First off, what have you been up to since your playing days?
I played in the NFL and bounced around a little – the Steelers were the last team I signed with. I thought I’d have a good career there – I fit the culture of the team. I was a physical receiver – I was tough and liked to block.
But I was pretty beat up at that point. I actually left the night before I was supposed to start with them. They flew me in mid-season, but the night before I was to start I just knew I didn’t have it. I was about to go to the meeting the next day and instead just left. I didn’t even tell my agent.
What happened afterwards?
My phone was blowing up the next day. When my agent got hold of me he asked what was going on and I told him I was done. He was pissed and told me I’d never play in the NFL again. I told him I knew – I didn’t care. It wasn’t meant to be anymore. I’m a passionate guy – I have to love what I do. I was always this way. I was really good at baseball but when I didn’t love it I knew it was time and stopped playing. It’s not about quitting really – it’s about being passionate enough to do it.
So what did you do then?
I wanted to do something where I could add value. As a player I was a sport nutrition bio-hacker before it was cool. I was ahead of my time that way. So I started a company called MusclePharm – it was a sports nutrition company. I started it out of my garage while my wife was pregnant. I sold it four years ago for $200 million. It was the first time I was a CEO of anything – I didn’t have a clue what I was doing at first.
How did you get it started?
I did penny stocks to raise capital. I didn’t know anything about them and it ended up diluting the company value early. Dr. Phillip Frost reached out to me for some reason to help – he was a multi-millionaire in this space and helped me to recapitalize – he invested $4 million into the business. That turned things around from a market cap perspective.
I had 300 employees and my kids were growing up – it became too much so I left the company – worked for a year to make sure it had a solid exit plan first.
Then I launched TruBar and later sold that for $176 million.
How did that idea begin?
I wanted to do something with my wife. She wouldn’t eat my protein bars and I was giving them to her for free! MusclePharm had a big male demographic – there weren’t many female-focused bars or plant-based nutrition products that I or she liked. So we worked to create one and in 2016 we launched it as a flavor-forward bar plant-based bar aimed at the female demographic. 2018 was the Year of the Woman and that helped us. We had women layers, ad agencies, PR people leading the work and brought in former Beats CMO Omar Johnson to help. I learned a lot from him – he was the architect of the packaging and narrative around women. We stayed behind the scenes – we wanted women to be the face of it.
Were there people or programs over your time in the NFL that helped shape the way you approached business?
No NFL programs. But being around the teams – guys like Peyton Manning, Tony Dungy and Bill Polian taught me a lot about leadership and culture. About work ethic and teamwork and just being good people. I also learned what not to do from some coaches who weren’t successful.
Tony Dungy – I learned so much about culture and leading men from him. How to treat people the right way. Peyton showed me you can be a hard-ass on the field to get results and still be a buddy off the field. He was hard on teammates but earned their respect. He had a skill – a way of bringing a team together.
Bill Polian was the architect of winning teams and cultures. Winning comes with bringing in the right people and he showed how to do that.
So what’s next for you?
I want to take it to the next level and manage multiple entities. I’ve won and lost in this space and have some projects I’m working on now. It comes down to execution. We have a small team with amazing people.
IQ Pouch is a no-nicotine, caffeine derivative. I was a nicotine guy until my daughter got on my case and I got off it. This just launched and we have some big investors and retailers interested in it. This is a personal project for me.
Vktry Protein is a three-ounce, 23-gram protein drink. It’s an easy protein source to consume and is getting big sponsorship by the X Games. Jeremy Bloom run the X Games – he’s a fellow former Colorado guy and I have a relationship with him. The sports business is really liking this product.
Rite Energy is an energy drink with Paraxanthine and a patented ingredient- Go Bhd. This is a smooth, easy to drink energy drink. We have a number of well-known people behind this one as well.
Circling back – did you ever talk to the Steelers about what happened?
I talked to the coaches there and to Kevin Colbert. My high school coach was Dave Logan – Bill Cowher’s former roommate. We talked about it first before I talked to the team. The agent talked to them mostly – he was just really pissed and said I was done in the NFL. I was like, “Yeah, I already knew that…” But I did speak to Kevin and he understood. He got it. He didn’t want me coming out if I wasn’t 100% in. I was coming in mid-season anyway – I wasn’t a big fix for things there. I’m sure they had a number of guys lined up behind me to bring in.