Wisdom.MBA - The Entourage Effect & Plunge’s Parabolic Rise with Ryan Duey

The Entourage Effect & Plunge’s Parabolic Rise with Ryan Duey

08/09/23 • 56 min

Ryan Duey is the Co-Founder + Co-CEO of plunge.com. Plunge has seen fantastic growth with increases in demand for cold plunge and contrast therapy coming out of the pandemic. Ryan and I go deep into what caused the company’s parabolic rise and how he and his co-founder Michael Garrett were able to both help create and capitalize on the current cold plunge boom.

We talk about getting free organic exposure from Lebron James. Plunge’s origin story during COVID lockdowns. His appearance on SharkTank, goals for the future and his honest advice for young entrepreneurs. A really fascinating insight is Ryan’s concept of the entourage effect. I had never heard of the concept before, but I think it is a genius and a big reason why the company and cold plunges in general took off so quickly in the United States.

If you like health and wellness or a great founder story that involves taking risks and pivoting during adversity, then I think you will really like this episode.

Discussion Topics:

(1:17) Icebreaker: study abroad.

(3:16) Lebron James, Tony Hawk, Andrew Huberman and more.

(14:37) Why did cold plunge go parabolic in December 2022?

(21:30) The entourage effect.

(24:09) Which celebrity has the coolest house?

(30:47) Plunge’s origin story - necessity is the mother of invention.

(38:12) Sharktank ... was it worthwhile?

(43:00) Sauna launch.

(51:29) Advice for young entrepreneurs.

(53:33) Rapid fire.

If you like health and wellness or a great founder story that involves taking risks and pivoting during adversity, then I think you will really like this episode.

Discussion Topics:

(1:17) Icebreaker: study abroad.

(3:16) Lebron James, Tony Hawk, Andrew Huberman and more.

(14:37) Why did cold plunge go parabolic in December 2022?

(21:30) The entourage effect.

(24:09) Which celebrity has the coolest house?

(30:47) Plunge’s origin story - necessity is the mother of invention.

(38:12) Sharktank ... was it worthwhile?

(43:00) Sauna launch.

(51:29) Advice for young entrepreneurs.

(53:33) Rapid fire.

Previous Episode

Product Development, Market Fit & Minimum Viable Businesses with Chris McKleroy

Chris McKleroy is the founder and CEO of Nocs Provisions, a company which has reinvented binoculars. Chris is a successful entrepreneur with a proven track record of designing disruptive products and bringing them to market.

Prior to Nocs, Chris was the Head of Product and Co-Founder of Boombotix, one of the original Bluetooth personal speaker brands to enter the market. Chris helped scale the business from $200k to over $13 million in annual revenue. We discuss the lessons learned from massive growth, raising venture capital and what it was like partnering with Wu-Tang.

Chris and I discuss product development, prototyping and why product market fit is so critical. He shares his insights on how to bootstrap a business idea and talks about the importance of finding your MVB “Minimum Viable Business.” He shares his advice for overseas manufacturing and how to disrupt established markets with innovatively designed products.

If you like product development, direct-to-consumer marketing and design then I am sure you will love this episode.

Discussion Topics:

(1:28) Working with Wu-Tang.

(10:08) Business & design programs for Entrepreneurs.

(17:12) Scaling Boombotix to a $13 million business.

(24:12) Bootstrapping Nocs Provisions.

(30:51) Advice for Entrepreneurs.

(36:45) Product design process.

(44:46) Manufacturing products in China during COVID.

(58:10) Minimum Viable Business.

(59:00) Rapid fire questions.

Next Episode

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition & Nomadic Business Ownership with Bakari Akil

Bakari Akil is a visiting lecturer at Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management teaching students how to buy a business. Bakari is also a successful search fund entrepreneur and independent sponsor.

Bakari recently sourced the acquisition of a burlap bag manufacturer, secured equity financing, closed the deal, then recruited and hired the CEO to operate the business. Bakari shares his inspirational story about growing up extremely poor and discovering Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition to provide generational wealth. We talk about how ETA is a great path for anyone, particularly if you don’t have an MBA or went to business school.

Bakari is currently traveling around the world as a digital nomad managing his numerous ventures remotely. He provides great advice for anyone looking to use entrepreneurship and a distributed support staff to live a dream lifestyle.

This podcast is for anyone looking at Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition as a career choice or for anyone who loves a great entrepreneur story.

Discussion Topics:

(2:10) World travel and advice for remote entrepreneurs.

(9:40) Not financial advice ... the best financial advice.

(18:32) Going into ETA or Private Equity.

(26:05) The New York Times & Bakari’s entrepreneurship journey.

(32:29) Learning ETA without going to business school.

(40:22) Advice for searchers.

(50:00) Bakari’s NYP search deal and investment thesis.

(1:00:45) Rapid Fire.