It all started with a Facebook post. David Heath was scrolling Facebook one day when he read that socks are the number one item people in homeless shelters request. He remembers thinking that that was both interesting and sad. He walked over to the desk of one of his coworkers, Randy Goldberg, to share what he had read. About a month or two later, he watched a Ted Talk featuring Blake My coskie, founder of TOMS. My coskie homeless people. They walk quite a bit, creating wear for their socks. For several reasons, most homeless people do not take their shoes off at night, which creates hygiene issues. Rain is a problem too in that socks are not comfortable for people wearing them when walking in the rain; and wet socks wear more quickly. Socks are also an issue on the homeless shelter side in that homeless shelters do not accept secondhand socks as donations because of hygiene issues. As a result, shelters often lack the quantity of socks they need, causing them to sometimes use their limited funds to purchase socks for their residents.

Heath and Goldberg took this all in and felt they could make a real difference by creating a company that would donate a pair of socks for every pair purchased.

This commitment and interest to serve others through the company’s operations is the spark for creating Bombas.

The cofounders launched Bombas in 2013 as a sock company. The firm’s mission, which remains the same since launching, is crystal clear:

“One purchased = one donated, always and forever......

Discussion Questions:

1.Make a bullet point list of the ways in which Heath and Goldberg conducted product/service feasibility analysis on Bombax socks.
2.To what degree do you think Bombax’ one-for-one social entrepreneurship business model (also known as “buy-one give-one”), in which one pair of socks is given away for each pair sold, contributes to its success? Identify at least two other companies that feature buy-one give-one models for their products.
3.What do you think attracted the producers of Shark Tank to feature Bombax on the show?
4.What can young entrepreneurs with business ideas learn from Heath and Goldberg’s experiences?