The Kevin Plank Under Armour Story
Under Armour was founded by Kevin Plank, a former college football player at the University of Maryland. Kevin was 24 when he first formed the firm in 1996. Under Armour now has approximately 5,900 employees and over $1.8 billion in annual revenue. At the University of Maryland, Kevin Plank found that compression shorts would stay dry during the sweat of football practice. Kevin decided to use $60,000 in savings and credit to found Under Armour.
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He was out of money little over a year later. Under Armour made its first sale to Georgia Tech University soon after, and soon more than 24 NFL teams made purchases of the company’s products. After that, major relators began carrying Under Armour, and the brand grew into the colossal business that it is today.
Under Armour was initially funded by Kevin Plank, but under ten years later the company went public to raise funds measuring $115 million for expansion. Additional shares in the company have since become available, and the funds they generate are used to finance the company’s swift growth.
Under Armour has nearly a 25% trailing growth rate, which compares favorably to its competitors, close to doubling that of Nike, beating Gildan Activewear, and being positive unlike Columbia Sportswear.
Some of the important milestones in Under Armour’s history include 1995, when Plank came up with the idea for Under Armour, 1996 when the company was launched, 1997 where Under Armour made its first giant sale, 1998 when the company made the uniforms for Any Given Sunday, 2000 when the firm’s first national advertising campaigns began, 2002 where the company began being carried in retail stores in over 2,500 locations, and in 2013 when Under Armour acquired MapMyFitness for the sum of $150 million. Go Here for related Information.
Kevin Plank has offered some advice for those seeking to build a startup company. He says to run a company with hands around the throat of the business.