What challenges did Phil Knight face in the early days of Nike and how did he overcome them?

In the early days of Nike, Phil Knight faced several challenges. One of the main challenges was the struggle of being a small company trying to compete in a market dominated by established brands. They had to import running shoes from Japan and figure out how to distribute and sell them with a limited budget. Another challenge was the lack of budget for sponsoring athletes, which was a common practice for sports goods companies to promote their products. Despite these challenges, Knight and his team managed to overcome them through perseverance, innovation, and strategic partnerships. For instance, they started making their own Nike shoes and managed to get Steve Prefontaine, a track and field superstar, as a Nike athlete. This helped boost the company's reputation and sales.

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Back in 1970, I'd heard about the fastest middle-distance runner in the world, a young Oregonian brimming with self-confidence, called Steve Prefontaine. At that time, we were still a small, struggling company called Blue Ribbon; importing batches of running shoes from Japan, trying to figure out how to get them distributed and sold, with no budget for sponsoring athletes. But I kept my eye on the young guy from Oregon who was coached by my friend and partner Bill Bowerman. By 1972 we had started making Nike shoes and Steve, now known as Pre, was a track and field superstar. He was a fluid, poetic runner, an extrovert who pushed hard to win, and I really wanted him as a Nike athlete. But at the 1972 Olympics, haunted by the terrorist attacks that hit the games that year, Pre came in fourth. After that, he was despondent, adrift, and above all broke.

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Shoe Dog - Anecdotes From Nike

The iconic Nike sporting goods company started over 50 years ago as a ‘crazy idea’ in the mind of a young runner in Oregon. Shoe Dog is Phil Knight’s ...

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