Will Roman: Founder & Chief Texan of Chisos Boots

Building Texas Episode 33 - Will Roman, Chief Texan and Founder of Chisos Boots

Will Roman: [00:00:00] Welcome to Building Texas with Justin McKenzie and Somer Baburek, sponsored by the Boerne Kendall County Economic Development Corporation and Das Greenhaus. And now, here's your host, Justin McKenzie.

Justin McKenzie: Welcome to Building Texas. My name is Justin McKenzie and you're listening to Boerne Radio 103. 9 FM.

I'm thrilled to be in studio at Das Greenhaus with Somer Baburek today. Welcome back, Somer. Thank you.

Somer Baburek: I'm glad to be back. Glad to not have the flu

Justin McKenzie: anymore. You've been all over the country too during the holidays and presenting and winning,

Somer Baburek: pitching. Yes. Yes. You know, got to go to the West Coast, but glad to be home.

Glad again not to Not to be sick.

Justin McKenzie: It's going around. Yeah. We're joined by the Chief Texan of Chisos Boots and the founder of Chisos Boots, Will Roman. I've known Will for a [00:01:00] while, and I've always been curious and inspired by his jump into e commerce and entrepreneurship. He'll tell a little bit more about his story, but he has a background that is really Texas based, went to the West coast and then came back to Austin.

So we'll look forward to getting to know him and learning more about his story. So, Will, thank you for joining us today.

Will Roman: Howdy, man. Thanks for having me on. It's good to see you again. Good to see you. And good

Justin McKenzie: to see you, Somer. Oh, same. Well, we all enjoy cowboy boots. Will makes some really comfortable ones.

I compare them to running shoes. They're really easy to slide into and spend the day on. But what got you into boots?

Will Roman: Well, I kind of didn't plan it. You know, walked into it backwards as they say. I had some hard living in my 20s, had a motorcycle accident and also was in a fraternity. And if anybody knows about that, there's some similarities.

Yes, that's a great point between a motorcycle accident. And the result was that I had some pretty significant back issues and You know, grew up in Texas, of course I wore cowboy boots, cowboy boots are just traditionally [00:02:00] stacked leather on the stacked heel and you're walking on concrete. And so all that would go up and hit my back and I would try and find something that was more comfortable, you know, buy them too big, put inserts in them, ended up buying some of these, you know, comfort quote unquote boots from China.

But what I wanted was a handmade boot and here in North America and I couldn't find it. And so I ended up going down to Half Price Books and getting books on boot making and then I started cutting open my boot collection and seeing how they were made and then I quickly wised up and got boots from Goodwill and cut those open instead.

But the, you know, fast forward, I ended up down in Mexico in a workshop, learning the process from some of the old school masters and about halfway through this, I started to see that not only could I make something more comfortable, And think about impact dissipation, think about some of the, all the, you know, these ideas that we've come up with, you know, from running shoes.

Like you mentioned, I noticed that a lot of the big brands are putting plastics in their boots and cheapening them. You know, they're pulling that old Gibson guitar trick [00:03:00] from the eighties. And so. I said, well, why don't I make something with all the tools from 1900, add the comfort and we might have a business here.

I didn't, I didn't intend to do it, but that was the result. I remember

Justin McKenzie: when you were talking about that trip into Mexico, cause it was an extended trip where you went city to city, really looking for the craftsmen and looking for the history of it. And the entrepreneurial story, how did you have the luxury of time to do that?

Will Roman: Well, I was in the process of selling a previous endeavor and they, you know, as that was winding down, I was pursuing this other thing. I spent most of 2019 actually on. In Mexico, I'd say about four months of actual time there. I rented a spot across the, down the street from the workshop. You know, I tried a couple of different spots and, and the other big thing people ask me is, well, why didn't you just start here in Texas?

Why did start here in Texas? One of the things that I found was that the amount of, you know, there's this broad range in the boot world, you know, there are on one. side of it, you've got an individual [00:04:00] craftsman making your entire pair of boots. This is the one that you're waiting two, three years for to get on the other side, you have these huge mass produced ones, you know, and they've taken cut all sorts of corners.

And I wanted to end up as close to the craftsman side as I could. And the. opportunities for learning that were pretty slim here. What I found out too is that most of the boots that are quote made by Texas brands are actually made in Mexico as well because they have this huge ecosystem around it. They still have this culture of craft that really is, you know, grown up.

I would say, you know, part and parcel with the Texas as our neighbor. So there's this whole, you know, back and forth between the two areas that just brought me right into it. You know, one of the things that I would say to anybody listening is that there's something in your life that you've tried to solve, or there's something that you are really a nerd about and obsessed about.

And that's where the magic lies. You know, I didn't start this trying to go out and build a boot company. If I had done that, [00:05:00] I probably would have made something like generic and not interesting. But what I wanted was something that I didn't see that existed. I became obsessed with, Oh, when you, when I cut open these other big brands, I saw that they're using plastics and they're using modern glues and cheap techniques.

And they're not actually caring about craft. And I care about craft and almost. Every aspect of my life, I'm obsessed with it. And I'm obsessed with quality and doing away with fast fashion and things that last. And so all of that has made its way into the boots. It's always by accident. I feel like some of the best things are created.

You don't set out trying to make somebody else happy. You set out trying to solve something that you see in the world around you, that you think you can improve.

Somer Baburek: I think one of the things that's always so interesting to me is, but and it really resonates with your story probably more so than other guests we've had is.

You start with this issue that you're facing personally, you know, you want a pair of boots, you want a comfortable pair of boots. And it becomes this like. thing, right? It's an obsession. And [00:06:00] all of a sudden it's like, well, why aren't they comfortable? Well, how are they made? And you just go down this rabbit hole.

And I hear a lot like when I go talk to people or when I have the luxury of doing things like mentoring, you know, some of these high school students and they're like, I don't know, I got to come up with an idea for a business. And it's like, what's the problem guy? Like it's a problem. And it starts. And I just love that it becomes this obsessive thing that you can't put down so much so that you're cutting open hundreds of dollars of pairs of boots to figure this out.

And I just, I think that's something you find that thread with entrepreneurs who are doing something that they're passionate about and they're doing it really well. It's that obsession with solving this thing that's bothering you, and I love that. I love that about

Will Roman: your story. Yeah, but I guess everyone's got to be addicted to something, so this is, uh, of all the things I could be addicted to, being obsessed, this is pretty good, right?

Yeah, it's pretty good. I mean,

Somer Baburek: better than motorcycles.

Justin McKenzie: Well, the other part about Will's story is he [00:07:00] markets to himself. So as a founder, the personality and persona of Chisos is very much Will. And he's made boots that he loves and lots of other people love them. For all the same reasons, but I think he's extremely precise to what he liked.

And as a founder, it takes a lot of confidence to stay on that vision versus all of the input that you get.

Will Roman: Confidence or ignorance, one or the other, but they're closely related. I think you're right though. I got lucky in this thing is that I. I wanted this thing to exist, it didn't exist, I decided I would make it for myself and along the way I discovered other people wanted it too.

I live in Austin and early on in the process when I would get prototypes I would take like six, seven, eight pairs of boots down to Sixth Street and I would set them up on a table at a bar and I would just show up. You know, the people will give you the most direct feedback are drunks. And people will walk up to me and they say, what is this?

This is a pop up shop. I said, no, but try them on. Tell me what you think. And I would get all these people trying on the boots and the different insult types I had and the different designs. And one of the [00:08:00] things that's also interesting about what you said is that. You know, the world needs people who are excited about what they personally want to see in the world, what they want to create, you know, when you use there, look, there's certainly an aspect here of going large and going broad and using market research and all that type of stuff that I'm not going to say doesn't have its value.

But when you're getting started, you need people that are going to be equally excited and passionate about the thing you're making as you are. And the only thing that people get excited about is something that's unique that another individual also cares about. If you try and cater too much to the crowd, you're going to end up with something generic.

And I think, you know, one of the pieces on that is that our number one seller is the cheapest number two. And it is this, you know, call it a refined square toe. You know, it's not the big double welt, it's not a big wide one. And it kind of doesn't fit into people's minds. It's a new toe shape. Everybody told me that was a bad idea.

And I was like, well, I like it. Turns out it's our number one

Somer Baburek: seller. That's crazy. To your point about going broad. That just becomes a law [00:09:00] of numbers. How many people can I get to buy this product if not any more than one time, right? Like, and I see that a lot. I see pitches for that, and I see entrepreneurs who are chasing just the law of numbers.

Yeah, it's gonna work. I mean, a lot of those things work, and that's fine. But I remember there was somebody a long, long time ago who said to me, There are riches in the niches. And it's to what your point is, going really, really deep, making something very specific for a select group of people who really, really want that thing and will pay for it.

There, there is a lot of value in that. And I think people miss it for the law. And they're like, Oh, I got to get, you know, 50 million customers and whatever. No, you don't not to have a sustainable business. It depends on what you're trying to do, but if it's sustainable business, you don't need 50 million

Will Roman: customers.

I think it plays in a lot to the business structure, right? So we're not VC back. We don't have private equity money. We are bootstrapped, forgive the pun. And what means is that I [00:10:00] made. You know, 10 pairs of boots. When I started, I sold those and we went back and we made 30 pairs and we sold those and we kept going.

And so, you know, when you talk about the numbers that you have to hit and how you have to make a sustainable business, if I want to live a good life and I have, you know, if I raised, I don't know, 10, 20 million in funding or something along this, you now have this. And not only have you given yourself an entire board of bosses, but you have a massive amount of revenue you have to create.

And there's an exit that you have to go towards. And essentially what we, what Cheezos is, is an old school family business. And we kind of happened to be online. And, you know, at the moment we are, we're a little bit in transition of going from literally a little shop in South Austin to having a.

Fulfillment warehouse, but it gives us so much more flexibility and independence because we did not raise any outside money And also that means that we don't have to pursue these insane targets You know, you can have a much smaller amount of revenue, but it's your net that matters and you can make a nice life

Somer Baburek: right, and you don't [00:11:00] have those people on the board that are just Driving you crazy saying, Oh, you know, today I've decided I'm coming into the board meeting

Will Roman: and we should do this.

Yeah. That's just Justin every time he gives me a phone call.

Somer Baburek: That's sounds about right.

Justin McKenzie: So, Will, you've built a nice e commerce brand and have a passion for e commerce brands around the online aspect of it. You are solely online. You have one shop on South First, which is your headquarters, but your customers don't find you in a store, typically.

So how do you draw them in? How have you built the brand around yourself?

Will Roman: Well, I think this goes to just Doing the things that you like and speaking to yourself, we are, we are very lucky in the fact that as you mentioned, the target audience for Jesus is somebody like me. And so I get to create things that I want to create.

And so one of the things I noticed when we had the shop is people will come in and they would. Ask, how are you different? And I would show them all the boots I cut in half and they're like, this is remarkable. And so we made a [00:12:00] video on YouTube where we cut open a pair of Jesus boots and we cut open our two largest competitors here in the state of Texas.

And we just showed people exactly what's inside each of them. And, you know, I wouldn't say it went viral, but it got a couple of hundred thousand views. And that was really our start where people said, Hmm, there's, there's something different about these guys. And we got to follow that up. With, we went out to a friend's ranch in central Texas and we put a bunch of Tannerite gasoline in the booms and we blew them up.

We ran over with a Humvee. We shot with AR 15. We were like, okay, if cheeses are so tough, how tough are they? And so people find us. through videos. They find us through YouTube. They find us through a word of mouth is a big one, but we have nothing to hide. Unlike some of the other companies out there, we want you to see what's inside our boots.

We want to show you the process. We want to show you the secret sauce because the way we do, it's harder and it's more difficult, but there's a value in that. I think this idea of just being a real person in a real company and not trying to hide things [00:13:00] really resonates with people. Well, you're

Justin McKenzie: listening to Building Texas on Boerne Radio 103.

9 FM. I'm here with Somer, and we have Will Roman as our guest. When we come back from the break, we're going to talk about the Hill Country and what does that mean to Will? This is Justin McKenzie from Building, Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community.

Das Greenhaus is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business. or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhaus.org or come visit us at 7 Upper Valcones Road, Boerne, Texas.

Das Greenhaus.

Welcome back to Building Texas. I'm Boerne, Radio [00:14:00] 103. 9 FM. We're joined today by Will Roman, the Chief Texan of Chisos Boots, and having a conversation really about the story of Chisos, how he built it. And as we come out of the break, I want to talk about Why Texas is so important to the brand around boots But then, what does the future look like for Chisos?

You've built a company. Where do you make your next choices and decisions on

Will Roman: scale? Mmm, that's a good question. I like how you, how you phrase it about, How do we make the choices about scale? You know, I think that a lot of people's default is to grow at all costs. But, Chisos is a local boot brand at its heart.

This is the vehicle that, you know, I use to live in community in Austin. You know, we, we have a shop, we have people that come by, we have people that come from all over Texas. You know, we have people that drive in from Tyler, clearly from San Antonio and Boerne. We've got people from, from the Valley that will.

Make trips up just to come see us and meet us and see what's [00:15:00] going on at the shop. You know, we host community events. We raise money for the Texas Military Forces Museum every spring. We raise money for Texas land conservation and it's kind of what business used to be where you're connected to the people around you.

You know, you mentioned earlier that we're in e commerce and we're, and we're doing that and we are. It is a means to an end. It's certainly a skill set that I think modern product businesses have to have. You know, we get to cater to a national audience now and even a global audience. But what drives Chisos, the guiding light for Chisos is that I wanted to build something from the beginning that connected me to the people that I live next to.

That enabled me to have a place, a gathering spot. Justin, the reason I am here on this show is because you were driving by Jesus and you saw my truck and you popped in to say hi, right? And then we got to visit and hang out and catch up. That is the heart of it. That is the root of it. And, you know, boots in particular, of course, are core to the Texas identity, you know, and just a fun [00:16:00] fact out there is that the United States.

buys 2 billion worth of cowboy boots at retail every year. And 1 billion of that is in Texas. So we are half of the entire United States market. So we take boots seriously in this state, but you know, boots are not just a piece of. footwear. When you pull on a pair of cowboy boots, it's a little bit like pulling on a uniform.

You know, people look at you differently. You represent a certain set of values. You represent the idea that you do care about your community and that you're a person who has that independence and has that self sustaining aspect and mentality that you're able to provide and protect. And I think that there's a lot that's wrapped up into that.

And when you, when you wear those boots, You walk a little differently and people look at you a little differently. And so I think that all of these things come back to the root of it is that it's a community focused brand, even down to the product that we sell.

Somer Baburek: Interesting. I say that because I like your word choice with uniform.

So [00:17:00] I, I don't know if Justin told you this. I used to rodeo professionally. I rodeoed in college. I won a scholarship to college for rodeo, did it professionally. And It's so funny because you do that and people learn that about me now that I'm in biotech. It's really freaks them out. Um, so that's a lot of fun for me, but they're like, Oh, so like you wear your cowboy hat and your shirt, like, where's your, where's all this?

And I'm like, yeah, it's a uniform. Like that was my job. I did that professionally. If you work at Sonic, when you go out with your friends, do you put on your Sonic visor and your roller skates and your polo? No, you don't. You just dress like you normally would dress, and that's how I did, but the one thing that I always did continue to wear was my cowboy boots.

Yeah. Because Those were comfortable. That was what I wanted to wear. I mean, I wasn't going to run like a marathon in them, but still, that was a, that was one aspect of it that was part of who I was. And so I would wear that in normal, you know, exchanges. [00:18:00]

Will Roman: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me, you know, like you said about the uniform and the hat and everything.

And I, but the boots carrying over is really, really. poignant. You know, there is this aspect. So we all have multifaceted identities, right? You know, the person you are on, you know, when you're out, you know, playing competitive sports is different than the person that you bring to, you know, teaching Sunday school on Sunday morning.

Right. And there's an old Japanese saying, which is that he is who he is in this room. And so I think that this way that we show up at the different places in our lives, have unique aspects of it. However, there is this throughput and the throughput, the line that goes through all of it is the values that you carry and how you choose to live your life.

And it is. Fascinating to me and I think it's just ingrained in me personally, but also in a lot of Texans that our boots are an extension of that They are this almost physical manifestation to pull back for a second Yeah, people make fun of me on the internet all the time. They make they go. Why why does it?

Why does it matter so much? Melissa's they go why does it that big of a deal and I and my [00:19:00] response to that is like yes, sure You can just Put on some, you know, Chinese made boots and not think about what you're wearing. Or, you can choose to live intentionally in your life, and that things are going to have meaning, and that you're going to buy local, and you're going to support small businesses, and you're going to get honey from the grandma down the road, and that you are going to live a life of intention and purpose.

And these small decisions that we make about what we purchase, and what we wear, and how we think about it, are actually really powerful. But I think that's

Somer Baburek: such a silly point for them to make, because it's no different than when You have a job interview or you have a big meeting with your boss that day.

Or, you know, quite frankly, sometimes if I'm going to go meet with an investor who is a, you know, a big investor and we'd really like to have them on our cap table or whatever it is, everybody puts on something. Like it's something, it may be a blazer, it may be your cologne, it may be, for me, it's a pearl, um, earring that my mother gave me.

I call them my good luck earrings. Or, you know, for some [00:20:00] ladies out there, it's those red bottom shoes, you know, and they feel like a boss when they walk in the room because they're wearing that shoe and that shoe says something about who they are showing up as that day. And that's exactly your point. So it's silly to make it just about the cowboy boot.

It's not just about the cowboy boot. It's about how you feel. feel when you bring that into your life and make that an intentional choice of your day.

Will Roman: Yeah, well, you know, haters gonna hate it as the kids say these days. As the kids

Justin McKenzie: say. How is the internet these days? You're on it quite often doing, doing things with your boots, telling these type of stories.

You mentioned you take feedback from people. How do you as a founder continue to just move forward

Will Roman: with that? One of the things that I have, um, one, I don't carry a smartphone with me whenever I can. I don't have one on me. And the one that I do have, it doesn't have any social media, it doesn't have anything on it.

It doesn't have a web browser on it. It only does text messaging and I guess I could do my two factor for my bank. And so the reason I bring all that up is that you have to, you know, one piece of unsolicited advice I would give to other [00:21:00] founders who happen to need to be a face of their business, especially in the early days, is that find those boundaries.

You know, we don't do anything that's quote, intimate with the Chisos brand that you don't get personal details, you know? So you mentioned that when you first introduced me that I'm the founder and chief Texan at Chisos, which is a little bit of a tongue in cheek, right? Cause we don't, you know, we don't have an executive team, so it doesn't make sense to call me the chief executive officer, but I am the chief Texan within the business.

And it also has enabled us to create. You know, the character that I play on the internet is one piece of my identity, but it's not my entire identity. You don't, you, and I don't discuss things that are actually personal to me. The other thing is that I heavily go one direction. So my team now is at the beginning, of course, I was the one running all the social media.

I was reading all the comments. I was active on all the places and I'm still active on all the, the boot enthusiast forums and things like that. However, I have gotten to the point where. As your brand grows and your awareness grows, the amount of people you're going to expose to gets further and further and larger and [00:22:00] larger.

And there's going to be people in there who opinions you shouldn't be listening to. You're so right. And so you have to protect your creative instinct from that and go back to the thing about why are you doing this in the beginning. You're doing it because it's something that you want to create, that you're passionate about, and that other people who are in your immediate circle Also want to exist.

And so you got to make sure that you, you keep that focus. It's, I would say, make sure you put a buffers of, of what feedback it's filtered to you.

Justin McKenzie: Somer jumps in here. I want to say both of you are very intentional with what you create content wise. You have a very specific content team. Uh, Will has very specific content that's made.

You both started that very early in your cycles. It wasn't like you waited till series A to start doing real marketing. You are making great content that's helped you manage your brand online. It helps you keep the conversation in the direction you want to go. As a founder coming in, where would you make that investment looking back?

Is it. [00:23:00] day one. Is it day 30? Is it?

Will Roman: Where is it in the negative 100? So here's the thing. Start bringing people into your story as soon as possible. And the other aspect of this is that the guiding light for the content that we created. She sows is that we do things our competitors cannot do. They cannot be Small and values driven because they're already big and trend driven, right?

They cannot put their CEO on who is part of a private equity group that has bought this company for the 12th time and doesn't know how to talk to like a normal person. Right? So lean into what you can do that your competitors cannot do. People are starved for realness and for real individuals and for honesty and truth and transparency.

And so that's what you create.

Somer Baburek: I echo that. You know this about me, Dustin. We've been very, very intentional and to your point, Will. No, no personal.

Will Roman: I do a little sprinkle in personal, but no intimate. I think that's the, that's the

Somer Baburek: difference. Yeah, yeah, that's a better way to phrase it, yeah. [00:24:00] It's, I want you to know me personally because that's part of what we're doing here, right?

But nothing, nothing too close because it is irrelevant. You get pulled into all sorts of stuff like, Oh, did you see this? You know, you really should comment on this. No, I shouldn't. That's not my

Will Roman: job. Yeah, so that's another piece about this is that so, um, Jesus's content is not about the company. It's not about me.

It's about our customers. You know, your customers are on a journey in their life. You know, I understand the role that I'm playing here. You know, I'm a merchant, I'm providing a tool, and I'm providing a piece that they can use their own travels, right? It's, you know, think about, I don't know, a great epic like Lord of the Rings, like, perhaps we are Gandalf, but the story is about Frodo.

And so all of our content comes back to being about The customer and whether it's education or it's sharing with them an adventure or it's talking about the values of Texas or something along that which is pretty much our three core pillars. It's not about what is, we'll think about something. It's always about them and how [00:25:00] they can move forward on their own journey.

Justin McKenzie: You're listening to Building Texas on Boerne Radio 103. 9 FM. As we wrap up the conversation with Will, where would you find optimism for future founders that are looking to solve a problem? They're sitting on the edge of, I want to do something for myself and I think I have an idea. I think

Will Roman: we're lucky.

Someone asked me recently, Why did you build your business in Texas? And my answer is because this is where I'm from. This is where I live. And for those out there who have thought, Well, I'm here. Great. Because Texas right now is probably in the best position. It's been in his entire history. The resources, the fact that we're sitting here at Greenhaus in Boerne, Texas, that you've got angel groups, you've got advisors.

I'm in Austin and I am a part of a meetup. We meet up twice a month. I've guys, we're just getting started. Cause we're doing six figures, seven figures. It's eight figures approaching nine. One of the guys in the group has a 400 million a year CBG business, right? And I just get to ask them questions and I get to see their growth patterns.[00:26:00]

Here right now in Texas, if you're just getting started, this is probably the best time and one of the best places in the country to do so.

Justin McKenzie: Well, Will, thank you for coming down to Das Greenhaus in Boerne, Texas and joining us today. We're excited about the way you're building Texas and everything that you're doing.

Thanks

Will Roman: for having me. This has been great.

Justin McKenzie: This is Justin McKenzie from Building, Texas. Today's segment is brought to you by Das Greenhaus. Das Greenhaus is a business incubator launched here in Boerne to serve our local community. Das Greenhaus is a place where you can come to grow your idea. Our goal is to make Boerne accessible to people who are looking to grow a business, expand a business.

or learn more about what's out there in their community and get involved. Visit us at DasGreenhaus org or come visit us at 7 Upper Balcones Road, Boerne, Texas. Das Greenhaus.