April 15, 2022 • 27 mins
Tristan Walker is the Founder & CEO Walker & Company Brands.
Additionally, he was named one of the world's greatest leaders by Fortune magazine.
Tristan talks about his journey of becoming the first Black CEO under the Procter & Gamble umbrella in its 180-year history. He shares his inspiration for developing his flagship brand, Bevel and the hurdles he encountered to find sponsors.
Host IG: @itstanyatime
Guest IG: @tristanwalker
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey Money Movers, Welcome
back to the Money Moves podcasts powered by Greenland's. Our
(00:22):
next guest is the founder and CEO of Walker and Company.
Many of you might know this as Bebel Brands. He
also served on the board of director for foot Locker, Inc.
Shake Shack, Inc. And the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Board
of Directors. In addition, Fortune Magazine has named him one
of the top fifty of the world's Greatest Leaders. In
(00:43):
two thousand and eighteen, his company, Walker and Company Brands,
was acquired by Procter and Gamble. This led him to
become the first black CEO under the Procter and Gamble umbrella.
And it's one hundred and eighty year history. This is
an incredible feat and I'm so excited to welcome to
the podcast today, Mr Tristan Walker. Tristan, how are you?
(01:05):
What's up? Saying I'm doing well because she's so excited
to have you here, no doubt now excited to be here. Okay, So,
first of all, you are known throughout the community as
the founder of Bebel Brands. So this iconic black male
men's shaving I mean brand, you just really put it
out on the map. But here you are today with
the beard. So I love it. I feel like I
(01:28):
haven't seen you with the beard before. You know, I'm
growing up. My wife likes it. I'll take it though.
I love it. I love it. So I want to
take us back, and I want to dive into your
story because I think it's an incredible story in your
trajectory and sort of where you came from. People need
to know that this is not an overnight sensation to
selling this incredible company, making a whole lot of money
and being you know, one of the first black CEOs
(01:51):
under Procter and Gambles. So like, take us to the beginning,
Little Tristan. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm very blessed, very fortunate,
thanks for having me on the show, very lucky to
be here. Look, I'm a kid from quais In, New York,
born and raised. Um, you know, I grew up in
the projects, welfare all that stuff, right, and I realized
when I was young, you know, I had one goal
in life and now is to get as wealthy as
(02:12):
I can get as quickly as I can get it right.
I knew I didn't want to go back to that,
and I felt at an early age there are really
only three ways to do it, and the first was
to be an actor and athlete. I played ball, but
I was also good at math and realized that I
was going to make it all the way through. The
second way was the work on Wall Street. I had
the good fortune to do that, but I hated it.
(02:34):
And and the last one that I actually realized was entrepreneurship.
So I was like, oh, man, like, I gotta figure
this out. Um, it's really the only way. So I
really started from this humble beginning with this hunger right
to get out of that and and kind of earn
my wealth over time, and that really set me on
this path towards some of that wealth of creation and accumulation.
So look, that's really interesting to meet on Money News.
We like to talk about this, like the generational impressions
(02:57):
that are left with us. So you're this kid, um,
you know, growing up on welfare in New York, but
you had this idea of what wealthy was, and you
knew you had to do something different to get out
of the hood. So what was the big step for you?
Was it, you know, lessons from your mom your dad, Like,
how did you really know that you needed to execute
on that vision? Yeah, you know, it's funny. I didn't
(03:17):
know what wealth was until I was about fourteen years old.
I knew what being rich looked like from television, but
it wasn't until I turned fourteen. I went to a
boarding school for high school and full scholarship, and it
was one of the top kind of schools in the country,
called the Hot School, and I got to see how
the other half lived. I went to school with Rockefeller's
(03:38):
right and Ford's right, people where their last names actually
meant something and their wealth carried, their wealth carried and
generations right. So at that point I was like, Wow,
you know, I want this Walker name to mean something.
And it has such a profound impact on m hmmm.
I mean when you put the Walker name next to
Rockefeller's and like the Bronze Man's, that's that's a major thing,
(03:59):
especially you know, being exposed to that at a such
a young age. I mean, that just propels your grind
level in the hustle to a whole next level. So
You're at this gritzy boarding school just for people out.
How did this little blackhead get into even know about
those boarding schools or get into that? You know? Yeah,
I am a story of blessing and very good luck,
(04:20):
honestly saying like I, UM. I went to this after
school program, the Boys Club of New York. I remember
in order to get in I had to pay seventy
five cents in my card to get it, and that
was like the greatest investment in my entire life. Boys
Club had what was called an education program, right, and
you had to take an S. S A T. So
these are exams to potentially introduce you to the boarding schools.
(04:41):
I did decently well on it. I had good grades.
I remember I kind of turned in my exam and
the proctor was like, oh, you know, I saw you
the other day, like, tell me about your school grades.
I told him. He was like, listen, I got you. UM.
And literally a couple of months later I was on
campus at Hoskey Stour in the school and that week
at and off UM and it completely changed my life.
(05:02):
Seventy cents completely changed the entire Okay, were you the
only black kid maybe one or two others and at
the Boys of the New York or the private school. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
so they were probably gosh, there was a school five
hundred people in the entire school, they were probably fifteen
or twenty of us overall across all the grades. Right,
(05:25):
so in my grade there are probably five or six
or so. And you know I talked about I grew
up in Canada, so the upbringing is really different. But
you know there's those are just moments where you can
need to be like, oh man, there's not enough of
me out there. But if you can find mentorship and
find the lessons in that, like, look where it's now
taken you. So after that, what came next on this path, well,
even to go back on that more important it was, um,
(05:48):
what I saw and what I knew I could compete with, right,
because I was like, man, like these kids have the names,
but I can compete with them at every level. And
that was all the inspiration that I needed. So you
know what came next. I actually I ended up in university, right.
I went to Stony Brook University out of New York UM,
and I was in a rush to get out, so
you know, I graduated. I was in economics major. I
(06:10):
graduated in three years at the top of my class.
I was like, I gotta get out of here, because, um,
I had to pursue that second thing that I told
you for wealth creation, which was Wall Street. And so
every single thing that I did, yeah, every every single thing,
every internship I had in university, every goal that I
had was to be a trader on Wall Street. I
was like, these guys make so much money. I knew
(06:33):
people who were retiring when they were thirty thirty one.
You know, it is a job where you're judged against
your ability to make money every single day. And it
felt as objective as can be. And I did it.
I realized I wasn't very good at it, and I
also hated the culture of it. Um and and two
years after that, actually you got made off um and
(06:53):
it was at the same time that I was applying
to business school. And you know, you talk about again
blessing and luck. The day that I got laid off
was the exact same day that I got a call
telling me I was going and getting into Stanford Business. Yeah,
that's a great school. Yeah it worked out, it worked out.
That's a great Okay, So now you're on the West coast.
Now you're at Stanford. I mean, that's definitely the place
(07:16):
to be. Tell me about how that impacted, you know,
this pivot to Okay, I'm leaving Wall Street and I've
got to do something else. Yeah, you know, I um
STAFA was the only place I applied, you know, And
it was the only place I applied for a reason,
because you know, I want to get as far away
from Wall Street literally and figuratively as possible, Like you know,
Wall Street, Atlantic Ocean, Stanford Pacific Ocean is like no
(07:38):
other school I can get as far away from. And
I knew they had this, um, this reputation for entrepreneurship.
I didn't know anything about Silican Valley. I didn't really
care to know about Silicon Valley. UM. So you know,
I had nine months from the time and I laid
off to the time I actually kind of matriculated into
the school to learn about it UM and once I
landed down and I'm gonna be a part of this
(08:01):
right like I saw. I was twenty four at the time.
I saw other twenty four year olds when I was
there not only making millions of dollars fundamentally changing the
world and very quickly, I said world in the business world,
because I mean a lot of people, you know, you're
twenty four, Like the Valley didn't become as popular I
think in urban culture culture like put it back to
maybe eight or nine years ago. So how long yeah, yeah, yeah,
(08:24):
when we So I went to Stanford starting in two
thousand and eight, and I remember my first my first
role is looking Valley. I was at Twitter when they
about twenty people at the company. I remember telling my
classmates about the snake called Twitter, and they're like, why
are you doing that? Like this is crazy? Like what
that service? Stupid? Doesn't make any sense. I mean, I
don't understand like the O G lines you're dropping here
(08:45):
because like now, you know, everyone from jay Z to
nas is talking about investing in tech and the Valley
and this, that and the other. So to be out
there when Twitter was like twenty people and we're talking
about four square, like yeah, it was a crazy time.
I mean was it was a time of inflection and transition.
And that's where that's where I thought. I thought I
(09:06):
knew what wealth was, and I thought I knew it
from Wall Street, but I didn't really understand it. And
I got the Silicon Valley where I saw again twenty
four year olds like billionaires. Right that that had such
a different impact on me. And then the thing that
I recalled very quickly was that the Stanford Business School
experience was the same as my Hotchkis boarding school experience.
I'm just growing up, and it was something I had
(09:27):
seen before, and I knew I can compete with all
those people within it. So I competed. Yes, all right,
So fast forward us you've now what I also think
is interesting is like you laid this foundation from early on.
You're like, I know where I need to go to
be around the right people to change the way I think.
Then you end up in Stanford so you can further expand.
(09:48):
Now you've done your time at these early stage startups,
and so at what point did you realize you wanted
to launch your own company. Yeah? I realized that when
I was five years old. Honestly, it it was, you know,
I just had to go to this roundabout way to
get there. I remember I was five. My brother would
tell me to go to the store and I'd like
charge the commission for that. Like that set me on
this path to making my money in my way um
(10:11):
And and also, look, I was not able to hold
onto a job myself working for other people ever, right
until I started my own. And there's a power in
ownership that I really do believe, and particularly for black folks.
So you know, I was at four Square for about
three years, and I remember, you know, I loved the company.
I felt like I was even a founder myself. I
(10:32):
was the first, one of the first employees there. It
was a great, great time. And I remember I said,
I have to if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna
do it. And I set a calendar invite on Dennis,
the founder's calendar, six months out because I knew that's
when I had to tell them that I was going
to leave UM. And then six months pass this thing
popped up on my calendar. Was like, oh, like, I
gotta make this happen. So I said, you know what, Dennis, like,
this is my time. I learned a lot, Thank you
(10:54):
for this, but you know, now it's time to try
UM and and really the next month, yeah, the next month,
I sat on my path to start what became Walker
and Company, which I'm very very fortunate to that. Wow,
talk about your time, because I knew you did a
small stint at Andrews and Horowitz Horowitz as an e
I R. And sometimes people are wondering, like, you know,
(11:14):
should I just start at twenty two and be an entrepreneur?
Do I put my time in to go to Stanford
or you know? And I feel like you've been really
intentional about accumulating experiences and knowledge and connections um talk
about being an e I R. There. Yeah, So I
think you know, first off, what you said, I try
not to waste my time. You know, I think that
(11:35):
I've learned from an early age that you've got to
have that tunnel vision for exactly what you want. You know.
The E I R thing was a bit for two
of us for a couple of reasons. Number one, I
needed to earn money. You know, I had I had
a mortgage, I have a wife at home, a kid
on the way, right, so the realities of my reality.
It was a part of that, right, Like, you know,
(11:56):
I didn't make so much money at all from kind
of the texture me that I went on, like I
actually have responsibility. Secondly, if I was gonna kind of
go in this journey, I needed time and space to
think about what I wanted to do right. Um, you know,
I have a lot of ideas, most of them are bad,
but I knew I needed to chase the thing that
I actually had some authenticities. So you know my being
(12:19):
an entrepreneur residence at in recent how it's allowed me
to do it. But let me let me explain very
quickly what being an the I R Entrepreneur presidents is
because I know it's it's crazy. So usually it takes
one of two paths. You go to adventure capital firm
in my case of his injuries in Irelands, and you
can either spend the time that you have six and
nine months to think of an idea, which is what
I did and started potentially get funded by them. Or
(12:41):
you can partner with the venture capitalists and go source
steals for them, partner with their portfolio company. Stuff like
that I mentioned a little earlier. I didn't want to
waste my time, so I did the former versus the
ladder Um. And the first seven months of the nine
months that I was there, you know, I like to
say I was I was wasting their time because I
was thinking about things that I probably shouldn't have been
(13:01):
working on right, Like, you know, I wanted to fix
freight and trucking in this country, which didn't make any sense.
I had no understanding of that. I wanted to do
something in healthcare that I had no experience with. And
it wasn't until you know, seven months in that I
was shaving and I got fed up with that experience
and I said, you know what, maybe let's try to
give this a shot. Um. You know, I told the
partners there that, like, this is what I wanted to do.
(13:23):
They had an itch for what I was thinking about. Um,
And then two months later I raised some money for it,
and the rest is history. But I spent nine months
there to think and also to earn because that was
my reality. Okay, So Bevel is truly an iconic black brand,
and I will say that because it's what you created.
You took, you know, the classic problem that black men
(13:45):
like Tino men, you know, suffered from all the time
you know whether or not how to shave, how to shave,
and you created a product that was just undeniable in
the marketplace, and then went around the valley where let's
just be frank, it's all these pale white males going listen,
this is a big deal. I need your money. I
need you to fund this, and I need it to
be in stores across the entire country. Like that's incredible, Yeah,
(14:07):
thank you. Yeah, so tell us about you know, Okay,
you had this light bulb moment you were shaving and
you're like, I'm going to fix razor bumps for black men.
You know, It's funny when I when I was doing it,
I wasn't even thinking about doing it as a business.
I just wanted to fix the problem for myself, to
be told. I mean, I am this was a January.
It's in January. Um, yeah, I was using a depilatory
(14:28):
cream in my face for like fifteen years that like
destroyed my skin. And smell this this is like a
hundred year old purse. Yeah, it's the worst, right, And
I remember going to an artist shaving store and asking
him what to use, and they told me to use
this device that like very few people used, called the
single blade razor. I used, it didn't break out, and
I knew I had an epiphany, and then I decided
(14:50):
to go out and start to start the business. You know.
The thing that I had to get over for myself
was like, you know, did I want to be the
dude the black dude in Silicon Valley building things for
black It is blah blah blah blah blah. And then
I was like, what the hell you're thinking about, Tristan,
Like this is what you need to be doing because
you have a unique perspective. You know, my my very
first pitch, Um, I was nervous as all out, you know,
(15:12):
speaking to Um. You know, a wonderful woman who have
gotten to know there's a venture capitalist. She's on the
other side of the table. And you know, I had
one slide on my deck and it had proactively active
system on one side and on the other side it
had bevel the shape system to help eliminate razor pumps.
And I said, you know, we want to replicate with
what they did. And she looked at me and she said, Tristan,
(15:34):
I'm not sure solving issues related to razor folks will
have as profound an impact of solving issues related to acting.
So I can't see it. And and at that point
I was like, okay, like I get it. But all
that you had to do was get on the phone
with ten black folks. Eight of them would have said
that this is a crazy issue. And let's assume that
you don't even know ten black folks, which is the
(15:54):
problem all another self. But let's assume that you didn't
you got on the phone with tend non black folks,
for them would have said the exact same thing. So
I recognized that it wasn't that my my idea was bad.
It was the fact that the people who had the
money were too lazy to recognize that it's good. And
at that point I just realized that you had to
keep going, keep going, and eventually, after all those pitches,
(16:16):
we had some great venture capits that were willing to
ticket bet um. So something entrepreneurs often come to me
with the differences like how do I know my idea
is good or bad? Versus like, you know, being able
to go out and come back with data talking about
customer discovery, And I think that's one of the things
that's hard because people really get stuck in their feelings
and like, I know my idea is good, but you
(16:38):
backed it up with like I have the research, here's
the data, here's the people, here's the customer testimonials. Yeah,
even even a little bit different. Um. Look, I believe
a couple of things. First, I believe there's no such
things as bad ideas. It's just bad timing sometimes right,
sometimes the market hasn't caught up. But also I think
(16:59):
there are a lot of ideas that people think are good,
which probably are good, but they shouldn't be the ones
doing them. And the thing that, you know, it was
a good filter for me, and I had some advice
on this, and I still believe it to this day.
And this goes back to someone explains my focus a
little bit. Thing. It's I feel that you should only
be doing the thing they you fundamentally feel feel based
(17:20):
on your lived experience, you're the best person in the
world to do right now. This sounds like a bit
of a tall order, right, but just reflect on my
experience for a bit. You know, I was a black
man and slicking vally. There aren't that many of us
back then, by the way, who could raise the money
for this problem that I had authentically for fifteen years
when I walked down these retail I'll still neglected that
sort of thing. At that time in I felt that
(17:43):
I was the best person on earth to start that company.
Now I'm probably not the best person on earth to
start it today, but I was back then, and I
think it's important for people to recognize, like their lived experience,
you might have a better idea for how to white
or as a toilet paper straight up right, And a
lot of people, a lot of people shape like straight
(18:06):
away from that. And then I try and tell plugs, well,
someone invented toilet paps. You know what I said. It's
making And I think a lot of people try and
chase what they think they should be doing as opposed
to chasing what they fundamentally and authentically should Does that
make sense? Oh? No, completely, And it's one of those
lessons that people I think here all the time, and
until it clips does everything become clear? And it's kind
(18:29):
of like the seas part, And you're like, man, all
that time that I put in, like going to this
school and this, it all makes sense and it's like
that tunnel vision becomes clear. So well, we've we've got
to learn, We've got to unlearn some things, Like I
think we for up until that point, for twenty four years,
by the time I got the Stanford and even new
years after, we had this idea follow your dreams, Follow
(18:50):
your dreams. And honestly, I think that that is the
most dangerous advice that anyone could ever have really for
for two reasons. The first, you know, sometimes you think
dreams of dreams, but they actually end up being nightmares.
And the second thing is it blocks your ability to
see what you are authentically position to do. I didn't
(19:13):
dream to start to help and beauty products, and never would,
but I should have. Yeah, oh no, that's really great. Okay,
So now you're at the point where you're I don't
know whether to go if we go like product development
or fundraising, like and they're both really hard things to
tackle and scale. Um. But because fundraising is such a
(19:34):
you know, dynamic question now and it's like a hot
topic with Black Lives Matter and what we've gone through
with the pandemic, and there's so many people who were like,
how is black people can't fundraise in this? You know,
I think it's changed now. But can you talk about
how it was going out fundraising? Yeah, I mean, I've
got so much to say about this. I'll tell you
a little bit of how it was fundraising. I'll tell
(19:55):
you a little bit about my point of view around fundraising. Now.
It was hard. I had venture capitalists who had known
for five years and to that point, telling Tristan, whatever
you do, I'm going to fund them and to go
to them and say, hey, I have something that's ready
and you know, to come back their laziness like they
were unwilling to fund it. So I was like, oh damn,
(20:16):
Like you have been promising me this for this whole time,
but now you're kind of gonna pull back. And I
was like, all right, But I think I had pitched gosh,
like thirty forty people at that point and only three
said guests. And we started with a company that needed
two and a half million dollars in order to get started, right,
But before I raised the scent in funding, I had
(20:37):
pretty much gotten about two hundred thousand dollars of work
done for free, right um, So I had to I
had to pitch what this is going to be. But
at the time, you know, about two months before I
started pitching, I found a manufacturer that was willing to
make me samples for free. The way I found that manufacturer,
I went to a website that had a list of
(20:58):
all private label manufacturers because as my eyes pointed to
a screen and released it and saw that that person's
name called her up Um, and she said that she
was willing to make them for free, so I got
formulations for free. I had a designer whom I had known,
who was from Idea. He said, Tristan Cool, I will
make you some designs for free. If you want these
(21:19):
designs and own the intellectual property, you just have to
pay me ten thousand dollars. If you don't do that,
then I keep them. So when I raised the money,
I pay them ten thousand dollars and I kept it.
But I had the designs to show. And then I
had a friend who was like a brand logo designer
who usually charges tens or sometimes I just sit dounars
of dollars for us to give me a shot. Right.
So I think the important part of that too is
(21:41):
sometimes you gotta do the upfront work before the fundraising.
So my fundraising experience I raised between Walker and company
coach not for profit tens and tens of millions of
dollars um. But you know this is kind of the
fast forward to today. I regret it. Um. I gret
every bit of it. I think fundraising can be as
(22:03):
dangerous as um you know, gosh, like you know, as
anything when you're running the business, because now you're forced
to chase the growth that you might not be ready for.
And I strongly encourage people to really think about that
needs eat and giving up your ownership right to chase
(22:24):
the growth that you might not be ready for. Okay,
So like go a little bit deeper in to explain
that because there's a difference. I think what you're trying
to say is, like the difference between fundraising and going
after revenue. Is that right, Because then you're not tied
to like, oh I got a raise again, I can't
scale and you know it's like this endless loop. Yeah,
so let me give you some math. Um. You know,
(22:45):
I raised forty million dollars for walking in company. Right.
Usually venture capitalists want like a ten x return, right,
So this is a simple math, Like you know four
times ten, Like you know you should be expected to
sell your company. Those those valuations that exit are based
on revenue or profitability that you have, right. Um, So
(23:08):
if you raise this money at too high of evaluation
and your revenues cannot support that, if you're getting to
a point where you don't have as much money in
the bank, folks are unwilling to give you more of it.
And in the meanwhile, you're losing your ownership along way.
So it puts you in this like very weird position
(23:29):
where you realize and wake up, I don't have the
majority of my business anymore. Um Uh, it's hard for
me to fundraise and fuel my growth. Should I go
and shut everything down, lay off my team, get to profitability?
Or should I go and try and sell to someone else?
These are things that you probably would not have to
think about if you bootstrap yourself, if you had the
(23:52):
luxury to be able to so me kind of press
it by saying that too. But if you can do it,
I would do it. And there's something to be said
about ownership on totonomy that I've learned to appreciate. Um
and you know I will never take that back. I'll
tell you one thing, Dan, you the when I sold
by company. We announced it on December twelve of and
(24:16):
at that point, very quickly I recognized what freedom was,
like I defined it and it's me for this fleeting moment,
I felt, freedom is not owing anybody anything right. When
I sold my company, I didn't owe my investors anything,
I didn't owe our people anything. I didn't owe Procter
and Gamble anything right. That's really there to like what
(24:38):
you're saying, Like it brings me back to remember those
old commercials like freedom, Like yes we're but that like
financial and wealth freedom. And I think for entrepreneurs to
like that doesn't happen a lot. A lot of times
people sell, they have to stay there for four or
five years, work in the business, vest this, that and
the other. So like that's a that's a good deal
(25:00):
that you negotiated. Yeah, I think Look, it's um. You know,
wealth doesn't have to be the end goal for everybody.
Not everybody has the the fortune that I think, right,
But there's something to be said about autonomy and not
telling anybody anything. There's a feeling of freedom. You know,
a lot of folks ask you know, you know who
inspires you, Tristan, And I'm like, listen, the kind of
(25:23):
couple that's been running an h bag business in the
Midwest for twenty years, that going all of it and
they're generating like two million dollars in cash law here,
That to me is like mine or bondam you know.
And I think we're caught up in the headline, right
this person sold for a billion dollars, right, but we
we don't read the fine print. Yeah, that person sold
(25:43):
for a billion dollars, they have less than one percent
of the company, right and now on the other side,
they sell the company, they won't be able to get
their money for four or five years, right, Like, there's
a lot of fine print that goes into that. So
the point that I'm trying to make is forget the money.
I think that there's something to be said about kind
of owning your own autonomy. And we felt we felt
(26:04):
free for a while, right, but we've never had freedom
until we don't owe anybody any Yeah, I love that.
That's really great. I mean, I don't even know what
to say, Like, this has been such a joy talking
to you. I love what you do, I love what
you continue to do, and I love the mindset that
you put behind it. And so I think you know,
our money Moves. Audience is going to be grateful just
to hear from you and to continue to follow you
(26:27):
and your journey and what you continue to build. Can
you tell our audience where they can find you on
social media? Sure? I'm just at Tristan Walker, c R,
I S t A, N, Instagram, Twitter, all that, and
where can they find bevil everywhere? Oh? I appreciate that
you can get to go to get bevil dot com.
We're in Target, We're in Walmart, We're in Sally Beauty, everywhere.
(26:51):
That's incredible, Money Movers. That is all the time we
have for today. Make sure you tune in Monday to
Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves podcast power or
by green One so that you can have the keys
to the financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Thank you
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
(27:11):
to the Bank Greenwood dot com and check out the
Money Moves Podcast blog
Hey Money Movers, Welcome back to Money Moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the keys to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. Hey Money Movers, Welcome
back to the Money Moves podcasts powered by Greenland's. Our
(00:22):
next guest is the founder and CEO of Walker and Company.
Many of you might know this as Bebel Brands. He
also served on the board of director for foot Locker, Inc.
Shake Shack, Inc. And the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Board
of Directors. In addition, Fortune Magazine has named him one
of the top fifty of the world's Greatest Leaders. In
(00:43):
two thousand and eighteen, his company, Walker and Company Brands,
was acquired by Procter and Gamble. This led him to
become the first black CEO under the Procter and Gamble umbrella.
And it's one hundred and eighty year history. This is
an incredible feat and I'm so excited to welcome to
the podcast today, Mr Tristan Walker. Tristan, how are you?
(01:05):
What's up? Saying I'm doing well because she's so excited
to have you here, no doubt now excited to be here. Okay, So,
first of all, you are known throughout the community as
the founder of Bebel Brands. So this iconic black male
men's shaving I mean brand, you just really put it
out on the map. But here you are today with
the beard. So I love it. I feel like I
(01:28):
haven't seen you with the beard before. You know, I'm
growing up. My wife likes it. I'll take it though.
I love it. I love it. So I want to
take us back, and I want to dive into your
story because I think it's an incredible story in your
trajectory and sort of where you came from. People need
to know that this is not an overnight sensation to
selling this incredible company, making a whole lot of money
and being you know, one of the first black CEOs
(01:51):
under Procter and Gambles. So like, take us to the beginning,
Little Tristan. Yeah, no, I mean, I'm very blessed, very fortunate,
thanks for having me on the show, very lucky to
be here. Look, I'm a kid from quais In, New York,
born and raised. Um, you know, I grew up in
the projects, welfare all that stuff, right, and I realized
when I was young, you know, I had one goal
in life and now is to get as wealthy as
(02:12):
I can get as quickly as I can get it right.
I knew I didn't want to go back to that,
and I felt at an early age there are really
only three ways to do it, and the first was
to be an actor and athlete. I played ball, but
I was also good at math and realized that I
was going to make it all the way through. The
second way was the work on Wall Street. I had
the good fortune to do that, but I hated it.
(02:34):
And and the last one that I actually realized was entrepreneurship.
So I was like, oh, man, like, I gotta figure
this out. Um, it's really the only way. So I
really started from this humble beginning with this hunger right
to get out of that and and kind of earn
my wealth over time, and that really set me on
this path towards some of that wealth of creation and accumulation.
So look, that's really interesting to meet on Money News.
We like to talk about this, like the generational impressions
(02:57):
that are left with us. So you're this kid, um,
you know, growing up on welfare in New York, but
you had this idea of what wealthy was, and you
knew you had to do something different to get out
of the hood. So what was the big step for you?
Was it, you know, lessons from your mom your dad, Like,
how did you really know that you needed to execute
on that vision? Yeah, you know, it's funny. I didn't
(03:17):
know what wealth was until I was about fourteen years old.
I knew what being rich looked like from television, but
it wasn't until I turned fourteen. I went to a
boarding school for high school and full scholarship, and it
was one of the top kind of schools in the country,
called the Hot School, and I got to see how
the other half lived. I went to school with Rockefeller's
(03:38):
right and Ford's right, people where their last names actually
meant something and their wealth carried, their wealth carried and
generations right. So at that point I was like, Wow,
you know, I want this Walker name to mean something.
And it has such a profound impact on m hmmm.
I mean when you put the Walker name next to
Rockefeller's and like the Bronze Man's, that's that's a major thing,
(03:59):
especially you know, being exposed to that at a such
a young age. I mean, that just propels your grind
level in the hustle to a whole next level. So
You're at this gritzy boarding school just for people out.
How did this little blackhead get into even know about
those boarding schools or get into that? You know? Yeah,
I am a story of blessing and very good luck,
(04:20):
honestly saying like I, UM. I went to this after
school program, the Boys Club of New York. I remember
in order to get in I had to pay seventy
five cents in my card to get it, and that
was like the greatest investment in my entire life. Boys
Club had what was called an education program, right, and
you had to take an S. S A T. So
these are exams to potentially introduce you to the boarding schools.
(04:41):
I did decently well on it. I had good grades.
I remember I kind of turned in my exam and
the proctor was like, oh, you know, I saw you
the other day, like, tell me about your school grades.
I told him. He was like, listen, I got you. UM.
And literally a couple of months later I was on
campus at Hoskey Stour in the school and that week
at and off UM and it completely changed my life.
(05:02):
Seventy cents completely changed the entire Okay, were you the
only black kid maybe one or two others and at
the Boys of the New York or the private school. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
so they were probably gosh, there was a school five
hundred people in the entire school, they were probably fifteen
or twenty of us overall across all the grades. Right,
(05:25):
so in my grade there are probably five or six
or so. And you know I talked about I grew
up in Canada, so the upbringing is really different. But
you know there's those are just moments where you can
need to be like, oh man, there's not enough of
me out there. But if you can find mentorship and
find the lessons in that, like, look where it's now
taken you. So after that, what came next on this path, well,
even to go back on that more important it was, um,
(05:48):
what I saw and what I knew I could compete with, right,
because I was like, man, like these kids have the names,
but I can compete with them at every level. And
that was all the inspiration that I needed. So you
know what came next. I actually I ended up in university, right.
I went to Stony Brook University out of New York UM,
and I was in a rush to get out, so
you know, I graduated. I was in economics major. I
(06:10):
graduated in three years at the top of my class.
I was like, I gotta get out of here, because, um,
I had to pursue that second thing that I told
you for wealth creation, which was Wall Street. And so
every single thing that I did, yeah, every every single thing,
every internship I had in university, every goal that I
had was to be a trader on Wall Street. I
was like, these guys make so much money. I knew
(06:33):
people who were retiring when they were thirty thirty one.
You know, it is a job where you're judged against
your ability to make money every single day. And it
felt as objective as can be. And I did it.
I realized I wasn't very good at it, and I
also hated the culture of it. Um and and two
years after that, actually you got made off um and
(06:53):
it was at the same time that I was applying
to business school. And you know, you talk about again
blessing and luck. The day that I got laid off
was the exact same day that I got a call
telling me I was going and getting into Stanford Business. Yeah,
that's a great school. Yeah it worked out, it worked out.
That's a great Okay, So now you're on the West coast.
Now you're at Stanford. I mean, that's definitely the place
(07:16):
to be. Tell me about how that impacted, you know,
this pivot to Okay, I'm leaving Wall Street and I've
got to do something else. Yeah, you know, I um
STAFA was the only place I applied, you know, And
it was the only place I applied for a reason,
because you know, I want to get as far away
from Wall Street literally and figuratively as possible, Like you know,
Wall Street, Atlantic Ocean, Stanford Pacific Ocean is like no
(07:38):
other school I can get as far away from. And
I knew they had this, um, this reputation for entrepreneurship.
I didn't know anything about Silican Valley. I didn't really
care to know about Silicon Valley. UM. So you know,
I had nine months from the time and I laid
off to the time I actually kind of matriculated into
the school to learn about it UM and once I
landed down and I'm gonna be a part of this
(08:01):
right like I saw. I was twenty four at the time.
I saw other twenty four year olds when I was
there not only making millions of dollars fundamentally changing the
world and very quickly, I said world in the business world,
because I mean a lot of people, you know, you're
twenty four, Like the Valley didn't become as popular I
think in urban culture culture like put it back to
maybe eight or nine years ago. So how long yeah, yeah, yeah,
(08:24):
when we So I went to Stanford starting in two
thousand and eight, and I remember my first my first
role is looking Valley. I was at Twitter when they
about twenty people at the company. I remember telling my
classmates about the snake called Twitter, and they're like, why
are you doing that? Like this is crazy? Like what
that service? Stupid? Doesn't make any sense. I mean, I
don't understand like the O G lines you're dropping here
(08:45):
because like now, you know, everyone from jay Z to
nas is talking about investing in tech and the Valley
and this, that and the other. So to be out
there when Twitter was like twenty people and we're talking
about four square, like yeah, it was a crazy time.
I mean was it was a time of inflection and transition.
And that's where that's where I thought. I thought I
(09:06):
knew what wealth was, and I thought I knew it
from Wall Street, but I didn't really understand it. And
I got the Silicon Valley where I saw again twenty
four year olds like billionaires. Right that that had such
a different impact on me. And then the thing that
I recalled very quickly was that the Stanford Business School
experience was the same as my Hotchkis boarding school experience.
I'm just growing up, and it was something I had
(09:27):
seen before, and I knew I can compete with all
those people within it. So I competed. Yes, all right,
So fast forward us you've now what I also think
is interesting is like you laid this foundation from early on.
You're like, I know where I need to go to
be around the right people to change the way I think.
Then you end up in Stanford so you can further expand.
(09:48):
Now you've done your time at these early stage startups,
and so at what point did you realize you wanted
to launch your own company. Yeah? I realized that when
I was five years old. Honestly, it it was, you know,
I just had to go to this roundabout way to
get there. I remember I was five. My brother would
tell me to go to the store and I'd like
charge the commission for that. Like that set me on
this path to making my money in my way um
(10:11):
And and also, look, I was not able to hold
onto a job myself working for other people ever, right
until I started my own. And there's a power in
ownership that I really do believe, and particularly for black folks.
So you know, I was at four Square for about
three years, and I remember, you know, I loved the company.
I felt like I was even a founder myself. I
(10:32):
was the first, one of the first employees there. It
was a great, great time. And I remember I said,
I have to if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna
do it. And I set a calendar invite on Dennis,
the founder's calendar, six months out because I knew that's
when I had to tell them that I was going
to leave UM. And then six months pass this thing
popped up on my calendar. Was like, oh, like, I
gotta make this happen. So I said, you know what, Dennis, like,
this is my time. I learned a lot, Thank you
(10:54):
for this, but you know, now it's time to try
UM and and really the next month, yeah, the next month,
I sat on my path to start what became Walker
and Company, which I'm very very fortunate to that. Wow,
talk about your time, because I knew you did a
small stint at Andrews and Horowitz Horowitz as an e
I R. And sometimes people are wondering, like, you know,
(11:14):
should I just start at twenty two and be an entrepreneur?
Do I put my time in to go to Stanford
or you know? And I feel like you've been really
intentional about accumulating experiences and knowledge and connections um talk
about being an e I R. There. Yeah, So I
think you know, first off, what you said, I try
not to waste my time. You know, I think that
(11:35):
I've learned from an early age that you've got to
have that tunnel vision for exactly what you want. You know.
The E I R thing was a bit for two
of us for a couple of reasons. Number one, I
needed to earn money. You know, I had I had
a mortgage, I have a wife at home, a kid
on the way, right, so the realities of my reality.
It was a part of that, right, Like, you know,
(11:56):
I didn't make so much money at all from kind
of the texture me that I went on, like I
actually have responsibility. Secondly, if I was gonna kind of
go in this journey, I needed time and space to
think about what I wanted to do right. Um, you know,
I have a lot of ideas, most of them are bad,
but I knew I needed to chase the thing that
I actually had some authenticities. So you know my being
(12:19):
an entrepreneur residence at in recent how it's allowed me
to do it. But let me let me explain very
quickly what being an the I R Entrepreneur presidents is
because I know it's it's crazy. So usually it takes
one of two paths. You go to adventure capital firm
in my case of his injuries in Irelands, and you
can either spend the time that you have six and
nine months to think of an idea, which is what
I did and started potentially get funded by them. Or
(12:41):
you can partner with the venture capitalists and go source
steals for them, partner with their portfolio company. Stuff like
that I mentioned a little earlier. I didn't want to
waste my time, so I did the former versus the
ladder Um. And the first seven months of the nine
months that I was there, you know, I like to
say I was I was wasting their time because I
was thinking about things that I probably shouldn't have been
(13:01):
working on right, Like, you know, I wanted to fix
freight and trucking in this country, which didn't make any sense.
I had no understanding of that. I wanted to do
something in healthcare that I had no experience with. And
it wasn't until you know, seven months in that I
was shaving and I got fed up with that experience
and I said, you know what, maybe let's try to
give this a shot. Um. You know, I told the
partners there that, like, this is what I wanted to do.
(13:23):
They had an itch for what I was thinking about. Um,
And then two months later I raised some money for it,
and the rest is history. But I spent nine months
there to think and also to earn because that was
my reality. Okay, So Bevel is truly an iconic black brand,
and I will say that because it's what you created.
You took, you know, the classic problem that black men
(13:45):
like Tino men, you know, suffered from all the time
you know whether or not how to shave, how to shave,
and you created a product that was just undeniable in
the marketplace, and then went around the valley where let's
just be frank, it's all these pale white males going listen,
this is a big deal. I need your money. I
need you to fund this, and I need it to
be in stores across the entire country. Like that's incredible, Yeah,
(14:07):
thank you. Yeah, so tell us about you know, Okay,
you had this light bulb moment you were shaving and
you're like, I'm going to fix razor bumps for black men.
You know, It's funny when I when I was doing it,
I wasn't even thinking about doing it as a business.
I just wanted to fix the problem for myself, to
be told. I mean, I am this was a January.
It's in January. Um, yeah, I was using a depilatory
(14:28):
cream in my face for like fifteen years that like
destroyed my skin. And smell this this is like a
hundred year old purse. Yeah, it's the worst, right, And
I remember going to an artist shaving store and asking
him what to use, and they told me to use
this device that like very few people used, called the
single blade razor. I used, it didn't break out, and
I knew I had an epiphany, and then I decided
(14:50):
to go out and start to start the business. You know.
The thing that I had to get over for myself
was like, you know, did I want to be the
dude the black dude in Silicon Valley building things for
black It is blah blah blah blah blah. And then
I was like, what the hell you're thinking about, Tristan,
Like this is what you need to be doing because
you have a unique perspective. You know, my my very
first pitch, Um, I was nervous as all out, you know,
(15:12):
speaking to Um. You know, a wonderful woman who have
gotten to know there's a venture capitalist. She's on the
other side of the table. And you know, I had
one slide on my deck and it had proactively active
system on one side and on the other side it
had bevel the shape system to help eliminate razor pumps.
And I said, you know, we want to replicate with
what they did. And she looked at me and she said, Tristan,
(15:34):
I'm not sure solving issues related to razor folks will
have as profound an impact of solving issues related to acting.
So I can't see it. And and at that point
I was like, okay, like I get it. But all
that you had to do was get on the phone
with ten black folks. Eight of them would have said
that this is a crazy issue. And let's assume that
you don't even know ten black folks, which is the
(15:54):
problem all another self. But let's assume that you didn't
you got on the phone with tend non black folks,
for them would have said the exact same thing. So
I recognized that it wasn't that my my idea was bad.
It was the fact that the people who had the
money were too lazy to recognize that it's good. And
at that point I just realized that you had to
keep going, keep going, and eventually, after all those pitches,
(16:16):
we had some great venture capits that were willing to
ticket bet um. So something entrepreneurs often come to me
with the differences like how do I know my idea
is good or bad? Versus like, you know, being able
to go out and come back with data talking about
customer discovery, And I think that's one of the things
that's hard because people really get stuck in their feelings
and like, I know my idea is good, but you
(16:38):
backed it up with like I have the research, here's
the data, here's the people, here's the customer testimonials. Yeah,
even even a little bit different. Um. Look, I believe
a couple of things. First, I believe there's no such
things as bad ideas. It's just bad timing sometimes right,
sometimes the market hasn't caught up. But also I think
(16:59):
there are a lot of ideas that people think are good,
which probably are good, but they shouldn't be the ones
doing them. And the thing that, you know, it was
a good filter for me, and I had some advice
on this, and I still believe it to this day.
And this goes back to someone explains my focus a
little bit. Thing. It's I feel that you should only
be doing the thing they you fundamentally feel feel based
(17:20):
on your lived experience, you're the best person in the
world to do right now. This sounds like a bit
of a tall order, right, but just reflect on my
experience for a bit. You know, I was a black
man and slicking vally. There aren't that many of us
back then, by the way, who could raise the money
for this problem that I had authentically for fifteen years
when I walked down these retail I'll still neglected that
sort of thing. At that time in I felt that
(17:43):
I was the best person on earth to start that company.
Now I'm probably not the best person on earth to
start it today, but I was back then, and I
think it's important for people to recognize, like their lived experience,
you might have a better idea for how to white
or as a toilet paper straight up right, And a
lot of people, a lot of people shape like straight
(18:06):
away from that. And then I try and tell plugs, well,
someone invented toilet paps. You know what I said. It's
making And I think a lot of people try and
chase what they think they should be doing as opposed
to chasing what they fundamentally and authentically should Does that
make sense? Oh? No, completely, And it's one of those
lessons that people I think here all the time, and
until it clips does everything become clear? And it's kind
(18:29):
of like the seas part, And you're like, man, all
that time that I put in, like going to this
school and this, it all makes sense and it's like
that tunnel vision becomes clear. So well, we've we've got
to learn, We've got to unlearn some things, Like I
think we for up until that point, for twenty four years,
by the time I got the Stanford and even new
years after, we had this idea follow your dreams, Follow
(18:50):
your dreams. And honestly, I think that that is the
most dangerous advice that anyone could ever have really for
for two reasons. The first, you know, sometimes you think
dreams of dreams, but they actually end up being nightmares.
And the second thing is it blocks your ability to
see what you are authentically position to do. I didn't
(19:13):
dream to start to help and beauty products, and never would,
but I should have. Yeah, oh no, that's really great. Okay,
So now you're at the point where you're I don't
know whether to go if we go like product development
or fundraising, like and they're both really hard things to
tackle and scale. Um. But because fundraising is such a
(19:34):
you know, dynamic question now and it's like a hot
topic with Black Lives Matter and what we've gone through
with the pandemic, and there's so many people who were like,
how is black people can't fundraise in this? You know,
I think it's changed now. But can you talk about
how it was going out fundraising? Yeah, I mean, I've
got so much to say about this. I'll tell you
a little bit of how it was fundraising. I'll tell
(19:55):
you a little bit about my point of view around fundraising. Now.
It was hard. I had venture capitalists who had known
for five years and to that point, telling Tristan, whatever
you do, I'm going to fund them and to go
to them and say, hey, I have something that's ready
and you know, to come back their laziness like they
were unwilling to fund it. So I was like, oh damn,
(20:16):
Like you have been promising me this for this whole time,
but now you're kind of gonna pull back. And I
was like, all right, But I think I had pitched gosh,
like thirty forty people at that point and only three
said guests. And we started with a company that needed
two and a half million dollars in order to get started, right,
But before I raised the scent in funding, I had
(20:37):
pretty much gotten about two hundred thousand dollars of work
done for free, right um, So I had to I
had to pitch what this is going to be. But
at the time, you know, about two months before I
started pitching, I found a manufacturer that was willing to
make me samples for free. The way I found that manufacturer,
I went to a website that had a list of
(20:58):
all private label manufacturers because as my eyes pointed to
a screen and released it and saw that that person's
name called her up Um, and she said that she
was willing to make them for free, so I got
formulations for free. I had a designer whom I had known,
who was from Idea. He said, Tristan Cool, I will
make you some designs for free. If you want these
(21:19):
designs and own the intellectual property, you just have to
pay me ten thousand dollars. If you don't do that,
then I keep them. So when I raised the money,
I pay them ten thousand dollars and I kept it.
But I had the designs to show. And then I
had a friend who was like a brand logo designer
who usually charges tens or sometimes I just sit dounars
of dollars for us to give me a shot. Right.
So I think the important part of that too is
(21:41):
sometimes you gotta do the upfront work before the fundraising.
So my fundraising experience I raised between Walker and company
coach not for profit tens and tens of millions of
dollars um. But you know this is kind of the
fast forward to today. I regret it. Um. I gret
every bit of it. I think fundraising can be as
(22:03):
dangerous as um you know, gosh, like you know, as
anything when you're running the business, because now you're forced
to chase the growth that you might not be ready for.
And I strongly encourage people to really think about that
needs eat and giving up your ownership right to chase
(22:24):
the growth that you might not be ready for. Okay,
So like go a little bit deeper in to explain
that because there's a difference. I think what you're trying
to say is, like the difference between fundraising and going
after revenue. Is that right, Because then you're not tied
to like, oh I got a raise again, I can't
scale and you know it's like this endless loop. Yeah,
so let me give you some math. Um. You know,
(22:45):
I raised forty million dollars for walking in company. Right.
Usually venture capitalists want like a ten x return, right,
So this is a simple math, Like you know four
times ten, Like you know you should be expected to
sell your company. Those those valuations that exit are based
on revenue or profitability that you have, right. Um, So
(23:08):
if you raise this money at too high of evaluation
and your revenues cannot support that, if you're getting to
a point where you don't have as much money in
the bank, folks are unwilling to give you more of it.
And in the meanwhile, you're losing your ownership along way.
So it puts you in this like very weird position
(23:29):
where you realize and wake up, I don't have the
majority of my business anymore. Um Uh, it's hard for
me to fundraise and fuel my growth. Should I go
and shut everything down, lay off my team, get to profitability?
Or should I go and try and sell to someone else?
These are things that you probably would not have to
think about if you bootstrap yourself, if you had the
(23:52):
luxury to be able to so me kind of press
it by saying that too. But if you can do it,
I would do it. And there's something to be said
about ownership on totonomy that I've learned to appreciate. Um
and you know I will never take that back. I'll
tell you one thing, Dan, you the when I sold
by company. We announced it on December twelve of and
(24:16):
at that point, very quickly I recognized what freedom was,
like I defined it and it's me for this fleeting moment,
I felt, freedom is not owing anybody anything right. When
I sold my company, I didn't owe my investors anything,
I didn't owe our people anything. I didn't owe Procter
and Gamble anything right. That's really there to like what
(24:38):
you're saying, Like it brings me back to remember those
old commercials like freedom, Like yes we're but that like
financial and wealth freedom. And I think for entrepreneurs to
like that doesn't happen a lot. A lot of times
people sell, they have to stay there for four or
five years, work in the business, vest this, that and
the other. So like that's a that's a good deal
(25:00):
that you negotiated. Yeah, I think Look, it's um. You know,
wealth doesn't have to be the end goal for everybody.
Not everybody has the the fortune that I think, right,
But there's something to be said about autonomy and not
telling anybody anything. There's a feeling of freedom. You know,
a lot of folks ask you know, you know who
inspires you, Tristan, And I'm like, listen, the kind of
(25:23):
couple that's been running an h bag business in the
Midwest for twenty years, that going all of it and
they're generating like two million dollars in cash law here,
That to me is like mine or bondam you know.
And I think we're caught up in the headline, right
this person sold for a billion dollars, right, but we
we don't read the fine print. Yeah, that person sold
(25:43):
for a billion dollars, they have less than one percent
of the company, right and now on the other side,
they sell the company, they won't be able to get
their money for four or five years, right, Like, there's
a lot of fine print that goes into that. So
the point that I'm trying to make is forget the money.
I think that there's something to be said about kind
of owning your own autonomy. And we felt we felt
(26:04):
free for a while, right, but we've never had freedom
until we don't owe anybody any Yeah, I love that.
That's really great. I mean, I don't even know what
to say, Like, this has been such a joy talking
to you. I love what you do, I love what
you continue to do, and I love the mindset that
you put behind it. And so I think you know,
our money Moves. Audience is going to be grateful just
to hear from you and to continue to follow you
(26:27):
and your journey and what you continue to build. Can
you tell our audience where they can find you on
social media? Sure? I'm just at Tristan Walker, c R,
I S t A, N, Instagram, Twitter, all that, and
where can they find bevil everywhere? Oh? I appreciate that
you can get to go to get bevil dot com.
We're in Target, We're in Walmart, We're in Sally Beauty, everywhere.
(26:51):
That's incredible, Money Movers. That is all the time we
have for today. Make sure you tune in Monday to
Friday and subscribe to the Money Moves podcast power or
by green One so that you can have the keys
to the financial freedom you so rightly deserve. Thank you
so much for tuning in Money Moves audience. If you
want more or a recap of this episode, please go
(27:11):
to the Bank Greenwood dot com and check out the
Money Moves Podcast blog
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