When Sandy Li-Truong and Justin Truong started PUSHAS in 2017, they were sneakerheads solving a problem inside a subculture they knew intimately: buying rare sneakers required immense trust, but the market was plagued by counterfeits and friction. Having walked away from a predictable path in corporate law, Justin teamed up with Sandy to build an infrastructure where trust - not just footwear - was the actual product.

Years later, a spontaneous tweet during COVID sparked an unexpected half-million-dollar inventory fund, pushing them to test whether their playbook could stretch beyond kicks into streetwear, collectibles, and now, their highest-stakes turnaround yet: acquiring collapsed cult activewear label STAX.

In this episode, Sandy and Justin share what it takes to break the rules that made you successful, how to distinguish a reckless gamble from a cheap experiment, and how to decide whether you've outgrown your niche.

On today’s episode, you’ll learn:

• How Sandy and Justin turned an obsessive hobby into an business built on trust.

• The story behind how they raised over $500K for inventory, and what it taught them about selling before you've built the machinery.

• How to know when "niching down" stops being your competitive moat and starts becoming a ceiling on your growth.

• Why they stepped in to buy collapsed activewear brand STAX, and how to value IP, community, and trust when rebuilding a company you didn't create.

THE END BITS

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HOST: Lisa Lie 

GUEST: Sandy Li & Justin Truong - founders of Pushas & new owners of STAX

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Courtney Ammenhauser

SENIOR CREATIVE PRODUCER: Thom Lion

ASSISTANT PRODUCER: Sasha Tannock

Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

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