A Series Of Big Breaks

Tech Crunch / John Biggs

Niall launched its first product, the Niall One, in August of 2014. As a start-up luxury brand in a 500+ year old industry dominated by the Swiss, Niall was initially received with skepticism. Is this product good? Is this company going to be around next year? What in the world is a luxury watch company doing in Kansas City? All valid questions the world expected answers for in the early stages of our company.

Looking through the cloud of skepticism, one man decided to write a story on Niall that would forever change our lives. John Biggs at TechCrunch (one of the world’s most trafficked technology publications on the Internet) did an e-mail interview with us after I sent him a cold e-mail at 12:47 a.m. titled, “Gorilla Glass / Watches.” Corning® Gorilla® Glass, while a common material in over a billion smartphones, hadn’t been utilized in watchmaking quite yet. It came as quite a shock that Niall, a new company from the heartland of the America, could discover something new and innovative. With 2.5x more break resistance than sapphire, our team figured technology blogs would find this story appealing. John Biggs saw my email and replied with initial skepticism. Eight emails of conversation and a few days later, an article about Niall went live on TechCrunch.com.

This article led to our first customer, Marc Andreessen — the highly-respected venture capitalist behind Andreessen Horowitz . In technology and venture capital, Andreessen has reached demigod status — “a mortal raised to divine rank.” Andreessen’s Niall purchase positioned himself as the owner of serial #001 of the Niall One.2 — our very first timepiece. Which, in 20 years, has the potential to be the most valuable Niall ever made. Having such an important figure as our first customer, at such an early stage, was a sign of the successes to come.

The Tech Crunch article led to a waterfall of other articles with great publications like Cool Material, The Good Trade and more. Which led to a snowball of web traffic, which led to more Niall customers. This was Niall’s first big break. A break none of us will ever forget.

Tivol

The next big break came in June of 2015 when Kansas City’s most prestigious jewelry store, Tivol, collaborated with Niall to debut our new product, The Niall One.3. It was a risk for Tivol — taking a chance on a no-name brand, believing we could do what we say and putting us in a display case next to great brands like Panerai, Rolex and Patek Phillipe. Being in Tivol was the chance we needed to prove ourselves. A chance for true market validation.

Tivol’s risk is paying off not just for their retail locations, but for the people of Kansas City as well. During the launch of Niall, and due to the brilliance of key Tivol employees like Adam Gebhart, we donated a portion of revenue to the Big Slick Celebrity Weekend, benefiting Children’s Mercy Hospital. While having Niall watches on icons like Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Rob Riggle was a great moment for Niall, it was as equally rewarding to donate tens of thousands of dollars to Children’s Mercy Hospital. June 18, 2015 was the spark that lit the fire. After selling out the Niall One.3 in the matter of 10 days — we knew we were really on to something big.

Never losing faith in Niall, the team at Tivol has been both a partner and a sherpa. A sherpa that continually helps Niall bring our standards up to par with some of the greatest brands in the world — because Tivol never settles for anything less than the best, anything less than perfect and anything that doesn’t perpetuate the 100 years of prestige they’ve managed to accrue.

For an emerging brand like Niall, being pushed to always be better, always go above and beyond and always achieve standards beyond expectations is something rarely asked of an emerging company. Tivol has been like a legendary NCAA basketball coach — pushing you to work harder, do more, achieve more. To become so exceptional you eventually become a first round draft pick in the NBA.

Kansas City Media

Kansas City press and media outlets really became the next big break for Niall. After launching in Tivol, the press was eager to help us tell our story, share our vision and support the local entrepreneur. This was monumental to be supported in our home town — a city you wouldn’t immediately think of when it comes to high end luxury goods.

The Kansas City Star, Ink, KCTV5, Fox4, 435 Magazine and Spaces all jumped on coverage of Niall — and still do to this day. It feels so wonderful to have the support of these media outlets and they really drive the brand recognition we are seeing today. Without Kansas City’s media outlets, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Consumers outside of Kansas City are still shocked by our success. However, what non-natives don’t often understand is this city is a place that supports the dreams and passions of an entrepreneur. It’s a city without intellectual boundaries and a city where entrepreneurs thrive. It’s a city that you can always count on for support. Kansas City is the place you build a company that last generations. That is why Kansas City is not just our headquarters. It is, and always will be, our home.

Ned Yost

The idea to gift Ned Yost a Niall watch started after our lead watchmaker, Justin Walters, learned that Yost was barred from wearing his Apple Watch in the dugout due to it’s ability to store electronic data. Seeing the opportunity to replace the missing watch on his wrist, we built Ned Yost a custom made KC Blue dial Niall One.3. Never before had we produced custom colors on watches, but our team rallied and made it happen.

Hand delivering Ned Yost a custom made Niall One.3 in the clubhouse prior to the baseball game on his birthday was a business changing and life changing experience. It was a tipping point in its truest form. Ned was not only an amazingly kind person, he was also kind enough to talk about Niall to the media. Ned was proud that we honored him in such a way. Niall quickly became known as the company that made Ned’s watch. We nearly instantly began receiving phone calls and emails from companies, customers and media outlets around the world wondering “Who are you, how did you get Ned Yost a watch and how do I buy one?” It was a spark that would ultimately lead to our biggest break.

The World Series

The Ned Yost connection was a gamble for us. Out of the experience, we developed a limited edition KC Blue series of Niall One.3’s for the city and to support the city. Limited to 30, we made the decision to limit the production of this specific watch to the number of years between World Series wins. No one in our city thought we could go back to back in the World Series — let alone win it this year. It seemed as if the stars need to align to make this feat happen. As history goes to show, the stars did align, not just for Kansas City, but for Niall as well.

Watching the World Series as a Kansas Citian was nerve racking. Watching the World Series with a watch on Ned Yost’s and George Brett’s wrists was exhilarating. A win from the Royals meant international recognition for Niall. A loss meant a loss in momentum. As the final game of the World Series came to a close, an entire city watched the Royals take the crown and explode into a mayhem of celebration. As the Royals took the crown, I was popping a bottle of J. Rieger Co. Monogram Whiskey to celebrate a moment in time I knew would change the future of Niall.

The Kansas City Star

The day after the World Series, someone at the Kansas City Star decided to do something monumental — put Niall on the cover of the FYI section of the World Series Edition of the paper. The story, written by Rustin Dodd, was a republish of an article that ran in Ink magazine weeks earlier. I suspect the Kansas City Star chose to run the article again because of the Yost connection. However, I’m not sure if they realized how much this placement solidified Niall in the minds of the city and exposed us to the rest of the United States.

Two days after the article, the Niall One.3 KC Blue Limited Edition sold out. My phone was ringing off the hook so much I had to change mobile phone numbers. Chase McAnaulty, Founder at Charlie Hustle, could share a very similar story after the 2014 World Series when Paul Rudd said on national television, “Kegger at my mom’s house” while wearing a Charlie Hustle blue on blue heart KC t-shirt. The Niall in-bound communications and praise had entered insane mode.

The Royals winning the World Series, Ned Yost wearing the Niall One.3 and all the events around this moment in time, were made possible by people behind the scenes. People like Art Stewart, Jin Wong, George Brett, Joel Goldburg, Jeremy Sickel and most of all Chris Hadley — a childhood friend who single-handedly made the Yost connection happen.

Bill Self

As a graduate of the University of Kansas — honoring Bill Self, the head coach of the Jayhawks, with a custom made blue Niall One.S only made sense. Bill is a staple of the all-in man. Someone that has seen the peaks and valleys of running a legendary basketball team. A man that’s been a champion — more than once. A man that has weathered storms but continued to stay true to him self. A man that exudes confidence.

We were connected to Bill through Greg Gurley (a fellow Shawnee Mission South graduate — who also happened, by coincidence, to have my grandmother for typing class). Greg is the radio commentator alongside of KU’s legendary Bob Davis and considered to be among the most talented athletes our high school has ever produced. As a former KU basketball player, with a quite the following, Greg gave us the behind-the-scenes tour of Allen Fieldhouse and then introduced us to Bill Self. After 20 minutes of conversation, I will never forget the words spoken with Bill in his iconic office at Allen Fieldhouse. Not only was he so grateful to receive a Niall timepiece, he steered the conversation to show more interest in how he could help Niall grow as a company rather than talk about himself. Bill is everything you hope for in icon and hero — humble, kind, charismatic and most of all, he’s cool.

The last thing Bill Self said to me on my way out of his office will not only stick in my head for a lifetime, but really sums up who we are at Niall. Bill said as Ryan Schneider and I are walking out the door, “Mike, you sure do have a lot of guts doing what you do. Building this type of company and all.” I turned around, paused for a second and replied, “Well Bill, it’s because I’m all in.”

In Closing

I can’t begin to express my personal gratitude to all the people that made these events possible for Niall. All the people that played not just big roles, but small, and unsung roles as well — Thank you.

Thank you to our team at Niall, including Mark O’Renick, the Co-Founder and CMO of Niall whose wisdom keeps Niall true to its self. Mark was the first to discover our meant-to-be tagline and motto — All In — an anagram of Niall.

To Justin Walters, our watchmaker that banged on our office door and promptly said “I need to work for you.” — Thank you for your continued work and dedication to what we do!

To Dominik Maerki our Swiss watchmaker, formerly of Omega, who believes so deeply in our vision that he practically beat my door down to become a part of the team — thank you for your hunger and confidence in Niall!

Finally, to all the customers that believed in our vision, our passion and our obsession — thank you. We will continue to make the right moves, at the right times, to make you proud of your wearable reminder of what it means to be all in.