“Spend ten times the amount of time you think you should spend on hiring the right people for your business. Not twice the amount. Not three times the amount. Ten times the amount."
Tom Cox
Founder and CEO - Golfballs.com, Inc.
Lafayette, Louisiana
We’ve had a number of golf entrepreneurs on the Golf Yeah podcast, but it’s safe to say that none are as hard-wired or successful as Tom Cox. Tom is the co-founder, president and CEO of golfballs.com, a company he started in 1995, which was one of the first eCommerce businesses for golf products. Golfballs.com has been on a rocket ship since then. In 1996, for example, the company had sales of $16,000...and they currently are around $35 million.
There are three things I find interesting about Tom. First of all, he already had a solid 10+ year golf industry career before he started golfballs.com...as the manager of a prestigious golf club in Broussard, Louisiana. But Tom knew that he wanted something more...and had self-confidence to reach for it.
Secondly, Tom had the innate ability...not only to see a market opportunity in used golf balls, but also had the flexibility to change the focus of his business into mass customization of new golf balls and other golf-related items. So he had the talent of most great entrepreneurs...which is the ability to connect the dots, and to adapt quickly based on what he learned.
The third thing I find interesting about Tom is that he has not allowed his success to get in the way of giving back. And the way that Tom gives back is by serving as an advocate, advisor and fan of startup companies and their founders. Toward that end, he is co-founder and volunteer President of Opportunity Machine, a business accelerator. Tom is also a limited partner in Tectonic Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on technology companies with high growth potential.
Here's a fun fact about Tom. On the Meyers-Briggs personality test, which classifies people as one of 16 personality types, Tom is an ENTJ, which means he is Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking and Judging. Meyers Briggs calls this personality type “Commanders;” and describes them as natural born leaders with charisma and confidence, who project authority in a way that draws people together behind a common goal. Other ENTJ people included Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. That group also included Richard Nixon, but we steer clear of politics in our podcasts.
