YouSaid · the spoken record

Lyndon Cormack

lines on the record: 57
first: 2023-10-16
most recent: 2023-10-16
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Thanks so much for listening to the show this week. Please make sure to click the follow button on your podcast app so you never miss a new episode of the show. And as always, it's totally free. This episode was produced by Chris Massini with music composed by Rumtin Era Bluey. It was edited by Neva Grant with research help from Alex Chung. Our audio engineer was Gilly Moon. Our production staff also includes JC Howard, Casey Herman, Sam Paulson, Ramell Wood, Elaine Coates, John Isabella, and Carla Estevez. I'm Guy Raz, and you've been listening to How I Built This.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A Lyndon and Jamie Cormack, co founders of Herschel Supply Company. By the way, the town of Herschel, Saskatchewan, where the brand got its name, as we heard earlier, it's super small and super remote, but apparently they have a pretty cool museum that might be worth checking out. It's got exhibits on the local ecology and native peoples and even a species of dinosaur that was discovered right there. It's called Dolly Coran Cops Herschelensis”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It wasn't overly engineered Perfect timing, we didn't know, but I feel timing was on our sides and people were shifting. And I think maybe we were early adopters of that timing and watching it Wanting something to change and weren't. It So we took the reins ourselves and started to implement the change we wanted”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When you think about this journey that you took and where it started and where it is now, you guys had clearly a very strong insight into this opportunity and this category and that there was really a great opportunity there. And you had background in design and in distribution you knew what cool brands did well. But still it was not preordained that this would work. How much of what happened to you guys and the brand do you attribute to How hard you worked and how much do you think had to do with just getting lucky? First to you, Jamie.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Linden in 2022, you were quoted saying the last thousand days have been the hardest thousand days in the business ever. And obviously you just outlined that. I mean, are you starting now to turn a corner or have you started to turn a corner since that time now? I mean, does it feel like you guys are now fully back in business or are you still coming out of the pandemic era, even as we speak?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You basically used COVID as a time to kind of regroup and rethink, because it sounds like you had to make some tough decisions, presumably layoffs, right, to preserve your cash. And I guess it was a moment to think about, all right, what are some of the big things we can do? And one of those was eventually, which I guess you do now, which is to focus on using recycled material for your products.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tell me about, because I know, obviously today you've got hundreds of products, different products, maybe hundreds, but dozens, and retail stores and then partner stores. But I want to ask you about COVID, because COVID was great for a lot of companies and certainly for a lot of direct-to-consumer brands. What about for you guys? Was COVID great, I mean, great's not the best word, but great for the business. Was it great for your business?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And were you selling all those things only in stores? I mean, I'm assuming you were also being encouraged to go direct to consumer. So, I mean, like a website, was it getting traction or did you have problems selling online in the early days?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Did you feel pressure to constantly bring out new New products, new category, go into new categories beyond bags. I mean, did you feel like we've got to always stay five steps ahead”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lyndon, at the time, a couple years later, you were reflecting on this, you had said that we went from in a very short period of time a band playing at a small pub to then overnight go into Madison Square Garden. So how did you manage that scale and that growth? I mean, if everything's being thrown at you at once, how did you scale up and bring the right people in and deal with the growth? Tell me what you did.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The things we needed to do. When did you guys, I know in 2011 both of you quit your day jobs, right? When did you feel like you were comfortable doing that? Jamie, what was the catalyst for you where you're like, okay, this is real.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I read that in that first year full year business 2010, you sold 8,000 bags. Sound about right? Yeah, around that, around 100.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So we wanted to create that familiarity. Do you want people to see it and be like, I've seen this somewhere before, even though they hadn't. I don't know if that's”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Did you guys feel like there was a talk, you know, there was talk around this time of so-called heritage brands, people would buy defunct brands. Classic examples made well, Mickey Drexler, who I've interviewed before, is brilliant guy in the apparel industry, was a Gap for many years. He basically bought this trademark from Madewell, a company that went defunct in the 30s, and he resurrected it in the early 2000s. So it's a new brand, but people thought of it as an old brand. Was that part of your also the way you were positioning Herschel, even though it was a new brand, and you didn't resurrect an old brand name? It had that feeling. Were you consciously trying to do that? Herschel had the logo, the brand.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Get things across the finish line. Lyndon, what was the game plan when these bags would start to appear in urban outfitters? How would you just sit back and see if they sell themselves? Because you had no marketing. You weren't paying for ads. This is for pre-social media. I mean, there was a little bit. So was that the idea? Just let's just put them out, let urban affeters put them out there on display, and we'll see what happens.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Needed to be ready for the fall trade shows as well. And that's when everything started to get really. Really So we hired some people who had previously worked with us. Myself with vans as well as we hired.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Join Gagan Biani, co founder and CEO of Maven, and more than a hundred thousand entrepreneurs like him who choose Mercury for banking, credit cards, and the resources to turn their startups into success stories. Visit mercury dot com to learn more. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services provided by choice financial group and evolve bank and trust, members FDIC. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Raz. So after landing a bunch of orders from big retailers, Jamie and Linden reached the point where they have to grow their company beyond just the two of them. In the middle of 2010, we brought”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Hey, it's Guy Ros here. You're about to hear from Gagan Biani, entrepreneur and Mercury customer to learn a little more about why Mercury is the best banking partner for your startup journey.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When we come back in just a moment, Jamie and Lyndon are caught off guard when their bags are endorsed by one of the world's most Most famous endorsers. Stay with us. You're listening to how I built this. Did you know Airbnb was almost put out of business when a competitor cloned their website down to the very pixel? It's true. Airbnb even considered acquiring the competitor but decided against it. Years later, the Paid off. Airbnb reigns supreme in the market while its copycat had to shut down. We all remember choices like these that shaped the course of our lives. In business, world-renowned venture capital firm Sequoia Capital calls them crucible moments, hosted by Sequoia's Rulafotha, their new podcast called Crucible moments provide a never before heard peak”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So you'd come back from this trade show with a bunch of orders, and you've got to finance those orders. So how much, I mean, you don't have the cash up front. At that point was the investment that your brother made and any other sort of money that you cobbled together enough must have been enough to finance that first run?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Time, the both of you are still living in separate cities, right? Jamie or in Calgary, London, you're in Vancouver. And I know that when you went back after that, I mean, that trade show really kind of opened things up for you, not just in terms of orders, but in terms of connections to big retailers, including Nordstrom's, right? I mean, did Nordstroms reach out to you and say, hey, let's meet up after the show”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, urban efforts clearly was going to put in an order. What did you guys leave that? I mean, how many orders did you leave that first show with?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So I guess one of the retailers that you met at that first show was Urban Outfitters, which obviously there's still a significant retailer today, but at the time, 2010, I mean, they were super influential. I mean, that's a store where you want it to be if you were a cool brand. So when you met the buyer from urban outfitters, what do they say?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Right. And I think at this point the company Herschel is just the two of you. You're at this trade show with all these samples in New York and what happens”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so you guys, you decide that in 2010, you're going to debut these samples at this trade show, this big trade show in New York”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And you just needed one sample of every Every product, every skewer, every color, right? You didn't need a big pressure on because you were just going to display them at the trade show. Is that right?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“All right, so you get this, the specs to this manufacturer in China, and presumably you're waiting with bated breath for them to send them back, and probably took, what, a couple months to get those samples?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm sure he's done pretty well. We were thankful Alright, so you guys find this manufacturer, meet this guy in Vancouver. He's a Chinese manufacturer. He goes back to China, and he agrees to make a sample run. And how many items in a sample run in that sample run”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Okay, let's pause for a moment and just let me understand your financing here, right? Because you guys had both had jobs and I think you probably had some income coming in and so maybe you had some savings. I mean, but starting to produce backpacks is going to cost significant amount of money. I mean, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. How much money did you have at this point?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Are factors in China factories in China at this point in time? And in this PDF, you had just one product, or you had several different ones? We had the entire range. There would be in like six different backpacks, two different duffel bags, one different hip sack. Yeah, that would be in showing the what we were trying to and colors that we were trying to do in that. Yeah. And so we sent these emails over eagerly waiting for sponsors, get up there.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We had a pretty crude little PDF mood board that sort of tried to. Tried to explain what we were trying to do with the brand, trying to explain the look and the feel of it, and then had some pretty basic sketches. So I had reached out to some of our connections with vans. And I certainly said to some of our product managers, hey, I'm not looking for you to get in trouble, but is there any manufacturers you know of that we could reach out to? And lo and behold, we got a couple business cards from these factories. And these are...”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You'd be like, okay, where do you put this? You put this in the bag that was available there. Well, those kids weren't buying their sneakers from that store. They weren't buying their hat from that store. They weren't buying their jeans or their tees from that store. And we wanted to be able to separate that conversation into a unique buying experience. And I don't think there was a brand that totally existed to do that. All right. But you had to figure out what you wanted that bag to look like. And I'm assuming you guys both had pretty strong views on what that would be. Tell me how you went about designing this bag.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Want it to be more like a shoe company rather than a bag company? What does that mean? Well, shoe companies were doing so many awesome things. I mean, they were creating segmentation in their lines to have tiered products that would only be available in certain channels. They were working on collaborations with whether they be artists, musicians, other brands that were telling stories differently. The passion that people have for sneakers even today, whether it's collectibility or new launches or the hype around it, is something that is intoxicating. And again, the bag business wasn't a part of this. We sort of looked around, you know, most people, especially for going back to school, bought their bag at a stationary store or a big box store. And oftentimes it would be the engineering of these stores to say, get your calculator, your pencils, your binders, your paper, your duotangs. And at the very end,”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Again, loving the sneaker industry, both Jamie and I together. Of course, I worked in it, but it was also like in the early days we act like more like a sneaker company than we did a bag company because that's more what we were into. And we weren't into how big companies, especially in our price category, were acting. And I think that was an important distinction.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Done with the recording, email or message it to us at hibt at ID.wondere.com and we'll share your favorites right here in the ad breaks in future episodes. Thanks so much, you guys are the best. Hey, welcome back to How I Built This I'm Guy Raz. So it's 2009 and Jamie and Linden are starting to converge on the idea of launching a bag company. And it's actually good timing because during this period backpacks are starting to get trendy again. Yeah, I think we've had some pretty funny stories about that, especially early on even in interviews and maybe a year three or four about going like what are you going to do in this backpack trend goes away? And they also said, what are you going to do when this outdoor trend goes away? And I'm like, well, I don't think it's going to be trendier to be indoors anytime soon. And the fact is, we've been using backpacks well before this, and we're going to be using well after this because they're just really, really functional. And so we didn't try to invent a trend here. It was literally maybe even solving a problem for ourselves because we couldn't find what we were looking for. And yeah.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“comb. All investments can lead to loss. Hey everyone, you know, every time I run into how I built this fan, the first thing they want to do is tell me about their favorite episode, which is so awesome. So now I want to share your favorite episode with the millions of people who listen to this show. Episodes they might not have heard or might want to hear again. So here's what I want you to do. Grab your smartphone and record a short memo short, like less than 30 seconds and tell us your name, where you live, and which episode is your favorite and why you loved it. So, for example, I might say, hey, it's Guy Ros here in San Francisco, and my favorite episode of the show is the one about Hamdi Ulakaya and Chabani, because I learned so much about how to just push through and nothing seems to be working out. And it gave me a whole new perspective on being resilient. So that's it, something like that, you know, and by the way, that's not my favorite episode I love them all equally. Anyway, once you're...”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
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2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
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2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“When we come back in just a moment, Jamie and Lyndon figure out how to put together the perfect backpack by tearing a lot of other bags apart. Stay with us, I'm Guy Ros and you're listening to how I built this.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Mean at the time, 2009, it wasn't like there were no backpacks. I mean, there were, you know, as a kid, I had a jazz backpack, I think. And, you know, obviously the big brands, the Adidas and Nike's made backpacks. But you felt like they fit in one category or another, like they were either just for sports or for hiking, but there was nothing in between.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Tell me more about how you thought about how you wanted this to be branded. Because, you know, for a lot of people, the first time they saw, certainly for me, the first time I saw Herschel supply company backpack with that logo on it, I just assumed it had been around for 100 years, like Levi's. You know, it was like a Gold Rush brand, you know. But that was very carefully thought through and cultivated. And I'm curious how you started to think about doing it that way.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, all right, so you start, what was the first step? I mean, the first step was to just kind of think about obviously what you wanted a bag to be. I mean, I guess you're thinking, let's start with, let's kind of reverse engineer this instead of just coming up with a product, let's think about the backstory of the product. Is that right, Linden? Did you start with a story before you started to focus on what the actual product would look like?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So 2009 is sort of the official kind of date when you guys founded the company. And I want to sort of dig into this for a moment. Lyndon, what was the, I mean, both of you guys still had your day job, so you both decided we're not going to quit our jobs, but let's just kind of dip a toe into seeing what we could do. Is that sort of how it started?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“How long do you think you guys had this conversation around bags before the two of you were like, well, let's just try it?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“But do you remember how you sort of landed on or just talked about bags? Did you have exposure to bags just with what you were doing as a sales rep or was it just an intuition that came out of thin air?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And Lyndon, can you remember some of the things that you talked about? Like both of you guys were in sort of skate and snowboard that world because you were both working for brands that represented those sports. What kinds of ideas did you bat around?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Lyndon, when you left Australia, I guess you came back to Canada and then you ended up working as like a sales rep, I guess, for vans for the shoe company. And Jamie, you moved on. You started doing sales for another sports brand, K2, which I think mainly the skis and snowboards. So you were both working in the outdoor sports business. I think Lyndon, I think you were in Vancouver and think Jamie, you were still in Calgary. And presumably you stayed in touch during that time, right?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And yeah, I mean, it must have been exciting, but yeah, you had to fill it with articles and photos and ads, and it's expensive, like printing it and then distributing it and getting people to buy it. Did it get any traction?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“As you get into your teenage years, that I wasn't going to make the NHL and obviously also interests started to blossom in other fun things that we love. So, I guess after high school, Lyndon, I read that you took sort of an extended trip to Australia, and you worked at a cycling shop for a while in Melbourne. And meantime, Jamie, you were still in Calgary. What did you end up doing after high school?”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, in the US, right, a lot of kids, when you ask them what they want to be, they say I want to be a professional athlete, when you guys were kids, did you think I want to be a professional hockey player? Did you guys and all your friends think that's what you wanted to do? I think it would be in the dream. We grew up playing hockey. I mean, we spent thousands of hours playing hockey. And in fact, if the rinks weren't open or the ice wasn't frozen, we'd also be playing street hockey in front of our house and our cul-de-sac where we grew up. And there would definitely be times where you're role-playing that final shot and that big game to hoist the cup above your head. I mean, I've roleplayed that many, many times, but I also realize.”
2023-10-16 · How I Built This with Guy Raz · Herschel Supply Co.: Jamie and Lyndon Cormack · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT