We're going to be out of money next month.

Ed Stack stared at his CFO who just uttered those words.

It was 1996 and they were $13 million in debt.

40 stores bleeding cash that banks wouldn't restructure unless the venture capitalist put in more money.

The VCs wouldn't invest unless the banks restructured.

Someone suggested bankruptcy. Ed felt physically ill.

His father had lost everything when the second store failed, but he'd sold his house, his car,

everything he owned to pay back his creditors. He refused bankruptcy on sheer determination and

principle. Now, Dix had gotten over at skis again.

This time they had over 40 stores. They were in markets they didn't understand. They had outdated

inventory systems. He had made every mistake his father warned him about. That night,

lying awake, Ed Stack faced the truth. He was about to lose the company his father

started with $300 from a grandmother's cookie jar. He had one last meeting, one shot. What happened

in that room would determine whether Dick's sporting goods died in 1996 or became an 800-store

empire that would one day have to choose between keeping every customer happy

and doing what the Stack family believed was right.

This is the story of two generations who learned that in business, like in sports,

how you play the game matters more than the final score.

Welcome to the Knowledge Project.

On your host, Shane Parrish.

In a world where knowledge is power, this show is your toolkit for mastering the best

what other people have already figured out.

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