84 Steven Sashen -- Shoe company’s fast growth matches its speedy founder

The Clarity Advisors Show

Steven Sashen is one of the fastest sprinters in the world in his age group. The shoe company he and his wife founded 14 years ago is moving just as fast, with sales over $50 million and distributions centers in the US, UK, and Europe.
On this episode of The Clarity Advisors Show, Steven talks with host Ken Trupke about his journey from elite athlete to industry maverick, sharing how he discovered the comfort and benefits of natural movement by getting out of the traditional thick, padded shoes and into his unique barefoot-style footwear.
Timestamps
(00:20): Introduction.
(01:10): About Xero Shoes.
(02:29): Origin of the company.
(06:03): Steven’s pre-Xero professional life.
(08:24): Evolution of the Xero team.
(14:23): Lessons learned during the early years.
(19:15): Things that have gone well.
(20:54): One helpful question for job candidates.
(22:48): Attracting and retaining talent.
(28:24): Customer happiness team.
(30:02): Responding to naysayers.
(32:43): Strategy going forward.
(35:22): Focus on professional athletics.
(37:21): First bullets, then cannonballs.
(39:34): Still competing in his 60s.
(41:15): Connecting with Steven Sashen.
Episode Quotes
“We're making footwear that gets out of the way. It lets your body do what's natural, and as a result, you get natural comfort, performance, and health benefits.”
“What happens if you put a foot-shaped thing called your foot into a non-foot-shaped thing like this? What problems might that create at the end of a long day?”
“I made a pair of sandals based on essentially a 10,000-year-old design idea.”
“People keep saying to us, you can't keep growing at the rate you've been growing for all these years. And I say I know, it should be much faster!”
“My wife has a great line: There are enough shoe companies in the world. We don't need any more shoe companies unless your shoes change people's lives.”
“An interesting thing I've discovered about people leaving – whether we ask them to leave or they decide to leave – is you learn someone's true nature when they're on the way out the door. And anytime we’ve fired someone, the way they left made us very, very confident that we made the right decision.”
“Every business rises to the level of the neuroses of their founders. And one of mine and Elena's is that we treat people like they're friends of ours, not with this hierarchical something or other.”
“At some point the company is going to seriously outgrow me, and I'll stick around and do the parts that I am good at without having to do the parts that make the HR people want to blow their brains out.”
“When someone says this is best practices, I know I'm not going to do it. Because by the time it's best practices, it's on the way out the door. That ship has left the dock.”
Recommended Reading and Listening

• The Movement Movement podcast hosted by Steven Sashen
• Steven and his wife, Lena Phoenix turn down Shark Tank
• Steven Sashen profile in Business and Leadership
• Xero Shoes on Wikipedia

Connect with Steven Sashen

• Contact form
• XeroShoes website
• Steven Sashen on LinkedIn