From the conference notes:
Acknowledged as one of today's most dynamic serial entrepreneurs, Blake Mycoskie launched five successful companies before the age of 30.
Best known as the founder and "chief shoe giver" of TOMS Shoes, a for-profit company with a unique "One for One" business model that provides a new pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair sold. To date, TOMS has encouraged conscious consumers to purchase and give more than 400,000 pairs of shoes to children around the world.
In December 2009, TOMS Shoes was awarded the State Department's Award for Corporate Excellence by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Between business ventures, Mycoskie competed in the CBS primetime series The Amazing Race. With his sister, Paige, he came within minutes of winning the $1 million dollar grand prize.
From my personal notes:
- Buy one pair of shoes, give one pair away - "One for One".
- A spontaneous response to the desire to give shoes to the needy.
- Giving feels good and is also a good business strategy.
- "All we have to do at TOMS is focus on giving."
- TOMS has given away 600,000 shoes since the business began 4 years ago.
- Employees are encouraged to give.
- All employees with the company 2 or more years are paid to travel to hand deliver shoes.
- TOMS began through the reinvestment of profit gained from selling Mycoskie's online education business.
- Mycoskie explained that if he had instead started a non-profit, resources would have been depleted quickly, and asking for donations would have been required in order to continue the business.
- The first "Day without Shoes" involved 250,000 people not wearing their shoes for one day. The word got out in part by the "tens of millions of dollars" that was donated by Microsoft.
- Strategic partnerships have enabled the giving away of more shoes than would have otherwise been possible.
- Asking people is a requirement for change - you can't be bashful when you want to see change.
- Proverbs says to give your first fruits - it's a Biblical principle that has blessed TOMS shoes - they really did give their first fruits by not giving away after first wasting financial resources.
- "It's never too early to start giving."
- The next "Day without Shoes" will take place in April 2011.