What do you do if you’re dropping $300,000 a year on golf clubs and none of them actually work for you?
Well, you start your own damn company, build them yourself, and sell them as the best in the world.
That is exactly what Bob Parsons did—another "golf-crazy" tech guy who, after serving as a Marine in Vietnam, taught himself how to code. Self-taught.
And man, did he learn how to sell.
In ’84, he founded his home-software company, Parsons Technology, in a basement—where else?. He almost went broke at first, but 10 years later, he sold it to the competition for $64 million. In ’97, he founded Jomax Technologies, which he would later rename—wait for it—GoDaddy. The domain name giant.
The guy was a master of communication.
GoDaddy’s first Super Bowl ad was a national scandal—labeled as sexist and "too much"... it caused such a stir that the second airing, scheduled for the end of the game, was canceled by the network.
Result? Web traffic multiplied by 10. He used the censorship to go even more viral.
Fast forward to 2011: he sells the majority of GoDaddy and pockets an estimated fortune of $2.3 billion.
Tired of throwing money away on ugly, mediocre clubs, he starts poaching star engineers from PING.
In 2014, PXG (Parsons Xtreme Golf) is born.
The clubs cost twice as much as a set of Titleists. They brought real innovation in design, materials, and customization—like those adjustable weights in the clubhead.
People laughed at him.
But the clubs started flying off the shelves of luxury pro-shops. Then he signed Pro players to play PXG. Then he released a more "accessible" model, while keeping that aura of exclusivity.
Today, nobody is laughing at good old Bob. He’s still out there, killing it.
I’m keeping him as a reference. If I want to sell stuff online, I have to build a company.
Nobody encourages you to start a business. It’s crazy.
But I’ll stick with my favorite Bob Parsons quote:
"Almost everything I’ve ever tried has failed at first. The difference is I stick with it until it works."
Have a great weekend, Golfer. Let’s go out there on Saturday and hit it hard!
P.S.1 If you want to see that infamous 2005 Super Bowl ad, here it is. P.S.2 I don’t get a commission from GoDaddy or PXG. Bob, if you’re reading this, send me some sticks! Hahaha.