Josh Luber of StockX: on Buying Sneakers the Same Way We Buy Stocks

Today on the show we have Josh Luber, the co-founder of StockX. StockX is the world’s first online stock market for high-demand consumer goods, namely sneakers, handbags, streetwear, and watches. On the platform, buyers place bids, sellers place asks and when a bid and ask meet, the transaction happens automatically. The Detroit-based startup was launched in 2016 and has expanded to Europe by launching its first authentication center in London. StockX is a GGV portfolio.

Before launching StockX, Josh has built 3 other companies and worked at IBM as a strategy consultant for almost 5 years. He holds a dual degree in law and MBA from Emory University. None of this is as impressive as the fact that he started collecting sneakers from 10 years old and has more than 350 pairs of sneakers in his home.  

On the show, Josh shared with us how his online price guide for sneakers became a stock market for things, why the obsession for streetwear and sneakers is a global phenomenon, his definition of global company being a collection of local companies, having celebrities like Eminem as investors and how he found StockX’s new CEO Scott Cutler, who used to be the CEO of StubHub, eBay’s online ticket exchange platform. We also asked about StockX’s plan for entering China and some pro tip for buying sneakers on StockX.