:12:23]
• Landlords were offering significant tenant improvement allowances, reducing the capital they had to invest per store
• Many departing clothing retailers left behind usable dressing rooms and infrastructure, so Faherty often only needed to add fixtures
• Their mother, by then running store design and construction, oversaw a New Jersey warehouse where staff built fixtures cost-effectively

Post-COVID recalibration, tariffs, and global supply chain

Consequences of rapid headcount and revenue focus

Shift from survival to growth mindset[1:15:05]
• Coming out of COVID with strong tailwinds, Alex became more focused on revenue growth than profit margins and built up a larger executive team and organization
Layoffs and rethinking priorities[1:16:05]
• When COVID tailwinds slowed in 2022, they had "a ton of people" and had to reassess; in 2023 they laid off about 50 people, more than 10% of the company
• Alex calls this the hardest thing they've ever had to do and says they had to decide what they truly wanted from the business

Navigating current retail environment and tariffs

Challenging macro for apparel[1:17:55]
• Guy notes that it's a tough time for retail and apparel broadly; Alex responds that they've continually faced some form of economic challenge and expect ups and downs
Building a margin of safety[1:18:35]
• Alex says they have focused on creating a profitability model with enough margin of safety to withstand adverse conditions
Globalizing the supply chain in response to tariffs[1:19:05]
• Mike describes their supply chain as now very global because it has to be, given tariff and trade changes
• He notes they "own the fabric recipe"-the yarn composition and customization of their garments-so they can move production between makers as needed
• Having an internal partner focused on supply chain enables them to adjust quickly to tariff shifts by relocating manufacturing while keeping product consistent

Family dynamics, ownership philosophy, and long-term vision

Desire to avoid selling the business

Choosing stewardship over exit[1:20:04]
• Alex says bluntly that if it were up to them, there is no world where they would sell the business; they want to run it until they can't work anymore
• They have sold minority stakes to some investors and will need to be good partners, but they point to examples like Ralph Lauren retaining a meaningful stake over decades

Working with spouses and parents

Family members' roles[1:20:58]
• Alex's wife Carrie is a co-founder and part of the business, and their mother runs store design and construction; multiple family members' livelihoods depend on the company's success
Handling conflict and communication[1:21:25]
• Alex admits they are not as good at communication as they should be, like many families, and that adding a family dynamic makes an already hard task (building a brand) more complex
• He emphasizes that despite conflict, each family member brings different value, and having a small core group fully dependent on success was crucial early on

Twin bond as emotional anchor

Race car beds metaphor[1:22:00]
• Mike recalls them as two twins in race car beds, saying that image captures their lifelong sense that they always have each other
• He says that even with many important people around them, they must always prioritize their twin bond because the business is still rooted in a shared childhood dream

Reflections on grind vs. luck and closing notes

Attributing success to grind and positivity

Mike on fashion as an endless hamster wheel[1:22:40]
• Mike calls fashion "Groundhog Day" and a hamster wheel, with fall, winter, spring, and summer repeating; he sees progress as incremental improvements each season
Alex on attitude of figuring it out[1:23:05]
• Alex says their success is mostly due to grind and an attitude that no matter what happens, they'll figure it out
• He emphasizes the "power of positivity"-staying upbeat and motivating their team with good vibes even when many things can go wrong in a business like theirs

Mobile beach house epilogue

Fate of the original trailer[1:23:30]
• Guy notes that the mobile beach house continued to appear at events and concerts for years but was destroyed in a fire the previous summer
• No one was hurt in the fire, and a replacement beach house on wheels is being planned

Lessons Learned

Actionable insights and wisdom you can apply to your business, career, and personal life.

1

Deliberate, long-term preparation-building complementary skills and relationships before launching-can create a much stronger foundation than rushing into a venture.

Reflection Questions:

  • • What specific skills or experiences could you deliberately build over the next 2-5 years to better support a venture you care about?
  • • How might your odds of success change if you treated your current role as intentional training for a future project rather than just a job?
  • • Which relationships in your current ecosystem could you start nurturing now because they might become key partners later?
2

Choosing a business model that fits your resources and constraints-even if it goes against prevailing trends-can be more sustainable than copying what is fashionable.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Where are you currently following a "standard" approach that doesn't really match your capital, skills, or risk tolerance?
  • • How could you redesign your revenue model to better align with how cash actually flows through your business or project?
  • • What is one popular strategy in your field that you might consciously reject because a different path fits you better?
3

Hero products that solve a real need and create a compelling tactile or emotional experience can anchor a brand and drive channel expansion.

Reflection Questions:

  • • Which of your current offerings comes closest to being a "hero product" that customers talk about and repeatedly buy?
  • • How could you iterate on your strongest product or service to make the experience so compelling that it effectively "sells itself"?
  • • What evidence would tell you it's time to double down on one standout offering instead of spreading effort across many mediocre ones?
4

Downturns and crises can be leveraged as opportunities to secure long-term advantages-such as favorable real estate, talent, or partnerships-if you maintain a margin of safety and a proactive mindset.

Reflection Questions:

  • • In the last major challenge you faced, what potential opportunities did you overlook because you were focused only on survival?
  • • How might you strengthen your financial or operational margin of safety so you can act offensively during the next downturn instead of defensively?
  • • Where in your market are valuable assets (like locations, people, or customers) becoming cheaper or more accessible because of current conditions?
5

Family or close co-founder relationships can be a powerful advantage when built on trust and shared vision, but they require intentional communication to handle conflict and growth.

Reflection Questions:

  • • With the people you work most closely with, where do you rely on unspoken assumptions instead of explicit conversations?
  • • How could you regularly reaffirm the shared vision or "why" behind your collaboration so short-term conflicts don't erode long-term trust?
  • • What specific communication habit (for example, a weekly check-in or a structured feedback ritual) could you introduce to make tough conversations easier with your closest collaborators?

Episode Summary - Notes by Charlie

Faherty Brand: Alex and Mike Faherty. How Jersey Shore + Manhattan Chic grew to 80 stores.
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