From 10 Failed Startups to a $1.2M Shoe Brand

When I dropped all my classes from engineering and quit my job and decided to go full into business, I remember my mom coming up to me and she was just so scared for me and she was like, “Jose, is it still too late for you to go back?” Welcome to the Know Your Ship podcast presented by E-Hub. I’m your host, Frank Dolce. When you have obstacles that you have to overcome in your life, a lot of times you have good family support as well or a role model. Is that does that resonate with you? Yeah. Yeah. Is that uh would that be your parents? Would that be one of your siblings? Would that be someone

in your extended family that Yeah, it would definitely be my my parents. just knowing like I knew as a young kid of like the sacrifices they had to do to kind of come up here to give us the life that we had and just like reflecting it back as an adult you know 18 years and older I am very grateful for everything that they’ve done and it’s like I want to do more because of that you know like I think about the first time that I went back to Peru after moving here and that was when my like I like to say like my youth a bubble popped. You know, I really saw what a

third world country was. I saw poverty. I saw kids that were like 5 years old selling streets on the like with no shoes, just gum, you know, selling gum. And it really broke my heart and it really me it made me realize that like, wow, I have such a like advantage, a blessing living in the United States, you know, being able to be here, receive an education. like I’m in a position where I need to be doing as much as I can to help out those those that don’t have that advantage, you know, people like in Peru. So, so as you were starting now, we mentioned you you mentioned several failures. Those were with businesses

that you started. Maybe there’s some others in your life as well. We we could talk about I’m not the brightest bulb, that’s for sure. Those things Well, you know what? hard work, effort, state of mind, attitude, is that just as meaningful as being really smart? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, a a a really smart person, a really talented person who doesn’t apply it, that’s not necessarily success. So, so you might you might have the tra like the things that you can control. Mhm. uh your effort like those are that’s really meaningful. Yeah. I I like to think that like you know there’s going to be there’s always going to be people that are stronger than me,

people that are like smarter than me, but I’m going to make sure that nobody can outlast me. Mhm. You know. Yeah. I love that. It’s such a great attitude to have. When When did you recognize that that trait in yourself? When I was in high school and I got caught plagiarizing. Oh. Oh, you did? Yeah. Which class was it? English. I was not good at English. And I just struggled writing so much. I felt like no matter how hard I put in the effort, I just kept on like not getting good grades. And so, at one point, I just decided like, “Oh my gosh, I need to do anything I can to get an A.”

So, I I plagiarized and obviously got caught. Wasn’t good at plagiarizing. And I remember like I got suspended for it. Oh, and I remember just like like my my my parents were very disappointed in me, you know, the teachers were disappointed in me and I kind of sat there. I was like, “Wow, like this sucks, you know. I did something I shouldn’t have done.” And but I need to do better. Like I can’t just let this happen again, you know? Mhm. And that’s kind of when I knew kind of like, you know, I’m always going to want to do better even through the mistakes that I’ve made because that’s just like like character. Yeah. Yeah.

And so were you able to turn that around? Were you able to Yeah, I was get get back on track. I got better at writing and then just like a lot of stuff throughout high school, you know. Uh when I took the ACT for the first time, I got I remember I got a 17 and that what what’s the what’s the perfect score like 36? It’s 36. And I had my friends like come to me like all upset that they’re like, “Oh man, I got a 30. Oh man, I got a 29. I was trying to get a 34, you know, and I’m over here with like a 17. I’m like, I’m not even in

the 20s. I had to take the ACT five times just to get to like 22, you know. Mhm. And I was so upset that it was just so hard for me to like get it, you know, and that the highest my highest like in a number was 22, you know, and that kind of hurt, but like it still wouldn’t stop me, you know. I still knew what I wanted and I still kept on like pushing and still got into BYU. What was it that you wanted? Like you were working hard. It sounds like you had a goal. What was the goal at that point? The goal that I always that I that I chase is

is a better me. You know, like I think of me five years from now. I think of me like 3 years from now and I see like man, he’s conquered this, he’s done this, he has this level of experience now. you know, I want to be like that. I’m trying to chase that guy. And so that’s what I’m always trying to it’s like a better version of myself. And so when three years go by, five years go by, I’m still like 3 years or 5 years behind, you know? I see that person that’s already done this, that’s already succeeded in this, and it’s like ah, I still keep got to keep on going. So So

I’m always constantly like chasing a better version of myself. Yeah. I think that’s a such a healthy approach to life. Not necessarily looking at what others have accomplished, which is I mean everybody takes a look and says, “Wow, that’s really cool.” Or that’s really interesting or whatever. But to just say, you know, this is where I am today and I want to get to this level next year and I want to get to this level the next year. I think that’s such a healthy way to approach improvement. And like when I when I I like I’m still like I’m still human. I still make mistakes. I I do compare myself, but I I realize that

I don’t compare myself to the current me. I compare myself to the future me, you know? Like when I see a business owner or somebody that’s like years older than me but has accomplished XYZ, I see that I’m like, man, like my future me can do that, too. And if that future me can do that, then I can do it, you know? I just got to work on that. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, let’s let’s talk about some of those challenging times in your life. We talked about one. Yeah. High school. High school. High school English. By the way, you’re not alone. I mean, that was Yeah, high school English was tough for a lot of

people. Uh but what were some of the what are some of the other obstacles? What are some of the other failures that you had to overcome? Yeah, I mean some of the other failures that I had to overcome, figure out was like when I started in college, my first major was actually engineering, civil engineering, and I was not good at math. I don’t know why I chose engineering. I ended up failing calculus like two times at BYU, got put in probation and stuff cuz like I just was I’m not a good student, man. I just struggled at school a lot. But I kept pushing myself like no, I’m not going to take that F. I’m

going to keep on trying until I finally got the C, you know. And so I was like college was was hard, but like, you know, that was another obstacle that I’m glad I overcame in classes, figuring out that after like really putting a year and a half of effort into engineering, realizing that like, wow, you know, it’s not something I wanted to do. Mhm. cuz from from all that effort I realized that I didn’t want to kind of be stuck in this engineering route of going to the office working 9 to5 coming home missing out on the moments with my kids with my wife you know opportunities to travel experiences experiences that I would be

missing out on and that’s when I kind of was like man I got to I got to find another career I got to find another way I want to live my life you know while you’re in college uh how did did you get involved with the entrepreneur entrepreneur center and the entrepreneur kind of lifestyle and and why was that fascinating to you? Yeah. So I remember when I was in engineering I I had this guy once tell me when I was working in Provo City in their engineering department he’s like if you cuz I told him it’s like the type of life I want to live like I want to be like flexible with my

schedule. I want to be with the people that I love. I want to have like the freedom of time and money, you know, stuff like that. And he’s like, “Well, you can either do one of two things. You can either be a business owner or you can be homeless because then you’ll have all the time in the world.” Wait, those were your two options? Those are my two options. And I was like, “Oh, dang. Well, I don’t want to be homeless. So, I guess I got to try to figure out entrepreneurship and business.” And so, I I went and started taking a bunch of random classes at BYU that had to do with business. Mhm.

I got involved with the Rollins Center at BYU. Tell us about the Rollins Center. Yeah. Oh man, the Rollins Center is amazing. They have so many op uh resources there for students that are wanting to get started in business that have questions about business. They connect you with mentors. They have these communities where it’s like a bunch of other students that are starting a business can get together, network with other successful businesses outside the community or within themselves and they make it where it’s like entrepreneurship isn’t lonely, you know, cuz that’s that sometimes I that that’s what happens. You know, you want to start something, you’re all in yourself with yourself and you’re going at

it and you realize that kind of just you. You know, nobody else really cares about your business. Nobody else really cares if you succeed or not. You know, for them, you’re just another data point. Nine out of 10 businesses fail. You’re one of them. You know, stuff kind of like that. But in the Rollins Center, it’s like they really help you like light that fire and make sure that you’re warm. You know, they make sure that you have that community to keep on going. and the Rollins Center like the the mentors and people who are involved with the Rollins Center, they they’re probably, you know, professors at BYU, but but it also incorporates a community

of people who actually run a business or a marketing department or finance. So, you’re dealing with people who have gone already gone through all of the the challenges. Exactly. Yeah. And they also like leverage the connections, you know, that they have. They have like a plethora of connections of other founders that are in like marketing, hardware, software, physical product, CPG, you know, stuff like that. And so it’s like whenever you have a question, you need help, it’s like they know who to contact. They know who to help you with, you know, and so did you think initially like, wait, this is where I belong. I’m not an engineer. You’re not an English major, that’s for

sure. I’m not an engineer, but this is where I feel like I belong. Did it feel like that or or were you Yeah. Were you hesitant? it. So when I first took the my first business classes and my first business class and they kind of like like kind of showed me like the shiny object of what entrepreneurship is, you know, that’s when I felt like, oh man, I want to do that. That’s me. You know, I felt like that was like my calling. Then when I got in touch with the Rollins Center and started meeting like the professors there, the directors and stuff like that, that’s where more felt like now I’m home, you know?

It was like I first got the direction because I got the inspiration and then I found my community. I found my home where I can actually start building. I can actually start doing something, you know. Yeah. What was the first business you tried to start? I know you’ve had some of these businesses that didn’t succeed. Mhm. So you where you are today. So let’s let’s go through those. I’m interested in this story. So I I knew from the very beginning like people told me like man nine out of 10 businesses fail you know and so I’m like I know I’m not that smart you know but I know I’m you know I’m pretty like I

said I I’ll outlast people I’ll work hard and because of that I decided early on I was like okay then I’m going to start 11 businesses you know if nine of 10 fail I’ll start 11. Yeah, one of them is bound to work, you know. And so with that mentality, my one of the second classes that I took was like marketing and they taught you like, hey, this is how you do paid ads, this is how you build a website, this is how you sell a product, you know. And a lot of the students, they they go into classes like that and they like they take notes, they listen, and they try to get A’s,

you know, they try to get make sure they pass the the exams and and they try to learn, which is great stuff. But the mentality that I took in the approach was okay what can I learn now and apply at this moment you know. So like by the end of one semester I had already started three different drop shipping companies you know testing three different products and burning like $1,200. Mhm. Just because like everything I learned at that moment I would apply later that day. Yeah. And I would stay after stay after class, meet up with the TAs, with the professor and just like, hey, I’m doing this right now. Like you told me to

you told you taught about this. I’m applying it right now. Why isn’t it working? Yeah. You know, and so it’s such a great way to approach it because you’re right. Like most of us go through college and the goal is I need to get an A like which is the wrong goal. Mhm. It’s It should be how do I apply how does this apply to real life? Mhm. So, I don’t know why you keep saying you’re not the smartest guy because that is like next level insight. I mean, everyone else is in there like I got to study for that. I got to get an A and you’re like, I’m going to start a business

with all of this knowledge. Yeah. I I don’t know. I think maybe we got to re we got to re-imagine that. Like you are the smartest guy. I I have probably street smart, you know. I Yes, that’s probably what it is. Yes, I love that. Not I’m definitely not school smart. Well, there’s Yeah, but there’s nothing there’s nothing wrong with that either. I mean, some of the great entrepreneurs in the world are not necessarily what you would call school smart. plenty are, but but you have this other you have this other insight, this other expertise that and mentality that other people don’t have. So, yeah. So, we’re not going to we’re not saying that you’re

not the smartest guy anymore cuz you’re you’re in that like you have a different level of genius. So, good for you. Okay. So, you started applying that. What would the professor say when you came back? You’re like, “Hey, I’ve taken all the stuff you taught me today and it’s not working.” Yeah, man. I I would feel bad cuz I remember like I would be bothering the TAs so much and I’m like I know you guys aren’t getting paid enough for this. I know you’re just here you thought you were just going to create like correct homework assignments and stuff but like I am leveraging every second of your TA hours to kind of like figure

out and learn more. Mhm. And that’s kind of what I’ve realized in the very beginning that it’s like each time I fail, yeah, I’m going to burn money and the product isn’t going to sell, but I’m going to learn something that I didn’t know beforehand in each failure. And so by the time I was like on my third, fourth, fifth failure, I myself started becoming a better marketer. you know, sure. I started learning what makes a good landing page, what makes good creatives, you know, how to run a strategy with paid ads, with meta ads, with Google ads, you know, stuff like that. Mhm. And through each failure because I got better and better, it’s

like ultimately my chances of success started becoming bigger and bigger. Sure. You know what what were some of those products? Uh, I remember I tried selling like from stuffed animals to AirPod cases to lamps to so like the AirPod cases that you put your AirPod case in. Yeah. Like when AirPods came became like the biggest thing, you know, I was like, “Oh my gosh, everybody needs going to buy an AirPod so they need cases, you know?” So Mhm. like obvious like products that I thought were going to were doing great. But lamps. Did you say lamps? I tried lamps. Was there something interesting about the particular lamp you were trying? thought these were cool lamps

and uh the margins were probably really great, you know. Yeah. It just stuff that I had to like learn the hard way. Baby blankets, etc., etc. Yeah. Well, Utah is like I mean blankets might have something. Utah’s like the king of the blanket world. I know. If you drive up and down the the highway, how many billboards do we see for blankets? Yeah. With like the blanket war between Lola and Miko. I know. Okay. So, you were doing all this all this stuff. Yeah. Like at one point, like like I said, I was a nerd. So, I decided like I love playing Magic the Gathering, you know, and I decided at one point I was

like, “Okay, I’m getting good at like paid ads. What if I like just bought a bunch of like cards and tried to resell them as well, you know?” And so, I tried reselling Magic the Gathering and quickly found out that like, oh man, I need a brick-andmortar store if I want to buy like at wholesale, etc., etc. And so like that was a couple thousand dollars that went into Magic the Gathering that I was like, well now I have a bunch of product that I can’t sell, you know? Yeah. So like but still like different types of failures but different types of experiences of becoming better. Yeah. What was in all of that time? This

is all leading up to what you’re doing today. We haven’t talked about it yet, but we’re we’re going to get there. In all of these things, is there could you put together a list of like a dozen things like these are the 12 most important things I learned or are there one and two in there that you think these lessons and this all of this experience has been really valuable in what I’m doing today? Oh man. Yeah. I think one of the one of my favorite lessons that I learned was like entrepreneurship is really like it’s a mental game. It’s not so much like oh can you buy a product can you resell it or

can you come up with an idea and can sell it to other people. It’s it’s really mental mentally taxing because you got to be un you have to have this relationship with failure and feeling like your business is going to die but like pushing through that and finding the problems and solving them every single day every single month and just kind of like grow the company you know and especially like as a founder like there’s always something that just comes up that I was like wasn’t prepared for But it didn’t matter. You had to show up for yourself and for the brand, for the company, for whatever you were trying to do, you know, and

it’s it’s like a it’s a it’s a it’s a mindset that you had to have, you know, to be willing to fail, be willing to move forward, and be willing to give more than you think you can. Yeah. Have you ever had a thought of I made the wrong choice. I need to go back into engineering. I need to figure out engineering. Oh, man. When I when I dropped all my classes from engineering and quit my job and decided to go full into business, I remember I I was I was so afraid to tell my dad cuz he like worked so hard for this. He was so happy. Like literally like I think it was

a couple months before that went on a family camping trip and they were so proud of me, you know, with all the stuff I was doing in engineering. And he’s going to be an engineer. I was going to graduate in a year. I was going to graduate in like a year really. And I by doing what I did with engineering, just kind of like shelving it all off, it extended my graduation by three or four more years, you know. And so I remember I was thought my dad was going to be disappointed. And I remember talking to him and he was like, “Is this really what you want to do?” And I was like, “Yeah,

Dad. Like this is it.” And he was like, “Okay, well, you better work a lot harder now.” And I’m like, “I will.” But then like right after that, like a couple days later, I remember my mom coming up to me cuz you know how moms moms are. They love you so much. They care so much about you. And she was just so scared for me. And she was like, “Jose, is it still too late for you to go back? Can you just go back to engineering?” You know, and I remember I’m like, “Oh, mom.” Like, I know you care. That kind of hurts though. It just feels like you can’t. You don’t trust me, you

know? But I was like, “No, mom. It’s okay. I’ll figure this out.” Such a good story. I love your dad. He was like, “Okay, well, you have to work harder.” Yeah. Honestly, it’s one of my favorite moments just starting out because it just it really showed me so much how much my mom loved me, you know. Absolutely. And how she was more scared about this than I was, right? She took on all the fear for you. Yeah. Yeah. That’s great. I love that. Okay. So, a little bit of doubt. Uh dad’s like, “Oh, you know, you just got to work harder.” And you were like, “Yeah, I can work harder and outlast everybody.” Okay. So

along this along this journey, at which at what point did you land on the shoe? I mean, yeah. Were you Well, well, tell us about it and then I’ll I I’ll follow up with this point. So, after trying [snorts] like multiple different products and like failing different types of businesses, I think at this point I was on my like my ninth or tth business. I had earned a lot of cash already that I had like saved up. But at that point, it’s like, okay, I was more confident than I ever was, you know, because I I learned so much and I knew kind of like what to do now. And so, I spent the next

like couple months trying to figure out what the next product was. And that’s kind of when I figured I found this product of like baby shoes, you know? It was these slip-on baby shoes that had like a rubber soul. Mhm. And I did a lot of market research. I realized that like, okay, this is a good product. It’s unique. The price point is amazing. I started testing it out and I would say that that was like my first big win because that product ended up kind of like taking off and in our first year just like me and my wife trying to figure it out after like I found the idea and started like testing

it, we ended up doing like $200,000 our first year. And so I was like in revenue. In revenue. Wait a second. Did you say your wife? Yeah. So in this time of going from I’m going to be a civil engineer to no I’m an entrepreneur, I’m starting nine or 10 companies, you got married. Yeah. In that whole and you’re going to school and your school’s been extended by three or four years. Yeah. And I was dating my wife at that time who was my girlfriend. She like saw the whole thing. I’m like And she stuck. She was like, I believe in this guy. Yeah. Apparently she she had faith in me. Like I remember like

she was with me when I was doing engineering and things were going great. She was with me when I burned the bridges and just went into business. She was with me when I failed and burned a ton of money through all those other products and businesses. And then she was with me when we found one finally succeeded. How about that? Tell me about that. Tell me about that. Her willingness to like be in the battle with you. Oh man. That’s why I don’t know. I I like to think and she doesn’t know this, but like that’s why like I think it’s so cool that her middle name is Diane cuz I’m like, man, Becca is

my Wonder Woman, you know? She’s the one that Wonder Woman’s name is D. Diane. Yeah. And like she’s the one that like always comes to my rescue when I’m struggling emotionally, mentally, you know, and she’s the one that I can always rely on and lean on and know that is always there in my corner, you know. Is it like is it like tough love like hey Jose you got to get going or is it more like Jose can you go back to the engineering school? No, it was more like it’s encouraging love. Like she would see me get hurt. She would see me fail and she would be like hey you got this. You know

at the end of the day you get to choose what you want to do but whatever you choose like I’m there for you. you know, and like that’s what I loved so much because it’s like I could if I would have quit, she would have supported me for it, you know? Mhm. If I would have kept on going, she would have supported me. Mhm. So, the decision was ultimately mine, but she would always be there to support me and love me, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So, helps with the confidence and the willingness to keep Yeah. fighting through failures. Exactly. Okay. So, you you guys now married and you landed on this kind of baby shoe.

Yeah. So, we landed on the baby. Got some good You got some success. You had some success. Got some good sales. Uh, I knew my strengths and weaknesses and I knew her strengths for sure. Like, she was a lot better at media buying that I was. So, when I first found the product and it started selling, I was like, “Becca, you got to help me on this. Like, you can do this a lot better.” And and she did. She ended she’s the one that like ended up taking control of all the marketing and was the one that like made it go from 200,000 first year 300,000 second year and then like fifth third year was

like 600,000 you know so it was like slowly growing growing so having her working with her it was challenging cuz it the way it was explained to me that I never understood until like I actually went through it was like doing business with your wife is like taking 5 to 10 years of of marriage into one or two, you know, because you are now like trying to work together 24/7 while also live together, while also making sure that you’re respecting each other’s boundaries and trusting each other and trying not to tell each other what to do, you know? And so, it was a it was a huge learning experience for the both of us, but

it also made us stronger. So tell us about that before we I I know we’re we’re getting to the shoe, I promise. But you keep bringing up all these other things I think are interesting and and I think you know our listeners will have issues like this or face issues like this. So tell tell us about challenges associated with working with your wife like who’s the boss? Who makes the final call? How do you split up responsibilities? And maybe maybe you mentioned a little bit like you recognized her great strengths and your great strengths and they weren’t necessarily the same thing. Yeah. So there’s a natural split there. But tell us tell us about that.

What are what are the challenges? So yeah, some of the challenges was kind of realizing when like for example with media buying, I instantly recognized that she was a lot better than me, you know, and she could definitely increase the efficiency and like the return on investment better than I could cuz she could see things better with like the creatives, with the targeting, all that stuff. And so that kind of like made me realize, okay, well, I can’t do that. Then what else do I do, you know? So then I tried to find my own way because it’s like up to that point I was good at like starting a business but not like I

didn’t know how to maintain or grow a business and so I had to figure out like okay well maybe I can do finance and so I tried doing the finances behind it that didn’t end up going well and she was like yeah I can do the finances as well you know and so I was like okay you can do the finances and ultimately like I was like kind of in charge of like okay I’ll start like just doing customer service kind of just handling the logistics the operations of it, you know, and it kind of like, not going to lie, like it kind of it hurt my ego a little bit cuz it was like

I started the business, I found a good the right product. Mhm. But you’re the person that can grow it and scale it, not me, you know, cuz you’re better at these skills than I am. Mhm. And I’m still here kind of like packaging, making sure it’s sending out, you know, running the the back end of it. Yeah. And so that was something that I had to like kind of like really appeal that I had to swallow and understand of like you know for the sake of the company you have to put your like your feelings aside for it from it you know like what would I rather do? Would I rather try to run the

company myself and maybe not do as well or give it to Becca to do the parts that she’s really good at and trust her knowing that you know I’m not the guy anymore. It’s the entrepreneur’s dilemma. Yeah. because it’s your baby. Yeah. And you wanna you want to run it. Yeah. You want to build it, you want to grow it, but it’s not necessarily the strength of the entrepreneur. Exactly. And so, yeah, you’re going through it right there. So, we worked together on it for three and a half years. And like I said, she was growing it and growing it until finally like around the third year, that’s kind of when I started like I

kind of started getting burnt out with the product, you know, like there’s this thing called like product market fit, but there’s also like I learned founder market fit, you know, and I realized towards the second going into the third year that I wasn’t resonating with the customers, you know, I wasn’t resonating with the product anymore. Like I was excited that I found a winning product, a good product I could sell. But growing it into a brand, into a company, I just wasn’t connecting it, you know? Yeah. And so because of that, I kind of like decided, you know what? This is already hard for me kind of like figuring out what I’m good at in

the company. It’s already hard not connecting with it, you know? So, I’m gonna take a step back. Like Becca was already killing it with everything else. I was like, “Do you want to just kind of like manage the brand while I try to figure out something else?” And she was like, “Yeah, you know, like I really like the brand. I’m really resonating with the moms, you know, with the kids.” Yeah. And I’d be happy to. So I was like, “Great.” And so she kind of like took charge of the whole company and she made it grow and did a great job with it. Honestly, did she have to fire you? Yeah. I didn’t I wouldn’t

say she fired me. I It was a mutual agreement of like, you know. Okay. So, I like that you I that’s really interesting. I think people especially when the company a company is doing well, it’s I think that could be hard to step away and say I it’s just not a fit. Yeah. It’s just not a good fit. I’m not the right person to grow it. Yeah. And fortunately, you had someone there who was like, “Yeah, I can do this. I’m really aligned.” Okay. So, you had the opportunity to step away and do something else at this point. Are you thinking, do you have an idea of what your next product will be? No, at

this point I stepped away and it was like around the is exactly around the same time where like I had taken a year off from BYU. Mhm. To kind of like focus on the baby shoe business. And it was at this time that BYU kind of like shot me a gave me a call and they were like, “Hey, it’s been like almost a year since you took your last class. if you don’t register for another class, you’re going to lose your enrollment. You know, you’re not going to be a student anymore. And so, I had to I had to make the decision of like, okay, well, am I going to go try another business or

am I going to go back to school, you know? And that was a hard decision for me cuz like if you see on like LinkedIn and like all these social networks, it’s like there’s always young guys, young girls always figuring out trying to figure out like, oh, should I go to school to start a business or should I just not go to school, you know? And I I I went through that as well. And I remember talking to many different like mentors, family, friends, and ultimately I decided, you know what? I’m going to go back to school because that’s kind of where it began for me. That’s where I found the opportunity. That’s where I

learned and grew. And I don’t know what I would be missing out in terms of opportunity and experience. Mhm. If I left now, you know. Yeah. And so that’s when I decided to leave and I mean that’s when I decided to go back to school. Yeah. Go back to school and get into the entrepreneurship program and I’m so grateful I did. Like best decision I have made my whole entrepreneurial uh journey. Really? Yes. Oh, that’s great. What why was it so meaningful? Because going back to school was when I met my co-founders for the first time. Mhm. I was introduced to the Rollins Center for the first time. Oh, that’s okay. That’s where this fits

in the story. Yeah, makes sense. Okay, got it. And where the idea of Otici came out. Yeah. If I if I like I’m pretty confident where if I hadn’t gone back to school and tried to pursue business myself, I wouldn’t have started Otici. I would have missed out on that opportunity especially with like the friends that I that I gained through those times you know because before then I was just taking a bunch of business classes talking to TAs and trying to do it all myself you know that’s how romp that’s how the baby shoe company came forth going back I now had that experience and I connected with some with my founders applied to

this program called sandbox learned how to start like a tech company you know stuff like that but more importantly They had the saw the opportunity of doing gym shoes and leveraged the resources of the Rolling Center to help me bring that dream to life. Okay. So, your you said you met your co-founders. Mhm. And how did you know that those were the There’s two, right? Yeah. Two others. Yeah. How did you know those were the right guys? So, I knew they were the right guys because they were the ones that I knew I could definitely get along with and that would cover my weaknesses. And so, like, again, during that time, I knew what my

strengths and my weaknesses were. And so, when I was looking at my next opportunity in business, I was also looking at like, okay, who are the co-founders that I want to work with, you know, cuz I don’t want to do this alone. I really enjoyed building a business with my wife. I want to build a business with another person, you know, and I knew that like, okay, I struggle. I know marketing, but I’m not the best at it, you know, and I need somebody that’s creative, you know, somebody that can help me with the marketing. And so through like all the students that I was like connecting with, becoming friends with, you know, two really

stood out and that was like DJ Taylor and Bentley Reynolds. Mhm. Those guys, I don’t know, there was just something about them, like there was like a spark that I was like, “This is the guy, you know, like it was just hard to tell, but like I knew that like this is a not only going to be like a good friend, but somebody that I can build something with.” Yeah. And you felt that early on? Yeah, I felt that early on with them. Yeah. Yeah. And have you guys had an opportunity to talk about that as you were deciding to work together? Yeah. Like did they did they feel the same thing or did you

did you have to convince them that this was the right thing to do? No, they they actually really wanted me they really wanted to work with me in the idea and and we reflect about it a lot like we we’re all good friends now and we’re honestly like so grateful like how much of a dynamic we have all three of us together. Like we all get along so well but we all work so well. We all like push each other so well and support each other. Do they have similar values in terms of work? Yeah. And effort and all of the things that you talked about. Yeah. Where did they grow up? Are they local?

They’re all local as well. Yeah. Gotcha. And what are some of what are Okay, so if if I was to say Jose is fits in this bucket and tell me their names again. Bentley and DJ and DJ fit in these buckets. Like what are the strengths that you guys Yeah. utilize together? So my strengths have definitely ended up becoming more strategy and operations. Mhm. I throughout like the past couple years have gotten really good at finances now and I handle a lot of the operations with like manufacturing and logistics. But those guys like I wouldn’t be where I am without them because they helped me with like the marketing, the creativity, the relationship with our

influencers. Mhm. And in fact, it was DJ that ended up finding in the very beginning the market of gym shoes that to kind of sell to customers, you know. So, did you come up with the idea for the gym shoe or was that was that So, yeah. So, here let me go back. Yes. Let’s hear it from the beginning. So, while I was back in school and I was trying to figure out what the next product I was going to sell, the next business to start, I was testing these like sock shoes for adults for Becca, you know, cuz she was like, “Oh, we get a lot of customers saying we should do sock shoes

for adults.” Mhm. Like the toddler. I was like, “That’s kind of weird cuz like who would wear these as adults, you know?” Yeah. And so I was like, “All right, well, I just found a brand that kind of sold like some sock shoes and I I was like, I will just wear them to to class, you So, I wore them to class at BYU and I remember this guy came up to me. He’s like, “Wa, those are cool shoes.” And I’m like, “Thanks, I guess.” And he’s like, “What brand is it?” And I’m like, “Oh, it’s this website.” And he’s like, and he pulls it up on his phone and he like I see him

just like look it up, find his size, and buy it just like right in front of me. And I’m like, “You actually bought these?” And he’s like, he’s like, “Man, I’m excited to get these. These are awesome.” And I was like, this guy was willing to pay $60 for these ugly sock shoes, you know? And I was like, there’s no way. And so then I I started asking other people around. I was like, hey, what do you think of these shoes? You know, what do you think of these sock shoes? And same response. People were like, whoa, those are really cool. Whoa, those look really comfortable. I want a pair. You know, and that’s when

I kind of was like, okay, if people are willing to buy these and want these shoes, I can come up with a better looking type of sock shoe than this, you know. Mh. And so that’s kind of when I I saw the opportunity, you know, in the market. I saw opportunity for this product and I had already the resources, the connections with like China and manufacturing through all the different failed businesses. And so I quickly I drafted up a photoshopped image of what I thought the product was going to look like. I talked to more people and asked them, “Hey, would you buy this?” You know, and they all said, “Oh, yeah, that’s a cool

product.” And I would then be like, “Okay, we’ll buy it right now then.” And then they’re like, “All right, yeah, how much are you selling it for?” I’m like, “$25.” I mean, they’re going to be $60, but I’ll sell it to you for $25 cuz they’re being manufactured right now. And they they would buy it. And so, really, I ended up getting like 20 people to pre-order, like just a Photoshop image of what I thought the shoe was going to be like. And I got their email and I made sure to keep it ethical. Like, I was like, “Okay, sure. I’m g tell you, keep communications open. I’m g tell you like when it’s going

to work and if not then I’ll refund you, you know, stuff like that. And he was like, “Oh, great. Perfect.” But that was enough validation for me to be like, “Okay, now people are willing to pay for my idea that I just kind of photoshopped together. Now, like I’m going to reach out to my supplier and drop a couple grand and get some samples made and get this going.” Yeah. And once we got the samples made, that’s when DJ kind of came in to play. And we were trying to find a market for these shoes, you know? Yeah. Like before then we we found a product that could sell but we were like who do

we sell it to? Uhhuh. Is it like every day or is it exactly something more specific? Yeah. And so we tried like office we tried home office like just any type of like lifestyle shoes, travel shoes, but like nothing was sticking. People didn’t care. We were posting on social media a lot talking to people. It just wasn’t working until finally my co-founder DJ decided to you know what? He grabbed the samples that we got and he’s a size 10 and these were like size 12selves. So, they were big on him and he was like, I’m just going to go work out in them and see what people think. He went he worked out and cuz

he’s really big into bodybuilding. And so, he went and worked out in them, made some content, posted on TikTok, and almost instantly we saw people like engage with it. They’re like, “Oh, those are cool gym shoes. Oh, yo, I love those. Those are cool. They’re great for you and he’s and he was like talking to them like, “Yeah, cuz they have a wide toe box and a thin insole so you don’t have to take off your shoes when you work out now.” And they were like, which is a thing especially with like strength training. Uhhuh. To have your feet grounded. Yeah. And I know we see people like that all the time either in socks

or or bare feet. Yeah. But there are guys like me like I don’t want I don’t want to do either of those things. I want the same kind of barefoot feel and stability, but I don’t want to take my shoes off and I don’t want to take my socks off in the Yeah, exactly. And so he showed me this and we talked about it and I remember like, oh man, it was so funny. He came up to us and he’s like, “Guys, like this reel is killing it. People think these are gym shoes and it’s working.” And we’re like, “Holy cow, this is awesome.” And he’s like, “We should test it with the gym market.”

And we’re like, “Okay, how do we do that?” And then he’s like, I remember he’s like, there’s a gym event in California with a bunch of gym influencers that we should go to. We’re like, okay, when is it? It’s in 2 days. And I was like, oh, do you have somebody in California that you know? And he’s like, yeah, my aunt lives there. And I’m like, well, I have a car. Do we want to split the cash on the gas? And they’re like, yeah. And so like we in two days we just like oh in one day we packed up all our stuff. You had some inventory? No we didn’t even have the inventory. We

just had the sample. Oh jeez. And we just went to California to this gym event. We didn’t even have tickets to it. We just like showed up got tickets at the door lined up and went to all these gym influencers showing them the sample that we had and kind of capturing their reaction. And we had a ton of people like who wa these are cool. Yeah I would totally wear these. You know, ultimately we got one gym influencer who had a huge following and who just absolutely loved it and we caught his reaction. And that same day we posted that on Tik Tok and that reel got like over like 2 million views in one

night and a bunch of people asking where they could buy that. Oh my god. And that’s kind of when we knew that like, okay, the gym influencers really liked it. We just had a ton of people just literally begging us to buy the shoe. This is our market. This is what we’re going to do now. And was that sample what you sell today? Is it No. So that was the sample that we started our kind like our first version of shoes. Ultimately like later that year when we had more money, we hired an actual shoe designer to help us with like the knitting pattern of the top of the shoe to make it feel more

comfortable, make it like form your foot better. Mhm. And yeah, that’s kind of like that’s that’s a version we sell right now, the version two or Yeah. Okay. And Okay. So, now you found your market. People are loving it. What how did you name it? Yeah. So, that was where my other co-founder Bentley comes in. when we were figuring when we had the sample and we were at BOU and we were figuring out like what are we going to be called you know Bentley like kind of like I I remember I told the guys I like yeah I want to start a business because like I know I can start a business that’s what I

want to do but I also like want to if I want to essentially give back to my community you know like I want to I because I know of where I came from and the opportunity that I have here that means there’s opportunities for me to give back as well. Mhm. And so whatever we do with this business, I want to be able to like give back to kids in Latin America, you know, and either helping their education, helping scholarships in some way, you know, I don’t know how about in order to do that, we need to have a business that works. Mhm. And so I remember when I told this to them, Bentley like

kind of took a page out of like Kodapax’s book of like naming a mountain, you know? Yeah. He went on Google Maps, started looking up all these different names in Peru, and ended up finding a a national park called Otishi. Oh. And because he knew that DJ and I were big anime nerds, and it sounded Japanese, but it was also Peruvian. It does sound Japanese. Yeah. He was like, “This is great.” And we’re like, “Oh, I like it.” And so we stuck with it and we just went along. Nice. Okay. And so how substantially did the shoe change from version one to what it is today? Oh, um, a lot. So, like I said, we

got a we had a we hired a shoe designer to kind of really figure out like the knitting pattern of the shoe, the sole of it. And because of that, like version one was literally me and my Photoshop edit, you know? Yeah. Now it’s like we actually have like an engineered knit pattern from a shoe designer that every stitching has it like a purpose. Uhhuh. And because of that it’s like it looks better now, it feels better now and it lasts longer. And so it’s ultimately like just a better shirt than the first version that we sold, but like the first version was still good enough because they still got the idea. And would you

say that your the second version is more purposebuilt for the gym community? Mhm. Yeah. Yeah. They’re both purpose-built honestly. Like we’re going we’re wanting to release a low cut version because a lot of people that are buying our shoes really want like a low top and we just started out in high tops because that’s just what we thought would work better, I guess. I don’t know. Yeah, I like the high top. Yeah. I in fact I was just telling you before we started this that I need to go and I need to go and make an order. I I wear a competing brand that’s kind of the you know that’s designed for like a barefoot

Yeah. feel. But now I’ll jump into the OTC’s. No. Yeah. They’re they’re really Yeah. They’re really comfortable. It’s really funny cuz it’s like when I wear them or when I hear other people wear them, they’re like Yeah. People always like do a double take on me because they’re like they see what I’m wearing and then they have to look again because they think that I’m in Justin in socks, but I’m not. I’m like in my Otic shoes. Yeah. And they always ask me like where I get those, are they comfortable? And I’m like, these are my favorite shoes. And I’m like, that’s so great to hear, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Love to hear that. What

What are some of the features that you were thoughtful about as you were designing and building the shoe? So when I kind of like made it, I wasn’t that thoughtful with the shoe designer. He made sure like, okay, this is going to be for the gym, for the market there. We’re going to make sure that it’s going to really mimic and feel like you’re in your barefoot, you know, in your socks working out. And so that’s why like the insole is a thin insole. It’s like I think it’s like 8 mm or something like that thin. And the that’s the outsole, I mean. And the insole is 5 mm. So it’s like it’s a very

thin between your foot and the ground. Mhm. And it’s flexible. So like it matches your natural foot movement. Wide toe box. And because of the knit upper, it’s machine washable. It’s like this is like the ideal shoe in a way. Well, that piece alone, the machine washable piece, especially if they’re you’re going to be using them in the gym. Yeah. That’s that’s nice to have. What kind of durability are we talking about for the shoe? The the durability they usually if you just wear them for the shoe, like that’s something we’re actually like figuring out for the now is that like they’re originally designed for the gym, you know? If you just wear them for

the gym, they last normally like another another gym shoe year, two years, you know? Mh. But the problem that we’re like figuring out now is that a lot of people like to wear them outside the gym because they’re comfortable and that ends up reducing the lifespan a ton because of the thin outsole. Mhm. And so we’re right now trying to figure that out, talking to a couple of different types of people like, okay, well, what can we do to like either change the structure of the outsole or maybe like the material of the outsole? testing different type of like components or materials that could still have like that minimal flexibility but last longer, you know.

Yeah. And kind of creating more of a a daily daily outdoor shoe. Sure. One of the interesting things I think you do, it’s on your website, is one of the co-founders, like someone will send in a suggestion for you to build a shoe for some for an influencer for someone and then he takes that shoe, you tell me if I’m getting this all wrong. No, no. Yeah. He takes the shoe, he takes the profile of the individual who may be an influencer or something and said, “I’m going to build a shoe for this person.” And one of them was like a hybrid indo, you know, outdoor hiking shoe and some of the features and and

so I think that’s one of the really creative things that you do. I hope you guys keep doing that so you can send in these suggestions. So as you’re thinking about whatever version three will be, what are some of the the ideas? What are some of your thoughts about creating the next version of the shoe? Yeah. So, yeah, we’re working on like a version three of the shoe that but also kind of like different types of the shoe. So, like we we’re wanting to make a shoe that is almost exactly like this, but instead of a knit upper, it’s a leather, you know? So, that way it’s more durable. You can actually like if it

gets scuffed or torn, like it won’t tear the knitting, you know, just like a leather shoe. Is that also for the gym or is that more of an everyday wear? It would still be for the gym. Uh just kind of like creating more gym shoes that are like low cut leather shoe, different materials, and then just like it’s still a work in progress, but kind of creating a new different type of shoe in general for like daily wear or for not the gym, but for a different sport, you know? Mhm. We’re one of the things that make our shoes really unique is kind of like the slip-on feel aspect of it and that it just

doesn’t look like a regular shoe, you know. And so because of that, a lot of customers really like our product cuz it looks unique. It looks stylish, you know, and that’s kind of what we want to do again. We want to replicate. We want to create a whole different shoe that doesn’t look like a shoe, you know, if you know in a way to put it. Yeah. Do you have some thoughts on that? Do you have some ideas on that or anything that you can share about that? Not right now. Things that we’re working on but like in the lab. In the lab. Yeah. What about design? Uh like so currently I think you have

black, white, gray, camo, kind of tan camo. Tan, gray, white, black. Yeah. Yeah. Do have you found or is that something you’re thinking about is expanding the kind of look Yeah. of the shoe? Yeah, we’re going to come out with different colors, different colorways this year and next year. Yeah. And kind of like I said, like do the low top version of all those colors of as you look back across this experience. And by the way, it’s not that long. What you’re like three Yeah, we’re three years old. Three years old. Yeah. So, you’re still infancy. But what are in those three years, what would you say are some of the best things that you’ve

done with regard to building the shoe, marketing the shoe, getting the shoe out onto people’s feet? I think the best things that we’ve done has honestly been internally, and that’s kind of like becoming better business owners. Mhm. Because through this process, like our when we first launched the product in 2023 was a Kickstarter, we did $60,000, you know. Mhm. 2024 we ended up doing $910,000 and 2025 we did 1.2 million, you know. And so it’s like this brand, this product is selling so much and it’s growing so much that it’s almost like playing catchup, you know. M we ourselves have to now start focusing on how can we become better business owners so that we’re

supporting the brand you know and so because of that like I’ve learned so much about like our finances about like the cash flow where we’re going to gain our capital how this business is going to grow financially and like our manufacturing I was in China for the first time in my life in 2025 visiting our factory you know placing the orders there I was just in Peru last year talking to another manufacturer and it’s like things like that that it’s like I don’t know what I’m doing in the moment but I have to figure out for the sake of the company’s growth you know and ultimately I start learning these things and I start becoming

a better business owner and same thing with my co-founders like they were great people with great creative ideas you know but they started realizing like man we have to take a different approach with marketing you know we have to do different things we can’t do the same thing that other people do. And so because of that, they’re more willing to like go to these random events of gyms and kind of connect with these influencers in person rather than just cold outreach, you know? They’re rather to like they’re going to take their shot. They’re going to try different marketing tactics and even if we burn money, it’s a learning experience, you know, and they’ve just become

better business owners because of that. So when you say better business owners, are you talking about increasing your expertise in foundational business practices like marketing, operations, finance, Mhm. strategic relationships. Yeah. I think like in in my definition, this is just me, every entrepreneur is opinionated, you know. Uh I think what makes a good business owner, what makes a good entrepreneur is two things. It’s experience and skills, you know, like what’s your experience in like running a brand, in trying different things, and what skills are you really good at that you’re refining and like putting more on your tool belt, you know? Mhm. And so I feel like doing focusing on those two things, you all

of a sudden just start becoming like this uns this unstoppable force. And that’s what I seen like my co-founders started becoming, you know, and me and myself with like three years ago, I didn’t know anything about cash flows, profit and losses, you know, I didn’t know anything about growing a business. I knew how to start one, not to grow and manage one. But over the last year and a half, I had to like discover and refine those skills and be good at that. Mhm. And because of that, I going to Peru, going to China, all these experiences, I’m like, I’m understanding know now more what to do. Yeah, absolutely. As you look across your short

experience with the company, are there things that you would do differently? No, I think everything not saying that we’ve done everything perfectly. I just think that every failure, every mistake has its reasons and to to want to do something differently is to take away a lesson, you know. Mhm. That was instrumental in you becoming a better person, a better business owner, a better entrepreneur. Do you ever have second thoughts about your partners? You can. Maybe in the beginning. In the beginning, I always like, you know, you just got to make sure like, yeah, I hope you chose the right guys, you know, for sure. But now, no, not a second thought at all. Like, these

are the guys that build and die with this company. Yeah, that’s great. Well, partnerships mean mean everything, especially and if you can work together and and you know, it’s like you’re not always going to get along, but if you can figure out how to communicate and overcome obstacles together, then that’s a powerful team. So, how how long are you going to be involved with like you’re it feels like this isn’t the end thing for you, so you’re going to go start something else at some point? Do you have those kinds of thoughts? I still have those thoughts. Yeah, I always have like I always see different things that like I could do that, oh, we

could do this, you know, just like different ideas that I want to start, but I’ve been really like focusing on like, hey, no, this is the company that I really want to build, you know? Like if I’m going to exit or leave this brand, it’s going to be when it’s doing like a 100 million, you know? So, until then, let’s focus on this. If I want to leave faster, then I got to work get to work faster, you know, to get to that point. What advice would you give to yourself or what advice would you give to a young entrepreneur who’s thinking about starting a business, doesn’t really know where to go? What what would

what would be the best thing that you could say to them? I would just encourage them to to keep going and to try now. You know, that’s that’s what I that’s what I did and that’s what I would con to tell myself at that moment, you know, like, hey, things are hard. You messed up. Yes. You lost $20,000. That sucks. Yes. But you can’t quit. You got to keep going. You know, you didn’t really fail. Failure comes when you quit, you know. But until then, you haven’t failed. You’ve just been learning. And it’s better to start learning now so that you can become closer and closer to the person you want to be. Yeah. And

I I I think I what what I’ve learned is you although you’ve failed in businesses, you approached it as no, I just learned something new. I’m just increasing my skill set. Like you’re Batman [clears throat] and now you’re you’re building up your belt of all of your of all of your tools with each Mhm. with each failure. And I really like that your your brand uh is there’s kind of another purpose behind it. Like you talked about it in the beginning and you just talked about it when you were talking with your founders, co-founders about you want to be able to give back. Mhm. And provide something for your community and other communities and and

outreach um is meaningful for you. So I think that’s also really nice. Yeah. So good for you. Congratulations. Thanks. I appreciate Jose Mononttoya. I don’t even know if we ever introduced you. in this whole whole thing. So, we might have to rewind it. Jose Mononttoya. Otishi. Is it Otici? Is it just Otishi or Otici footwear or Otishi? Just Otishi. And that’s not a Japanese word. It just sounds like one. I know. I It’s Arowak in Peru. Yeah. Oh, it’s so It’s so great. And you’re The next thing that you have to do, I’m going to I’m going to grade your success or failure on life on this. If Becca is in this seat in the

next 30 days recording a podcast, then you’ve succeeded. Okay. Where where where can people find you? Where can people pick up a pair of the shoes? Yeah, you just look up otic.com. oti shi.com. That’s our website. We’re also on Instagram. Um I’m always on LinkedIn and yeah, that’s kind of where we’re at. And do you also find yourself in a position to mentor others at this point? Absolutely. I think one of the big one of my biggest strengths was kind of like reaching out and connecting with people that I knew were leagues ahead of me. And that’s kind of what I always love to do as well. anybody that from BYU, anybody that’s wanting to

start a business, like I I’m always down to kind of like grab a coffee or just 30 minutes on Google meet some talk, you know, even if they don’t have business like questions and they just like want to be heard, you know? Yeah. I want to be there. Yeah. Good for you. Good for you. Well, I love what you’re doing. You have a great story. It’s a great success story to this point and we wish you continued success. So, and and come back and see us when that new thing that whatever the next new thing is, come back and see us and tell us about it. All right, Jose Montoyo. Thank you. Hey, thanks a

lot. Thank you for listening to the Know Your Ship podcast presented by EHUB. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review.