Michael Rubin on Building Fanatics Into a Billion-Dollar Empire

Boardroom Talks

Boardroom Podcast Network

Business, Entrepreneurship, Sports

4.4 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this exclusive interview, Michael Rubin — founder and CEO of Fanatics — shares the remarkable journey behind building one of the most powerful companies in sports and e-commerce. He tells the story of his journey to becoming a billionaire entrepreneur with deep ties to the NBA, NFL, and global athletes & musicians like Tom Brady & Travis Scott. Rubin opens up about the mindset, hustle, and pivotal moments that shaped his path. Rubin discusses how he scaled Fanatics into a sports merchandising giant, and the key business principles he lives by. He also dives into leadership lessons, risk-taking, and what it takes to stay ahead in fast-moving industries. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a sports fanatic, or someone inspired by success stories, this conversation offers rare insight into the mind of a visionary who turned passion into a business empire.

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up everybody and welcome to the June boardroom cover story.
0:04.3	And today we are in New York, New York at the Fanatics Headquarters
0:08.6	with a generational once in a lifetime entrepreneur and CEO
0:13.1	and truly a very dear friend of mine.
0:15.9	Please welcome the man himself, Mr. Michael Rubin.
0:19.0	My guy, I need like a hug and a kiss for that.
0:20.7	Please, bro. You know,. My guy, I need like a hug and a kiss for that. Please, bro.
0:21.6	You know, because I do say my friend before most conversations, because in some ways, like,
0:27.6	you know, in this industry, everyone's like a friend, but you truly are a friend.
0:30.6	Now, you're a fan.
0:31.6	Fam.
0:32.6	Without question.
0:34.6	So I feel like I know you very well. When we take our walks, I get to
0:39.9	ask you questions about your business and it never gets old for me. And I've any questions about
0:45.0	your business. That's true. We get to learn from each other. Indeed, indeed. And I think that
0:49.5	your story, which never gets old being told, has been told told and the idea that you built this from the
0:57.3	ground up and the way that you just kicked doors down your entire life is something that I think
1:02.4	everybody has been inspired by but what I want to use today's interview for is talk about the
1:07.4	business talk about the business you built and talk about the last five years in particular.
1:13.7	So I want to ask you, you were successful going into COVID.
1:18.7	You would build something spectacular going into COVID, but as a friend, I felt like something
1:24.1	flipped in your brain during COVID that changed your outlook on what you were building,
	...

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