Heroes in Business - Cliff Robinson, CEO Revo Sunglasses, classic NASA developed lenses

Episode Date: October 19, 2022

Be an icon. Cliff Robinson, CEO Revo Sunglasses, classic NASA developed lenses is interviewed by David Cogan, famous celebrity host Heroes Show and founder of Eliances entrepreneur community.  

Welcome back to Alliances Heroes, where heroes in business align. To be part of our super community and find out more about Alliances, visit www.alliances.com. That's right. And welcome back to the show. Again, we always have so much to cover in such a short period of time. But I know each and every one of you with the feedback that we continue to get are learning, listening, and watching. We're now on over 100 online streaming outlets, including the Amazon Fire Stick and Roku and just so many more. Well, I'm really excited, too. And last thing, too, thank you for the feedback. I mean, the feedback we continue to get when I had the longest standing NASA administrator on. That's right, NASA. So make sure you go to alliances.com. That's E-L-I-A-N-C-E-S.com. of your eyes check this out we have cliff robinson with us today he is the ceo and part owner of are

you ready for this revo as in the revo sunglasses and you can reach him at revo.com cliff welcome to the show nice to meet you and it's funny you mentioned that you just had a nasa person on your show because revo sunglasses were created by a NASA scientist. So what a funny little segue to get me on here. Is that absolutely, that's amazing. Talk to us about like how that even came to be and how did, what, how was NASA like even involved to be able to do that? Yeah. So, you know, it's one of those great entrepreneurial sitting in your garage kind of stories. I was a kid at the time, so I can't take credit for being involved.

But there was this NASA scientist whose name was Dr. Mitch Ruda, and he was charged at NASA with fixing satellites that going up in space back in the 1970s and 80s, the sun's harmful UV rays that we know of down here were actually damaging the satellites up there. And he also happened to be a skier. And it was one of those, you know, cartoon light bulb moments that went off in his head where he's like, if I can help protect satellites up in space, you think I can help protect my eyes down here on Earth and give myself a better experience when I'm on the ski slopes. And it's literally that classic story of,

you know, after hours, he was tinkering in his garage and using all of his NASA experience to create what became the Revo lens, which became sort of the gold standard for, you know, performance eyewear back in the 1980s. And clearly an iconic brand. I mean, people know it, they've heard of it. I mean, and that's just phenomenal. So if it could help protect those up there, it could certainly, I would assume, help protect our eyes here down on earth. A hundred percent. So how did it come to be then? Talk to us about how did you become part owner and CEO of just, again, such a cool brand?

Sure. So, you know, I'll start by saying I'm super humbled and honored to not only be here, but be able to talk about Revo. I grew up in the eyewear industry. I was part of a family business that was always in the eyewear space. And Revo was always this incredibly iconic, amazing brand that I that i always said god i wish i had done something like that friends of mine were always involved when it started i knew the original ownership and the people who started it with dr mitch ruda and as happens with great sort of independent brands that you know shoot up to the stratosphere and become super popular in a fast timeframe, it got bought by a couple of different conglomerates who wanted to have Revo in their portfolio because it's such a cool brand. And also what happens sometimes when a cool independent

brand gets part of a conglomeration and gets into a large portfolio where there's many, many brands being sold, it kind of lost its way. And as we like to say, it was kind of resting. If some of you out there have seen the movie The Princess Bride, we like to say almost dead, but not quite dead, resting. And I got a call one day. As these things work, someone knows someone. We got a call and the person said,

hey, would you like to get involved with Revo? It's for sale. And I didn't think twice. It was one of those, you know, like a lightning round of, yes, what do I need to do? And that was about four years ago. And we had the opportunity to take this brand from a large global conglomerate where it was one of 50 brands in a portfolio and we really have again made it the only american independent eyewear brand out there in the market today and it's been super fun and super exciting and like i said it's just it's been an honor to be involved with such an iconic brand that's in the market wow congratulations what uh who would have ever thought, again, your path would have come to the foot

and that you were already previous in the industry and in the position. I mean, again, the quote, stars aligned. So, and this happened four years ago. So what's it like, contract signed, you're now CEO, you're now part owner of this. Yeah. What does someone like you even do the first day?

So I'll be very honest. You know, it's going to sound very naive. Yes, I'm a CEO and yes, I'm a part owner, but I naively thought I was going to sign the papers. We were going to make an announcement that we now own Revo and the phones are going to ring off the hook and everyone's going to call and be like, oh my God, I love Revo. It's great that you're now the new owner and send me product, whether it's to my store or whether it's to the consumer direct.

And life doesn't quite work that way. And so we signed the papers, we made the announcement, and I think it's fair to say it was met with a much more lackluster response than I had expected it to be. Many people had said, well, you know, the market's moved on, the brand isn't as exciting as it used to be, but good luck because I'm rooting for you and I love the brand. And so we set aside to do is do the hard work of brand building. We redesigned all the product from scratch. We redesigned all the product from scratch we redesigned all the marketing from scratch we launched a website and you know david here's where that great story goes is we planned on really relaunching to the market in the spring of 2020. so you know where that story is going um the spring of 2020 the world kind of shut down. And so luckily, we leaned into the digital world where people were shopping, they were sitting at home, they needed something to do.

And we really kind of talked directly to the consumer. And, you know, here we are four years later, the world has kind of started to reopen. We're reaching a new normal. And, you know, we're developing more brick and mortar retail partnerships daily and speaking to more consumers directly daily through Revo.com. And, you know, we might be two years behind our schedule because of COVID and some of the things that have happened in the world. But, you know, it's the hard day-to-day work of blocking and tackling and just getting your message out there and letting people know that we are, in our opinion, doing great things, offering a great experience, offering great technology,

which is at the end of the day, what a consumer wants is something great and new, but something they trust. Excellent. Well, that's right. And definitely doing great things. And like me, having the opportunity to do great things and interview somebody like you, Cliff Robertson, CEO of Revo Sunglasses, Revo. You can reach him at Revo.com because you're watching, listening to me, David Kogan, host of the Alliances Hero Show. You know it's the only place where entrepreneurs align. So make sure that you go to Alliances.com to check out past episode at E-L-I-A-N-C-S.com. Once again, the only place where entrepreneurs align. So where do you see, I mean, and it is, Cliff, as you mentioned,

it's a very competitive space out there. But you know what, over time, what isn't competitive, right? More people like it, others come along. So are people able to buy now directly from Revo? Yes. Okay. Yes, you can visit your local optician, your local sporting goods store, your local independent shop. And then, of course, Revo.com, where we are here to take care of you 24-7.

That's where people are interacting today. We're here to take care of you 24-7. You know, that's where people are interacting today. And with the styles that you have, what's like the most popular one right now? You know, there's, without getting too technical and sounding too nerdy, what's popular about our brand and what really makes us stand out is our lens itself. You know, Revo is really known for its lens. Whether you look at our iconic blue water mirror lens or iconic green, evergreen mirror lens. People sometimes shop lens first with Revo, which is very unique as opposed to other brands.

But if I had to say, you know, a specific style that's iconic, we do a rimless sort of sport frame that is our like our global bestseller. It fits men, it fits women it fits larger faces it fits smaller faces it's available in many colors it's available in those many lens choices and so that's probably like our number one style but again it's very much more in Revo about the lens choice the frame almost comes second the lens comes first

choice, the frame almost comes second, the lens comes first. I think it is so cool, though, that you got the bridge to NASA. I mean, like, it's amazing. What other brand has that? None. And again, that's why I start out every conversation with I'm super honored and super humbled because I grew up in the eyewear industry and I always was, you know, enamored with what Revo did because it was literally founded by a NASA scientist and had NASA technology built in. I mean, there's nothing cooler and more American than NASA. And here we are 35 years later, just really honoring that tradition and sticking to the DNA of what was started back in the 1980s and you know and today what's what's cooler than you know nasa and space and all the space exploration that's happening with you know all these entrepreneurs that are sending you know regular people like me and you up into space now i love it well i got a multi-million dollar idea for you regarding tying those two even more i'm going to talk to you about

off the air and then you know what maybe maybe if you end up launching it, we can have you at that time. You got it. Love it. It's going to be really cool. Love it. So, and, yeah, I mean, again, that's just so cool. So besides then sunglasses, what other things does Revo manufacture or make or brand? So I must admit, sunglasses are the mothership if we're sticking with the space theme here.

But I happen to be a passionate skier and i've always said you know if revo can make great sunglasses they should also be able to make great goggles and so last year during the height of the pandemic of covet we partnered up with probably the most famous american male skier of all time bodie miller most famous american male skier of all time bodie miller and created a goggle collection of revo x bodie miller where we developed a really unique lens technology that we call photochromic so the lenses will go from dark to light or light to dark depending on your um on the conditions out there and so hopefully we're bringing the same experience that we bring you on the tennis court on the golf course now to ski slopes. And so I'm super in love with our goggles as well as our sunglasses.

And then we also just introduced Revo blue light reading glasses. So, you know, we're sitting here today on a computer and, you know, people know that the light emitted off a computer can be harmful to your eyes. be harmful to your eyes. And so we developed a Revo computer reading glass that will protect your eyes from the harmful light that comes off all the screens as you're sitting inside or working from home or working hopefully back in an office. So those are the three main business units, if you will, sunglasses, goggles, and computer or reading glasses. Great. So what can you share as far as, again, having now the experience four years later, coming in to really revitalize an iconic brand? Yeah. The difference between that, whereas some we've had on who have started from scratch, neither one is easy in that so talk to us about you know now looking back right four years later and that first day again launching it here they shall come yeah and

we never know right typically how things are going to go so what you know if you had a now looking back talk to us about what you've learned during that process. So first of all, I learned a lot. I've met a lot of wonderful people. I've traveled the world and that's been super excited. You know, I think the quick thing that comes to mind about learnings is twice as hard, twice as long, twice as expensive. So for all of you entrepreneurs out there, whatever you plan, I would plan twice as long,

twice as hard and twice as expensive because nothing goes according to plan. And we are a living embodiment of that. And I think it's a testament to the whole team at Revo, not just me, that in a few short years of four years, we really took this iconic brand, revitalized it. We are continuing to revitalize it. Worked really hard, did all the blocking and tackling we needed to do. And here we are four years later on our way to really bringing Revo back to the consumer in a much bigger way than it had been for a couple of years.

And, you know, as I said, it's never easy, but it's a lot of fun along the way. And, you know, if you, you know, as I said, it's never easy, but it's a lot of fun along the way. And, you know, if you ask good questions and listen, you know, the success will come. All right. So I want to do some snooping in your office. You've got a lot of books. Sure. A number of pictures. Those of you that are watching on watching online and stuff. Those of you listening to radio, make sure you check us out on many of the online video platforms. What's something that's most precious to you?

Something that is most meaningful if you can only pick one item of what's in your office that we see? Well, if you want to go with what's the most meaningful thing in my office, it's probably right off my camera. If I move my camera a little bit over here, you know, a little joke, David, between us, I read the New York Times every day. And during COVID, the New York Times ran a couple articles saying how people, you know,

set their office for, you know, looking smart on Zoom. And what was very funny is the book that everybody pointed to for making yourself look smart was this incredible book written by Robert Caro called The Power Broker. And when I saw this article, I both laughed and felt really stupid because that book is sitting right here on my shelf and that's not staged and I didn't put it there as a prop. It's a book that I read with a class of mine, a teacher from 11th grade when I went to high school.

And the book has been with me literally ever since 11th grade because it was the most meaningful teacher relationship I've ever had. It was a wonderful book. And here it is sitting on my bookshelf, not as a prop, not to make me look smart, because I actually read it in 11th grade. And, you know, it's just been with me ever since. And if I open it up, you'd see the markings and the notes I took back when I was 17. You know, if we were saying what the other thing most important to me is, and there's probably some reference to it here on the bookshelf, is I'm a huge music fan. And, you know, my CD collection, even though we don't listen to CDs anymore, is probably my most prized possession. Because it took a lot of years to collect CDs, tapes, records, and all that stuff. So, yeah. Oh, that's great. That's great.

And again, you seem like a very genuine person, clearly a family man in that. I want to know what kind of secrets though you're sharing with your children to be able to be such a good person and really make a mark and do something with their life? That's a good question. You know, I think be nice to people. Like, I think that's the most important thing we can do is like literally it's the old adage of treat people the way you want to be treated. Being nice to people is a very underrated piece of advice that people get today. And be authentic and be nice. I think that's what pops into mind right away.

Excellent. Fabulous advice. And we're being very authentic today because, again, I got to tell you, Cliff, you have reinvigorated the iconic sunglasses brand. That's right, Revo. And keep on innovating. That's the, Revo. And keep on innovating. That's the challenge, and that's what you're up to. And that makes you a hero within the Allianz's business community. So with that, thank you so much again. Reach out. Cliff Robertson, CEO of Revo Sunglasses, Revo.com. And during the next interview, maybe perhaps you'll be seeing me wear one of their iconic

sunglasses brand. This has been David Kogel. For sure. This has been David Kogel with the Alliance's Hero Show. Thank you. Of course, you got to dance with me. Cool. .

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