Founder's Story - 2+ Billion Dollar Exit started from a Dorm Room: Jeff Webb's Revolution in Cheerleading | S2: E20 with Jeff Webb

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

In this transformative episode of Founders Story, we dive into the extraordinary life of Jeff Webb, not just as the founder of Varsity Spirit but as a luminary who modernized cheerleading and elevated it to an international sport. Webb, an acclaimed entrepreneur and the President of the International Cheer Union, shares his journey from igniting a global cheerleading movement to redefining the sport’s very foundation and creating a billion dollar company along the way. Jeff Webb’s story is a masterclass in innovation, leadership, and global influence. Subscribe to our newsletter so you don't miss out on exclusive interviews and special content: https://foundersstory.beehiiv.com/subscribe For more info on guests and future episodes visit pix11.com/impact and https://fox5sandiego.com/fox-5-partners/impactful/Our Sponsors:* Check out PrizePicks and use my code FOUNDERS for a great deal: www.prizepicks.com* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: www.rosettastone.comAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Welcome to Founders Story, the podcast where trailblazing entrepreneurs share their extraordinary journeys, uncover the passion, grit, and vision that drive the world of business and innovation. Hey, everyone, welcome back to another episode of Founders Story. Today, we have an incredible founder, Jeff Webb. He is the founder of Varsity Brands. He's also the president of the International Cheer Union. I mean, he got recently recognized by the Olympics, and I can't wait to have cheer in the Olympics one day. But Jeff, welcome to the show. It's great to be with you. Thanks for having me. So you've done some incredible stuff with cheer and different organizations for the last 50 years.

But 50 years ago, cheerleading was primarily a sideline activity. What inspired you to say, you know what, we can make this a sport. We can make this something that the world wants to watch. Well, it really wasn't just making it a sport. It was taking this, as you said, a student activity, important one, by the way, and one that I participated in in college, the University of Oklahoma, but expanding it and modernizing it. And the idea was to take that activity on the sideline, add athleticism, acrobatics, entertainment, and just make it more relevant and more impactful. The competition part of it came later after we began to kind of

change cheerleading. And you saw on the sidelines, it become, you know, just more exciting and more fan involvement. And then we eventually added the competition so that we could allow the athletes who were participating a way to get recognized themselves for their skills and their presentations. So that's kind of how it developed. So going back then, what was your vision? Were you like, okay, one day we want to be in the Olympics. We want to be a top sport. What were you thinking at that time?

Like, okay, if I look 10 years, 20 years from now, what was your vision then? Yeah, well, you know, I think if you ask most true entrepreneurs and ask them to college and high school cheerleaders and have them implemented on campuses across the country. As we got into it and we started developing it, we realized that it was something that was really exciting, something that was unique. There was a huge appetite for participation by young people, but also people watching and admiring it and being entertained by it. So we developed the concept of the competition. And then as people began to compete and we were televised, we partnered with ESPN really in ESPN's infancy. And as their footprint grew, our exposure grew, it just developed the activity to a point where it almost became a sport. And you know that word sport means different things in

different countries. And we still believe in school cheerleading. We still believe in the student activity part of it with the acrobatics and entertainment, by the way. But there are also parts of cheerleading where it's just competition. That's the true sport. And that's what we're seeing really develop around the world. The Olympic recognition came because we began to see that what we had had global appeal. We were getting inquiries through ESPN, eventually through the internet about how do you do this? How do we start cheerleading in our country? How do we make this sport available to our young people, our young athletes? And what we found out is we began to expand it in most countries to really get the kind of resources, the facilities, the uniforms, the equipment, the coaching. You have to have

recognition from the sports ministry or the National Olympic Committee of that country. To get that, most sports have to be recognized by the International Olympic Committee. So we founded a federation. We had a group of about 10 different countries that started, and we began this journey of applying and going to meetings and working with the Olympic Committee to try to structure our sport so it would really be accepted. And at the Tokyo Olympics several years ago, we finally got that phone call in the middle of the night saying that we had indeed been recognized. I mean, congratulations. That's huge. And it's interesting going back to what you said

around timing with you were at ESPN. ESPN was in its infancy. And we hear that a lot from entrepreneurs that sometimes timing is everything. Let's go. Let's talk about Varsity. So under your leadership, I know Varsity grew into a multi-billion dollar organization and really is, you know, cheerleading and Varsity are one in, you know, one and together. What were some of the strategic decisions or even some innovations that you brought to it that enabled it to get to a multi-billion dollar organization? Well, I started the predecessor to varsity out of my apartment when I was 24 years old.

And again, with the idea of taking cheerleading, running these training sessions and helping colleges and high schools implement the new skills and the new approach. And as we began to see that acceptance and the enthusiasm, we began to try to think about, what all can we do to help grow this activity in the sport? And we eventually, again, developed the idea of the competition.

We also eventually began to produce our own uniforms because the style that we were creating was very athletic and there really were not the kinds of uniforms, footwear, equipment that really supported kind of this new look in this new sport. So getting into those three things, partnering with ESPN to get exposure for everything, and cross-marketing between the three different divisions, the education, the competitions, and the uniforms really propelled our growth for 25 years. And we became, you know, we started as a small little organization, again, operating out of my apartment. We became a complete national company

with thousands of employees in all states. And then eventually we set our sights on expanding globally. I had a lot of help along the way, was able to have some great people who believed in my dream and who dedicated their careers to helping make it happen. And to really, the thing that really drove us was that we could see

when we began to teach these young athletes what the sport was, what it could be, just their enthusiasm, their reaction, their own personal growth. It allowed us to do something where we could build a great business, but more importantly, we could do something that really made a difference. So, Jeff, I mean, it's really amazing that you went from the apartment, an idea, a vision, to implementing a vision, to having thousands of employees, being on TV, being recognized globally, by the Olympic by the Olympic. I mean, this is incredible journey. I'm guessing there were some setbacks. I'm guessing at one point in time, you told somebody your idea and they said, Jeff, that

is crazy. Like nobody is going to care about cheerleading. What were some of those setbacks? Or do you remember, you know, a time time when somebody said jeff i don't believe in you like this is going to go nowhere go back to college or go back to studying you know something else and do that something else yeah yeah well listen uh there were there was a lot of skepticism i can remember the first time as we were growing i started with some capital some it was actually a total of 85 000 more money than I thought we

would need. I was wrong. And as we began to grow, we needed more money. I remember going into the bank in the early days and saying, you know, we need to borrow money. We've got this company. It's been around for a couple of years. It's profitable. And when I explained that we were teaching cheerleading camps, now, again, this is, you know, nearly 50 years ago. I mean, they didn't just say no. I mean, they laughed and said no. So we had to, you know, there was a lot of skepticism there. You know, there was just kind of the general, just kind of the general vision or that the concept of cheerleading, people not taking it seriously. And that was okay. You know, it allowed us in some ways to operate under the radar screen and to build this pretty incredible organization before people really realized it.

But there were plenty of hiccups along the way. It was not all success. The success was not linear. You know, we had a big problem the first year we tried to do uniforms. Our supplier went bankrupt with the deposits from our customers, and we had to make good on that and get another supplier. And, you know, we've had a number of major challenges, but I think the fact that we did have the right kind of vision, we had the right kind of people, we knew we were doing something good. We were able to overcome those. And I feel very grateful that I've had the opportunity to really start something, to lead it, to work with great people and to do something that I think a lot of people feel like has contributed to kind of the

growth and the self-esteem of our young people. I can only imagine when you're watching Netflix, movies, TVs, there's so much that's been out the last few years around cheer and everything that you, I mean, maybe last few years could be like 10 years, 15 years. I've seen so many movies, TV shows, reality TV. It's really become something that people are loving and it's a global sport. So I can only imagine the feeling that you got seeing all of this. You said it was kind of in the shadows. You're kind of hiding in the sense of like people weren't seeing everything that you were doing. But how was that feeling when you started seeing everyone love, cheer, and movies and TVs and everywhere, even though they maybe didn't know you, but what you built, everybody

knows. Well, you know, it's again, it's been very gratifying. I have to be honest and say, as a purist, you know, when cheerleading kind of entered the pop culture, as you're referring to, you know, I was worried about how it was going to be perceived and how they were going to present it. But the fact of the matter is that it did, it actually, I have to admit, it did move things forward. It made more people aware of cheerleading. It made them appreciate what goes into it, what it contributes. So all in all, it's helped us grow.

It's helped the sport grow globally. And that's been the most important thing to me. So what's next for cheer globally? I know that's really your focus now is the international. And I think that's that's so great because this world really is so large and so interconnected with media and social. I mean, everyone pretty much on the planet now has, you know, a device or access to a device or a phone or some piece that they could watch and they can get to know there could be someone on a small remote island that never even thought about cheerleading

that could now say, that's what I want to do. I want to one day be in the Olympics for cheer. So what is your goal, your mission, visions for the future of the sport? Well, it really is for it to be completely ubiquitous, that it exists everywhere, that we have great coaches, we have a safe sport, we have something that young people can participate in that helps them grow, that contributes to their self-esteem, that helps them understand about life, about teamwork, about hard work, about responsibility, and about working together with other people that share their same passion. So it's a big world out there. Again, cheerleading is pretty developed in this country now, but it's really just beginning globally. So I think through the International Cheer Union, I think with our International Federation, with the recognition by the International Olympic Committee, with people really, really being committed to the growth of what we're doing on a global basis. I think that's the future. And that's what that's what I'm working toward. believe that's the next Olympics, 2028. I hope in L.A. that we see cheer in the Olympics.

I mean, that would be amazing. And I will remember this conversation with Jeff Webb. But Jeff, if you want to get in touch with you, they want to learn more about cheer. Maybe they're in another country and they see this and they want to bring cheer to their country. How can they do so? It's International Cheer Union, ICU, and cheerunion.com. Contact us and we can help you. Amazing, Jeff. Thank you so much for being here today on Founders Story.

And I'm so inspired by all the things you did. I mean, you could start from your apartment to a billion dollar organization and you've proven it. Thanks so much. Thank you for tuning in to Founders Story. Keep exploring, keep dreaming, and join us next time for more inspiring entrepreneurial journeys.