If I had been out in the industry instead of being a college kid who had an idea for another T-shirt, I would have been too scared to do anything.
— Kevin Plank
Great companies have to manage the cadence of what they do.
I don't want to be characterized as the big booster guy.
Data is the new oil.
The markets are efficient over time.
When you're winning, you're creating a dynasty.
It's key to become 'famous' for one thing first, and that will give you the credibility to go into other areas once your ready... which generally means a long time and a lot of perfecting!
You're convincing these big, tough football players to wear what was essentially women's lingerie. There was a little bit of a Jedi mind trick that needed to take place. The product really spoke for itself once guys felt it and touched it.
As foreign as it would be for you to go running in regular shoes, I want it to be just as foreign for you not to work out in your Under Armour.
Motivation, passion, and focus have to come from the top.
When you see most companies get big, they want to shout about all they've done. But the consumer wants to know: 'What have you done for me lately?'
I've got a pretty addictive personality.
You need to put your hands around the throat of your business, and you need to run it. There's no other way.
I realized early on that I was pretty good at organizing. A lot of it was about control. While my friends were out getting hammered at concerts, I was making money. I am a control freak.
I wanted to make the world's greatest football undershirt. But I realized that no team sport had equipment for apparel. Apparel was an afterthought.
I was always... naive enough to not know what I could not accomplish.
We want to shine a light on this great city of Baltimore. I can tell you, I love this city.
Maryland is one of the greatest schools that we have in this country.
Leadership is... to make sure you never limit the idea or opportunity.
In getting Under Armour started, like any business, I think, number one, you need a great idea.
People like being on winning teams.
I wake up in the morning and I think about one brand. I don't have enough time to wake up twice and think about two.
Before Under Armour, the only choices you had were to wear a short-sleeved cotton T-shirt in the summer or a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt in the winter. Why not make a better piece of equipment for underneath the shoulder pads?
Your attitude is contagious.
We need to stop making wide-body seats on airplanes, stop accommodating that, because it's not healthy.
All we're trying to do is change how people think about fitness. And build Under Armour into the biggest brand in the entire land.
I'm usually a pretty intense person. Give me an inch, and I'm going to go.
My first real business was bootlegging T-shirts - I was just a dumb kid. You go to a concert and pay $25 for a cotton T-shirt that says 'Rolling Stones,' 'Lollapalooza,' or whatever. On the outside they're 10 or 15 bucks. We were the guys selling them for 10 or 15 bucks.
It's a fire, it's a passion to get out and to create and to innovate. And that I've always enjoyed and I've always been very proud of is that the people I've done business with, the people around me have always made money.
Brand is not a product, that's for sure; it's not one item. It's an idea, it's a theory, it's a meaning, it's how you carry yourself. It's aspirational, it's inspirational.
Every great brand is like a great story.
People of Baltimore, if you want to simply learn a new trade, if you want to join the Foundry, it's a membership. It's like joining a gym, and you can go and meet other entrepreneurs like you. You can talk about how to get financing. You can take a class on how to sew. You can take a class and say, 'I want to be an electrician.'
The companies that do well are the companies that use math.
At Under Armour, we've created a very strong culture, a culture that first and foremost is built on people.
Everyone must have a voice, and everyone deserves clarity.
Employees get things done. Partners get things done done. But owners get things done done done.
Any self-respecting entrepreneur has borrowed money from their mother at some point.
My love of horses began in College Park, with me and 10 friends on two couches and a keg of beer in the back of a truck, heading to Pimlico at 6 A.M. to mark our place in the middle of the Preakness infield, where we never saw a horse run.
I'm a big advocate of the power of positive thinking, particularly for small businesses.
Randy Edsall is a good, strong, decent man who is working his tail off on behalf of the University of Maryland. And there are more people that want to spend their days burning things down than building it up. At least just stop rooting against him. You know, give the guy a chance.
The sports apparel industry was dominated by the big shoe companies. But there was a void in apparel and I decided to fill it.
I was always telling people I was doing great, even if I wasn't.
I've always been a hustler.
I was a general business major, which meant that in any business school and particularly at Smith School, which is a very good school, you do a lot of team projects. Well I was the guy who gave the presentations for the team projects.
