#49 Shoe Maker Ft. Joe Foster, Founder, Reebok

Startup Garage

In 1958, Joe and Jeff left the Foster business to set up a new sports shoe company in an old brewery building in the UK and 30 years later it became the biggest sports brand in the world, Reebok, grossing over $4BN USD in revenues.

This is a special episode where we had the honor of hosting the legendary, Joseph William Foster, the founder of Reebok (1958). Joe lives and breathes Reebok. His stories, anecdotes, the thrill and the lessons are timeless and wisdom in its purest form. Joe has recently also released his life story as a book, Shoe Maker, and is also doing university tours talking about his life.

The episode is co-hosted by Pankaj Rai, Chief Data Analytics Officer, Aditya Birla Group who also is an athlete, a marathon runner and loves sports (and sports shoes!). In this episode, Pankaj and Joe talk about Joe's family, childhood, the beginning of Reebok, the scaling to a multi-billion dollar business and about the lessons to bring to the contemporary business.

Recently, Aditya Birla Group acquired the distribution license for Reebok India and South East Asia and hence Joe is excited to impart history and love to the next generation carrying the legacy forward.