Episode Summary
Executive Summary: Gerald Marulf, CPO of On, discusses how great physical products create emotion, not just utility, and why On prioritizes performance, craft, and brand clarity over broad middle-ground positioning. He reflects on lessons from footwear, tennis, marathon shoes, collaborations, sustainability tradeoffs, and the challenge of building a premium sportswear brand beyond running.
Main Topics: What makes a great physical product (Priority: 5/5): Marulf argues that great products create emotion, curiosity, and a sense of challenge rather than merely solving a functional need. He uses perfume as an early inspiration and ties the same logic to shoes, where feel, packaging, and subtle discomfort can spark attachment. Physical vs digital product development (Priority: 5/5): He contrasts digital products, which can be rapidly iterated, with physical goods, which are much harder to revise after launch. This makes early product decisions, consumer intuition, and tolerating uncertainty especially important in footwear. Brand clarity vs the athleisure middle (Priority: 5/5): On deliberately avoids the ambiguous middle ground between sports and lifestyle, preferring clearer product intent. Marulf says consumers should either get true performance or true fashion, not compromised hybrids. Category expansion beyond running (Priority: 4/5): The conversation explores On’s moves into tennis, apparel, accessories, and collaborations. Marulf sees these as ways to broaden the brand while staying rooted in sports performance and premium product DNA. Consumer listening, but with restraint (Priority: 4/5): On listens to customers heavily but does not always follow them, especially when feedback pulls the brand toward compromise or familiarity. Marulf says the company must also lead consumers, particularly when creating new categories or silhouettes. Innovation, controversy, and launch timing (Priority: 4/5): He reflects on products that were too complex, too slow, or poorly communicated, including a slower marathon shoe. He values shipping, even imperfectly, and letting the market interpret new products over time. Competition, imitation, and brand identity (Priority: 4/5): Marulf compares On to brands like Nike, New Balance, ASICS, Adidas, Alo Yoga, and others, discussing what makes some brands clear and others confused. He sees imitation as harmful to innovation but believes strong product and personality still drive loyalty.
Key Arguments: Good products should create emotion, curiosity, and a slight sense of discomfort; utility alone is not enough. Physical product teams have far less room to iterate after launch than digital teams, so they must be more intentional early on. On should avoid the ambiguous sports-lifestyle middle ground because it creates compromise and weakens product intent. Listening to customers matters, but customer requests can mislead brands into building the wrong hybrid products. Being first is less important than it used to be, but it still matters for talent attraction, clarity of roadmap, and brand building. On’s move into tennis was strategically important for expanding the brand beyond running, even if market size alone made it a small needle mover. Sustainability is important, but Marulf says he has not seen evidence that consumers reliably choose it over price or performance. Collaborations and non-running categories can broaden the brand, but only if they reinforce premium sportswear identity rather than dilute it. Innovation can be hurt by imitation because copycats often replicate aesthetics without delivering the underlying technology or promise. On’s strongest path is to build clear, premium, performance-led product with distinctive materials, fit, and storytelling rather than chase everything at once.
Data Points: Show cadence: monthly - Harry describes 20 Product as a monthly show. On product scope: shoes, apparel and accessories - Gerald oversees the full range of On products. On founding focus: performance, comfort, and style - Product goals cited for On’s footwear and apparel. Footwear archive: none - Gerald says On does not have an archive to pull from like older brands. Slow marathon shoe: 4-hour marathon shoe - Gerald references a marathon shoe designed for slower runners. PR review scale for CodeRabbit: 13 million+ PRs - Sponsor mention in the intro/outro. Repositories reviewed by CodeRabbit: 2 million repositories - Sponsor mention in the intro/outro. OSS projects using CodeRabbit: 100,000+ - Sponsor mention in the intro/outro. HMC management horizon: nearly 50 years - Sponsor mention about Harvard Management Company managing Harvard's endowment. SecureFrame customer count: thousands of fast-growing businesses - Sponsor mention for SecureFrame. SecureFrame standards: SOC2, ISO 27001, CMMC, NIST - Compliance standards listed in the sponsor read. Forbes recognition: Top 100 startup employers for 2024 - SecureFrame sponsor read. Swiss rope sourcing: one of the last Swiss rope makers - Marulf mentions sourcing rope for apparel/accessories. Luxury collaboration example: Loewe - Referenced as a collaborative product that did not scale as expected. Athlete collaboration example: Roger Federer - Central to On's brand and product expansion strategy.
Pivotal Quotes: "What is nicer about perfume is that it even costs less to make than the actual packaging, which for us is slightly different." — Gerald Marulf: Explaining why perfume helped him understand the emotional and packaging-driven side of product design. "We probably listened to customers when it comes to the space that exists between sports and lifestyle too much." — Gerald Marulf: Reflecting on On’s mistake of over-investing in hybrid athleisure positioning. "We slightly regret the athletia move. Cool. But then we do the Loewe." — Harry Stebbings: Harry challenges On’s positioning, highlighting tension between performance and luxury/lifestyle collaborations.
Implications: For product builders, the episode argues for sharper intent, stronger category boundaries, and more willingness to ship imperfectly. For sportswear, it suggests premium performance brands win by balancing innovation, emotion, and unmistakable identity.