From 24 SKUs to 3,500 Retailers: How Joe Earley Built Tifosi and Keeps Evolving

Joe Earley co-founded Tifosi Optics more than 20 years ago after spotting a gap in the market for high-quality eyewear at an accessible price. What started with 24 SKUs has grown into a brand carried by thousands of retailers around the world.

Joe joins Jon to talk about bootstrapping Tifosi, building through relationships and customer feedback, and how the business has evolved from cycling specialty into running, direct-to-consumer, prescription eyewear, and beyond. They also go deep on how Tifosi is using AI to analyze data, automate time-consuming work, understand its customers, and make a small team dramatically more efficient.

They also dig into sustainable growth, why bigger isn’t always better, and what more than two decades of building a business has taught Joe about success.

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