Pete Augustine spent much of his 25+ career at New Era. At the height of the sports licensing wars of the 90’s and early 00’s, Pete saw and eventually led New Era (as President) through a gambit of tough decisions that ultimately positioned New Era as a powerhouse in sports branding. Today, New Era has over 500 licenses in its portfolio, many of them negotiated while Pete was President.
Today, Pete spends much of his time mentoring consumer product startups. Pete has been a mentor for 43North winners since year one of the competition and now is expanding some of his mentorship across the country.
Latitude host Nate Benson talks with Pete about growing New Era into the licensing powerhouse that it is today, what consumer product startups need to look out for in those early years and why storytelling plays a vital role for consumer product companies.