April 19, 2022 • 26 mins
Tristan Walker talks about his most challenging year as a CEO. He discusses how to be equipped for the position and ways to cope with the struggles that come with that role.
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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. I'm so excited to
welcome to the podcast today, Mr Tristan Walker. Tristan, how
(00:23):
are you. What's up? I'm doing well. So excited to
have you here, no doubt now excited to be here.
Just like love this conversation. It pumps me up because
oftentimes I know, you know, in the entrepreneurship world, even
as an angel investor, you know, I'll have businesses that
will come and women men will say, oh, well, this
is just a little lifestyle business, right, and it's definitely
a dis It's not like complimentary. It's like I can't
(00:47):
find this because this is a lifestyle business. But that
lifestyle business is making revenue over and over with growth
in this and they're like, well, I might not get
you your ten X return, so I'm not interested in it.
But there's no shame in that game. These people are
making a lot of money. And so I think it's
understanding the difference of what you want versus what people
think you should want, and like staying in your lane.
(01:08):
And I think when it comes to fundraising. Oftentimes people
are confused about that. They think the goal is to
get someone to invest in my business so I can
scale it. Yeah, well, I mean some things that encourage
people to really remember and realizes most of the people
that are venture capitalists have never run a business their
entire lives, have never worked in a business their entire lives.
It's their job, literally, literally, it is their job to
(01:32):
be wrong the time, right, And it's their jobs just
get ten percent of those things to win. And it's like,
I can't afford to be wrong ninety percent of the time,
you know what I'm saying. So my little rinky dink
lifestyle business is making more money than you've probably ever made,
you know. And I really encourage people to read the
fine print ones right, and not follow the headline, because
(01:54):
it's true, Oh I love this. Okay, so so many gens,
so forty million raised. Now you've got a product, you're
scaling it, and you know, you know, you need to
take it to the moon. And I think I imagine
the next step for a consumer product good is You're like,
I need distribution. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Now, I mean it's um, Well,
before we actually raised the full forty million um. You know.
(02:17):
We so we raised two and a half first, then
we raised seven, and then we raised twenty four I think,
and then so on. But by the time we raised
the seven that's when we started distribution. So we got
some distribution at target UM, which was really really great
and kind of helped amplify the business UM. And today,
like you know, being in retail stores has been such
(02:38):
a huge influence on everyone's recognizing the Devil brand. You know,
we started as a shaving brand, but now we're shaving, skincare,
hair care, beard care, UM. And you know, it's really
platform the brand in a very big way. But you know,
once you're in retail, once you have online sales, you
get punch drunk and realize you want to grow. You know, Um,
(03:02):
You've got to raise more money to fuel that growth.
You've got to make more products. You gotta pay for
the products that you're making, you know, UM. So it
puts you on this kind of cycle. And so this
was or so when we started distribution and we sold
our company in December in two dozen and eighteen, and
here's where the mic drops a little bit in UM.
(03:24):
In January, you know, we had grown the previous year
quite a bit in revenue. We wanted to raise some
more money, um, and then realized we couldn't. Folks just
weren't investing in the category anymore. Our valuation was too
high at the time, um, and I had to make
a couple decisions right. Number one, I had to lay
(03:46):
off in the reduction in force over half my team.
I had to take a down round of investment, right
because frankly, the division and the mission needed to carry on.
And in third, um, you know, at the time, and
this is a bit fortuitous for us, all of the
large kind of CpG companies were wanting to talk to
(04:06):
us about something, right um. And so it started. We
started the year on this weird ship what are we
gonna do? And then we ended the year in December
on the kind of ultimate high note, right um. And
now the brand is thriving and continues to and um,
you know, we've been platform in a unique and interesting way.
(04:28):
But the headlines that you read about Walker and Company
in Bewell had a lot of fine print, you know.
And I would be the first to admit that stuff
like starting company, scaling businesses, running businesses is hard, um.
Exiting them very few get to do and we're very
fortunately blessed to do it right with a company like
a Proctary, a Gamble the platform uth um. But the
journey is a roller coaster and I'll be the first
(04:51):
to be as transparent about that as possible. And I think,
like that is that story right there is the epitome
of like when people go, hey, you're running a startup?
How is it? Like it's killing me? I'm killing it?
Like because you know, people don't understand you're a CEO.
You have to go in and lay off half the company,
You're taking a down trount, Like that's hard. How did you? Like,
how do you cope with that? You know? Like what
(05:13):
powers you through it? Yeah? You know, I am. I
think there's only one way. And you know the way
I think about starting a company, leading it, growing it,
especially a CEO, it's I have the privilege to get
to go through something that the world is not as
(05:33):
terrible as it is to do a reduction enforce for
a team with committed people, as terrible as it is
to do a down round, right and so on and
so forth. Right, Um, it's only gonna make me better,
you know, it's going to make the way that I
run business is better. And the thing that I've learned
throughout that entire process, I've seen everything as a CEO. Literally,
(05:54):
I've seen everything, gone through everything I am. I am aquit,
you know. And I remember I would go to all
these folks with advice and it wasn't until I had
to go through this myself that I realized that they
didn't know what they were talking about. Like, now I
know what I'm talking about, right, So if I have
to go through these things ever again, God forbid, right, Like,
(06:14):
I know how to do it with excellence. And the
only thing I could say is do it with excellence.
Outside of that that feeling that like I'm going through
something in the world is not It's important for me
to speak to folks. Right. I had and continue to
have an executive coach. She's like this wonderful, brilliant neuroscientist
who thinks about like running a company like being an athlete. Right.
(06:36):
So he's been real good health for me. And at
the time I had just separate therapists to to just
talk about this stuff. I mean, twenty eight was the
craziest year of my entire life. I remember, yeah, about
about two months before I was going to announce the acquisition.
She said, Tristan, you know we started talking, you know,
(06:58):
four months before then four months. In the four months
that I had known you, there was no talk in
selling the business. There was no talk of down round,
there was no talk of playoff, there was no talk
of the fact that you know, you have a second
son on the way. There was no talk that you
were going to move to Atlanta. Like all these things
happened in a four months span, and you know, I
(07:18):
was it was so stressful, like so stressful that I
got was called shingles. I had no idea what that
was like on my shoulders and like I remember going
to the doctor. He was like, have your head chickenpox?
Before I was like yeah, and he's like, oh, you're
stressed up. And it was the first time I recognized
that my mind was telling me something that was different
from what my body was. The only way I got
(07:40):
through it was talking right, but also recognizing the privilege
that I had and the blessing to be able to
even go through it. You know what I'm saying, Um,
I'm going to shout you out right now, because any
black man that can come on here and say, listen,
I asked for help, I had coaches, I had therapists,
like I had to talk it out, like and that's
one of those things that I mean, I sound like
(08:01):
an Instagram meme right now, and it's like normalized black
men in therapy. But like I think that it speaks
to you know, if you're a CEO, you're like, I
just need the best toolbox possible. And that's like how
you have to look at it, like I need the
best tools in my toolbox to make sure that I
can be excellent every day, and like whatever it means.
I mean, look I my job, especially something that I've
(08:23):
learned of the fast ten months, it's it's empathy. You know.
It's empathy for the products we make on behalf of
our consumers. It's empathy for you know, the colleague that
I have that has a kid that's having trouble at school. Right,
It's it's empathy for you know, my son's at home, right.
Um you you know, you know deserve and earn my love.
(08:46):
You know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, you have to
have empathy for others and yourself in order to be
successful in any of this stuff. So I see all
the good in the bad. It's just a privilege. And
I try to think about a world is one where
you know, we go through good seasons, right, good seasons,
and we go through bad seasons. Bad seasons and good
(09:06):
seasons come and go, and you know, all that I
know is that they're coming. I just don't know how
long they are. So it's given me some perspective. And
as long as I'm talking to people along the way
led by empathy, everything would be cool. Like I'm good,
you know, Wow, I love that because you know, people
always think CEOs are these hard ass, like low emotional
EQ people, and I think the best ones are like
(09:29):
the most well rounded, um for sure, because that's like, yeah,
this is a it's an unfortunate narrative that like of
what success is, right, Like I I mean a lot
of folks, look, they see me in magazines and all
this stuff, and you know, they have this headline of
what success is, and I'm like, I've never wanted any
of that. I still don't want any of that. That's
(09:51):
not why I'm doing any of this stuff. Like I
wouldn't be able to come home and like chilling my kids,
my life and that's it, Like, I'm good, you know.
So I think some of this is reframed in the
conversation around like how do we define success? How do
you define wealth for yourself? You know, your your wealth
creation doesn't have to be the same as someone else. Yeah,
and I think it really took me, um some work,
(10:13):
right to get from where I was as a twenty
four year old um to now like I'm thirty seven now,
and my definition of like what all this stuff means
such changed, you know, and I to allow myself some
space to allow it to change. Yeah. Oh that's a
beautiful growth. I love to hear that. Okay, so let's
get to the fun part where you just ball out
and they're like pgs like, let's sign this deal. No,
(10:36):
I'm kidding, but I'm not kidding. I mean, let's fast
forward to the end of the year where now all
of a sudden, the tables turn, like you said, like
the seasons, the tides turn, and you have all these
CpG companies who were like actually were interested in acquiring you. Yeah. No,
I mean it was we started to get into a
season of like good bout you know what I'm saying,
(10:57):
Like we had spoken to the CpG companies the same January,
June in July and P ANDNG knocked on the door
pretty much, um, and we realized very quickly we kind
of shared the same values. They came to visit us
in August. UM, we signed a letter of intent in September,
and we announced in December. You know, funny enough in
(11:20):
August where we just met for the first time. I
visited Atlanta that weekend we bought a house and then
we didn't even have a letter of intent yet, so
I didn't even tell my team, like but but but
there was you know, one thing I tell a lot
of folks is like in something a lot of all
these deals, there's certainly the financial stuff, right, you want
(11:41):
to make sure you take care of yourself, family, colleagues
and all that, but there's also the non financial um
and they were fair. They were in agreement with the
kind of our point of view in the world, and
our values matched, and it made a hell of a
lot of sense. And the acquisition was very very quick,
you know, and I'm grateful for that. Yeah, no, because
(12:03):
sometimes that's not the case, and you know, you you
really feel like you're butting heads, But like that is
that's a beautiful and it kind of ties a nice bow. Yeah. No,
I mean it was I have to give PG a
lot of credit. I mean, we are we're legit brand now,
you know what I'm saying, Like every and I had
to recognize why I got into this in the first place.
I got into starting this company not to get rich.
(12:23):
It was actually to do something for black folks that
was meaningful. And I wanted to build a company that
lasted me right, that was still around a hundred and
fifty years from now. Um. So I think we're fortunate
enough to partner with the brand that has done that
right and believes that we have a company that can
do that. Um. And it's all I could ever ask for.
And you know, we are bigger and better foundationally on
(12:46):
the other side now as a result. Wow. I love that. Okay,
So a couple of the things because this is not
I mean, your accomplishment list is really huge right now.
So you've been at Procter and gamble Um, you took
a lot of your team there. How is it working
inside the big company? Yeah, So this goes back to
the non financial thing. I mean we have full autonomy. Yeah,
(13:07):
I mean I I think I have a PNG email address,
we have a our health insurance, Like we don't take
P andngs, we have our own Like, so they were
cool with lightning, Like listen, you guys stay autonomous because
there's something magic in what you do that, Like, we
don't want to get involved and mess it up. So
(13:27):
I have to give them a lot of credit for that.
But also like we get to leverage things that we
would have never done ourselves. They have a two billion
dollar year research and development budget, right, like we would
have never done that. They are the world's largest advertisement.
Um you know the fact that like we're in the
TV commercials and all that stuff at scale. We never
made to do that ourselves unless we kept raising money,
(13:50):
you know. Um. So it was a combination of not equals, clearly,
but a combination of two organizations that really respected each
day with excellence. And I fought for the non financial
part of this thing in a way that I was
particularly fierce, right and in some ways non negotiable, if
(14:12):
that makes sense. If anything that was negotiated, there's more
of the financial stuff. But like the non financial, they
gave us everything that we asked for, which was absolutely
wondering that's great, that's great. I mean, I just love
to hear it because oftentimes people are scared of, like
you know, being amalgamated into these big companies. They're going
to eat them up. But there's beautiful positive stories in it,
and you're, you know, exactly where you should be. I mean,
(14:33):
I this December will be three years and as you know,
like in foundery years, that's crazy, that's crazy. Most founderies
accounting the day till they're out. You're like, I like
it here, my team likes it here, we're happy. I'm
providing jobs. And yeah, and I did not I had
I did not have any obligation, right. I chose to
stay because I want to put us in a position
(14:54):
where we're going to be around a hundred and fifty
years from now and at least they're fulfilling their side
of the bargain. And the great thing about the relationship
transparent to transparently tell them, like if you're no longer
fulfilling your side of the bargain amount you know, Um,
it can be as simple as that. But actually I
will ask you a question because you know, you talk
a lot about one of your earliest investors, one of
(15:16):
your biggest supporters was nas UM and you sort of
got that relationship through being an e. I r at
in recent Horowitz and I think now everybody is looking
for the celebrity investor the celebrity um, you know, face
to their brand. How do you feel about that now?
Has it changed when it had been the same story
if you approached nas building a CpG brand today? Yeah,
(15:38):
you know, I, um, the nast thing. What's interesting? Um?
So let me kind of set the tone. I was
sitting at my desk at Injuicon Horowitz and I see
this dude with a Mets fitted capal and like, walk by.
Don't like he looks familiar, right? And then ben Hard
knocks on the door. He's like, your nass here? You
want to go and talk to him? So I'm like, okay,
like you know from queens, not from queens like I
(16:00):
always looked up to do it. I used to have
like a half moon in my all the time. So
I go and like I picked him. Five minutes in
He's like, I'm in naz is my very first. So
I think that the difference between our setup versus you know,
other people approach and celebrities is he came into it authentically.
(16:20):
You know, he's always been the haircut dude and he
always fresh all that stuff. You know, he's always been
about supporting black business. He authentically is about it. And
you know he put us in songs and all this
other stuff without even telling us, like he just didn't hr.
It's like he's like, I'm in I believe. Um So,
nas he became a friend, you know what I'm saying.
I think a lot of people who tried to do
(16:41):
the celebrity thing and the creative directive thing, they tend
to fail because it's not as authentic as it should be.
And you know, we had a lot of celebrities try
to hit us up to do stuff, but I couldn't
think of any more authentic contributor to bevil, you know
what I'm saying. Like he and that's why it works.
Um So I have to give him and I will
(17:01):
always always celebrate that man because he does the right
thing at the right time of the right people authentically,
and I have to give him a lot of thanks. Yeah,
you know, I think that's something that's really interesting. And
even now in this whole influencer marketplace, like authenticity, you
can't buy it. Actually you know, and people talk about
building communities and brands and this, and it's this idea
(17:23):
where like your best spokespeople are the one that just
authentically love the brand, and so I think people have
to be really intentional about that. Like people message to
me all the time and they're like, do you want
to sell my flat tummy t And I was like,
this stuff is, you know, I was like, this is
I don't know, but people do it, and so I
just you And there's a lot of people who will
(17:44):
take the check, you know, and they'll do a post
for you sort of thing. But it's really authenticity that
builds community and true through that. So I think people
have to be careful looking for their you know. And
there it goes back to the what are you the
best person in the world to do? And again nons
is the best person in the world to support what
(18:05):
we were doing. There might be someone on platom of
cheesus best in the world and support that, you know
what I'm saying, So like, you know, I can't knock it.
I think that there's like a best in the world
at dot dot dot. But you just got to do
the work and Naws did the work before I realized
he was doing it, and that like like messed me up,
and I was like, wow, this is possible, and I'm
(18:27):
thankful for that, you know. Okay, so what's next? You
know you're still holding you're running this company. What's next
for Walker Brands and what's next for Tristan Walker. Yeah,
this is the best way that I can explain in it. Like,
if anyone knows me, they know I'm very consistent, like
focused and consistent. And there have really only been three
(18:49):
themes of the world that I've cared about for the
past decade that I will care about in the next
five decades. It will explain every move that I make.
You know. The first theme is the demographic ship having
in this country and the cultural influence of black people
within it. I think it is singularly the most important
thing in my lifetime and I've dedicated my life to it.
Second is technology and its impact on organizations, but I
(19:13):
think a lot about its mapp factors. Demographic ship. Right,
how do we equip these curators of culture with the
tools they need to spread that culture what I'm saying.
And lastly, I love I love great brands. I love
great brands because they're fun and sexy and cool. But
I think that the greatest brands are like the light
to the brush fire public opinion. If you get it right,
(19:35):
you can change things. So every single thing that I've
done has been an embrace of those themes. Walker and
Company and if prop foot locker shakeshack choa right. Um,
So anything that I do tied to Walker and Company
and the products we make, the things we support. Anything
that I do next, the things that I invest in
(19:55):
have to fit those three themes. So I don't know
specifically what that is, but it's going to explained by
those three. 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
(20:15):
going to be grateful just to hear from you and
to continue to follow you 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, t 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
(20:37):
Bevil dot com. We're in Target, We're in Walmart, where
in sally Beauty, everywhere. That's incredible. Okay, Tristan. I also
feel like you are an exemplatory marketing MAYBN and you've
also used a lot of different tactics to to market
your company. Can you share some of those, Um, some
of your thesis is on that. Yeah, I appreciate it,
(21:00):
and it's it's less I think about it less in
terms of our marketing and company, more about you know,
being a part of the community that we love. Right then,
we love our community, we love our Black community. And
the thing that I encourage our team to do, especially
over the past eighteen months that we've all observed, I say, look, guys,
I wanted to think about kind of this three pronged
(21:21):
approach to things like social cause. Right. First, we got
to really acknowledge the trauma in our community. Yeah, we've been,
you know, subject to this trauma for the past four
hundred years. It's not until we acknowledge it ourselves that
we can model the way. Right. So the second thing
is modeling the way and like leading with the values
that we've articulated for ourselves. Right. I think a lot
(21:42):
of big companies try to get to this point around
action before they acknowledge and model. But it's not until
you acknowledge the model that you can actually act. Right then.
You know a perfect example of that, I'll just give
you to UM. You know last year, you know, post pandemic,
post George Floyd. You know, we partnered with Headspace, the
mental health app, and we said, you know, let's offer
(22:04):
just free subscriptions to our community, right. You know, we
have consumers, but you know we have a much larger
community too who deserves to be treated well. UM. And
that was just an authentic way to connect UM. You know. Second,
and more recently, you know, this has been something that
we've wanted to do for the past guess eight or
(22:24):
so years that I've been running the business. UM. You know,
you think about you know, folks who are incarcerating you know,
for the folks who have the great fortune to leave
and become returning citizens, one of the risks that they
have to deal with is recidivism. This idea that you
go back into UM kind of the system and you know,
there are a number of reasons for that, right, Like
you know, community support, the ability to kind of earn
(22:47):
and get jobs, that sort of thing. And we said, wow, like,
how can we actually authentically contribute to helping solve this problem? Um?
And usually you leave and you know you're returning citizen,
now you're life for a job, and there's just checkbox, right, Um,
you know, are you a fell and that sort of thing,
and that's crazy and and nuts, and there's a huge
(23:07):
movement around kind of getting rid of that box. But
you know, you know, there's a profession that is as
entrepreneurial ever supported by a community, and that's barbering, right.
And we asked the question, can we do the work,
um to help folks who are about to be returning
citizens are already returning citizens, to become barber's right Um.
(23:30):
And you have that community support, and you know recidivis
anti recidivism programs help reduce recidivism, right Um. So we're
establishing a program right now of that kind of community support.
We're offering scholarships were kind of barbering programs for them,
providing them with the tools, the connection back to the
(23:51):
community to help ensure that we're helping to mitigate recidivism.
So as I go back to this idea of authenticity,
this isn't about marketing our brand. That's not what important.
It will actually come as a results of their own success, right,
But it's an authentic commitment to the values that we
always talk about. And this is our modeling with yeah, yeah, no.
(24:11):
I love that, And I mean it's like again, you've
like I'm in the perfect position to make these things happen,
you know, because I built businesses, I have you know,
the capital and the connections, and I appreciate that so
much because it's just this is how we really change
our our trajectory as a community for generations to come,
because we get into positions where we can and doing
(24:33):
the work. So like I commend you for that. I
thank you. I'm so glad we got to talk about that.
And it is just such a pleasure to have had
you on the podcast today. 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 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
(24:54):
is going to be grateful just to hear from you
and to continue to follow you 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? Oh? I
appreciate that you can you to go to get bevil
(25:17):
dot com. We're in Target, We're in Walmart, where in
Sally Beauty, everywhere. That's incredible. We're gonna have you come
back because I'm sure there's so much more to come,
and we want to make sure we keep tabs on
you and all that you're doing in the community. So
thank you, sir, thank you, thank you, Thank you so much.
Appreciate it. Yes, Yes, Money Movers. Make sure to follow
(25:37):
Tristan on all his social media handles and listen to
his interviews because they are truly life changing money movers.
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(26:01):
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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. I'm so excited to
welcome to the podcast today, Mr Tristan Walker. Tristan, how
(00:23):
are you. What's up? I'm doing well. So excited to
have you here, no doubt now excited to be here.
Just like love this conversation. It pumps me up because
oftentimes I know, you know, in the entrepreneurship world, even
as an angel investor, you know, I'll have businesses that
will come and women men will say, oh, well, this
is just a little lifestyle business, right, and it's definitely
a dis It's not like complimentary. It's like I can't
(00:47):
find this because this is a lifestyle business. But that
lifestyle business is making revenue over and over with growth
in this and they're like, well, I might not get
you your ten X return, so I'm not interested in it.
But there's no shame in that game. These people are
making a lot of money. And so I think it's
understanding the difference of what you want versus what people
think you should want, and like staying in your lane.
(01:08):
And I think when it comes to fundraising. Oftentimes people
are confused about that. They think the goal is to
get someone to invest in my business so I can
scale it. Yeah, well, I mean some things that encourage
people to really remember and realizes most of the people
that are venture capitalists have never run a business their
entire lives, have never worked in a business their entire lives.
It's their job, literally, literally, it is their job to
(01:32):
be wrong the time, right, And it's their jobs just
get ten percent of those things to win. And it's like,
I can't afford to be wrong ninety percent of the time,
you know what I'm saying. So my little rinky dink
lifestyle business is making more money than you've probably ever made,
you know. And I really encourage people to read the
fine print ones right, and not follow the headline, because
(01:54):
it's true, Oh I love this. Okay, so so many gens,
so forty million raised. Now you've got a product, you're
scaling it, and you know, you know, you need to
take it to the moon. And I think I imagine
the next step for a consumer product good is You're like,
I need distribution. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Now, I mean it's um, Well,
before we actually raised the full forty million um. You know.
(02:17):
We so we raised two and a half first, then
we raised seven, and then we raised twenty four I think,
and then so on. But by the time we raised
the seven that's when we started distribution. So we got
some distribution at target UM, which was really really great
and kind of helped amplify the business UM. And today,
like you know, being in retail stores has been such
(02:38):
a huge influence on everyone's recognizing the Devil brand. You know,
we started as a shaving brand, but now we're shaving, skincare,
hair care, beard care, UM. And you know, it's really
platform the brand in a very big way. But you know,
once you're in retail, once you have online sales, you
get punch drunk and realize you want to grow. You know, Um,
(03:02):
You've got to raise more money to fuel that growth.
You've got to make more products. You gotta pay for
the products that you're making, you know, UM. So it
puts you on this kind of cycle. And so this
was or so when we started distribution and we sold
our company in December in two dozen and eighteen, and
here's where the mic drops a little bit in UM.
(03:24):
In January, you know, we had grown the previous year
quite a bit in revenue. We wanted to raise some
more money, um, and then realized we couldn't. Folks just
weren't investing in the category anymore. Our valuation was too
high at the time, um, and I had to make
a couple decisions right. Number one, I had to lay
(03:46):
off in the reduction in force over half my team.
I had to take a down round of investment, right
because frankly, the division and the mission needed to carry on.
And in third, um, you know, at the time, and
this is a bit fortuitous for us, all of the
large kind of CpG companies were wanting to talk to
(04:06):
us about something, right um. And so it started. We
started the year on this weird ship what are we
gonna do? And then we ended the year in December
on the kind of ultimate high note, right um. And
now the brand is thriving and continues to and um,
you know, we've been platform in a unique and interesting way.
(04:28):
But the headlines that you read about Walker and Company
in Bewell had a lot of fine print, you know.
And I would be the first to admit that stuff
like starting company, scaling businesses, running businesses is hard, um.
Exiting them very few get to do and we're very
fortunately blessed to do it right with a company like
a Proctary, a Gamble the platform uth um. But the
journey is a roller coaster and I'll be the first
(04:51):
to be as transparent about that as possible. And I think,
like that is that story right there is the epitome
of like when people go, hey, you're running a startup?
How is it? Like it's killing me? I'm killing it?
Like because you know, people don't understand you're a CEO.
You have to go in and lay off half the company,
You're taking a down trount, Like that's hard. How did you? Like,
how do you cope with that? You know? Like what
(05:13):
powers you through it? Yeah? You know, I am. I
think there's only one way. And you know the way
I think about starting a company, leading it, growing it,
especially a CEO, it's I have the privilege to get
to go through something that the world is not as
(05:33):
terrible as it is to do a reduction enforce for
a team with committed people, as terrible as it is
to do a down round, right and so on and
so forth. Right, Um, it's only gonna make me better,
you know, it's going to make the way that I
run business is better. And the thing that I've learned
throughout that entire process, I've seen everything as a CEO. Literally,
(05:54):
I've seen everything, gone through everything I am. I am aquit,
you know. And I remember I would go to all
these folks with advice and it wasn't until I had
to go through this myself that I realized that they
didn't know what they were talking about. Like, now I
know what I'm talking about, right, So if I have
to go through these things ever again, God forbid, right, Like,
(06:14):
I know how to do it with excellence. And the
only thing I could say is do it with excellence.
Outside of that that feeling that like I'm going through
something in the world is not It's important for me
to speak to folks. Right. I had and continue to
have an executive coach. She's like this wonderful, brilliant neuroscientist
who thinks about like running a company like being an athlete. Right.
(06:36):
So he's been real good health for me. And at
the time I had just separate therapists to to just
talk about this stuff. I mean, twenty eight was the
craziest year of my entire life. I remember, yeah, about
about two months before I was going to announce the acquisition.
She said, Tristan, you know we started talking, you know,
(06:58):
four months before then four months. In the four months
that I had known you, there was no talk in
selling the business. There was no talk of down round,
there was no talk of playoff, there was no talk
of the fact that you know, you have a second
son on the way. There was no talk that you
were going to move to Atlanta. Like all these things
happened in a four months span, and you know, I
(07:18):
was it was so stressful, like so stressful that I
got was called shingles. I had no idea what that
was like on my shoulders and like I remember going
to the doctor. He was like, have your head chickenpox?
Before I was like yeah, and he's like, oh, you're
stressed up. And it was the first time I recognized
that my mind was telling me something that was different
from what my body was. The only way I got
(07:40):
through it was talking right, but also recognizing the privilege
that I had and the blessing to be able to
even go through it. You know what I'm saying, Um,
I'm going to shout you out right now, because any
black man that can come on here and say, listen,
I asked for help, I had coaches, I had therapists,
like I had to talk it out, like and that's
one of those things that I mean, I sound like
(08:01):
an Instagram meme right now, and it's like normalized black
men in therapy. But like I think that it speaks
to you know, if you're a CEO, you're like, I
just need the best toolbox possible. And that's like how
you have to look at it, like I need the
best tools in my toolbox to make sure that I
can be excellent every day, and like whatever it means.
I mean, look I my job, especially something that I've
(08:23):
learned of the fast ten months, it's it's empathy. You know.
It's empathy for the products we make on behalf of
our consumers. It's empathy for you know, the colleague that
I have that has a kid that's having trouble at school. Right,
It's it's empathy for you know, my son's at home, right.
Um you you know, you know deserve and earn my love.
(08:46):
You know what I'm saying, Like, yeah, you have to
have empathy for others and yourself in order to be
successful in any of this stuff. So I see all
the good in the bad. It's just a privilege. And
I try to think about a world is one where
you know, we go through good seasons, right, good seasons,
and we go through bad seasons. Bad seasons and good
(09:06):
seasons come and go, and you know, all that I
know is that they're coming. I just don't know how
long they are. So it's given me some perspective. And
as long as I'm talking to people along the way
led by empathy, everything would be cool. Like I'm good,
you know, Wow, I love that because you know, people
always think CEOs are these hard ass, like low emotional
EQ people, and I think the best ones are like
(09:29):
the most well rounded, um for sure, because that's like, yeah,
this is a it's an unfortunate narrative that like of
what success is, right, Like I I mean a lot
of folks, look, they see me in magazines and all
this stuff, and you know, they have this headline of
what success is, and I'm like, I've never wanted any
of that. I still don't want any of that. That's
(09:51):
not why I'm doing any of this stuff. Like I
wouldn't be able to come home and like chilling my kids,
my life and that's it, Like, I'm good, you know.
So I think some of this is reframed in the
conversation around like how do we define success? How do
you define wealth for yourself? You know, your your wealth
creation doesn't have to be the same as someone else. Yeah,
and I think it really took me, um some work,
(10:13):
right to get from where I was as a twenty
four year old um to now like I'm thirty seven now,
and my definition of like what all this stuff means
such changed, you know, and I to allow myself some
space to allow it to change. Yeah. Oh that's a
beautiful growth. I love to hear that. Okay, so let's
get to the fun part where you just ball out
and they're like pgs like, let's sign this deal. No,
(10:36):
I'm kidding, but I'm not kidding. I mean, let's fast
forward to the end of the year where now all
of a sudden, the tables turn, like you said, like
the seasons, the tides turn, and you have all these
CpG companies who were like actually were interested in acquiring you. Yeah. No,
I mean it was we started to get into a
season of like good bout you know what I'm saying,
(10:57):
Like we had spoken to the CpG companies the same January,
June in July and P ANDNG knocked on the door
pretty much, um, and we realized very quickly we kind
of shared the same values. They came to visit us
in August. UM, we signed a letter of intent in September,
and we announced in December. You know, funny enough in
(11:20):
August where we just met for the first time. I
visited Atlanta that weekend we bought a house and then
we didn't even have a letter of intent yet, so
I didn't even tell my team, like but but but
there was you know, one thing I tell a lot
of folks is like in something a lot of all
these deals, there's certainly the financial stuff, right, you want
(11:41):
to make sure you take care of yourself, family, colleagues
and all that, but there's also the non financial um
and they were fair. They were in agreement with the
kind of our point of view in the world, and
our values matched, and it made a hell of a
lot of sense. And the acquisition was very very quick,
you know, and I'm grateful for that. Yeah, no, because
(12:03):
sometimes that's not the case, and you know, you you
really feel like you're butting heads, But like that is
that's a beautiful and it kind of ties a nice bow. Yeah. No,
I mean it was I have to give PG a
lot of credit. I mean, we are we're legit brand now,
you know what I'm saying, Like every and I had
to recognize why I got into this in the first place.
I got into starting this company not to get rich.
(12:23):
It was actually to do something for black folks that
was meaningful. And I wanted to build a company that
lasted me right, that was still around a hundred and
fifty years from now. Um. So I think we're fortunate
enough to partner with the brand that has done that
right and believes that we have a company that can
do that. Um. And it's all I could ever ask for.
And you know, we are bigger and better foundationally on
(12:46):
the other side now as a result. Wow. I love that. Okay,
So a couple of the things because this is not
I mean, your accomplishment list is really huge right now.
So you've been at Procter and gamble Um, you took
a lot of your team there. How is it working
inside the big company? Yeah, So this goes back to
the non financial thing. I mean we have full autonomy. Yeah,
(13:07):
I mean I I think I have a PNG email address,
we have a our health insurance, Like we don't take
P andngs, we have our own Like, so they were
cool with lightning, Like listen, you guys stay autonomous because
there's something magic in what you do that, Like, we
don't want to get involved and mess it up. So
(13:27):
I have to give them a lot of credit for that.
But also like we get to leverage things that we
would have never done ourselves. They have a two billion
dollar year research and development budget, right, like we would
have never done that. They are the world's largest advertisement.
Um you know the fact that like we're in the
TV commercials and all that stuff at scale. We never
made to do that ourselves unless we kept raising money,
(13:50):
you know. Um. So it was a combination of not equals, clearly,
but a combination of two organizations that really respected each
day with excellence. And I fought for the non financial
part of this thing in a way that I was
particularly fierce, right and in some ways non negotiable, if
(14:12):
that makes sense. If anything that was negotiated, there's more
of the financial stuff. But like the non financial, they
gave us everything that we asked for, which was absolutely
wondering that's great, that's great. I mean, I just love
to hear it because oftentimes people are scared of, like
you know, being amalgamated into these big companies. They're going
to eat them up. But there's beautiful positive stories in it,
and you're, you know, exactly where you should be. I mean,
(14:33):
I this December will be three years and as you know,
like in foundery years, that's crazy, that's crazy. Most founderies
accounting the day till they're out. You're like, I like
it here, my team likes it here, we're happy. I'm
providing jobs. And yeah, and I did not I had
I did not have any obligation, right. I chose to
stay because I want to put us in a position
(14:54):
where we're going to be around a hundred and fifty
years from now and at least they're fulfilling their side
of the bargain. And the great thing about the relationship
transparent to transparently tell them, like if you're no longer
fulfilling your side of the bargain amount you know, Um,
it can be as simple as that. But actually I
will ask you a question because you know, you talk
a lot about one of your earliest investors, one of
(15:16):
your biggest supporters was nas UM and you sort of
got that relationship through being an e. I r at
in recent Horowitz and I think now everybody is looking
for the celebrity investor the celebrity um, you know, face
to their brand. How do you feel about that now?
Has it changed when it had been the same story
if you approached nas building a CpG brand today? Yeah,
(15:38):
you know, I, um, the nast thing. What's interesting? Um?
So let me kind of set the tone. I was
sitting at my desk at Injuicon Horowitz and I see
this dude with a Mets fitted capal and like, walk by.
Don't like he looks familiar, right? And then ben Hard
knocks on the door. He's like, your nass here? You
want to go and talk to him? So I'm like, okay,
like you know from queens, not from queens like I
(16:00):
always looked up to do it. I used to have
like a half moon in my all the time. So
I go and like I picked him. Five minutes in
He's like, I'm in naz is my very first. So
I think that the difference between our setup versus you know,
other people approach and celebrities is he came into it authentically.
(16:20):
You know, he's always been the haircut dude and he
always fresh all that stuff. You know, he's always been
about supporting black business. He authentically is about it. And
you know he put us in songs and all this
other stuff without even telling us, like he just didn't hr.
It's like he's like, I'm in I believe. Um So,
nas he became a friend, you know what I'm saying.
I think a lot of people who tried to do
(16:41):
the celebrity thing and the creative directive thing, they tend
to fail because it's not as authentic as it should be.
And you know, we had a lot of celebrities try
to hit us up to do stuff, but I couldn't
think of any more authentic contributor to bevil, you know
what I'm saying. Like he and that's why it works.
Um So I have to give him and I will
(17:01):
always always celebrate that man because he does the right
thing at the right time of the right people authentically,
and I have to give him a lot of thanks. Yeah,
you know, I think that's something that's really interesting. And
even now in this whole influencer marketplace, like authenticity, you
can't buy it. Actually you know, and people talk about
building communities and brands and this, and it's this idea
(17:23):
where like your best spokespeople are the one that just
authentically love the brand, and so I think people have
to be really intentional about that. Like people message to
me all the time and they're like, do you want
to sell my flat tummy t And I was like,
this stuff is, you know, I was like, this is
I don't know, but people do it, and so I
just you And there's a lot of people who will
(17:44):
take the check, you know, and they'll do a post
for you sort of thing. But it's really authenticity that
builds community and true through that. So I think people
have to be careful looking for their you know. And
there it goes back to the what are you the
best person in the world to do? And again nons
is the best person in the world to support what
(18:05):
we were doing. There might be someone on platom of
cheesus best in the world and support that, you know
what I'm saying, So like, you know, I can't knock it.
I think that there's like a best in the world
at dot dot dot. But you just got to do
the work and Naws did the work before I realized
he was doing it, and that like like messed me up,
and I was like, wow, this is possible, and I'm
(18:27):
thankful for that, you know. Okay, so what's next? You
know you're still holding you're running this company. What's next
for Walker Brands and what's next for Tristan Walker. Yeah,
this is the best way that I can explain in it. Like,
if anyone knows me, they know I'm very consistent, like
focused and consistent. And there have really only been three
(18:49):
themes of the world that I've cared about for the
past decade that I will care about in the next
five decades. It will explain every move that I make.
You know. The first theme is the demographic ship having
in this country and the cultural influence of black people
within it. I think it is singularly the most important
thing in my lifetime and I've dedicated my life to it.
Second is technology and its impact on organizations, but I
(19:13):
think a lot about its mapp factors. Demographic ship. Right,
how do we equip these curators of culture with the
tools they need to spread that culture what I'm saying.
And lastly, I love I love great brands. I love
great brands because they're fun and sexy and cool. But
I think that the greatest brands are like the light
to the brush fire public opinion. If you get it right,
(19:35):
you can change things. So every single thing that I've
done has been an embrace of those themes. Walker and
Company and if prop foot locker shakeshack choa right. Um,
So anything that I do tied to Walker and Company
and the products we make, the things we support. Anything
that I do next, the things that I invest in
(19:55):
have to fit those three themes. So I don't know
specifically what that is, but it's going to explained by
those three. 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
(20:15):
going to be grateful just to hear from you and
to continue to follow you 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, t 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
(20:37):
Bevil dot com. We're in Target, We're in Walmart, where
in sally Beauty, everywhere. That's incredible. Okay, Tristan. I also
feel like you are an exemplatory marketing MAYBN and you've
also used a lot of different tactics to to market
your company. Can you share some of those, Um, some
of your thesis is on that. Yeah, I appreciate it,
(21:00):
and it's it's less I think about it less in
terms of our marketing and company, more about you know,
being a part of the community that we love. Right then,
we love our community, we love our Black community. And
the thing that I encourage our team to do, especially
over the past eighteen months that we've all observed, I say, look, guys,
I wanted to think about kind of this three pronged
(21:21):
approach to things like social cause. Right. First, we got
to really acknowledge the trauma in our community. Yeah, we've been,
you know, subject to this trauma for the past four
hundred years. It's not until we acknowledge it ourselves that
we can model the way. Right. So the second thing
is modeling the way and like leading with the values
that we've articulated for ourselves. Right. I think a lot
(21:42):
of big companies try to get to this point around
action before they acknowledge and model. But it's not until
you acknowledge the model that you can actually act. Right then.
You know a perfect example of that, I'll just give
you to UM. You know last year, you know, post pandemic,
post George Floyd. You know, we partnered with Headspace, the
mental health app, and we said, you know, let's offer
(22:04):
just free subscriptions to our community, right. You know, we
have consumers, but you know we have a much larger
community too who deserves to be treated well. UM. And
that was just an authentic way to connect UM. You know. Second,
and more recently, you know, this has been something that
we've wanted to do for the past guess eight or
(22:24):
so years that I've been running the business. UM. You know,
you think about you know, folks who are incarcerating you know,
for the folks who have the great fortune to leave
and become returning citizens, one of the risks that they
have to deal with is recidivism. This idea that you
go back into UM kind of the system and you know,
there are a number of reasons for that, right, Like
you know, community support, the ability to kind of earn
(22:47):
and get jobs, that sort of thing. And we said, wow, like,
how can we actually authentically contribute to helping solve this problem? Um?
And usually you leave and you know you're returning citizen,
now you're life for a job, and there's just checkbox, right, Um,
you know, are you a fell and that sort of thing,
and that's crazy and and nuts, and there's a huge
(23:07):
movement around kind of getting rid of that box. But
you know, you know, there's a profession that is as
entrepreneurial ever supported by a community, and that's barbering, right.
And we asked the question, can we do the work,
um to help folks who are about to be returning
citizens are already returning citizens, to become barber's right Um.
(23:30):
And you have that community support, and you know recidivis
anti recidivism programs help reduce recidivism, right Um. So we're
establishing a program right now of that kind of community support.
We're offering scholarships were kind of barbering programs for them,
providing them with the tools, the connection back to the
(23:51):
community to help ensure that we're helping to mitigate recidivism.
So as I go back to this idea of authenticity,
this isn't about marketing our brand. That's not what important.
It will actually come as a results of their own success, right,
But it's an authentic commitment to the values that we
always talk about. And this is our modeling with yeah, yeah, no.
(24:11):
I love that, And I mean it's like again, you've
like I'm in the perfect position to make these things happen,
you know, because I built businesses, I have you know,
the capital and the connections, and I appreciate that so
much because it's just this is how we really change
our our trajectory as a community for generations to come,
because we get into positions where we can and doing
(24:33):
the work. So like I commend you for that. I
thank you. I'm so glad we got to talk about that.
And it is just such a pleasure to have had
you on the podcast today. 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 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
(24:54):
is going to be grateful just to hear from you
and to continue to follow you 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? Oh? I
appreciate that you can you to go to get bevil
(25:17):
dot com. We're in Target, We're in Walmart, where in
Sally Beauty, everywhere. That's incredible. We're gonna have you come
back because I'm sure there's so much more to come,
and we want to make sure we keep tabs on
you and all that you're doing in the community. So
thank you, sir, thank you, thank you, Thank you so much.
Appreciate it. Yes, Yes, Money Movers. Make sure to follow
(25:37):
Tristan on all his social media handles and listen to
his interviews because they are truly life changing 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 powered by Greenwood, so that you
can have the keys to the financial freedom you so
rightly deserve. Thank you so much tuning in Money Moves audience.
(26:01):
If you want more or a recap of this episode,
please go to the bank Greenwood dot com and check
out the Money Moves podcast blog. Money Moves is an
I heart Radio podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by
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(26:21):
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