When Blake Mycoskie originally proposed his One-for-One business model in 2006, few had much confidence in his ability to succeed. He never generated a business plan or asked for outside support. Mycoskie used the money he had earned from his earlier entrepreneurial ventures to fund the new business. Looking back on those days, Mycoskie stated, “A lot of people thought we were crazy. They never thought we could make a profit.” Much to every- one’s surprise, TOMS Shoes had its first profitable year in 2008, only two years after being founded! The company’s sales kept increasing throughout the “great recession” of 2008–2009 and continued being marginally profitable. Mycoskie admitted that the company would have to sell about a million pairs of shoes annually to be really profitable. Nevertheless, TOMS Shoes did not take on any outside investors and did not plan to do so.
In September 2010, Blake Mycoskie celebrated TOMS Shoes’ total sales of one million pairs of shoes by returning to Argentina to give away the millionth pair. Looking forward to returning to where it all began, Mycoskie mused: “To reach a milestone like this is really amaz- ing. We have been so busy giving shoes that we don’t even think about the scope of what we’ve created and what we’ve done.”
What should be next for TOMS Shoes? Blake Mycoskie invested a huge amount of his own time, energy, and enthusiasm in the growth and success of TOMS Shoes. Was the company too dependent upon its founder? How should it plan its future growth?