In 1999, an English teacher in Mexico needed a bag to carry his books.

How this average school teacher turned that boring bag into $15M: 🧵

It's 1999, Dave Munson is teaching English near Mexico City.

He needs a bag to carry his books.

He sees a guy making bags and makes a Dad joke:

“Hey what would Indiana Jones carry?”

He has no idea what this dad joke is about to become.

Dave returns with his Indiana Jones bag to Portland, Oregon.

But people stop him on the street 4 or 5 times a day:

“Where did you get that bag?”

This bag gets too much attention to ignore.

So he reaches back out to that bag maker in Mexico to strike a deal

He works with the bag maker to get them delivered to the US.

He calls the business "Saddleback."

For the next 3 years he sinks money into his bags.

So much money that he sleeps on the floor of a $100-a-month apartment.

But the bags need to get better.

He sinks so much money into the bag that the quality skyrockets:

✓ He replaced pigskin with cowhide
✓ He removed any breakable parts
✓ Used ~30% less stitching

Dave gets so confident with his quality that he decides to take a big risk.

He gives customers a 100-year guarantee.

And tops it with the slogan:
“They’ll fight over it when you’re dead.”

His friends tell him the slogan will never work.

But customers think otherwise.

His Saddleback bag is so good that customers needed it.

And sales take off.

Dave finally moves out of his $100 / month apartment.

They grow to over $15M a year.

So how did they do it?

Saddleback stands out by focusing on what their customers value most:

Durability.

Their solution lasts 10x longer than their competitors.

Guaranteed for 100 years.

So what can you do to stand out too?

Steal this part of my Outlier framework to make your business stand out:

1. Understand your customer's pain

2. Figure out what other solutions customers have

3. Focus on one way you solve customer pain better than anyone

Want another example? 👇

This Thursday, I’ll analyze how another Outlier business stood out.

This time:
With 10x customer experience.

Join 13,973 business owners to receive the guide in your inbox (for $0): 👇
brianoconnor.xyz/join

That's a wrap!

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