Entrepreneurial Appetite

From Military Service to STZY Socks: Anthony Cosby's Journey with STZY Socks

• Anthony Cosby • Season 5 • Episode 48

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When Anthony Cosby, the innovative mind behind STZY Sock Apparel, stepped into our studio, he brought more than just socks; he brought a story of perseverance, community, and the power of supporting black businesses. His tale starts with a simple encounter on social media and unfolds into a narrative rich with ambition and the determination to "Keep Pushing Forward." The spirit of STZY Socks is about more than just comfort and style; it's about inspiring young athletes to dream big, just as Anthony did growing up in Alabama and through his service in the military.

Our conversation took a deeper turn as we explored the symbiotic relationship between structured military careers and successful entrepreneurial ventures. We parsed out the importance of education, the value of military discipline in business, and the crucial role of preparation and financial planning. It's a masterclass on weaving your values and vision into the fabric of a business that not only thrives but also blesses the community it serves.

And as we wrapped up, it felt like Anthony was just getting started. We peeled back the layers of STZY's strategic growth, from fostering key partnerships to plotting a course for STZY Footwear's future. There's a sense of excitement for what lies ahead, with talks of venture capital and philanthropy at the forefront of his mission. Whether you're a budding entrepreneur or simply someone who loves a good triumph-over-adversity story, Anthony's journey from the military to mastering the art of the sock game is sure to resonate and inspire. Join us as we step into the world of STZY Socks, where every stitch is a step toward greatness.

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Langston Clark:

What's up everybody. Once again, this is Langston Clark, the founder and organizer of Entrepreneurial Appetite, a series of events dedicated to building community, promoting intellectualism and supporting black businesses. And today we have a very special guest, anthony Cosby, who is the founder and CEO of Sock Apparel. I wasn't gonna talk a story about how I met Anthony, and this is a testament to social media and following up and supporting other black men in particular. So here in San Antonio, one of the things that I do is I organize lunches for black men and we meet at this spot called Tanks Pizza the last Friday of every month. And I randomly saw one day another brother who's gonna be on a show Damonte Alexander host that he was wearing socks and he had said, oh, probably supporting the black owned brand.

Langston Clark:

I was like, well, who was this person? So I look up . I find Anthony was like Anthony. This brother lives in San Antonio, he's got this cool soccer pearl brand right and so I follow up with him. We talk a few times and then last year we did this larger, magnified version of our black men's lunches, where we brought in a brother by the name of Preston James who talked about what it meant for him to be an angel investor, to have his organization divvied, and Anthony was there, one of the brothers who joined us for that conversation, and had the opportunity to meet Preston and some other brothers here in the community. It's just a treat, a pleasure and an honor to have him here joining us for our special series on veterans who have made the transition into entrepreneurship. Before we get started into what your story is, your journey, What is ? Tell us a little bit about the brand and what it does and what it means no, no, certainly Langston, and thanks so much for having me.

Anthony Cosby :

I think the way that we were meant to find each other is one of those ways of divineness and something that I'm really living by in my life right now and just letting God, just letting God work right. And for me, you look at it, we thought it was a really cool logo at first, but a good friend of mine, who's now our COO by the name of Milton Roberts, who's a retired Sergeant Major, 30 years Army, he said you know everything that you're doing with youth, why isn't it strength through zeal and youth? And that was a moment where I just kind of stepped back, stared up at the clouds and was like done. And since then, you know, our tagline is keep pushing forward and from the moment that I've started to company, that has been a tagline One. A lot of major brands have their logo and then they have a tagline and you really want those to be synonymous to where someone here just do it. They think Nike right, or protect this house, they think Under Armour.

Anthony Cosby :

So for me, when you hear keep pushing forward, I want folks to think Stizzy. And now, when you look at keep pushing forward, when you look at the strike through the line, that really is the forward line and we'll talk about it a little bit more. But really that line is I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me through. So that line you'll see that through throughout a lot of things that we're going to be pushing out in 2024, as we do a little bit more storytelling about the brand.

Anthony Cosby :

But it's one of those deals where we want to help young athletes reach their goals, dreams and aspirations. Because one thing that I've realized, being a young athlete myself, it teaches discipline, it teaches camaraderie, it teaches self-confidence A lot of those things that you need in life, whether you're in the military, whether you're a professor at a major university, whether you're working as a sanitation worker. All those things that you've learned in youth sports can really go back into that adulthood stage. And so for us, we want to make sure that we're setting a standard for young folks, especially young athletes, as they go through and start learning their craft, but knowing that their crafts can take them so many different places in life.

Langston Clark:

I didn't know the relationship between your own experience in sport and the manifestation of STISI. So talk a little bit about what your background is and what sport meant to you and how it plays into how you developed STISI.

Anthony Cosby :

So for me, growing up in Alabama, I was a three sport athlete baseball, basketball, football. Baseball was my favorite sport. We're probably a better football player, but I love baseball and the one thing that I wanted when I was 12 or 13 was to go to Atlanta Braves training camp for youth. My dad worked construction, my mom sold insurance and it was four boys and there was no way that that was happening, you know. But I always think I said, man, if I could have had just that opportunity to go there and to meet some of those professionals, to watch and see how they hit, to watch and see how they throw, and could any of that just spriek on me so I could take it back and just do it a thousand times a day in Alabama and not really having a lot of folks just work. You know where I'm from. You know a small country town, you just work. So it wasn't a whole lot of hey, get a you know a batting tee and hit a you know swing the bat a thousand times a day. First you had to go out and find the money for a batting tee, you know. So it was a lot of little things that just wasn't there accessible just because of where I was. But now, when I look and see the accessibility of things, those are some of the things where I try to focus on for young athletes, because me, growing up as a young athlete, you know, even though I didn't make it to the college level, I had college coaches looking at me, but I chose to go in the Navy when I was 17. I was just like you know, I just want to chase something different. I love my sports, but I want to chase something different. And now, you know, you bring your full circle and we're invited to events by the likes of Keldon Johnson here in San Antonio, who loves our product, more so, loves our mission and even more so, loves the folks who are behind the season because of what we're trying to do as a brand, not only in America but throughout the world. And it's going full circle.

Anthony Cosby :

And I will tell you, growing up in Alabama, my aunt Gladys would give us these six pack of tube socks for every Christmas and I'm telling you those socks were the most comfortable socks that you could ever wear. Every year I was just waiting for those socks. And when we develop the socks for STEEZY, I wanted them to emulate what Aunt Gladys used to give us right, and so that that really took it back to a lot of sock companies that are using nylon and things for their socks. I mean, our socks are over 80% cotton base, so when you put them on, you have amazing feeling of comfort. When you watch them, you're like, oh, wow, my money is spent very wisely, because these socks even feel better from when I first bought them and then when you put them on a year later, wow, these socks still good.

Anthony Cosby :

So for me, I wanted to take it in those evolutions and, as we've been around for three years now, I still have the socks that I wore the day that I launched the company back in March of 2021, just as a testament to the quality, but also a testament to where it started. We're started off with seven small skews. Now we had 24 skews. Now we're getting ready to launch a line of slides and we're getting ready to brand our company as STEEZY Footwear for 2024.

Langston Clark:

All right. So before we get into where we're going with STEEZY, let's talk about you going from Navy ships to STEEZY socks. What's your journey from the military to being a founder? And I think it's interesting to note that you founded in the midst of COVID right, and so talk a little bit about that as part of the journey as well.

Anthony Cosby :

Yeah. So for me, I'm retired Navy, retired naval officer, 21 years, and when I transitioned out, I transitioned one. I had the hopes of going in corporate America. I guess I wasn't ready for corporate America because I was still in transition from the Navy and things. And a lot of folks go through that. A lot of folks lose their identity from me leading a recruiting command here in San Antonio for 280 square miles, over 200 recruiters and just doing good work, being the number one appreciation in the nation to being in charge of yourselves essentially, and you lose a lot of that identity. You lose a lot of yourself and I just wasn't ready. But the one thing I was ready for because I was a career coach, certified career coach, I was ready for higher ed and working as an alumni career coach for UTSA.

Anthony Cosby :

So started off at UTSA in 2012, when I transitioned out, working at the career center, loved it because I got to take people that were not in the military.

Anthony Cosby :

I did see veterans, but I saw students, I saw alumni that were just chasing for something or looking for something and, if you recall, in 2012, that was when a lot of folks were losing their jobs.

Anthony Cosby :

The economy was really, really bad.

Anthony Cosby :

So for me working at UTSA, I truly saw where I was able to help people.

Anthony Cosby :

They will come in and tell me all the frustrations and struggles and I'll listen, but then I'll give them this plan to go forth and then connect them with these various employers that we've been able to make connections with during my time there, and I just love seeing their face when they left away with hope and I was able to give them hope and that is a lot in the currency of life. So for me, being able to do that was great. Went on to Webster University on Fort Sam Houston, got offered opportunities to run that program for Webster, for the master's program, and then, shortly after that, I got the opportunity of a lifetime to work for Syracuse University, the Institute for Veterans and Military Families, and the interesting piece about that, which goes into entrepreneurship literally back in 2012, when I was sitting on the couch watching 60 minutes something I've watched ever since childhood, watching 60 minutes and there was a segment with Syracuse University and Dr Mike Caney they had just launched a program called Entrepreneurship Boot Camp Veterans EBV.

Langston Clark:

When I saw that program.

Anthony Cosby :

They had CEOs from across the country that came in to mentor 20 veterans to help them get their businesses off the ground, and when I saw that I was like, wow, what an amazing program. I would love to be a part of that someday. Goodness you know, I don't know what type of business I want, but just the fact you have CEOs like Jamie Diamond from JPMorgan Chase out there helping veterans to start their businesses, grow their businesses, I said, man, you can't lose. Fast forward. From 2012 to 2016,.

Anthony Cosby :

I'm working for Mike Caney, dr Mike Caney at Syracuse University, and I was the first hire in the great state of Texas, for Syracuse University helped build that program through a very gracious grant from Howard and Sherry Schultz, the former chairman and CEO of Starbucks. We were able to grow a program called Onward to Opportunity on Fort Sam and the other bases here at Joint Base San Antonio, and that truly became the North Star of Onward to Opportunity for the nation. And then there are 19 locations across the country that are helping veterans with their transition and that transition going from from serving to corporate America and allowing them to get certifications that are free of charge, whether it's project management professionals, cybersecurity, information technology, professional human resource management, some of those very high coveted certifications that can truly help them as they transition out. And for me, as a team member for IVMF, I was granted the opportunity to go to EBV Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans at Texas A&M in 2019. So full circle opportunity.

Langston Clark:

I think that's really interesting how your experience in higher education overlap with this opportunity for you to go to the boot camp. Talk a little bit about your education, so you have Auburn back there in the background.

Anthony Cosby :

So for me, before I got commissioned, I was stationed in Atlanta, georgia, and they were stationed in Atlanta. It was from 1994, 1994 to 1997. So that was during the Olympics. But during that time, that's when I trusted education and I used to wear a trusted, because before I really didn't know if education was going to get me to this special place in life. I knew that the military had a structure and I knew, if I did certain things I can get to a certain level. But the one thing that I realized was education could open up so many other doors right outside of the military or even within the military. And I trusted education. I trusted the fact that I can discipline myself, go to school after work, working hours, go to school on the weekend and get educated.

Anthony Cosby :

I was going to St Leo University and it was through their distant learning, so this was before online, of course, so they had distant learning on base. So my whole life, when I could have been clubbing in Atlanta as a young 20 year old, I was going to school. I was going to school. I was volunteering with Coca-Cola, kaiser Permanente, all these big brands in Atlanta because they wanted to work with young veterans. That was my time when I was in Atlanta. But the educational piece showed me that if I committed to education and I was disciplined, it can show me so much more. And it actually helped me get into Auburn University to secure a commission and graduate from Auburn and go on to have a wonderful military career. And even during the time that I was stationed at the Naval Academy I got to further my education and get a master's degree at Central Michigan University, which for me was just so amazing to be able to do that through another distance learning while I was helping train our future leaders, the United States Naval Academy.

Langston Clark:

So let's talk about let's imagine that there's a young brother, a sister out there who is not an officer. They haven't gone to college but maybe they're still serving in the military and they have an opportunity to go to college and potentially become an officer. But they have their eye on entrepreneurship. So their focus is like I'm not going to go to college because when I get out I'm starting a business. Is there an appeal for them to go to college, become an officer and then go into entrepreneurship, or is it better for them to just not be an officer, do their 20 years of hard work they're going to do it and then transition to entrepreneurship.

Anthony Cosby :

You know I would see value in that. I will also see value in having a military career, and I will tell you why whether you're an officer or whether you're enlisted. For myself now, I'm blessed with a retirement that I've already been drawing ever since 2012, and that's something that can supplement my income as I work as an entrepreneur, but I also work for Syracuse University as well, so you want to have different income streams coming in. Because the one thing I tell folks, especially young entrepreneurs please don't think that you're going to make money your first, second or third year from this venture that you're going to do, because if you're going to go all in on this venture that you're going to do without having multiple streams of income, you're setting yourself up for a disaster. You truly are, and I love giving examples, like a Damian John who worked at Red Lobster for five years while building a $6 billion FUBU. He said he made $50,000 a year that helped him live while he was building FUBU. And so, for me, I love the aspect of folks wanting to be an entrepreneur, but I also want them to understand the aspect of having I say how that security, whether, especially if you're in the military, because you do you have that security of getting your two checks twice a month? Understand the security of it, right, but also understand what you're trying to build and that build as an entrepreneur. Now, while you're doing your job, you can still build. While you're going to school, you can still build. I mean, we have so many examples of that, whether it's Zuckerberg, where he was building while going to school, or whether it was Gates while he was building while going to school. So you have an opportunity to make yourself a well-rounded person as you're getting your education, and that well-roundedness is going to have so much value as an entrepreneur For me.

Anthony Cosby :

When I look at STEEZY, we've sold in every continent except Antarctica, and I've had to have conversations with folks in Australia, a conversation with folks in France, and that's really cool because I can think of some similarity because of education or a book that I read, or when my ship pulled into port in Toulon. So it's one of those things where it gives you an opportunity to just expand your mind and that expansion of your mind is truly going to pay dividends as you're growing your company, because one thing as an entrepreneur, one thing as a founder you have to have that vision. You have to have that vision and as the company, as the brand grows, you're going to be the vision keeper. A lot of times you're going to be that strategic, getting to the weeds person. So hopefully, as your business grows, you'll be able to bring people on to help with that. But it's going to give you an opportunity to understand that vision piece and truly I think education helps cultivate visions right, helps you understand the power of vision.

Anthony Cosby :

Because the one thing I tell my daughter about education, she wants to be in Wimbledon by age 15, but she also wants to go to Harvard while she's on the WTA World Tennis Tour right Women's Tennis Tour. And I told her, I said, sweetheart, sure you can do that, you can do that because you just have to be disciplined enough to do those type of things. You'd be disciplined enough to do that. Do them, you can do it.

Anthony Cosby :

And for me that's the same thing with a young sailor or a young soldier, airman, coast guardsman that's out there, young Marine, that's out there. That's starting the company, looking to potentially become an officer or extend their career and go or hire ranks and enlisted. My advice will be your entrepreneurship is not sure thing, it's something that you're going to have to build when you are right now in the military, that's your sure thing, right, take care of that. But also have this that you can do two things at once. And so many times in the military we've proven that we can do multiple things at one time. So building and growing a company just another extension of doing something different collateral duty, if you will, but it's a little bit more special because it's yours. It's something that you're building for you and again it might not see fruit until that third, fourth or fifth year, but you put that work into it. Now you know that you're planning those seas now for a great harvest later.

Langston Clark:

Talk a little bit about this program at Texas A&M. It's interesting that you were part of building the program and then you have to be in the program, right, and so talk about what your experience was going through the entrepreneurship bootcamp for veteran. What were some of the things that you learned as part of that?

Anthony Cosby :

Yeah, so the first part was a 30-day online 30 days online and we got to meet with different entrepreneurs during a 30-day online course. And then we had our 10-day on the ground course at College Station, and during that time it was, I mean, we were up at five and we stayed up to about 10. Long days, just cramming so much into those days. But we learned about marketing, we learned about e-commerce, we learned about legal trademarks and those type of things. We learned about the accounting piece, we learned about the importance of CPA, we learned about the importance of bringing on an attorney or having an attorney in your back pocket Just some of those key things that you need as you're getting ready to start a business. We learned a little bit about access to capital or lack thereof, right In some cases and it gave you an opportunity to get mentored by multiple folks that were already millionaires, billionaires, that just wanted to truly give their time and give back to veterans, and so, for me, that whole week really opened my eyes to so much to the sense, to where you know I love going back.

Anthony Cosby :

I was, I think, yeah, last February I was invaded back to be to keep no speaker at Coliseation for the EBV ceremony. So for me, another full circle opportunity to where I've stayed in contact, stay connected. You know they've ordered socks from me for many occasions, so it's been a really nice opportunity just to stay connected with Aggie Nation. And for the veteran community, just something so important because you can isolate yourself pretty quickly as an entrepreneur and I think it's important to have folks surrounded around you that want to see you win.

Langston Clark:

So my listeners know that my favorite social media platform is LinkedIn, and so, as I was reviewing your LinkedIn profile, I saw something about Steezy and it's. It was called technical footwear. What do you mean by technical footwear?

Anthony Cosby :

So when we started out to create the most comfortable sock in the world, we knew that we had to really tear down the basic athletic sock and rebuild it, kind of like dating myself to $6 million, man, we can rebuild it Right. So we were able to take all these different socks that we've got and said, hey, let's make the most comfortable sock in the world, and in big brand world. You will call it R&D, research and development. So we were our research and development essentially and this was a project that really was born through COVID going back and forth with the manufacturers, with the prototypes and those type of things, and then once we felt it was perfect, that's when we launched the company.

Anthony Cosby :

But that technical piece I mean whether it's the cushioning on the bottom or whether it's the midfoot hug, or whether it's the seamless toe that gives you so much comfort, or the arch support, or the port from your Achilles, those different things that we have incorporated within the design of the sock to truly give that comfort, fit and feel for the sock. And that's why we're really, you know, aggressive with that technical piece Because, again, our socks are engineered for athletes, our socks are engineered for those folks that are standing on their foot. We have a huge population forum New York Fire Department that wears our socks, one because we have a high cotton content and two because they're so amazingly comfortable and durable. So for us, those are some of the things that we really look at when we're designing socks, even for our new collections, because we only want to get better, as we need to grow this company.

Langston Clark:

Is there a particular significance with the socks being made of cotton for firefighters?

Anthony Cosby :

Yes, With one of our firefighters. He was like hey, I didn't want socks that were polyester going into a fire. That's probably not the best thing. So that your socks are made of cotton and they're comfortable and they're durable, I can watch them at the firehouse and just have them ready is amazing. So, Again, not segment that I was going for but, now there's a segment that we've opened the door for.

Langston Clark:

I think that's interesting because I think it probably wouldn't melt the traditional polyester like it was 75% polyester sock or whatever I don't know how much it is, but it would probably melt in a fire. So that's. I just find it fascinating that that's a population of folks who benefited from the sock, and firefighters have to be athletic too, so I think that's pretty cool. There's a book somewhere somewhere on this shelf right here called Start With. Why, now, where that book is on this shelf, I don't know where it is on the shelf.

Langston Clark:

But Simon Sinek always says, start with why. And so tell me what. The why is behind STEEZY, like what's-.

Anthony Cosby :

So mine why it goes to my daughter. So my daughter at an early age she's always said that she wanted to be number one in the world in tennis. Age of two she was saying this and picked up her first racket at three and at four went to her first tennis camp. And now I cannot beat her and she's 11. Has the most deadliest backhand that I've seen and only wants to make it better Right.

Anthony Cosby :

My why is I wanted to create a brand that could give other young athletes what she's been able to have over the last 11 years when it comes to becoming an elite athlete? Because at some point all elite athletes know that they're good. They won't say it, but they know that they're good. But what's important at that time is what's between the ears and what's going on in between the ears and how is that going to help them get to that next level. Because it's definitely. It's definitely a mental aspect to becoming an elite athlete. It's a mental aspect to becoming a ten year professor. It's not meant for everybody and that's okay. But if it is meant for you, you have to make sure what's between your ears is right.

Anthony Cosby :

And for me, as I saw an opportunity to launch a brand that's focused on athletes and have a mission to provide this open opportunity to enhance the lives of young athletes. I was like I think we're on to something, because when I look at the other brands that I researched your Nike or Adidas, your Under Armour they're all searching to incorporate what they're doing to for young athletes, whether it's a U ball, whether it's, you know, through soccer programs, different little things. Because one thing parent buys right. But if they have a young person that is sold on your brand, when they become an adult they're going to be sold on your brand and then the cycle returns with their kids. And we've seen that through Under Armour, essentially just in our lifetime. Because when Mr Plank started it, you know, I remember when he was selling out of his trunk to Auburn, you know, essentially Auburn was one of the first universities to sign on as a major university for Under Armour.

Anthony Cosby :

And now look at Under Armour. I mean it's a world recognizable brand. I mean you got the Rock Dwayne Johnson, the Rock Project, his own shoe, you know, with Under Armour. So, but for us we wanted to start off with that young athlete because we know that that is one direct trajectory for growth. Because if right now we have our fadeaway team here in San Antonio, one of the players is one of the top 10 third graders in the nation. I mean, look, 10 year old, just lights out but he wears these socks every, every game, and the whole team wears. But he wears them because of the performance, the athletic piece, it just helps him. So for us, we know that we're onto something when it comes to that piece of it and it all started with that. You know that young baby girl of mine who is striving every day to get better, so she can be that number one in the world at some point in her life.

Langston Clark:

I got it. That's good, and I think this is our very first conversation ever. This is when we were first talking about the Preston James, the Preston James meeting, which Shaman's plug is an episode on last season of the podcast, if y'all want to check that out and we were talking before that event. I'm just talking about when it'd be amazing if you could Stizzy, could be a unicorn, startup or self, or a hundred million dollars or whatever, and that you would love to use that private to invest in others and talk about that a little bit. Is that still part of part of what you would like to do? How do you envision you know that part of who you are as a businessman and an entrepreneur?

Anthony Cosby :

Yeah, you know. So in 2024, you'll start seeing a little bit more about Stizzy being in that world, especially as a company that is amazingly in love with God with everything that we do is right there in the center. And for me, as we build and as we have an opportunity for an exit, or even prior to, one of the things that I've always wanted to do was to seed it back right to folks, because, as an entrepreneur even as a 40, now 50 year old entrepreneur I know how hard it is to ask anybody for anything. Yeah, right, it's ridiculously hard. Now you know what, if you see somebody that has something that looks really good and you're like that company can do really well, think about having multiple people say that and no one ever offer you any funding. Right, that's a story. So I had so many wow, I have so many athletes to wear your product. How much do you pay on and then wear your product? Yeah, they love it. You know where I'm trying to have a relationship with them. I either text or give them a call. Wow, that's amazing. And they're so. Your product is so good and your marketing is so tight and this, and that it looks like Nike, and when I keep hearing that, I'm like, yeah, that's what we stroll for. You know, very rarely, or almost none, do you ever say, hey, how can I help you? Well, I haven't gotten that right. Yeah, again, think about not getting that knowing to scale. You need that right, right. So for me as a VC and I want to be a blessing to others, because here's the one thing that I believe is okay to go through the fire and 2023 has truly been a fire I think you and I talked about some of the struggles. You know picking up manufacturing and moving it to a whole new country, but we've done that.

Anthony Cosby :

One of the things that I believe is that everybody don't necessarily have to go through the struggle that you went through. They might go through their own struggles as an entrepreneur, but do they really have to go through the struggles of trying to figure out how to get funding when you're in access point for funding and you can be access point for true mentoring, right, and not just you know mentoring because you worried about, you know if you're gonna get your money back or anything like that, but you know coming alongside and mentoring in the way where. Let the founder be the founder, yeah, and let the founder just truly execute their vision. But maybe you could be on that side and say, hey, anthony, give me a call when you have a question or you know what, let's just go out have, grab a bite. That's the VC I wanna be.

Anthony Cosby :

I wanna be that VC, whether it's me having to jump on the flight to have lunch with the founder and come back the next day, because that lunch that I have with my founder, that I've invested in, can be life changing for both of us. Yeah, right, it can be life changing for both of us. That could be the start of another unicorn. But because I said, hey, I'm gonna hop on the flight and come have lunch with you tomorrow in LA and let's just talk about it and let's just, you know, just build this relationship because I care.

Anthony Cosby :

And I think that's where, who knows, I don't know if there's gonna. There are a lot of VCs out there that have that mentality, cause I haven't spoken to a lot of VCs, right, but I know that it is a ruthless game. Yeah, I get it. I understand all that. I've been burned. But what I also understand is opportunity, giving folks opportunity and if you have that ability to be that blessing for someone because, again, not everybody knows how to ask, right, not everybody knows how to ask they might know how to pitch their company. You know, now I have to be a professional pitcher. You know pitching my company, I'm okay with that.

Langston Clark:

It's a different type of pitching in baseball too, right. It's a different type of pitching. You still got to be a pitcher, I think, listen, this is kind of like one of those moments where you didn't play baseball but you're still pitching. You know what I mean?

Anthony Cosby :

Yeah, yeah, you're still pitching, and you're pitching an athletic brand right.

Langston Clark:

Yeah.

Anthony Cosby :

So but you know, I think you know for me, I know that I can bring impact to young founders or founders and when I say young, just young in the business, not H because I started seasoning late 40s right, I know I can bring value to founders.

Anthony Cosby :

Now, when I'm able to add that funding piece to that value, oh, we're really going to be dangerous then, because then I want to have, you know, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 founders that I've been able to bless and help grow their businesses, because I think that's the way it should be. Yeah, especially if somebody is looking at my brand, seeing my brand, seeing the growth and trajectory of it, seeing athlete X, athlete X, influencer X, influencer X, why don't you reach out to that person Just to say look what you doing, how can I help? Yeah, but again, everybody don't do that. Just like every founder don't know how to ask. That's right For me. I want to flip the script and I want to have an opportunity to build so many people up, because I think that's my calling in life to help people, to help build them up, to give them hope, and this would be another way to give them hope.

Langston Clark:

I think this is a great segue to the question about your faith in entrepreneurship and talk a little bit more about how you exude and practice your faith through your entrepreneurship.

Anthony Cosby :

Yeah, you know. So for me, the one thing I truly believe in is that being an entrepreneur is a gift from God and you have an opportunity to impact so many lives and you can see this through countless times in history. But I watched this one documentary one time with Henry Ford and it was on Netflix. It was about three hours long, but I was glued to the TV because I couldn't believe what happened after the Model T. I mean, it was just like once the Model T was born.

Anthony Cosby :

Then Henry Ford wanted every family in America to have a Model T. So for him, for every family in America, to have a Model T, he had to amp up manufacturing so he had 24-hour shifts going so they can make the Model T, yeah. So what did that mean? That means multiple families were employed by Ford. So Ford and this is just a manufacturing piece.

Anthony Cosby :

Now fast forward into if you're blessed with being able to have a Ford dealership, you're a multi-millionaire right then. So think about how many people have open Ford dealerships that has impacted and enhanced the lives of their families. That's legacy building because of what Henry Ford did way back then on the Model T. So when I think about entrepreneurship, I think one is definitely an awesome responsibility to have because it can impact so, so many lives, especially when people believe in your vision. Even to put in that like Google right now, I mean people have built their lives at Google over the last 10, 15 years, yeah, or built their lives at Amazon over the last five, 10 years. That has helped kids go to school, put food on the table, go on family trips, all those different things.

Anthony Cosby :

So for me, I look at that as a blessing from God to be able to do, even though we're not at Amazon or we're not at Google, when it comes to that amount of folks working with us on our team, I can see that we can maybe be close to somewhere in that, in that vicinity.

Anthony Cosby :

I can see that we can bring in people that will love the vision of STEEZY and be a blessing to them so they can be a blessing to their families. And I think for us, we want to be a blessing to community, our community here in San Antonio, as we're getting ready to do more and more in the community. We're going to have amazing launch during Dream Week and we're going to start pushing that out here a little bit, but I'm just ecstatic about that. It's going to be my first MLK march and to be able to do it on the backs of Madam CJ Walker, put on the backs of Dr Martin Luther King and just have that in my mind as I'm walking, because this is a brand that God has blessed me with. To be a blessing to others, it takes on a whole different meaning. And for me not to be ashamed to say I love God and I own a company and this company is a blessing of God and we want to be a blessing to others.

Langston Clark:

Yeah. Can you give me some key points from your journey, from your pivots, some key points of advice for veterans who are looking to make the transition to entrepreneurship?

Anthony Cosby :

I love this question, Lysin. So first and foremost, I would say understand the ideation part of entrepreneurship, because you have your three phases ideation, startup and growth. I think that ideation part is so important because it gives you an opportunity to really think about and research what you want to do. So if you're really thinking about and researching what you want to do, it's going to help you with the next phase of startup. Now, with that phase of startup, I want you to be I want to be very clear with veterans and folks that are serving, that are starting businesses. Understand how you're going to pay for it. Understand how you're going to have the financial backing to execute your ideation or your vision for your company and have that ready to go. Don't want your company thinking that you're going to just keep using your own money for it because that's not the way to do it.

Anthony Cosby :

Now have have I self funded? Yes, If I can go back what I have self funded, I will have figured out how I could have funded outside of self funding, but now I know. So I would say understand how you're going to execute it financially. And then I want them to understand and just get into this Comfortable place of uncomfortableness of how can I make it grow. And that's when I always say have a partner, have a partner, and for me, have a partner that you can trust.

Anthony Cosby :

Because, as as I'm going Steezy, you know, Sergeant Major Roberts Milton, I mean he's been a guy, he has been a guy soon, because before I ran out of people that I could trust, right, and when he came along, there's someone that could help take a little bit off the plate, right, Because the last thing you want is to just keep working in the business. You want to work on the business, right. You know, in our, in our part, we would be at the, at the warehouse, melding out at three in the morning, and now we have a fulfillment center that does that. But we put in the work, but now we get to work on the business a little bit more. For example, I had a call with with the pickleball people, right, and we want to do some amazing things with them, but if I'm at the warehouse packing, it's hard to have a right call with pickleball, right.

Anthony Cosby :

So there's a growth aspect to to being an entrepreneur and you just got to embrace that piece of it because just please don't think that you know Facebook was making money this first year. I don't think there's any money until like the seventh or eighth year. So just understand that there's a growth aspect to it and that's okay. That is okay. But just those primary points in the walk of your business. Just understand that and again, try to have somebody that you can bounce those ideas off with, because I think that's going in somebody who has bought into your vision. They have to have bought into that vision for them to be able to, for you to be able to bounce things off of them. And and I think that's something that everybody needs is their growing.

Langston Clark:

So we talked about and I think you even mentioned it today in a little ways finding support for your business, and one of the struggles that you mentioned in the past was locally, where you are. There was a point where it's really difficult to get support for what you're doing and you had to go other places to get that support. So talk about what goes into that type of decision making and when you actually just make the determination that the environment that I'm in right now doesn't recognize what I'm doing, so I have to go somewhere else to get that support, talk, talk about that process.

Anthony Cosby :

I think when you want to get plugged in locally, there's not so much getting plugged into the organization is getting plugged into people. It's a. It's a. It's a difference, because you can go do an event and an organization and if you don't connect with someone that has some influence in that organization, you can spin your wheels. Yeah, and that's just truth. I give you an example I went to an event in Atlanta and I was on stage, did a panel and I really got to talk about the story, as I did with you, and it was this one gentleman that came up to me afterwards and said hey, I like what you said and I went to both of your panels.

Anthony Cosby :

We're going to make it easy the official sock of Atlanta. And he walks away. He walks away. I'm like what do I do with that? Right. And then about six months later, I get invited to do a veteran's day event in Atlanta and I accept and I go and do a veteran's day entrepreneurship event. Same guy comes up and says hey, how about you being a part of the Atlanta black chain? I said. I said you know, I live in Texas, right. He said I know, but you're going to be the official sock of Atlanta someday and just smiling right and then, at the beginning of 2023, I'm part of the Atlanta Chamber.

Anthony Cosby :

It was our first meeting of the year. That same gentleman is now the CEO and president of Atlanta black chamber and the first, their first guest speaker was Mr Bugsby from the national black chamber, and I'm like they got this guy here for their first meeting. He has some juice. I said wow, and you know, we've stayed in touch. He was a Navy veteran as well, but I've seen what he has done for the chamber His first year as CEO and president. Just some amazing things. And for me that resonated because I mean, he was, he was happy, he wanted me to win.

Anthony Cosby :

And again, as I said, I didn't know how influential he was. I didn't, I had no clue. But now I know, now I know and again, I think when you are at events, it does take you meaning that person who everybody knows, or a lot of people know, because when you're connected with somebody that they trust, then they are more prone to trust you. Yeah, because you're, you're rolling with them. Yeah, and I said, no, if you're rolling, melvin, you're my guy too.

Anthony Cosby :

I didn't have that feeling when I started my company again, I started during code, so nobody was going out, but I'm a bit of introvert myself, so and that's, you know, that's has created his own challenges and stuff, whether it's trying to get funding or even just trying to go to the next level and trying to figure out how you fit in. But you know, I truly think that, again, that's when we have the folks that are leaders, that are impactful in the community. If you see something that could definitely be a star, that could definitely be a unicorn, you know I've structured a little bit. You know, just, even if it's just an introduction or this or that, and one of those introduction words like I have no desire for nothing but to help you, yeah, because again, it could be one of those situations where that desire is monetary, or that desire is equity, or that desire is this or that, and then you know you kind of get put in a situation then.

Anthony Cosby :

So you know, I just think, as as we're looking in our own communities, it is important to be ingrained in your community, but sometimes it's being shepherded in, right. Sometimes you have to find that person to shepherd you and that's right. You know, if I'm rolling somewhere with Langston and he's introduced me to Preston and Preston going to look at me like Okay, yeah, what can I do for you? Totally different. For me just going up on my own, thanks, totally different.

Langston Clark:

Thanks. We have origins as a book club, so I always ask the guests who are authors what are some books that have inspired your journey, or books that you are just reading right now, if even just for pleasure? What are some things that you're some literature that you're into right now?

Anthony Cosby :

Yeah, I think the one book that really inspired me as an entrepreneur was the pumpkin plan. And, and I can tell you, just throw around a pumpkin plan. The pumpkin plan truly teaches you to be good at one thing, you know. It truly teaches you to be grow that giant pumpkin if you want to to be good at one thing. And early on I started a dropshipping company right after I graduated from, right after I graduated from EBV, texas A&M, and then COVID hit and then that kind of ended the dropshipping company. But during that time I was at the store on base one day and I was going to get some bourbon and it was this guy that had two ladies. They were doing a tasting and the guy looked like he didn't belong there, had a nice button down, collar shirt, you know, cowboy boots, jeans, the whole nine a little tanned out. And I went up and introduced myself and he said hey, I'm Mike Cameron. I said okay, so what do you do? He said, oh, I'm the founder CEO of Devil's River Whiskey. I said, oh, okay, I've seen this sign. He said have you had it? I said I have not. I said but I saw your sign on 281. And it said if only your commute was so smooth, right? I said I love that sign.

Anthony Cosby :

I said when I saw that sign, I went and researched your company. I saw you guys get the waterfront, the limestone river, devil's River and make your way. He said yeah, it's good that you know that. And then he said so what do you do? And you know. I said hey, I'm getting ready. He said start a sock company. I did do dropshipping, but COVID kind of earned run that.

Anthony Cosby :

He said have you ever thought about just doing one thing? I like what do you mean? He said well, just just just hear me out. He said so the other day we were over George Strait House. That's when the wheels come off, right? So the other day we were over George Strait's house and Coach Pop was there.

Anthony Cosby :

And then Tito comes over. He said you know, you know Tito, right? I said from Tito's vodka. I said I don't know him, but I know his product. He said yeah, so Tito comes over and George is getting ready to start a new spirits company. And we asked Tito. I said why don't you make flavor vodka, you know, like sky or absolute? Why don't we make citrus or anything? And he said this was in 2019. He said Tito looked us all in our eyes. I said, guys, I just got all for $5 billion from my company. I don't need to make anything else, I just need to do one thing and do it well. Yeah, so when I look at that and I look at footwear socks and slides I just want to do one thing and do it very well.

Langston Clark:

Okay, that's a great way to end. Thank you for sharing that book suggestion. Anthony Cosby, thank you for joining us here on entrepreneurial appetite. Tell us where we can find your brand social media website, all that and then tell us how we can support your brand.

Anthony Cosby :

Sure, so you can find the brand at STZfootwearcom STZYfootwearcom. We're on Facebook at STZ Socks and we're on Instagram at STZ Socks, so you can connect with us there. And I think for me a few ways that you could probably help the brand. One just follow us and like us and like what we're doing and share with your network. It doesn't cost anything to share. If you read some of the things that we got going on, you can see what type of company we are.

Anthony Cosby :

I would say that we've had our challenges in 2023 and I'm okay with negative posts, because I love proving the negative posts. I love to show them that we're trying to do some positive things. Sometimes you have to be refined by fire. You have to go through that refining process and that's something that we've gone through. But I would say, if you're a company that are looking to expand your product line to socks or slides, I'm your guy. Please connect with me. Connect with me on LinkedIn and Anthony Cosby and or on Instagram Anthony Cosby 4-0.

Anthony Cosby :

But I would say just pray for us too. I think that's one of the biggest things that I would say pray for us, because we really want to impact so many young lives and we really want to do something special in the world. It's easy. I think over the last three years we've had an amazing run, but it almost feels like we just getting started. I mean, you guys haven't even seen our best stuff yet and I really can't wait for y'all to see what we have in store for 2025. It's going to be life changing. I think we'll probably be closer hopefully can't say we're all right now, but hopefully closer to becoming that VC at some point. So if we do what we need to do, if we keep God in the center of what we're doing, if we're able to bless others, I think we'll be okay.