In this interview, Mike Lee and Albert Lee recount how their company was approached by Under Armour in 2013 through a Kleiner Perkins introduction. Initially uninterested in selling, they agreed to meet Under Armour’s CEO and were impressed by the company’s fast‑moving, brand‑centric culture. Over time, Under Armour convinced them that the acquisition would be a cultural fit, leading to a deal focused on price and impact rather than a sale to a tech giant like Google or Apple. Post‑acquisition, the founders discuss the challenges of integrating into a 10,000‑person organization, emphasizing the importance of cultural alignment, low attrition, and the ability to matter within the larger firm. They contrast Under Armour’s deep focus on brand building with typical Silicon Valley startups, noting the extensive attention to brand details and the unique learning experience this provides.
Chapters
OK, so then that was what, 2014 when you took that round?
2013.
2013.
End of 2013, I think.
OK. And then at some point you started talking to Under Armour, right? How did that come about?
They called us. We weren't looking to sell the company. We had a great business still. We were still growing like crazy. And they got, they connected to us through Kleiner Perkins. So Kleiner introduced us, and you know, they got on the phone with us, and they said, "Hey, you know, would you guys think about, you know, selling the company to us?" And we said, "No." You know, we don't want to sell. We're having fun. We love what we're doing. We think it's a really big business. And they said, "Well, you know, why don't you just come out and meet our CEO?" You know, like, come out and just check out Under Armour. And I talked to Al about it. I'm like, okay, we'll go check it out, right? And, you know, we figured like worst case we'd get like some kind of business development, some kind of partnership deal. So we flew out there and I gotta say we were actually blown away. Under Armour is a really fascinating— it's like a 10,000-person startup, right? Like it's super fast, super aggressive. The brand is amazing. It's just the more we learned about the company, the more we thought, you know, this actually might be a lot more interesting than we thought it would be. So they, they kind of— they know how to wine and dine you, I guess. So slowly, as you know, we kept talking, they kind of convinced us that it would be a good fit, you know. And then we just had to get to— once we thought that, okay, this is actually something that we would want to do, that our team would be happy with, Et cetera, then it was just about the price.
So what's it like now that you're inside this 10,000-person company? How are things— how have things changed?
Well, you know, as a CEO, an entrepreneur, it's a really interesting learning experience. First, I definitely understand why most acquisitions fail. It's really hard. It's really hard to take a team, You have your own culture, your way of doing things, and then all of a sudden be part of another organization. Most of you, when you have a job, you get to pick what company you're working at. So you spend a lot of time thinking about, are these the people I want to work with? Is this the place I want to work with? When you get acquired, all of a sudden you're at a new place, and they have new culture, new processes. That's really hard. It's all the people issues that are really tricky. In our case, it's actually worked really well. Under Armour, part of the reason we even did the deal is because we thought the cultures were similar. And it's been like we've had very little attrition. It's been actually, we've been really happy with how things are going. It's just a fun place to work. If you like sports at all, I don't know how many of you guys are sports fans, but you're constantly hanging out with Cam Newton and all these, Tom Brady or whatever, right? Steph Curry's like an Under Armour athlete.
Mm-hmm.
So it makes it kind of, and the people The people are really— they're smart, they're aggressive, they're motivated. It's a good fit for us. We wanted to go— another thing we thought about was we didn't want to sell to Google or Apple, mainly because we wanted to go to a place where we would matter. There's nothing wrong with Google and Apple. They're obviously amazing companies. But we would just be one small part of what they're trying to do. We wanted to go to a place where we mattered. And we definitely matter at Under Armour. The CEO really is a huge believer in connected fitness, really cares about what we're doing. We can have an impact there. That's what we get excited about.
That's really interesting. Under Armour has a huge brand, too. It seems like it's really come up in the last couple years. It's a really, really strong brand in a very interesting way. Athletics and lifestyle. That logo is everywhere.
Yeah. I think that's actually been also a pretty interesting learning experience. Because I think if you look at a typical Silicon Valley company, the amount of energy they're spending and mindshare they're spending thinking about brand as a piece of the company is a lot smaller, versus Under Armour, where a lot of what we do is about our brand and how we continue to build it. And so just seeing all of the small things that go into that, and the level of detail, and how much attention they spend thinking about every aspect, everything that touches the brand, it's actually been kind of eye-opening to us. Because we're guys that—
We never thought—
We're using the first logo that was designed in 2005 for like $100. And we have a name that was the domain that was available when we wanted it. In comparison to them, it's pretty amazing.
