Joe De Sena is the founder and CEO of Spartan, the world’s leading endurance sports brand. Growing up in working-class Queens, De Sena has demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit since his preteens. He built a multimillion-dollar pool cleaning business before moving to Wall Street, where he started his own trading firm. In 2001, De Sena fled Wall Street for Riverside Farm in rural Vermont. It was during this time that he discovered his passion for adventure races and endurance events, and Spartan Race was born.

De Sena has built Spartan into a global fitness and wellness brand, with a 10 million+ community of athletes across the globe. Under his leadership, Spartan’s portfolio of brands has grown to include Spartan Trail, DEKA, La Ruta, Tough Mudder, and HIGHLANDER.

A New York Times bestselling author, De Sena’s latest book, 10 Rules for Resilience: Mental Toughness for Families, hit bookstores last October.

In this episode, Brad and Joe discuss what it takes to build a business and how to do it right. Entrepreneurship is in Joe’s blood and he’s built several businesses and made tons of money. The Spartan Race is a global fitness and wellness brand that Joe is very passionate about.

00:00 Intro

01:30 How Joe grew up

04:48 Wall street

07:45 Time

09:05 Spartan

14:19 The Louis Vuitton of HARDSHIP

15:40 Bomb: As a society we have become soft

20:00 Steroids

23:32 Joe’s Book: 10 Rules for Resistance

23:57 Bomb: We should put obstacles in front of our children, not take them away

25:55 Kung fu master

28:39 Spartan Death Camp for kids

31:55 Leaving your kids money

34:15 Goal to 100M participants

36:56 Code BOMBSQUAD for 30 days

39:00 Bomb: The dropping bomb race sponsorships

41:37 Bomb: Toughen up

43:53 Resillience 

44:08 Follow @realjoedesena