The Pomp Podcast - #1246 Chase Fisher | The Man Behind Deion Sanders’ Sunglasses

Starting point is 00:00:00 What's up, everyone? This is Anthony Pompliano. Many of you know me as Pomp. You're listening to the Pomp Podcast, which is my effort to find the most interesting people in the world and sit with them for hours while I ask questions in an effort to learn. So it would mean the world to me if you would subscribe to the show on your favorite audio platform, watch episodes on YouTube, and tell your friends and family about the podcast. My goal is to help millions learn from the world's most interesting people. So let's get into today's episode. Chase Fisher is the CEO and founder of Blender's Eyewear. Blender's Eyewear is the company that is behind Deion Sanders' brand new sunglass line. They've experienced millions of dollars of sales after both Deion Sanders, The

Starting point is 00:00:44 Rock, and many others started to talk about it on national television, and the Colorado State football coach said a bunch of really inflammatory comments. Chase has been building this company for over a decade, though, and it is a classic overnight success. I really enjoyed this conversation with Chase, and I think it is a great message to tons of entrepreneurs out there that you are just around the corner from the big breakthrough. Here's my conversation with Chase Fisher. Anthony Pompliano runs Pomp Investments. All views of him and the guests on his podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of Pomp Investments. You should not treat any opinion expressed by Pomp or his guests as a specific inducement to make a particular

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Starting point is 00:03:30 I've got Chase here with me. Chase, I thought a great place to start is obviously you all seem to be taking the storm, taking the world by storm alongside Deion Sanders. He has gone into Colorado, taken a 1-11 team, turned it around. They're 3-0. He's on every single national television show, every single interview, and he's wearing your sunglasses. Talk a little bit as to how did the relationship with Dion get started? Yeah. So, I mean, look, college was always on our radar, right? It was always something that I wanted to be involved in. I just never really knew how to, I just never prioritized it,

Starting point is 00:04:01 I guess. And so about a year and a half ago in 2022, before he was at Boulder, when he was at Jackson state, you know, my dad was hitting me up all the time and he was like, chase, check out what Dion's doing, you know, not from like a style perspective, like style aside, it was more just like what he's doing to young men and how he's leading and, and his character and like how he's coming in and just changing the game in college football. And so it's like every day I was waking up to something new about Dion from my dad, you know, have you checked out Dion yet? Have you checked out Dion yet? Like, you know, he's, he's, he's, he's changing the game in college sports. i was like all right dad like i got two big things on my plate right now you know i got red bull and

Starting point is 00:04:41 i got retail and all these other things going on like i can't take on other i can't take on another you know and he just was persistent you know um not to a point where he was like trying to like distract me he just saw an opportunity and so that's when i started to kind of take notice of dion and then i started to kind of look more into him and to see what he was doing and uh i started to kind of catch catch wind of it too i was like wow this is a great opportunity not only is he is he changing the game in college sports but he loves sunglasses you know this dude loves sunglasses so um you know i i reached out and you know just thinking i was gonna plant the seed for for next season like hey let's just build a relationship let's get something on the books for next season

Starting point is 00:05:24 and we just totally hit it off man um you know we just meshed really well his team is really awesome they're young they're excited they got energy all the things that we have at blenders and um we sent him out some samples and his team sent me back videos of him like literally like three minute videos like going over the sunglasses you know and talking about the product and talking about like what he wants to do and talking about you know just like how much he loved it and we were sitting there like watching these videos and we're like holy like this dude is this dude wants to work with us you know and um he was looking for a deal that season you know and we just happened to be on his radar so right place right time um and it was kind of

Starting point is 00:06:05 guns blazing from that point forward i mean it was like all right let's go and we had very little time you know keep this in mind we had like like three to four months um and so we had to work around the clock to move this to the front of the line and uh it was all gas no brakes to get the singer across the finish line but that's sort of how it started you know so the sunglasses are custom made for the partnership with dion and he had a ton of input into uh kind of what he wanted oh yeah i mean he is he was very involved in the creative process um you know he thinks about these things right like he's one of probably the very few coaches if not the only coach that plans out his outfits thinks about what he's going to wear thinks about pre-game thinks about during game

Starting point is 00:06:43 thinks about post-game like he he thinks about those things you know we weren't able to get all each one of those boxes checked for this collaboration but we were able to get something that was like really bold flashy that kind of symbolized his style and something a little bit more stealth mode. And we really wanted to embody that Colorado University spirit. So yeah, I mean, he had a ton of input, man. I mean, he was down to the nitty gritty detail, the packaging, the price. I mean, the price was at 69 bucks, but he wanted them at 67 because that was the year he was born. And I quote, I don't want to be affiliated with the number 69. I mean, you got to love that knack for detail, you know? So he was very involved. And how do you structure these

Starting point is 00:07:23 deals. Like he gets some sort of upfront payment and then there's a share on the backend. You know, Dion's obviously a huge name. He struck deals that are millions of dollars when he's playing in the NFL and has continued to kind of be relevant and somebody that an entire generation of people kind of look up to and are enthralled by. Now he's having this resurgence. So he's got a ton of experience. You guys have a ton of experience in striking deals like this. Like how does that deal come together and what does it look like? Yeah. I mean, I can't share too specifics on the exact on the exact deal but it's it's a it's a strong partnership he's he's unconditionally bought in and he's he's committed you know and we're committed to him and um you

Starting point is 00:07:59 know i really see this as one of the most iconic relationships in sunglasses was just born from this moment you know and uh you know i think together we can honestly do more for sunglasses than anyone in the last 50 years and i think we both thought it was going to be big but we both didn't know we would reach this this status so quickly um obviously with some help from the the universe and some help from the Colorado state coach. But again, I mean, I think, I think with, with, with his personality, his leadership and, uh, you know, his influence and, and our capabilities on the Iowa side, like this is going to be a very, very unbelievable ride for all of us. Now talk a little bit in terms of the Colorado state coach obviously says, Hey, I take off my

Starting point is 00:08:38 hat and my sunglasses. When I talk to people, Dion, you know, just looking for fuel somewhere gets it um and then i saw a video go viral within 24 maybe 48 hours where he's handing out sunglasses to the entire team is that like he's texting you guys say i need a pair for the whole team is that something that's pre-planned it just happens to line up how does that come together yeah so it's just so funny like the timing of this right it was like it's just all the dominoes felt the perfect time um but we were planning on releasing the partnership last week that was our plan so press release was going to go out everything was going to go out by the end of the week we were coming up on the 11th hour and then it just so happens on thursday the coach throws shade at dion about

Starting point is 00:09:16 about his sunglasses and hat and then i started getting blown up blown up from people like oh my god did you just see what just happened and then my dad's telling me chase the coach just threw shade at him not only did he just threw shade at him but he threw shade at how he was raised like this is about to go nuts and and uh from that point forward it was like holy and then um you know we were in chats with his team all day and they were like chase like tomorrow's like tomorrow's gonna be a big day coach has got a big surprise for you guys insanity's coming like it was just like bam you know what i mean um and sure enough i wake up the next day and it was after that video goes viral um or after he sends out the shades to all the team it just went nuts

Starting point is 00:09:56 you know but he had we we were planning on the team you know wearing the shades out to the game this week i mean that was already planned right like we had 150 shades that those are the only ones that we had made that we sent to coach and he was able to get those out in time um right after the coaches made that comment yeah you guys didn't goad the coach you didn't plant a seed you didn't tell him to uh to say it or anything no that's all conspiracy theory it's funny it's like oh was the other coach in on it like is he gonna get a piece of the action i'm like the only the only thing that coach is gonna get is he's gonna get free sunglasses for life i'm gonna personally bring him some myself that's amazing now the public numbers i think that there was just over

Starting point is 00:10:34 a million dollars that were sold kind of in the first 24 hours there was a number uh four or five million dollars that was thrown out after what is the last number that you guys have published or kind of shared with folks we haven't even reconciled all that we've done just yet i mean it's it's a moving target but honestly i think at this point we can fill up an entire you know nfl stadium with with new customers you know i think it's that it's that large right now um i think this could be one of the most successful pre-order launches in sunglass history at the pace that it's going. Um, so it's been, it's been astronomical. I mean, it's, I think we were selling like a pair a second when Dion was on the pregame show last week. So it was unbelievable. And then when the

Starting point is 00:11:14 rock put them on, it was just like, you know, we just conquered the world at that point. Um, unbelievable course, but yeah, it's been, it's been unbelievable, man. It really has. And so when the rock goes on, I think that was the other big moment that everyone, uh, paid attention to and there were sunglasses that were just around and uh dion very quickly you know recognized hey take your sunglasses off put these ones on um how much of this is planned versus just dion's being dion a lot of this is just him being him being himself you know and i think that's why this is this i think that's why he's successful man like he's just like unapologetically himself you know he's not worried about offending anyone he's just he's just a

Starting point is 00:11:52 showman he loves what he does he's passionate passionate about the game he's he's an entertainer the same time people are rooting for him like a lot of these things are just kind of off the cusp you know um i mean we set up product for the whole team they were going to get them in the right hands but in terms of the rock showing up like putting them on like all this was just it just unfolded so naturally you know it's like you can't really pay for this type of like product seeding or like publicity it's almost not for sale it just i think the way it unfolded was so successful because it was so natural you know now what's the story with dion there's got to be a moment where he said something he did something where you kind of just were like like that is dion anything uh

Starting point is 00:12:33 in your conversations and striking the deal you talked about the price point going from 69 to 67 anything else there that you think kind of reveals who he is as a person behind closed doors yeah i know i think there's two there's two moments that show up man i mean um you know when when when he sent us those videos of us or when he sent those videos of him reviewing the product he was like blenders let's go like he i heard it in his voice like i just heard the roar in his voice and like that enthusiasm and energy behind how he said those words was all we needed to be like this guy's bought in he wants this deal he wants to move like and he's like i'm gonna work for it you know i'm gonna work for it and so that really like fired up our team to like go faster and go

Starting point is 00:13:17 harder and then honestly the other point was like when i just met him over the weekend you know i i flew into boulder last weekend and i walked into his office and this was on game day i mean this is this is on fight night you don't meet floyd mayweather on fight night like you know like walking into his office and you know i'm like coach we did it and we gave it like we each hug each other and he's like chase thank you for believing in me and i'm like no thank you for believing in me you know and it's just like it just shows his values man it just shows that he's such a down-to-earth like he's got great morals i mean this guy is a gift from god truly so i think those are two moments that really stand out yeah that's great now one of the things that's

Starting point is 00:14:00 interesting is i think a bunch of people are uh outside of maybe the hardcore kind of sunglass audience or maybe even like active sports is like blenders oh what is this startup doing how did they get this thing with dion but you all have been at this now for 10 11 years right it's kind kind of the classic overnight success that took a decade. Talk a little bit about the journey of the business and kind of what it took to get here. Man. Yeah. So I started this back in 2012, man. And, um, I started from nothing, you know, I mean, I borrowed $2,000 from my roommate. I was pushing people into waves, giving surf lessons at the time. And, uh, you know, I mean, humble beginnings, right. I started out of a fucking backpack. Like I was selling shades

Starting point is 00:14:37 out of a backpack one by one, one pair, one style, one person at a time on the boardwalk at surf contests at music festivals at pool parties like blenders was built on the on the sand you know i mean truly and you know i took no funding you know it was totally self-funded built this thing straight from just grit hustle just like working hard and this was kind of pre social media craze of instagram and all these tiktoks and things like that and um you know so it was a lot of brand building you know and i think the early days really taught me a lot of a lot of the lessons that i needed to learn you know to kind of just endure on the journey and uh it's been the most difficult wildest self-discovery journey you can ever go on is building your own

Starting point is 00:15:18 business right it's like there's like three things in life that i like to think that that you can learn a lot about yourself is one step in a boxing ring two take take a nice bath and three start a business you know you're gonna learn a lot about yourself you know and so for me it's been just you know head down wanted to quit many times um you know like i said i bootstrapped this thing from nothing and in 2020 we i sold 70 of it to one of the second largest in the world sapolo um for a 90 million dollar valuation and you know now with this dion thing it's just these like these big like top of wave you know moments that you worked so hard for and endured for so long that you know come and you're like damn it just brings you back to the roots of like how far you've

Starting point is 00:16:02 come you know and like how humbled you are but yeah by no means was blenders and overnight success at all i mean the goal with this was always to be global and the goal with this was always to be seen and i feel like we were just seen on a global level you know after 11 years but it took 11 years to get here now how do you think about the business moving forward kind of the pre-deon era and then maybe the post-deon era what what changes and what stays the same Yeah. I mean, I think, gosh, a lot has changed. I mean, I feel like 72 hours ago, we were a totally different business. I think the biggest thing right now is just like the opportunity that this can bring for the future. I think we see the future in front of us right now.

Starting point is 00:16:41 I mean, standing at the Colorado State, at the CU game over the weekend, I'm sitting there in the stadium of 50,000 people. I'm like, this is the future of blenders. The opportunity to really break into the college market um and to become the face of college sports is something that i'm really interested in you know and now with dion i think there's an opportunity to you know build out an unbelievable iconic relationship and collection that is that could symbolize and or at least you know give credit to like the nike s jordan you know i do believe with prime we could build the most iconic relationship in sunglasses together and uh before i didn't i didn't understand what that could look like, you know, and now I kind of see like, wow, like what we just achieved

Starting point is 00:17:26 was awesome, but it goes far beyond just viral moments. You know, I think there's transformational change for blenders on the horizon. There's transformational change for what he's doing on the football field. And there's going to be, there's going to be a lot of success that we can both have together, you know? And so for me, I'm just kind of like trying to take in all the emotions right now and, um, trying to breathe it all in. But my vision for blenders was, was big. now it's fucking gigantic you know um so i'm really really excited how big can it get it could get huge man i really do uh i don't know how big it can get from like uh i mean i it's it's it's global it could it could be global absolutely i mean prime could be could be a whole other

Starting point is 00:18:10 entity you know underneath you know power about lenders and this could this could radically change the trajectory of the company as we know it um and it came at a time that was you know it came at a really hard time you know like this prime thing didn't just fall into our lap you know i mean i took on so much so much risk at this at this point in time of making this decision you know i mean we just signed a multi-year deal you know with red bull we were opening up our third store in santa monica the most prominent real estate in the country that cost over a million dollars to build we were missing monthly targets um and to take on another partnership at this time just felt like completely irresponsible no matter how how how big it could have been and uh i mean

Starting point is 00:18:54 you know i had to remind myself that like we got here because we took risk we took big risks and that's what our business is it's risk you know i got to consistently take big swings and this was another big swing that i wanted to take and i think now that we've taken it and we've seen what what we can do blenders can become a it could become the next millennial style oakley without a doubt you know and and uh that's my goal is i i want to take down oakley like that's that's my goal and everyone's like chase oakley's this is this i don't care i want to take down oakley you know um that's all i'm looking at and i think blenders really has the opportunity to to become the household name like oakley you know now my last question for you is uh all of this happens

Starting point is 00:19:35 what's your dad say does he hit you with the i told you so he's like chase is pops getting a raise for uh christmas yeah pops is getting raised for christmas no problem um yeah no but like my dad started a business back in the 90s you know he trademarked show me the money and he kind of relates this is like this is this is the show me the money opportunity for me that like he had back in the 90s and um he's just been so such a supporter over the years and same with my mom just kind of watching and like being being like a mentor and um so he's just he's just enjoying the ride too you know he's taking it taking it all in but uh he's he's he's pretty he's like i didn't think it would be this big i knew it would be big but not not this big that's awesome uh where can

Starting point is 00:20:20 people go get the sunglasses if they want them check them out online blendershour.com they're all available for pre-order um they're they're moving at light speed and uh yeah that's that's pretty much it for now but um you can check check me out on instagram at chase fisher and um yeah if there's anything i can do to help support you or anything else like i'm all here man i'm all here for it awesome well thank you so much for doing this congratulations on all the success it's amazing to see someone who you know kind of heads down for a decade built the business and now all of a sudden as you kind of pop your head up and a lot of people learn about you and the company uh they get to see it on the national stage and it's got to be pretty damn cool to see dion

Starting point is 00:20:57 sanders and the rock wearing the sunglasses that you literally started selling on the beach at surf competitions so yeah man humbly incredible story thank you man appreciate it

The Pomp Podcast - #1246 Chase Fisher | The Man Behind Deion Sanders’ Sunglasses

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