We caught up with the brilliant and insightful David Leib a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, David thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Back in early 2015, I was brainstorming ideas for a new project. After a few minutes of thought an idea that I had conceived years before had re-emerged, a sand shoe. The genesis of the idea can be traced back to my playing days as a collegiate football player. One area of training that I used included sand training. As anyone who has trained or worked-out in the sand can tell you, wearing any standard pair of sneakers in the sand will quickly include clumps of sand inside of them. I was amazed that no brand had made a shoe specifically designed for sand use; however, after further examination I came to the conclusion that it was a niche market and probably not lucrative enough for them to allocate resources to. I knew that a product solving the sand-in-shoe problem would be well received by athletes and fitness enthusiasts, and although it was a niche market, it would allow us to carve out a space that gave us a uniqueness in a crowded market. You see, my vision was not just to make a sand training shoe but to create an entire athletic wears brand around a niche product that we will forever be categorized with and that will serve to differentiate us from our competition (“That’s Sandviper, the athletic brand that does the cool sand training gear….”).

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My entrepreneurial journey began in 2008 when I decided to pursue my MBA and I was deciding what discipline I wanted to focus on. My family had been business owners so the idea of building a company had always been in my DNA. With that in mind I decided to do my concentration in entrepreneurship. Fast forward 2 years and I was already working on my first business venture, which was in the tech space. It was an amazing learning experience and played a critical role in my continued growth and success and a start-up founder. After a few more projects, I came upon the idea for Sandviper and have been working solely on this project ever since. A lot of work has been done to date and will continue to be done as we advance our efforts towards realizing our vision. Along the way many people have worked with us and we have established many relationships with partners, clients, vendors, etc. I am a firm believer in people being the critical component to a successful company to include company team members and those who we partner with externally. We have always, and will continue to maintain a relationship based culture and will continue to express our genuine gratitude to those we work with on a regular basis. This culture starts at the top and I firmly believe that as we grow it will serve us very well.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I am a big proponent of continuous learning. That said, I look for information that can help me grow as a thought leader in my industry but also as a leader to my teammates within my organization. From a personal growth perspective, Jack Canfield’s ‘The Success Principles’ is an outstanding book that outlines several principals that one should incorporate into their daily practice to ensure they achieve the goals they are pursuing. From a business growth perspective, You Squared by Price Pritchett is an outstanding book that gives you a new perspective on how you can achieve exponential growth and make what he calls a “quantum leap” towards realizing your vision. I highly recommend both.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In early 2019, we were presented with an opportunity to occupy select Macy’s locations throughout the country. It was a new program that they were running for emerging brands and required a capital investment from us to participate. Furthermore, it was an exclusive opportunity that we were selected to participate in. I knew that having our products in Macy’s locations would provide an excellent opportunity to legitimize our brand while also providing a next level awareness and discovery to Sandviper. There was a deadline to reserve our spot and I was nowhere near raising the capital needed to make it happen. Nevertheless, I bet on myself to find the resources and signed an agreement with Macy’s. One week before the deadline for the capital requirement, I was able to source what was needed and that summer we were in Macy’s locations in New York (flagship store), Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Miami.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sandviper.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sandviper/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandviper/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsDoWXSe03z97_7kCbvLTw