America 1979

Chapter 122 Three-Rate and No-Rate
"The best place to register a company is Delaware, which is very friendly to small and micro businesses and has more tax benefits than California."

Sophia, who had been invited to Bill's house on Saturday night, suggested so.

Of course, Mr. Ferrari agreed, "What about the factory? I would definitely not choose this area. The state tax here is too high, and the labor cost is also high."

In terms of personal income tax and corporate tax, California's state tax ranks first in the country. He just wants to start a sports goods company. There is no need to put the factory in this ghost place where the state tax is even more outrageous than New York State.

Sophia flipped through the small book in her hand, "This has to be answered by professionals in the clothing industry. We don't have to set up our own factory. We can also find an OEM factory. While the quality is guaranteed, the output can also be stable. For For start-up companies, this is much more convenient. In the past few days, I have helped you contact some people in the clothing industry, shall we arrange an interview?"

"Okay, just Tuesday morning! Our morning training is relatively free, just tell the coach."

Because the game time of the regular season is usually in the afternoon, the actual combat drills are also held in the afternoon.

Bill thought for a while and asked a more important question, "How to solve the problem of short-sleeved materials? We need to use materials such as polyester and nylon to make clothes. Which university professor or student should we contact?"

He is currently equivalent to a product manager, and it takes professionals to find suitable materials.

"As far as the University of California, Berkeley, near us, they are very strong in textiles, clothing, and textile management, and their majors rank among the top three in the country. According to what I know, they can find you for about a few thousand to ten thousand to twenty thousand dollars. Several materials that meet your requirements."

Sophia said a vague number.

Bill is very familiar with the football team of this school. The Golden Bears are old enemies, and there will always be troubles in the San Francisco Derby every year.

But on the rugby field, the students from the two schools got along well. In Dr. Andy's engineer team, three engineers were from Stanford University, and the other two were from UCB, University of California, Berkeley.

"You should contact me quickly. It is best to see the finished product this month and order the materials we need. Before the start of the [-] season, our training clothes, short sleeves and other products will be on the market. I will During the interval between the Parker Ten League games, we promoted our products to the logistics team."

Thanks to Mr. Ferrari's status as a college football player, he can quickly get in touch with members of the NCAA Div-1 school teams such as the Red and White Team, Golden Bears, Bruins, and Troy, including the logistics team in charge of procurement. .

During the regular season, the ties between the various school teams are relatively close. If there is time, more than a dozen teams will be able to use Under Armour's training clothes and underwear this year to gain a little reputation in the NCAA circle.

But this is only the first step. Getting Jordan's contract before the Los Angeles Olympics in July and August of [-] is the key to Under Armour's smooth growth.

Starting a company is not a trivial matter. Based on his own memory and the current situation, Bill summed up several difficulties in getting Jordan and even dividing up the sneaker market.

The first difficulty is naturally signing Jordan.

According to the current market, the top few in the NBA draft camp usually get a one-year endorsement contract of $[-], and there is no special sneaker like a signature shoe.

At present, Converse has won the endorsement of most NBA stars, and has occupied about 40.00% to 50.00% of the basketball shoe market, followed by Adidas, with a market share of around 30.00%.

At this time, Nike, although valued at around 2000 million US dollars, mainly sold running shoes, namely the famous Forrest Gump shoes Cortez. Step this brand belongs to a track.

As for Nike's basketball shoes, the annual sales should be around 300 million US dollars, because Phil Knight, the founder of Hook Company, especially likes basketball shoes.In the field of basketball shoes, the hook company belongs to the third rate.

In the entire sporting goods industry, Nike should be classified as second-rate and third-rate at present. The first-rate is naturally Adidas and Converse, and brands such as Reebok and New Balance can be regarded as second-rate. Nike, which focuses on track and field running shoes, follows these peers.

Even if Bill's Under Armor has its own training clothes, tight sweat-absorbing short sleeves and other products, in the eyes of these serious big companies, it is just a small local factory that does not enter the mainstream. It only focuses on the rugby industry and has no competitiveness.

But for Michael Jordan, there is no difference between the third-rate Nike and the low-end Under Armor. Joe Gang wanted to get the endorsement contract of the sports overlord Adidas, but Adidas ignored him, and Converse gave him a $[-] contract.

The second difficulty is naturally to create a pair of basketball shoes above the standard.

Don't look at shoes as such. Without several years of technical accumulation and a reliable designer, it is really impossible to make a pair of basketball shoes that can be used in actual combat.

The third difficulty is even more troublesome. Jordan will probably participate in the NBA Draft in June [-], and then enter the professional team to play. At that time, the NBA will replace a Jew as the president. The NBA may not accept wearing Jordan playing in certain sneakers.

These three difficulties challenge the start-up Under Armor in chronological order, and the difficulty gradually increases, but signing Jordan is the most important.

As long as Under Armor signs this stingy superstar as a spokesperson, Nike will have to choose other NBA stars to endorse its own basketball shoes, although according to the strength and marketing methods of the hook company, without Jordan, it can also make its basketball shoes popular , but after all, it is not as good as a pair of shoes in the original historical track that won sales of [-] million US dollars.

According to Bill's vision, from the end of this year to the beginning of next year, he will expand Under Armour's product line to produce most football equipment, and take the opportunity to recruit several sneaker designers to initially design sneakers. If possible, he will spend a lot of money from Nike. The company poached several sneaker designers and launched Under Armor's first-generation basketball shoes around [-].

Of course, in this process, Bill's own financial resources alone cannot support Under Armor to become bigger and stronger.After the NFL draft camp in April next year, Mr. Ferrari decided to conduct a large-scale financing, allowing Under Armor to expand production and get the funds to sign Jordan.

"Boss, you care about the company, but you don't seem to have made it clear about my salary." At the end of the conversation, Sophia suddenly changed her title and mentioned the salary issue.

"How much is your weekly salary at the Drama Academy?" Bill asked the price first, in case he paid a salary that far exceeded the market.

Sophia closed her little notebook, "Give me 360 ​​dollars over there, and you have to run around to work on this job, so you have to pay a little more."

$360 a week, 52 weeks in a year, the annual salary is about 8000.

Bill roughly calculated, "That's $480 a week, and the annual salary is about [-]. To the outside world, you are my assistant, and the expenses on the road will be reimbursed by Under Armor."

PS: Ask for a recommendation ticket and ask for a monthly ticket.

(End of this chapter)