He was making $10 a post from Adidas on Instagram in 2013. Today, Bill Rom and his partner Josh are running a bootstrapped apparel brand doing $220 million this year — and projecting up to $400 million next year. Bill breaks down the exact financial wake-up call that let them scale aggressively, why they still do 10-15% of their own screen printing at $200M+ in revenue, and how they became a genuine culture moment (mascots, memes, and Aiden Ross wearing their shorts included).

Inside the episode:

• The fractional CFO hire in 2022 that revealed they were making just $60 in profit on every first purchase — and why that clarity changed how aggressively they'd spend
• How their average new-customer value climbed past $400 in the first 12 months, and why that number justified riskier channel bets
• The in-person activation playbook (spin-to-win wheels, velocity challenges) they started back in 2016 that Bill calls Gen Z's biggest unfair advantage today
• Why Baseball Lifestyle 101 now outsells Nike and Adidas per square foot at Dick's Sporting Goods, and how that pushed them into a $600K/month YouTube and linear TV strategy
• The "asymmetrical bet" rule Bill uses to decide when it's smart to lose money for 60 days in exchange for a 10x return in 90
• How building relationships with creators like Eric Sim (rather than paying for one-off deals) landed them a shoe collab with Adidas

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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact and request your FREE strategy session today!

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Chapters:

[00:00] Intro — Brett Curry sets up the live NYC interview with Bill Rom of Baseball Lifestyle 101

[02:16] Meet Bill Rom — $220M this year, $340–400M projected next year across D2C and wholesale

[02:40] The breakout moment — From Instagram media account to apparel brand; the College World Series fire marshal story

[04:53] Knowing your numbers — The fractional CFO, $60 first-purchase profit, and scaling from $5M to $220M+

[06:51] Beyond first-purchase math — Cohort analysis, LTV climbing past $400, and running your own race

[10:29] What they got right early — Building an email list, posting hourly for five years, and in-person activations

[14:59] Sponsor break — OMG Commerce

[16:08] Why YouTube is the future — Evergreen content vs. TikTok, 80K subscribers, and YouTube as the #1 streaming service

[19:46] Going big on commercials, CTV & linear — Working with Jacques and the "spend 10x your creative cost" rule

[21:33] Investing in culture & creators — Jackson Olson, Eric Sim, King Ajuko, and building content muscle in-house

[25:11] The Adidas collab — How it happened and why they won't let top creators go to Nike or Adidas

[27:26] Asymmetrical risk for asymmetrical returns — "Lose money for 60 days to 10X in 90" and wrap-up

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Connect With Brett:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQmbMwBW8LYDfFAqNqlgTGw

Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/

Request a Free Strategy Session: https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact

Relevant Links:

Bill’s LinkedIn: /bill-rom-54653744/

Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, JC Hite, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D'Allessandro, Stephane Colleu, Jeff Oxford, Bryan Porter and more