Kevin Plank Quotes

101 Kevin Plank Quotes

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[On his IPO] Guys, I want an unbelievable video made. [The Under Armour stock jumped 94% on the day of its IPO.]
Kevin Plank

We don't tell a 17-year-old kid that Nike sucks, because the fact of the matter is, Nike doesn't suck. They're actually very good at what they do. And the kid has a wonderful relationship with them.
Kevin Plank

When they walked into the locker room [to change], they threw on their Jordans. And that's okay. We're going to get there.
Kevin Plank

There's an entrepreneur right now, scared to death, making excuses, saying, 'It's not the right time just yet.' There's no such thing as a good time. I started an apparel-manufacturing business in the tech-boom years. I mean, come on. Get out of your garage and go take a chance, and start your business
Kevin Plank

Come on Markey [Mark Mason], let’s go, let’s score a touchdown. [‘He was the reason we won.’ –Mark Mason]
Kevin Plank

I loved growing up in Kensington. Summers were big games of capture the flag or kick the can. It was not far from West Side Story.
Kevin Plank

[On dinner time as the youngest of five boys and the one who ate really slowly.] Firing line.
Kevin Plank

[On mowing the lawn.] In the fourth or fifth grade because his brothers said it was [his] turn.
Kevin Plank

I was always a good kid, but I ended up finding trouble from time to time, too. I remember overhearing my mom and dad talking one time… it was just after I had been let go from Georgetown Prep. I was upstairs and hearing my parents talking, and my mom saying, ‘What are we going to do about Kevin?’ and my dad just saying, ‘You know Kevin, he will always be OK.’
Kevin Plank

I am going to be a good student. [Going on to get a B average.]
Kevin Plank



[On hating his cotton T-shirts] It would get so wet, I changed it as often as I could.
Kevin Plank

[In the beginning of Under Armour] I had 500 shirts made up, and I phoned every equipment manager in the [Atlantic Coast Conference] that would listen to me.
Kevin Plank

[On his grandmother who let him run his company out of her run-down townhouse (she passed away at age 93 in 1996)] Self described ‘tough-old broad.’
Kevin Plank

Be prepared to huddle.
Kevin Plank

Manage the clock.
Kevin Plank

Know your position.
Kevin Plank

Run the huddle.
Kevin Plank

Execute the play.
Kevin Plank

Respect your teammates.
Kevin Plank

[In 2009 on being asked if he pinches himself in light of his success.] No. We do not know how it ends.
Kevin Plank



[In 2010 on seeing the Under Armour logo at the top of the team’s practice shorts obscured by the oversized untucked shirts the players are wearing.] You can not see any logo – I would move it to the bottom in the future! Let’s get out to see this stuff!
Kevin Plank

[On the potential for companies to get taken over when their turnover is in this range.] The time between $500 million and $1 billion is a weird time, a dead zone. It’s the Bermuda Triangle of apparel companies. Companies get caught…
Kevin Plank

[On wanting to make money.] You kind of have that bug.
Kevin Plank

[On naming his company Under Armour. Originally he wanted to name the company ‘Heart’ but felt it was too common. Then he thought of ‘Body Armour’ and finally his oldest brother, Bill mistakenly asked him how ‘Under Armour’ was going along.] I thought - that’s it!
Kevin Plank

I was always telling people I was doing great, even if I wasn’t. It’s being bigger than you are. I couldn’t tell people I burned through $17,000 in cash and had maxed out $40,000 on my credit cards. But I had one of those moments when I thought: ‘Did I do the right thing? Did I go after the right opportunity?’ And then that day I remember coming home and checking the mail, and in the mail was a check from Georgia Tech, the first school that we’d sold, for $3,800, which had me right back in it.
Kevin Plank

[In 2010] It’s no secret there is a great deal of interest in this company. Why sell [the company] to some weenie and watch them take it apart? Then we have to ask someone, ‘Can we leave now?’ No way.
Kevin Plank

[In 2010] I'm going to a football game today. Tomorrow, I have a company sales meeting. Tuesday, I fly to China on commercial. I come back Saturday night to Newark, where my jet picks me up. Then I'm back for the Ravens-Colts game, and we're hosting.
Kevin Plank

[To his company managers.] If you don’t love doing this, you don’t belong in this industry. It’s like Vince Lombardi said, ‘Act like you’ve been there.’
Kevin Plank

We still have plenty of opportunities to screw things up.
Kevin Plank

Great brands are like great stories. And every story has a beginning a middle and an end. And our job is to make sure that every chapter of our stories makes sense to the one in front of it and make sense to the one after it.
Kevin Plank



Under Armour was a company that started because I had an idea, and I didn’t have a lot to lose.
Kevin Plank

I think there’s too many ideas that are sitting in a garage, or a basement or an attic somewhere that’s somebody’s holding back saying ‘Is now the right time? Should I try, should I go for it?’… Wow some football player from Maryland can start a company and actually have it work so far.
Kevin Plank

I run my company much like a team.
Kevin Plank

1) The ability to communicate and 2) The ability to focus.
Kevin Plank

[In his 16th or 17th year of Under Armour] We grew 38% last year. We’re still a growth company.
Kevin Plank

Find out if your product can sell. And if it can sell, do it faster and do it better than anyone else.
Kevin Plank

We’ve evolved one chapter at a time…
Kevin Plank

Hopefully there’s a room full of entrepreneurs out there.
Kevin Plank

The competitive flair that built our country. Enterpreneurship is one of the most undersold resources that we have as a nation.
Kevin Plank

There’s a saying that was attributed to the Chairman of Sony several years ago. - Perfection is the enemy of innovation.
Kevin Plank



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