Jostens

Otto Jostens: invented the class ring in 1897

Shaan's first 'Billy of the Week': Otto Jostens, who invented the class ring in 1897 and built the upsell machine where graduating seniors get pressured into buying a $400-$600 ring on campus to commemorate the occasion.

“this guy is kind of like my Billy of the Week. I got two very boring business people that I'm going to feature here. So the first guy is called Otto Josten, and Otto Josten is the founder of Josten's, which is the number one class ring maker. And Otto Josten, he invents the class ring basically. So he started this thing in 1897 in Ottawa, right?”

Otto Jostens: invented the class ring in 1897

Shaan's first 'Billy of the Week': Otto Jostens, who invented the class ring in 1897 and built the upsell machine where graduating seniors get pressured into buying a $400-$600 ring on campus to commemorate the occasion.

“this guy is kind of like my Billy of the Week. I got two very boring business people that I'm going to feature here. So the first guy is called Otto Josten, and Otto Josten is the founder of Josten's, which is the number one class ring maker. And Otto Josten, he invents the class ring basically. So he started this thing in 1897 in Ottawa, right?”

Class sneakers: custom commemorative shoes instead of class rings

Shaan's pitch to disrupt Jostens: custom-painted plain white Air Force Ones with the graduation year and school colors. Buy the blank shoe for ~$12, do ~$8 of custom paintwork, sell for $180-$200, sold via Instagram/Facebook ads and school-org rev shares.

“I probably would like find something that's shaped like that but is not already like $100, right? Because I need to get the shoe for like $12, and then I need to do the custom, you know, the paintwork on it for like another $8, and then I need to sell that shoe for like $180 or $200, something like that. I think that's the model here. And I think you could do this with Instagram ads, Facebook ads, and partnering with school organizations to do like kind of rev shares.”

Steal thisTake a high-margin commodity ($20 blank shoe), customize it into a status keepsake, and sell it through school-org affiliate rev shares.

Be the boring default that's a pain to leave

Sam's takeaway from the Jostens class-ring breakdown: the most durable, profitable businesses aren't innovative, they get customers locked into a position where switching is a hassle. Jostens has done it for 124 years with near-zero product innovation.

“when we think of entrepreneurship and we think of starting stuff, we think, how can I be innovative? How can I be new? In reality, in order to make a lot of money, it's how do I get locked into this to, to the point to where like it's going to be a pain in the ass to go anywhere else. And that's the takeaway here.”

Steal thisStop chasing novelty; engineer your product into a default that's annoying to switch away from.