The world “culture” is a little misleading. People often think that it’s about having foosball tables and free beer in the fridge. That has nothing to do with the culture. Culture is how people behave when you’re not looking.
– Will Dean
On this episode of The Growth Show, HubSpot CMO Mike Volpe sits down with Will Dean, the founder and CEO of Tough Mudder. Dean came up with the idea for Tough Mudder while at Harvard Business School, and at the time, everyone thought he was crazy.
With only a modest marketing budget, Dean hoped to get 500 people at their first event. Instead, 5,000 people showed up. Today, Tough Mudder holds 70 events worldwide, has grown to over $75M in revenue, raised millions for the Wounded Warrior Project and had over 5,000 people tattoo the company’s logo on their body.
In this interview, Volpe and Dean talk about:
- How a bad experience at triathlon led to him starting Tough Mudder
- Why his business school professors told him the idea was going to flop
- Why Tough Mudder aspires to be like Harley Davidson
- Why you should never hire someone that you wouldn’t want to have dinner with
- How much time he spends thinking about the competition and how it impacts Tough Mudder’s strategy
- How they’ve built a great culture by understanding that their culture is not for everyone
- His four keys to building a great organization
Click here to listen to this interview and subscribe for future episodes.
