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- [00:01]
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- [00:26]
Josh Christensen
Hi, I'm Josh Christensen, executive producer of Inc. Podcasts, and this is from the ground up Fall programming. As the summer comes to a close, we have a collection of panels from this year's Inc. Founders House in Philadelphia. In this segment, Deputy Digital editor Graham Winfrey talks to Philadelphia Eagle Center Cam Juergens, founder of the beef jerky company Beef Jerky and former NBA All Star Stephon Marbury, who is the chief brand officer of smart sunglasses company Chamelo Eyewear. Cam spoke about how he grew his business while Graham Graham asked Stefan about his first business venture. They both compare how their preparation and obstacles they overcame in their professional sports careers helped them run their business. All right, here's that conversation. Enjoy.
- [01:10]
Graham Winfrey
I'm Graham Winfrey. I'm the deputy Digital editor at Inc. And it is my great pleasure to introduce this panel. I've been looking forward to this conversation all month. Stephane Marbury is the chief Brand Officer at Camelo Eyewear and former NBA All Star, of course. And Cam Juergens is the founder of Jergi Beef Jerky and current starting center for the Philadelphia Eagles. So, Stephan, I'm going to start with you. Camelot has brought some pretty cool technology to the eyewear industry. Tell us about the different products and why this is a great fit for you as a business.
- [01:52]
Stephon Marbury
Well, for me, it's innovative. It gives people the opportunity to experience something completely different in the eyewear space, which is a big space. The technology allows you to transition from light to dark, from dark to light within 0.9 seconds. So this technology is something that will be useful for all people that are living on earth. So it's pretty cool.
- [02:17]
Graham Winfrey
And in terms of eyewear and fashion, how does this align with your passion and the style of apparel and accessories that you've always liked?
- [02:27]
Stephon Marbury
It's bold, it's confident, and it's something that's new. It's different. And I think for us, we continue to push the envelope by adding what she spoke about in the last panel, AI. So with the next generation of AI and with new technology equipped, we feel really confident.
- [02:49]
Graham Winfrey
And what is the AI component? Is it just when you walk from one room into the outdoors, it automatically switches the tint to Your preferred color?
- [02:59]
Stephon Marbury
No, it'll do some of the things that Ray Ban offers. It'll be able to look and see and measure calories from fruit, from vegetables.
- [03:09]
Cam Juergens
Oh, wow.
- [03:09]
Stephon Marbury
Different. Yeah. So this is the next wave of the future. We're in it as well.
- [03:14]
Graham Winfrey
Valerie's from Beef Jerky, maybe. So, Cam, your family's farm dates back to 1907, when your great grandfather started Jurgens Farms in Pickerel, Nebraska.
- [03:27]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, correct.
- [03:28]
Graham Winfrey
So tell me about what you did growing up on the farm and how whether or not that gave you a taste for entrepreneurship later in life.
- [03:38]
Cam Juergens
You know, I don't know if it gave me a taste for entrepreneurship growing on the farm. I kind of just grew up working, and I feel like I, you know, grew a work ethic just watching my dad and my older brother. And, I mean, we have cattle, corn, soybeans, hay, alfalfa. And so I was always busy doing something with my dad on the farm, and. And we'd always go deer hunting and go get a deer, whatever we do. And we make our deer jerky and summer sausage. And so, like, I kind of grew up just being involved with that process of making jerky. And so I think when. When it came around to college, when I started this business and started selling jerky first in the Nil space, it just kind of. It came naturally. You know, last name Jurgens. Everybody called me Beef Jerky. And so it was just everything with this business and then kind of just grew organically, and it's just simple. Everything kind of is falling into place and slowly growing ever since.
- [04:39]
Graham Winfrey
We'll get to the legendary origin story with the nickname. But first, there are a lot of jerky brands. How have you positioned Jerky as different from some of your competitors?
- [04:49]
Cam Juergens
You know, right now, it's just. It's small. It started out just me, my mom, and my business partner, Matt Sichterman, and just creating a product in the Nil world. And we're thinking, you know, this Nil started with name, image, and likeness, and you had to use that to build a product or a brand and sell things. And now with the Nil World, it's just. You get paid money to go play, so it's a little different. But, yeah, it was just really fun. It's a great experience, you know, getting into that space and becoming a business owner and learning things as you go and just networking and figuring out, you know, I don't feel like I know too much right now, but I feel like I knew nothing back then. And so just learning as we Go in this process of, you know, starting an LLC and getting a trademark and. And figuring those things out along the way and just letting it come to you and grow naturally and, you know, it separates. I don't think there's any other super bowl champions with the jerky brand. So I think that's a separation.
- [05:57]
Graham Winfrey
That is a quality differentiator. I will give you that. So tell us. Tell us about how this whole company can be traced back to a nickname in the Nebraska locker room that maybe we wouldn't even be here today if that nickname hadn't been applied to you.
- [06:12]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, I mean, it was just. Everybody has their own nicknames when you're going through. And everybody called me Jerky or Beef Jerky, and I love beef. So it's just simple. I don't really have to explain it too much. And so Nil started at Nebraska, and some of the people in the creative department wanted to make us logos. And, you know, they came and asked a few of us if they could make our logo and. And so we can make a T shirt or whatever. We wanted to start a brand or a business. And so I just told him, like, all right, well, everybody calls me Beef Jerky. Can you make, like, a bowl for my logo? And so took off from. Then threw it on a T shirt and then started selling some Jerky and figuring out distributors and going through the whole process of that. But, yeah, I think if my last name wasn't Jergens, I probably wouldn't have a Jerky business.
- [07:04]
Graham Winfrey
Nicknames also apply to you, Stephane, because your nickname from. Since you were very little, Starbury is also a brand. Was a brand. Tell us about launching that brand and what made that brand different. Because it was very different. There was something about it that was very unique.
- [07:19]
Stephon Marbury
Well, my nickname came from playing basketball, obviously from playing in New York. So obviously. Let's go next. I couldn't resist. I couldn't resist. Sorry. I got mad love in Philly. AI, my man. That's my brother. Got mad love. AI. But, yeah, so they started calling me Starbury when I was in high school. My last name. And then they just put. From a kid from Coney island who's. They were calling me a shooting star from Nightline, doing Nightlines. So getting that nickname and then applying it to my brand for shoes and clothes, where I sold shoes for $14.98 for kids, $15, trying to create access for all. So applying what I did on a basketball court with creating access for people who look like me, who grew up, like, in A project without being able to have access to buy affordable shoes to play basketball in, let alone to wear shoes. So I create this brand with my name, and I attach what I believe could create change for athletes, especially kids that play basketball, knowing shoes don't cost 150, $200. So making shoes and then allowing kids to be able to buy them on their own, that created access for all. So that's what the brand was really about.
- [09:07]
Graham Winfrey
And. Yeah, please. Was that the thing that was important to you was the accessibility and the $15 shoes? Was there someone when you said, I want these shoes to cost $15, said, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, no, we gotta charge more than that. And then you held your ground or.
- [09:25]
Stephon Marbury
No, when I found out that it didn't cost that much to make the shoes, and then I said, oh, well, it wasn't about making money. It was about the message. It was about allowing kids to know that they can go to a store, buy a pair of shoes at this price point, shoes and clothes, and do this on their own. They didn't need their parents to do this. They could literally save their own monies that they made to go do this for themselves. We were teaching kids something completely different, along with allowing them to know that they had access to something that they thought cost so much, but it doesn't cost that much to make.
- [10:08]
Cam Juergens
Right.
- [10:09]
Graham Winfrey
And in the future, I understand, maybe there's more to come for Starbree. You're going to build it back up, or.
- [10:15]
Stephon Marbury
Yes, I am.
- [10:16]
Graham Winfrey
We're trying to keep a lid on that or can we go public with that?
- [10:19]
Stephon Marbury
Oh, I'm going to come back out with it. It's just, you know, with all of the things that's going on in the world with tariffs and, you know, it's hard, especially trying to sell product at a price point that's affordable for people. So for me to be able to have the ability to have a vertical platform from China to America, to sell products to people at an affordable price, it's a blessing. But still, it's still a challenge. So coming back with the brand and it's something that has to happen. That's one of the reasons why I gave up 15 years of my life to go to another country to learn how to do something for myself and not have somebody have to tell me how to do it.
- [11:09]
Graham Winfrey
Yeah. So, Cam, unlike Staphon, you are still juggling being a professional athlete and an entrepreneur. How active are you in Jergi during the off season, which we're in right now. And do you do much during the regular season. And how do you juggle?
- [11:26]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, I try. You know, it's always tough during the season. I feel like I just got to make sure the main thing stays the main thing. And you know, that's football and that's my main job and that's my source of income. And so I always try to in the off season, you know, I pick up a lot more with jerke. But the main thing during the year is just making sure I got a good crew around me and I'm able to work with good people. And so that's just the main thing is making sure things are still going smoothly, you know, when I'm operating it or when I'm not.
- [11:58]
Graham Winfrey
You guys both know a lot about what makes a good team. When you're hiring somebody, what key attributes do you look for? Whether it's a coder or someone, you know, one of the first employees at Jergy. Do you. How do you view hiring?
- [12:14]
Cam Juergens
I think just finding people that you work well with and people you can trust. And you know, I'm still going through that process of, you know, getting to the point where we're, we're big right now to where we need to start hiring more people. And it's just trying to find people that you can trust and you can work with and things are good in that department and you feel like you want to build and keep growing your relationship together and, you know, building the business together, you're going to do that and. And so it's still like a thing I'm trying to navigate and figure out, but that's just the main thing I've took away. It's like find, find people that you can trust and maybe they have answers, maybe they don't. But as long as they know how to find them and they're willing to work, like that's just the main thing that matters.
- [12:58]
Graham Winfrey
Stavon, you've had several ventures over the years. I'm sure you've had a lot of hiring, great hires, mistake hires. Tell us about how you view hiring.
- [13:06]
Stephon Marbury
Yeah, well, he said trust, that's major. But I've evolved to the space where I try to work with like minded people. So if I could find people that have the same mind as me, I'm a godfaring man. So it's way easier to communicate with people who vibrate in the same space when making certain decisions. Because when you're making certain decisions, when it's dealing with millions of dollars, you want to work with people who you feel like if they make a decision. You don't have to think about the decision that they made when they made that decision for a company that is trying to scale up, trying to do something in a positive way. So that's how I pretty much try to pick the people who I work with and people who I feel like I could grow with and who I want to be with. Opposed to being with people who can help me make a lot of money, but be with people who want to help other people.
- [14:10]
Graham Winfrey
Delegation is always hard for entrepreneurs because you start something yourself and then you feel like you don't want to let it go and give that trust to other people to do that job. As you grow up, grow and scale, how have you. Did you have to learn delegation? Did it come naturally to you? Tell us about that.
- [14:28]
Stephon Marbury
No, it didn't come naturally. You learning, you learn. It's like trusting somebody with your basketball game, right? You know when somebody tried to tell you, oh, you should shoot this way, or you should. When somebody tell you how to shoot the basketball, that's a big thing. And a guy named George Gervin, I don't know if people know him, but he's a famous basketball player. He changed my basketball shot. And when he told me why he was help, why he wanted me to change my shot, it made sense, but it didn't make sense with the process of changing it. And I say that because I always try to find people who can speak life into what it is that I'm trying to do with my brands or my companies or whatever it is that I'm doing. And that's basically what I try to look for.
- [15:23]
Graham Winfrey
So you've been a player and a coach of professional basketball players. What have you learned from being on the coaching side? Managing personalities that has helped you in business?
- [15:36]
Stephon Marbury
You put all of the players inside of the bag and you deal with them individually, opposed to trying to deal with them as a whole. That's what I learned as a coach. I try to get them to do things that I thought that they should be capable of doing, but not understanding that all of the work that I did to do what I did on the basketball court, they didn't do that and they're not there yet. So coaching them and teaching them, opposed to trying to, like, force them to do something, but teach them and allow them to grow. And I learned that in business, same thing. I had to switch it in reverse where I had to let other people teach me and tell me things, but had to learn on my own, though, had to go through the process, you know, business is a forever going process. It never stops, especially, you know, when you're dealing with a lot of money. But I think when you. I relate everything to, I try to relate everything to basketball because that's something that I challenge myself at. I wish I would have did that on a lot of other things, but that's one of the things that I did do it in.
- [16:47]
Josh Christensen
We'll be right back after a quick break.
- [16:54]
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- [17:22]
Graham Winfrey
Speaking of money, I forgot to congratulate you, Cam, on your four year extension that's going to keep you in Philadelphia through 2020. Thank you. Am I right that jerkey is still a bootstrapped operation? You haven't raised outside investment?
- [17:38]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, that's correct. It's still, you know, we're growing slowly and, you know, growing organically and, you know, keeping it small, trying to make sure we're careful with that. You know, it's kind of, it's kind of my baby making sure, you know, don't want to grow too fast and have to deal with too many headaches at once. We're trying to make sure we can control everything that's coming our way and, you know, with everything that's going on on the field and off the field, there's a lot of opportunities coming our way with the business. And it's just making sure we're specific in how we handle that. You know, it's got to be careful, you know, be able to say no to certain things and grow it the right way.
- [18:18]
Graham Winfrey
So you've mentioned NIL a couple times. You've partnered with some college athletes for some endorsement deals to help Georgy grow. Do you want to do more of that? Do you think that every business should be looking at NIL because it's a, it's a new burgeoning form of partnership that could help companies grow?
- [18:37]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, definitely. I feel like our company grew through Nil and so it was just neat getting to work with the college and getting to sell jerky with them and raise money for their Nil program. And it goes directly back to all the athletes, you know, playing all the football, sports, everything that's going on. And so it's Just neat to give back to, you know, athletes right now. Because that's where I grew the business. And it's kind of crazy to think I even got to a point where we could do that and looking forward to growing it even more so we can work with just a ton of colleges around the country and give back even more.
- [19:14]
Graham Winfrey
Can you just tell us about, was it like a social media post deal? What college was it? Who were the players? How many players that you got?
- [19:22]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, we're working with Iowa State and we got into a bunch of Hy Vee's around there, which is like. Like a giant store around here. So just selling jerky and just raising all the profits are going towards the NIL program there. And. And all the NL money gets split between all the student athletes at Iowa State. So it's just neat knowing that, you know, our money's going towards every single student athlete there instead of, you know, kind of how it's going right now, different athletes, where it seems like just 1% of the guys on the team are getting the money. So it's just neat knowing it gets spread everywhere.
- [19:58]
Graham Winfrey
Stefan, what about Camelo and NIL deals? What's your take?
- [20:04]
Stephon Marbury
Soon.
- [20:05]
Graham Winfrey
Soon.
- [20:05]
Cam Juergens
Okay.
- [20:07]
Graham Winfrey
What about partnerships in general? Have partnerships been a growth lever for your business?
- [20:13]
Stephon Marbury
Yeah, we just did a partnership with Jose Reyes. He's played baseball for the Mets. He has a super huge fan base in the Latin community. We're working and speaking with some other actors and some basketball players, some guys from the Knicks. But my first big partnership was with the Knicks. So I mean, it's kind of like now my, my team is like, so what about the Yankees? I'm like, like, slow down, dude. Like this different, different lane. But to be able to have a partnership with the Knicks and for us to be inside of Madison Square Garden, selling exclusively gives us a great big presence. As he said, growing fast is something that we, we have to watch as well because it's technology and to, you know, when it's as sophisticated as it is, you know, we're not in the era of where we have robots making our products right now. So, you know, it hasn't advanced that far. But for us, you know, looking at all of the future of eyewear and technology and the future of nil, we think that it's great partnerships that can be made with different colleges and different.
- [21:37]
Graham Winfrey
Teams is educating consumers about technology in the eyewear space. Is that challenging? Google Glass didn't happen famously and trying to say that's not what we're doing here. Talk about educating consumers about what your company does.
- [21:57]
Stephon Marbury
Okay, so the technology basically is better to show you.
- [22:04]
Graham Winfrey
Oh, we should all three had these on. Damn.
- [22:07]
Stephon Marbury
So when you have the glasses on, right? If you're driving and you're out and you have your glasses and the lens can change as the sun comes in and sets, you don't have to put your visor down. Normally, you got to look for your sunglasses if you have your readers on, like myself, close to almost 50. But this technology that allows you to go in and out, so you can see when you go in and out, right? So it could go dark from light. And then we added features with other styles where we have the technology, it's inside of the glasses, inside the lens, because it's a liquid crystal layer that lays on top of the glass. And then we put music where you can listen to speakers inside the glasses where you can listen to the music, or you could talk on the phone. The next versions will have where you have navigation inside of your glasses when you're driving. You don't need to look at your navigation anymore if you want to use it. And everything is voice activation. So it'll tell you exactly what you want. You could turn it off. It'll have dimmers inside it. You can talk to it. So. And the technology can also go inside of some roofs of Tesla Wyes. We made a template for it to go into Tesla Y cars, and it also will go inside of the buildings in New York City. So it dims all of the windows that you see. That has drapes and blinds. In the next five to 10 years, we foresee that not to be there anymore, which would save money from energy, from electricity, from turning it all the way up, putting it all the way down. These dimmers will have 0.9 seconds where you could press a button or voice activation, and it'll dim or change the light.
- [24:09]
Graham Winfrey
Wow. It sounds like there's a lot coming down the pike in the world of Camelot Cam. Aside from having two jobs, what's the most challenging aspect of growing Jergy in these early years?
- [24:22]
Cam Juergens
I think what I was talking about earlier was just so many opportunities that we have and a lot of things that we're able to do, we just have to be smart and conscious and be able to say no to certain things. And there's just we're limited with how big we are and don't want to grow too fast. And so I think the biggest challenge is obviously time restraints. And, you know, everybody that's working here, you know, we got jobs. And this is like our. It's our side job that's turned into something much bigger. And we're so excited to grow. You know, it's always a dream, you know, to play in the NFL. And when you get to this spot and you're. This is all, you know, is football. And so many guys retiring from professional sports and they don't have anything to fall back on. And so, you know, it's my dream to grow a business, especially jerky, something I love dealing with. And so when I retire, I got something, you know, I can fall back on and work with. And so that's kind of the big goal and to keep growing it throughout time. And, you know, hopefully I'm playing in the league for a long time, and so this can keep growing and it'll be a lot bigger by the time I retire.
- [25:30]
Graham Winfrey
So do you have specific goals? Like we want to try to get distribution in this store, that store. Any specific goals for 2025 that you're trying to hit any revenue milestones or anything like that?
- [25:41]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, I mean, I think the main thing is just getting into stores in Philly. You know, this is a really big market for that and just getting in there and making sure we get everything set up with distribution and getting into the stores that we can and make sure we're smart and strategic about it. We got such a great product. I think that's the key thing. If you have a bad product, it's not going to sell and nobody's going to want it. Doesn't matter who the person is selling it. So we got an incredible product. It's made right here in Pennsylvania. It's good beef, it's high quality ingredients, and it's everything that people want from a beef jerky. It's my favorite beef jerky I've ever had, and the reviews have been incredible. And I think the main thing is just getting it in people's hands. So I think that's the key thing is just getting it into stores in the area.
- [26:30]
Graham Winfrey
You know, some people, I feel like they think they hear beef jerky and they think, you know, snap into a slim gym junk food. But beef jerky is actually high in protein, low calorie. It's a very healthy snack, actually. Do you think enough people know that or do you think that the category has kind of a semi stigma attached to it for just being junk food?
- [26:50]
Cam Juergens
Yeah, I think so. I mean, when you pull up to a gas station, you get a slim Jim. You know, it doesn't really always taste like Beef, you know, it's. It's different, and that's what we're trying to avoid. You know, we want good quality beef with good ingredients, and in a world we live in today, everything is just so processed and so unhealthy for you. So we're trying to do something that tastes good, and it's. It's good for you, and, you know, it's just simple. You know, we're using beef, and we're using good ingredients, and you're just taking it and you're drying it out. The process is so much easier when you get into those monster stores like a Slim Jim's, and you taste something, and it doesn't even taste like any meat that I've had, but it tastes good, and people get hooked on it, and that's wrong. So I think it is such a. It's an easy thing to make, and some people overcomplicate it, you know, get higher returns in the market and things like that. And so it's. It's a fun process that we're navigating.
- [27:54]
Graham Winfrey
And it travels well. It's a very convenient product for, you know, on the go. Stephane, specific goals for 2025, for Camelo, anything your milestones you're trying to hit.
- [28:05]
Stephon Marbury
We just want to want more people to become aware of what we're doing and check the product out.
- [28:13]
Graham Winfrey
We'll look out for the nil deals, the endorsement deals that come down the pike. Cam, you've won the Super Bowl. You've been named to the Pro Bowl. What is the equivalent feeling in entrepreneurship of exhilaration that you hope to one day have? What's the, you know, take jerky public one day. I mean, how do you kind of strive for success in the business world? How do you think about that?
- [28:37]
Cam Juergens
You know, I think just when we started, this started with my mom and, you know, one of my best friends who played right guard with me at the time, and. And so we just created this business together. And I initially thought, you know, it's one of my best friends. I would love to, you know, stay close with him and grow this business together. And. But, I mean, my number one goal is, you know, my mom's got a big piece of the pie here and with my company, and so I just want to put some money in her pocket. And so that's like, the major goal of the whole deal, and so growing that for us. And so it's pretty fun. We got a cool story attached to it, and so it means a lot to me. So got to make sure we handle it the right way and put it into the most important stories we can.
- [29:22]
Graham Winfrey
And are you butting heads with your dad over how much business, how much time your mom devotes to jerky versus the family farm? Is that a source of tension at all or.
- [29:30]
Cam Juergens
Well, my mom is a retired school teacher. She just retired a couple of years ago, so she's got a lot of time on her hands, and, you know, she enjoys working with the business. And now, no trouble there.
- [29:43]
Graham Winfrey
Yeah. So are there any brands that when you were starting this, you said, you know, I love the way their packaging works, or I love the ethos or the mission behind this brand, or any brands that you kind of had, like, an inspo board saying, like, let's try to be like them with our own brand.
- [29:58]
Cam Juergens
Jerky somewhat. We just looked at so many brands, whether it came from, you know, we liked the marketing on a lot of different brands or we liked how a certain bag looked or the story of something and making sure we tried all these different jerkies and the ingredients that went into it. So I feel like we pulled a little bit from everything and tried to keep it as close to, you know, our story and where our goals wanted to go. And so I don't think we can narrow down to anything. I feel like we looked at, like, 100 different jerky brands, and I was a little overwhelmed at first. I was like, I didn't know there was this many jerky brands out there. I mean, it is a big market.
- [30:39]
Graham Winfrey
What about Camelo and eyewear brands that, you know, you looked at to, you know, aspire to be like or be better than?
- [30:46]
Stephon Marbury
Nah, we really have our own lane, which is one of the best things about the technology because of the speed of the dimming of, you know, the transition of the lens. But for us, we want to be able to work with Lazotica, you know, we want to be able to be friends with everybody to. For the technology to be utilized by not just Camelo one day, for it to spread amongst the whole world for everybody to have it because it's different and it's something that's useful and needed.
- [31:25]
Graham Winfrey
Well, thank you guys so much for bringing your A game to this panel. It was a real pleasure talking to both of you. Cheers.
- [31:33]
Josh Christensen
That's all for this episode of from the Ground Up. Our producers are Blake Odom and Avery Miles, with help from Sam Gabauer and Hawa Ottori. Editing by Matt Toder. Mix and sound design by Nicholas Torres. If you haven't already, subscribe to All Ink podcasts on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.