Alumni Spotlight: Rivalry Wear Co-Founder Jorge Lee '07

Recently, we highlighted Rivalry Wear, an emerging sports apparel vendor. In case you missed it, the company was founded by two Cornell Alumni, Dan Hershberg '06 and Jorge Lee '07. We were able to hear from Jorge about Rivalry Wear, Cornell, his other business endeavors, and much more.

1. Could you tell us a little about your background, including your time at Cornell?

I am originally from Mill Valley, California, which is a suburb about 10 minutes outside of San Francisco. I went into Cornell with the intention of eventually pursuing a graduate degree in clinical psychology, but fell in love with entrepreneurship during my senior year. Outside of academics I played club soccer for Mundial for four years, frequented many hockey games, thought nothing beat a CTB pitcher on a sunny day, and remember several 3am runs to Shortstop for a double Sui.

2. What was your path from Cornell to your current endeavors, particularly Rivalry Wear?

During my senior year at Cornell I decided I wanted to start a business after graduation and spent the months following graduation working on a business plan. I launched my first business in March of 2008, and after growing the business for three years, decided to pursue an MBA to round out my business knowledge.

While completing an MBA at Georgetown I continued to run my business remotely, and returned to California in 2012 to grow my business further. Early last year I reached out to Dan to see if he would be interested in establishing a PhillyPhaithful-type business in San Francisco, and after several calls back and forth, Rivalry Wear was born.

3. Why Rivalry Wear? What compelled you to get into the sports apparel industry, and why was this the model you chose?

Initially I reached out to Dan because in early 2013 San Francisco teams had been doing very well, and I thought it would be a great opportunity for PhillyPhaithful to enter a new market. However, after several discussions it became clear the strategy should be to launch nationally all at once.

I was not looking to get into sports apparel, per se; I was looking for a business opportunity that would complement my existing business. At that point in my life I was looking for a business with high growth potential and an endeavor that I would be passionate about. With Rivalry Wear I am able to add value remotely, which was critical because I am currently based in San Francisco. As a lifelong sports fan, working in the sports space is a dream come true.

We built the business model from the ground up to address many of the issues Dan had experienced while running a sports apparel business. With our model we are able to manage inventory risk, focus on relevant content relating to any team/player/sport, and encourage users to share our designs throughout their social networks.

4. Can you tell us a little bit about your other business ventures?

After I had committed to the idea of starting a business after Cornell, I outlined several things I wanted to accomplish: to create a business that helped people, to run the business in San Francisco, and to start the business with minimal upfront investment (I had to pay my way through Cornell and had student loans to pay back). I decided to start a nontoxic housecleaning business because it fulfilled all of these goals.

I taught myself web design, spent 4 months writing a business plan, and learned how to make cleaning solutions from scratch out of things like vinegar, baking soda and club soda. We launched in 2008 and have been responsible for making homes healthier for hundreds of residents of the Bay Area as well as significantly reducing toxins that get released into the environment.

5. How do you balance your time between businesses?

Like any entrepreneur worth his/her salt, in the beginning of my business I had to pay my dues. I spent first months of Marin House Cleaning LLC scrubbing kitchens and vacuuming floors, which is something I do not think many of my Ivy League counterparts were doing at the time. I knew that in order to run a successful business I had to know everything there was to know about the industry, as well as experience what my employees would go through day in and day out.

My goal for the business from the beginning was automation, and after a few months I was able to hire additional employees so I could focus on management of the company. While completing my MBA in Washington DC I was able to practice running a business remotely, so when it was time to shift my focus to Rivalry Wear I was accustomed to working on several projects at once. At this point MHC is largely running itself, and I spend the majority of time on Rivalry Wear-specific projects.

6. Do you have any advice for entrepreneurial students interested in sports?

My best advice would relate to entrepreneurship in general rather than entrepreneurship in the sports space. I think the most common misconception is that your success will depend solely on the idea you have. I would argue execution is much more important than the idea, and sometimes you just need to take an existing business and improve it rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. While I do think you need an idea that will make money, I have seen many excellent ideas ultimately fail because of poor execution.

I would also suggest taking advice from everyone but acting with your own mind. While I was writing my first business plan some people thought it was a great idea while others thought it would not work. People will offer great advice and it’s important to listen, but at the end of the day you have to believe in yourself and decide which direction to take your business in.

My last piece of advice is practice getting comfortable with ambiguity and the unknown. As a business owner you never know what’s going to happen tomorrow, and more often than not you will have to deal with something you have never done before. For instance, one moment I’ll be designing a webpage, and then the next moment I will be creating an Excel table comparing pricing matrixes between different print shops.  

I think in school it is pretty straight forward what will come your way thanks to syllabi and lesson plans, but in entrepreneurship you have to create your own plan and decide what is most important at any particular moment. I think this uncertainty frightens some people, but it is what makes entrepreneurship truly exciting.

7. Could you think of an experience at Cornell that had the largest impact in shaping your professional life?

There was one class that changed my life forever, and it was AEM 1210 - Entrepreneurship Speaker Series. The 1 credit course was simply successful Cornell entrepreneurs speaking about their businesses and the path they took to get there. The class was the first time in my life I was exposed to successful entrepreneurs, as none of my friends or family had ever started a business.  

It during those class sessions that I began to view starting my own business as a legitimate option after graduating Cornell, and by the end of the semester I was convinced I had to try my hand at entrepreneurship. I think it’s a must for any Cornell student interested in entrepreneurship, and I truly believe it was the catalyst for future endeavors in entrepreneurship.

We would like to thank Jorge for taking the time to answer our questions. Be sure to check out the website if you haven't already. Rivalry Wear Company Website

Alumni Spotlight: Rivalry Wear Co-Founder Dan Hershberg '06

Recently, we highlighted Rivalry Wear, an emerging sports apparel vendor. In case you missed it, the company was founded by two Cornell Alumni, Dan Hershberg '06 and Jorge Lee '07.  We were able to hear from Dan about Rivalry Wear, Cornell, and much, much more.

1. Could you tell us a little about your background, including your time at Cornell?

I’m originally from Philadelphia, where my father has been a Professor at Penn for 40+ years. Despite his best arguments, I chose to enroll at Cornell in 2002. While on campus, I played three years of club soccer for Mundial, spent countless hours with the Lynah Faithful and in between that, somehow managed to get my degree in American Studies. I also made a point to eat at every dining hall on campus and can confirm that Cornell food is second to none.

2. What was your path from Cornell to your current endeavors, particularly Rivalry Wear?

After graduating in 2006, I took a job with ESPN as a production assistant at their Bristol, CT studios. At ESPN I produced and edited montages, as well as other creative pieces that aired nightly on the 11pm and 1am SportsCenter. My work was featured in--and responsible for—the creation of the SportsCenter “Encore” segment, a creative revisit of an important game or series from that night.

In the fall of 2008, I felt a pull towards entrepreneurship and moved home to Philadelphia where I started Philly Phaithful, a business specializing in originally designed Philadelphia sports apparel. Over the last five years, our company has been featured in ESPN the Magazine and Sports Illustrated, as well as on many local networks like Comcast SportsNet and WIP Sports Radio.

During that time, I focused on learning everything I could about the day-to-day operations of running a small business, with the long-term goal of growing the basic concept into a brand with a more widespread appeal.

Even with the launch of Rivalry Wear in November 2013, I still run Philly Phaithful as well as our sister company, Broad Street Broad, a Philadelphia female sports apparel brand started by my girlfriend Christine Blechman, before she moved back into the full-time sector.

3. Why Rivalry Wear? What compelled you to get into the sports apparel industry, and why was this the model you chose?

Rivalry Wear is the result of what I’ve learned running Philly Phaithful. Along with my business partner Jorge Lee (HE ’07), the business model we developed over the last year and a half was designed to address the variety of obstacles I faced while operating Philly Phaithful. As a small business owner, you face a myriad of daily challenges, from customer service and fulfillment to cash flow and marketing on a shoestring budget.

From a customer-facing standpoint, the Rivalry Wear model gives us a platform to provide our customers with a unique opportunity to control the final purchase price of their item through social media interaction, as well as the chance to purchase timely, relevant products.

From a business-facing standpoint, we’ve been able to largely eliminate the sunken cost of inventory, minimize the amount of advertising dollars necessary to promote our brand, and create an advanced schedule that streamlines the production process.

4. How do you envision Rivalry Wear growing? Where are the opportunities for expansion?

While we’re still in the infancy of our business model, we’re quite bullish about the growth potential. Currently, we feature six cities (Boston, Chicago, LA, New York, Philadelphia and the Bay Area) plus a national section, but we’d like to expand into other markets once we’ve laid a solid foundation and worked out any kinks that might develop over the first 6-12 months. There’s also been internal discussion about expanding into college apparel, although that’s probably a little ways down the line.

 5. Where do the ideas for your shirts come from? Some of the designs are very entertaining. 

Currently, all of our concepts originate in-house, although we do have plans to push our “Submit Your Own Design” page for a bit more crowd-soured material in the future. The designs themselves are a team effort, most stemming from brainstorming sessions that focus on current events in the sports world, relevant pop culture themes and often times, random ideas that seem like fun.

6. Could you think of an experience at Cornell that had the largest impact in shaping your professional life?

While it might only seem tangentially related to the path I chose, taking Introduction to Wines my senior year most definitely had the largest impact in my decisions to start my own businesses. Up until my senior year, I never looked at my course selection with a pre-professional eye. That is, I took what was required of me to graduate and didn’t focus on classes where I was completely engaged and enjoying the subject matter.

Taking the class opened my eyes to the fact that a finding a career didn’t have to be solely about work, in the traditional sense. I was fascinated with wine and many people were making a living in the industry, from growing grapes and creating product to selling and marketing a brand. Seeing as how sports had always been my passion, this experience allowed me to think about ways that I could channel that passion into a career and more specifically, the variety of paths I could take to achieve my goals.

7. Do you have any advice for entrepreneurial students interested in sports?

It’s important for students to decide if they want to turn their passion/hobby into their profession. That might seem like a natural progression but in reality it’s not always feasible or even desirable to merge the two.

For instance, I couldn’t have been more excited to take the job at ESPN, but after two years of working there I couldn’t have been more excited to leave. Working 6p-3a, weekends and holidays will do that to you. If being a fan above all else—attending/watching games—is what matters most, I wouldn’t recommend working for a team or sports media.

Often times, it’s more important to know what you don’t want to do, even though it’s usually easier to focus on what you do want. My experience at ESPN didn’t end up in a 20-year career, but it got me to think outside the box about how to pursue a career in sports without sacrificing everything I love about being a fan. In a nutshell, that’s what entrepreneurship is all about: identifying a problem, clearly determining a goal, and then executing a plan to find a solution.

Along those lines, the single biggest piece of tangible advice I ever received is to write things down. From short term to-do lists, to intermediate plans to long-term goals, it’s incredibly helpful to keep everything right in front of you. Having clearly defined goals provides a semblance of structure that a non-entrepreneur might have provided for them.

We would like to thank Dan for taking the time to answer our questions. Don't forget to check back next week for an exclusive interview with Jorge Lee, Dan's co-founder at Rivalry Wear. And while your at it be sure to check out the website if you haven't already. Rivalry Wear Company Website

Rivalry Wear Changing the Model

"We wanted to create a new business model whereby online consumers are exposed to new content on a continuous basis, one that provides a financial incentive for sharing that content with their extended social network."

-Rivalry Wear CEO Dan Hershberg

As sports fans we love to cheer on our favorite team and celebrate victories along with our fellow hometown fans, but there is one thing we love more than anything. We love to hate. There is nothing better than having a heated rival come to town and bring a bunch of traveling fans only to later watch them leave early because of the beating your team just handed them.

Rivalries are what make sports so exhilarating. Fans love to represent their city and prove their mettle. Now, two Cornell alumni, Jorge Lee and Dan Hershberg, have come together to create Rivalry Wear, an apparel company built on sports rivalries. Rivalry Wear serves these fans through a one of a kind e-commerce model that combines crowd-sourcing discounts, intercity competition, and social media integration.

It all starts when the "Deal" goes live. This stage features one limited design item that is live for a set period. Each featured item starts at a set price, but has the ability to drop in price as more customers agree to purchase the item. For every 10 people who buy, the price falls $1 for everyone.

This creates the incentive for those who agree to purchase the item to immediately begin sharing it on any and every social media outlet they can imagine. The more they spread the word and promote the product, the more they save. By utilizing the power of social media, Rivalry Wear lets customers do the marketing.

Whether re-tweeting on Twitter to all their followers, posting on Facebook for all their friends to see, or even posting a picture on Instagram, customers are educating others about the site and exposing them to an exclusive product all while helping themselves pay a lower price.

Getting your name out and displaying successful products are crucial aspects for any new business, but especially an e-commerce site. There is no better way of doing that than marketing through social media sites and Rivalry Wear has created the motivation for its customers to do that marketing for them.

At the end of the live period for the current "Deal", all purchasers receive the item at the final, lowest price. Along with sharing the "Deal" to control the final purchase price, Rivalry Wear customers accumulate points for their city with every purchase. Their website offers real-time standings that allows fans to see where their city stands compared to their rivals.

Another innovative aspect of the business model is "Rivalry Weeks", in which two cities are set against each other and gives the fans a chance to show their city's strength by earning the lowest price on a "Deal". Once the scores of the Rivalry Week are calculated they are placed into the standings.

The fans of the city atop the standings at years end are rewarded with prize offerings. Lee and Hershberg started out focusing mostly on a few core markets including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. Recently, they have added a "National" section to capitalize on other potential markets and fan bases (such as Kevin Durant supporters).

Cornell alumni Jorge Lee and Dan Hershberg have established an exciting, competitive, reward-based business model in which fans can do what they love most; beat their bitter rivals. By separating themselves from other sports merchandisers, Rivalry Wear is well positioned to make an impact in the marketplace.