Wantrepreneur to Entrepreneur | Start and Grow Your Own Business 1176: This former GoPro CMO reveals EVERYTHING about growing a lifestyle brand and products that transcend traditional marketing w/ Paul Crandell
In this episode, Paul Crandell, former CMO of GoPro, shares his incredible journey from selling artwork out of the back of his car to scaling some of the world’s most iconic brands. Now, as the founder and CEO of Lumi, a lifestyle tech company revolutionizing smart projectors, Paul dives deep into how brand culture, storytelling, and community building can drive monumental growth. He reveals how he helped grow Red Bull from $5 million to $2 billion in revenue and GoPro from $60 million to $1 billion, and how those lessons are now shaping Lumi's go-to-market strategy.
💡 What You'll Take Away For YOUR Business
- 🚀 How to leverage culture and storytelling to create a magnetic brand presence.
- 🌎 Why building strong relationships leads to brand loyalty and word-of-mouth growth.
- 💰 The importance of mastering niche markets before expanding your brand reach.
- 🛠️ How real-life community engagement can outperform digital-only strategies.
- 🔄 Why balancing short-term sales with long-term brand building creates sustainable growth.
- 🎯 The step-by-step blueprint for launching a brand in a competitive market.
- 🔍 How to identify market gaps and capitalize on them with an authentic brand message.
📝 About the Guest
An adventure sports junkie and volleyball player from Orange Coast and UCSB, Paul started selling artwork out of the back of his car after college, so he could ski, mountain bike, and surf, which led him to Red Bull. Paul ended up selling Red Bull their first Title Sponsorship in the US and ended up there for 9 years, leading US Sports Marketing from 1999-2009. Mind you, Red Bull may have been about a $5M company at the time and we grew revenue through sales and brand building to a $2B company 9 years later. After Red Bull he later went on to be the CMO of GoPro from 2011-2016, taking them from $60M-$1B+ and IPO in 2014.
Since GoPro, Paul has had a number of different CMO positions in several business sectors: from healthcare to Chinese robotics to EV charging. He has also had his consulting company 1 Degree where he's danced across dozens of different brands and industries.
After a broad range of executive and managerial experience over 35 years, primarily in really fun industries, Paul decided he wanted to start his own lifestyle brand and that's where Lumi Smart Projectors all started, just 1.5 years ago.
🎯 Paul's BEST Piece of Advice for Wantrepreneurs and Entrepreneurs
"Do not be afraid to make mistakes and follow your bliss. Don't listen to other people and what they think you should be. Be who you want to be and go for it."
📢 Memorable Quotes
- "Building strong relationships builds trust. If you break that trust, it can take years to rebuild. Be real, be honest, and people will follow you."
- "We only grow when we learn, and we only learn when we take risks and make mistakes."
- "Events don’t pay back immediately, but they build relationships that pay off long-term."
💡 Actionable Takeaways
- ✅ Invest in community building and face-to-face events; brand trust is built in person.
- ✅ Focus on a niche market before trying to expand—dominate one space first.
- ✅ Be real with your marketing—honesty and transparency are key.
- ✅ Take risks, learn from failures, and iterate quickly.
🔗 Links & Resources