Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Matthew Tesvich. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Matthew, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Before we get into specifics, let’s talk about success more generally. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I think success takes tenacity and doing the necessary things despite not wanting to. It is choosing to plunge headfirst into an issue and doing the tasks that no one wants to do – believing that it will ultimately lead to a certain outcome.

Before entrepreneurship, I played baseball… I used to think that getting strong in the weight room would translate to success on the field. I could not have been more wrong – it actually led to a career ending injury.

I like to relate my story back to baseball because I learned so much there. Despite my thinking about getting strong in the weight room – I learned that it also took intense throwing mechanic work, flexibility training, speed work, proper sleep, and nutrition. All of these pieces interlock to create the player that I became… what most people don’t see are the early mornings and late nights. I LOVED throwing and working out, but didn’t enjoy running, stretching, mechanic work, or any of the other tasks that could test a teenagers patience.

BUT… despite not enjoying this, I did it – and truly believe that is what put me in position to attract professional attention.

Matthew, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a product of necessity being the mother of invention!

Like I previously mentioned – baseball was my life. I was throwing before I could stand up. I had a passion for entrepreneurship & business, but wanting nothing more than to pitch in front of thousands of fans in the MLB.

But when in cleats all day – come stinky feet. It became a rule in my house that I take my shoes AND socks off before coming inside. This would be an important thought later that would swirl around my head.

Fast forward – baseball ends with a set of career ending injuries and my roommate comes home with a special anti-bacterial towel that sparks my thought for ELIMINATING stinky feet.

After doing 18 months of sock testing & getting an internet PhD in socks… OX SOX were born.

So what are OX SOX? They are stink-free socks designed for whatever adventure you take them on WITHOUT the embarrassment of stinky feet.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Getting hurt in baseball was a major milestone in my life. I felt that it was a “lock” for what I would be doing… But, after some intentional prayer, I quickly realized that those experiences were preparing me for a different path – entrepreneurship.

I had been putting 5 hours/day into training to play at the D1 collegiate & eventual pro level. That was the priority and then school came to follow.

I felt convicted as to what to do when feeling a pull to both baseball and entrepreneurship. I prayed and the next day… I had torn 3 separate ligaments in my arms. God had answered a prayer and made it abundantly clear as to what I should be doing.

Rather than be resentful, I felt a clear peace that was not God’s plan for me. This is where the resilience came in – it was faith. It was the faith that God had a plan for my life, and I needed to trust Him versus what I thought was best.

Trusting Him has taken me far from where I thought that I would be with baseball.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

It all began in my first ever “college pitch competition”. It was very similar to Shark Tank – 6-8 teams would pitch in front of a panel of judges, and then a winner would be selected! We won $2,500… a big chunk of change for us when first starting…

But the story gets a lot more interesting. It was a 4 week intense business accelerator where we were expected to sell… yet, I didn’t have any product.

The teams that we were facing off against had already gotten 10’s of thousands in revenue, so I knew that we had our hands full.

After the 4 week accelerator, we were doing a practice pitch. I didn’t want to tip off any of the other teams, so I put together a clip art presentation in 10 minutes before going to present. I wanted to be the biggest underdog there. I practically got laughed off the stage. I smiled, and knew what I had just done… let the other competitors go in over confident.

The next step was keeping my deck to myself. We were supposed to have our presentation deck submitted well ahead of time – in the group slack channel that we had. I knew that was a big no no for me. Everyone else submitted in there, but I sent it to the program head privately. Just about every other competitor had individually texted me telling me that I had forgotten to submit… Just like I had predicted – trying to view my deck prematurely.

Competition day arrived and I was nervous. I couldn’t eat, and wanted to do nothing but practice. OX SOX got called up first to present… and practically shaking in my boots…. we delivered the presentation – seamless!

The other competitors mouths were agape. I smiled because I knew that it would take a lot to beat what we had just pitched.

And sure enough… after some judge deliberation, we had one in unanimous decision! A huge first victory for us at OX SOX – it validated that we had something.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://skunkskin.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getoxsox
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewtesvich
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@getoxsox