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Founders: #216 Paul Van Doren (Founder of Vans)

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What I learned from reading Authentic: A Memoir by the Founder of Vans by Paul Van Doren. ---- Founders Notes gives you the ability to tap into the collective knowledge of history's greatest entrepreneurs on demand. Use it to supplement the decisions you make in your work. Get access to Founders Notes here. ---- The way we deal with hardship is our legacy. You can accept defeat, or you can overcome it.Quitting Randy's had probably been the biggest stroke of luck in my life. Opportunity is a strange beast.Whenever a situation went sideways and things looked dire, I always called up my one superpower: focus.I believe honest self-evaluation and the ability to listen to others has been one of my greatest strengths, one that has served me well over the years. If someone had a better idea than mine, of course I would adopt that. I really didn’t care if I didn’t get credit. I didn’t need credit; I needed success.The very best thing that occurred during that first decade of Vans was that we truly became a family business. Without exception, family has always been the most important thing in my life.Most of the kids in the early skater crews came from single-parent households, from the wron

[00:00:00] My entire life, I've never had one big idea. I'd like to think I woke up one day, figured out how to make the world's best canvas and rubber waffle sole deck shoes, how to distribute said shoes, and thus create the first vertically integrated tennis shoe company in the world. But the fact of it is, I could have been growing potatoes. Actually, shoes has nothing to do with my success. What I've accomplished comes down to one thing, my knack for identifying and then solving problems. What I do better than anyone else is cut out distractions. If a system isn't working efficiently, I…

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