At a Glance

STAND+ is a shoe company that offers something different, shoes that are biomechanically engineered for people who have to stand for extended periods of time, relieving joint stress and improving energy.  

Who is Rob Gregg?

Meet Rob Gregg, Founder of STAND+.

About STAND+

Rob’s experience in the shoe industry actually started way back, 18 years ago. And it happened by accident. Because Rob was spending 16-hour days on concrete, working in the sports entertainment world. And the shoes he wore were definitely not intended for that. They were uncomfortable and bad for his body overall.

But it wasn’t until his photo went viral and he was contacted by a cobbler that things really set in motion. The cobbler offered to make him the shoes he needed to be comfortable while on his feet for so long, but the cost was far more than he was able to afford. Instead, Rob went to work for the cobbler and learned how to make shoes himself over the course of four months of weekends. It was the start of something entirely new.

But STAND came later.

At that time, he started working entirely on his own, and barely managed to scrape together the funding out of his own pocket. He sold shoes out of his tiny New York Apartment and … well, he grew the business. He continued to grow and scale and then helped build a MarTech company in New York. Within four years of that business, from a start-up to exit, the company did just over $5 billion in sales. And that experience gave Rob far more knowledge than he could have gotten any other way.

The COVID pandemic meant increased strain on the healthcare community, and it was during this time that Rob realized just how little the nurses within that healthcare system were getting. While Rob spent time volunteering in the healthcare community, he found that nurses would get the leftovers when it came to finance, care, and solutions.

At the same time, that same community was giving back as much as they could and sometimes more. They were saving lives on a daily basis and just showing how much they cared about the people they served. But they were also missing out on a lot of things that they needed. Their problems weren’t getting solutions.

For Rob, the start of the whole thing was joining several healthcare boards to find out more about the help they needed and the way that they could receive support. Companies like Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, and SunCL all worked toward helping the problem, but it still wasn’t enough.

He found that the number one issue they were having was actually their knees, their backs, their joints. And the reason for that pain? It had to do with the shoes that they were wearing for 16-hour shifts. Running, walking, moving around, just standing, for that long each day was causing problems and no one had a solution.

When Rob bought a pair of running shoes to solve the problems he was facing personally, he found that they really weren’t meant for standing. And each other type of shoe that he would buy to try out just wasn’t cutting it either. Still, he studied all of the information that he could, pulled all the data he could find, and ultimately launched his own shoe brand, Gales.

The idea was that these were shoes designed for nurses, and since Florence Nightingale founded modern nursing … It seemed like a great fit. Until Rob and his team realized that it wasn’t just nurses using their product. It was anyone and everyone who spent a lot of time on their feet, from bartenders and waiters to professional athletes.

What made Gales unique? It was the fact that every other shoe in the world was built for activity. For hiking, running, ballet, and so much more. But none of them were built just to stand for extended periods of time. And so, the name STAND was born.

STAND was a shoe meant for just that, standing. And it was HSA and FSA eligible and even backed by the American Medical Podiatrist Association. All of that because the company decided to create a shoe that was entirely different from what was already on the market. Something that would help the joints and the knees and back feel better.

Rob’s Journey

The customer service team is still quite small at STAND, with only two remote team members who are actually independent contractors.

Business Growth and Revenue Strategies

Rob took on this journey entirely alone because even though he was always interested in a co-founder for his e-Commerce projects, he wanted someone that was going to be different from him. Someone who was going to challenge him and think differently. What he found instead was that a lot of people in e-Commerce engage in groupthink. They build the same way, think the same way, chase the same trends, and that wasn’t what he was looking for.

That doesn’t mean he did it perfectly. In fact, he admits that he made some big mistakes and made some expensive mistakes. But he was able to make friends along the way that helped him. People who helped him learn from his mistakes, who acted as advisors and even investors in the company.

Keeping Your Focus

Early on in his entrepreneurial journey, Rob was forced to continue working other jobs to support his goal. Being the founder of a start-up isn’t easy, and the only way to afford to fund it was through those other jobs. But having those other jobs meant that he was being pulled away from what he actually wanted to be his ‘main thing.’

But he learned that ‘a parachute doesn’t work when you’re on the ground. You’ve got to jump. And it’s only once the current picks up that you can open the chute and it actually works.’ You have to be willing to take a chance and give yourself the opportunity to open the parachute and see what’s going to happen.

After he realized that and jumped in it took years to get to profitability and to a level of comfort in the business he’d created. In fact, it took six years of being uncomfortable and uncertain before he finally made it. And he knows that there will likely be more of that along the way. But he’s no longer worried about taking the leap.

Solving Problems Along the Way

One thing that Rob has always really enjoyed is solving problems. But it’s not just about fixing the symptoms of the problem. Rather, it’s about fixing the actual root case of the problem. Fundamentally re-engineering the system and turning problems into greatness. Once he’s found the problem it’s time for the part he really loves, product development and figuring out how to solve it.

After a launch? Well, Rob actually enjoys seeing the one-star reviews because they let him find out more about what’s not working. And knowing what’s not working is instrumental in making the whole project work even better. He attributes a lot of their success to being able to take these opportunities to work on the weaknesses within the business. It was all about getting on social media and the phone calls and the interviews and everything he possibly could to figure out ‘how can we suck less?’

The way to turn problems into greatness is to spend a lot of time on what you didn’t get right, tinker with the product, and come up with non-traditional marketing to get you where you want to be.

Spending Extra Time

For Rob, the one thing he’d love to do if he had more time is just spend that time with his wife and daughter. Everything else that he does is all for them and he wants to be able to give them better opportunities. The business is great, but it’s only a part of life, not the complete picture.

With extra time in the business, however, he’d love to spend it finding out more about his customers and getting out in the field. Getting a chance to try out the product in the same situations that his customers are using them and making sure they’re doing everything they can.

STAND+’s CX Philosophy 

Providing the best customer support means that every time someone leaves a negative review or requests a return or an exchange STAND wants to know why. They want to know if there’s anything specific about the product that could be better and they make sure to keep track of all the feedback they receive. And as they continue to receive feedback, they look at another question, how much need is there?

If the problem is something that already has a good solution, then they stay out of the mix. They don’t worry about jumping in to be a new competitor for a situation that’s already being solved. Instead, they focus on areas where there are no solutions and people need help.

It means making sure they’re getting as much information from customers as they possibly can. Whether a new product needs to be developed, whether it needs new features, if something needs to be evolved.

Taking it a Step Further

Helping people is really the most important part of the business for Rob, and that extends to one particular case where they were able to help someone who didn’t even know they existed. A man who worked a food truck and loved his job but his body just couldn’t take it anymore. It was someone else who tagged STAND for him in a post and the rest? Well, STAND sent him some shoes, entirely free, and they made a huge difference in his life, letting him get back to the job he loved. And in return? He continues to talk about the brand and he’s driven a great deal of attention to them just because he loved the experience and the result.

Innovation and Adaptability

Reaching out to the world is important in this day and age, but Rob says that STAND doesn’t do a whole lot of their own posts. Rather, they let the community make posts about them. Instagram is their most active social media, with somewhere around 30-40,000 followers, and they’re relying on their community to create content and post it. Then the company reposts that content.

Reaching out and working with teams also helps them get their name out. Because when part of a team gets something that really works for them … Well, they’re definitely interested in sharing. And the rest of the team wants to know more as well.

Scaling Big

One of their biggest boosts in revenue was actually a spot on Good Morning America. Within just five minutes they had over 350,000 in sales, more than they had done in an entire month before that. Rob says that thankfully they had a great deal of inventory and even though they were in their early days and hardly anyone knew who they were, that short spot made a huge difference.

Of course, when it comes to selling physical products, it can be difficult to manage the inventory properly. You need just the right amount of product so you don’t have extra eating up warehouse space, and you don’t have too little for interested customers.

That’s where Rob has been able to shine even more because he’s created his own back-end system that helps them manage their inventory at precise levels. And that happens through a system of if-then statements and unique codes for each and every SKU number within the brand. That way, they can find out what’s out of stock, what’s in demand when it’s in stock, conversion rates, and more. By creating this system, Rob is able to streamline a lot of the company flow and to increase growth, efficiency, and profitability.

The Influence of AI

AI has made a big impact in a lot of businesses, but Rob doesn’t see it coming to his own customer service. Instead, he wants to keep the human parts of the business human. What they use AI for is analyzing the customer feedback and finding out what they could be doing better in regards to the website. They look for ways that they could give more information or more complete information to the customer to make sure they’re aware of everything that the product has to offer and everything that customers need to know before they buy.

AI is all about building systems and infrastructure and handling the things that dim their spark, rather than the things that need a human touch.

Improving Along the Way

What could be done to improve their business? Rob would love to work on everything. He believes that the company can always do better in all aspects and in order to achieve that he calls himself a sponge. Always talking to people who can help and figuring out what things the company isn’t noticing yet. Learning lessons, no matter where they come from, is always important. And finding out from people who have been there what things are going to look like along the way to growth is a great boost.

Another way to improve? Well, Rob isn’t interested in looking behind the scenes of his competitors. He wants to look behind the scenes of entirely different industries that might have outside knowledge. He wants to know what’s normal for them but not used in his own industry, because maybe it could be a game-changer.

It’s not about looking at what the second or third best are doing to maintain second and third, it’s about looking at what they can do that’s unique to claim the number one spot.