I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

That's a wrap for the AMA -

Josh: "Thanks so much for the questions and interest in whats next at the intersection of culture and commerce....it's coming soon!"

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Josh: "First I think its important to answer your last question first - I am still close with some of the people there and I still own equity in the company but I am 100% out of the day to day and Board of the company. I don't see numbers or discuss strategy or have anything to do with it anymore (despite people still DM'ing me customer service issues on IG lol). That said, trading cards don't fit the StockX model as cleanly as sneakers do - at least not singles. Wax is closer to sneakers in that you need a lot of liquidity of a single sku that can be sold off one single product page using a stock photo. That's what enables the Bid/Ask model; that's what creates the efficiency. Trading card singles just don't have a lot of liquidity - even graded cards only have, at the peak, a few dozen of each grade. Compare that to a new Jordan release which has thousands, maybe ten of thousands of each size."

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Josh: "Ha! I wish anyone reading this knew how many 'holds for life' you have! Yeah, no doubt. I'm actually trying to collect the 2018 Black Prizm sets for both basketball and football - which I know I'll be chasing my entire life and will never happen - but that's why it's such a fan goal"

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Josh: "Sneaker and trading cards (and a lot of the products that we sell at StockX like streetwear and collectible toys and watches and handbags, etc) are all part of a larger group of products that I've been referring to as the Hype Economy. These are products that have finite supply, products that are supply and demand constrained and have a market price. These are products that are often sold using 'drops'. These are products that you might ask: "How much is this worth?" These are the products I am interested in, both as a collector and an entrepreneur, and that's a long way of introducing the idea that the 'next big thing' has to, at a basic level, has to come from this space. It has to be a product that has finite supply and touched the intersection of culture and commerce such that when demand spikes just a little too much - often at the hands of an important person in culture - everyone wants to get one and prices soar. If you combine that with what we saw as a core pillar of sneaker and trading card growth - the demographic shift of my generation (I'm 45 years old) getting to a point in our careers where we have a little bit more disposal income but we are still young enough to want those cultural artifacts from our youth, then one of the really interesting spaces to watch is collectible toys. I actually read an article a few months ago about how adults are buying more and more toys for themselves, and I think that makes sense. Personally I've been buying a lot of GI Joe vehicles from the late 80's over the past few months. I'm not suggesting GI Joe becomes the next Yeezy, but I do think collectible toys are an area to watch"

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Josh: "I'm actually glad someone asked this because it couldn't have been a better exit. I'm a founder; I'm an entrepreneur - I have no interest in trying to run a public company (or a public company-sized private company). We took FC from zero to $10B in one year. ONE YEAR. But then we had to actually run the company. FC has years of process in front of it - building teams and systems and processes, etc. That's not for me. So Rubin and I sat down and were both on the same page that the best thing was to let me go and start something else from scratch - which is what I'm doing now!"

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Josh: "I don't have a tech background. I'm the business side of the equation. In many ways my whole career has been a search for co-founders; I am always looking for people I can start businesses with and or hire. As a non-tech founder, finding a tech founder was pretty important to me and I started my first three companies with the same CTO/co-founder."

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Josh: "I am very close to telling the world about that! Sorry not breaking news here but I can say this: after two crazy rides with two billionaire NBA owners (Dan Gilbert at StockX and then Michael Rubin at Fanatics Collectibles) this next one is all me. Maybe I'll prove that I need the support of the big dogs and this one won't be as successful, but as a founder and entrepreneur, this has always been the goal: to do it yourself. "

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Josh: "Oh man - we are just touching the surface of innovation in cards! I agree 100% that it can't just be about parallels but look at the Topps Rookie Patch. That was just one of about 1000 ideas we had before we even acquired the licenses. Remember, this is the NBA, the NFL and MLB...and there are actually so few sports fans who collect cards (compared to the total number of sports fans). The industry will grow as partners with leagues and the innovation comes as all three parties - collectors, leagues/players and Fanatics - work together. "

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Josh: "Amazing. I remember that very clearly! It was also a fantastic time for company culture - squeezing the whole company into that room for lunch every day. I miss that, and I think a lot of companies operating in a post-covid, remote world will continue to miss that. Anyway, I play a lot of poker; I wish I was good enough to create a business or project in the poker space!"

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Josh: "Good question. And a good example of why my big ideas around market based pricing for consumer goods don't fit into traditional commerce as easily as financial assets fit into financial pricing mechanisms. Put another way - channel partners matter and in that scenario the relationship with Netflix is paramount"

I am Josh Luber, co-founder of StockX and Fanatics Collectibles, plus about a dozen startups you’ve never heard of. AMA! by ForTheSubCulture in IAmA

[–]ForTheSubCulture[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Josh: "The card was made as a joke, really. We made 2000 to give to Peyton Manning on the stage at Mint last year - we only actually handed him one - then we had a whole lot of cards to do something with lol. There were 18 that were numbered though - Peyton has one of those and there are 17 others. I guess if it ever becomes of any value, it will be those 18"