Will Dean (businessman)

Will Dean, MBE
Born (1980-11-08) November 8, 1980
Sheffield, U.K.
Alma mater Harvard Business School (MBA); University of Bristol (BSc)
Occupation CEO,
Tough Mudder
Website www.toughmudder.com

Will Dean, MBE (born November 8, 1980) is a British businessman and former counter-terrorism officer and Harvard Business School MBA, who is the co-founder and CEO of Tough Mudder, and often is called "The Mark Zuckerberg of Extreme Sports."[1] Dean was named to Sports Business Journal's prestigious 2017 "Top 40 Under 40 List."[2] Tough Mudder currently employs over 150 people worldwide.[3] The company repeatedly has been identified as one of the live streaming industry's content leaders.[4][5]

Early life

A native of Great Britain, Dean was born in Sheffield, England.

Education

Dean attended the University of Bristol, where he graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics and Politics.[6] Dean later attended Harvard Business School where he received an MBA.[1]

Counter-terrorism

In between his undergraduate and graduate studies, Dean spent five years working in counter-terrorism for the UK Foreign Office.[7]

Businessman

Dean co-founded Tough Mudder while attending Harvard Business School with Guy Livingstone, a former corporate lawyer.[8] The company now hosts events in 10 countries, including the U.S., China, Australia and Dubai; more than 2.5 million people participated in Tough Mudder events last year, when the company generated over $100 million in revenue.[9]

Dean created the concept at business school, however his professors were skeptical that Tough Mudder could become a thriving business.[10][11] Defying their reservations, Dean hosted the first event in May 2010 with an expected participation of 500.[12] 5,000 people turned up, vindicating Dean's stance and confirming the validity of the concept.[13]

Dean has been named to Sports Business Daily's 40 Under 40,[14] Crain's annual 40 Under 40 list (2012),[15] was included on Fortune's 40 Under 40: Ones to Watch List (2013),[16] and received the United States National EY Entrepreneur Of The Year Emerging Award (2013).[17]

In 2014, Forbes profiled Dean, and asked him for his five top tips for entrepreneurs.[18]

In 2015, the New York Times profiled Dean and explored what the CEO personally does to stay in shape while running the Tough Mudder business.[19]

Dean has a book coming out in September 2017, entitled “It Takes A Tribe: Building The Tough Mudder Movement.” It is slated to detail his leadership of Tough Mudder, how he built it into a global company, created the rise of the Tough Mudder “movement” and entrepreneurial lessons he learned along the way.[20]

Philanthropy

Tough Mudder has raised over $13 million for a variety of charities including Help for Heroes in the UK and other charity organizations around the world.[9] In the 2017 New Years Honours, Dean was made MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his charitable contributions to sport.[21]

Tough Mudder/Origins

When Dean entered Tough Mudder in a business-plan competition at Harvard Business School, judges questioned the viability of a team-centered, obstacle course combined with an untimed distance run as something people would enjoy - and willingly pay money to do.[22] Dean started Tough Mudder to provide camaraderie for participants — challenges that offer a variety of physical and mental and fun and designed it to foster teams working together towards achieving common goals.[23] As such, Tough Mudder participants display rare loyalty: over 10,000 people have a Tough Mudder tattoo - and counting.[24] Dean started the business in America because of its market size and the country's positive attitude toward start-ups and entrepreneurs.[25]

Since its launch, as the company’s CEO, he has grown Tough Mudder into a global brand with events held in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, China, Germany and Ireland,[26][27][28][29] with events also slated to be held in Japan, South Korea, and Singapore in 2017.[30] Tough Mudder currently employs over 150 people worldwide.[3]

In Dec. 2016, Dean revealed that the company will seek to launch a chain of fitness boutiques in the United States in 2017 to expand the brand beyond Obstacle Course Racing events.[31] Accelerating that brand development into a full-fledged active lifestyle and media company, Tough Mudder also signed television partnerships with CBS, The CW Network[32][33] and Sky Sports; the company expects non-ticket receipts to account for half its annual revenue within five years.[34]

In June 2017, Dean and CBS Sports expanded their partnership with the development of a new event, Tough Mudder X. As part of that deal, all Tough Mudder programming was moved to CBS Broadcast.[35][36]

Controversy

Tough Guy

While at Harvard Business School, Dean studied Tough Guy, a UK company that specializes in survival competitions. Dean explored the feasibility of international expansion for Tough Guy. When Dean launched Tough Mudder in 2010, a lawsuit ensued, alleging Dean had used confidential information to start the company. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2013, with no admission of wrongdoing.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 Smale, Will (June 2015). "The Mark Zuckerberg of Extreme Sports". BBC.com. Retrieved June 9, 2014.
  2. ↑ "2017 "40 Under 40" List". Sports Business Journal. January 2017.
  3. 1 2 Rath, Julien (June 2017). "How Tough Mudder Went from Harvard Business to TV Show on Sky and CBS". BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  4. ↑ "Standing Out in the Live Streaming Gold Rush". Bloomberg. December 2016.
  5. ↑ "5 Digital Marketing Ideas That Could Improve Your Brand Growth". Bloomberg. January 2017.
  6. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27543548
  7. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27543548
  8. ↑ "How Two Englishmen Turned A Grueling Endurance Competition Into A Global Craze". Business Insider. 11 July 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 "How Tough Mudder went from Harvard Business to TV Show on Sky and CBS". BusinessInsider.com. January 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Will Dean CEO of Tough Mudder Didn't Let the Haters Stop Him". Bold.com. February 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Tough Mudder Endurance Sport". Money.CNN. November 2015. Retrieved November 12, 2015.
  12. ↑ https://www.fastcompany.com/3065286/the-fast-company-innovation-festival/why-do-people-run-the-tough-mudder
  13. ↑ https://www.fastcompany.com/3065286/the-fast-company-innovation-festival/why-do-people-run-the-tough-mudder
  14. ↑ "40 Under 40: 2017 Class". Sports Business Daily. February 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  15. ↑ Elkin, Ali (October 2012). "40 Under 40 Profiles - Will Dean". Crains.com. Retrieved October 12, 2012.
  16. ↑ "40 Under 40 Ones to Watch - Will Dean". Money.CNN.com. September 2013. Retrieved September 19, 2013.
  17. ↑ "EY Entrepreneur of the Year - Will Dean". EY.com. December 2013. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Toughing It Out: 5 Business Tips from Tough Mudder CEO Will Dean". Forbes. August 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  19. ↑ "Tough Mudder CEO Workout". NYT 2015. December 2015. Retrieved December 29, 2015.
  20. ↑ "It's a Mud, Mud, Mud Worlf". NYT 2017. June. Retrieved December 29, 2017. Check date values in: |access-date=, |date= (help)
  21. ↑ "Former PwC Boss Knighted in New Years Honours". Telegraph.com. January 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2017.
  22. ↑ "Why Do People Run the Tough Mudder". Fast Company. November 2016. Retrieved November 18, 2016.
  23. ↑ "Q and A with Tough Mudder Founder Will Dean". Bold.com. February 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2016.
  24. ↑ Ruthven, Hunter (March 2017). "10,000 People Have a Tough Mudder Tattoo". Gulf News. Retrieved March 23, 2017.
  25. ↑ "Toughing It Out - 5 Business Tips from Tough Mudder Founder Will Dean". Forbes.com. August 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  26. ↑ Jie, Goh (December 2016). "Tough Mudder Makes Asia Debut On the Island of the Gods". Run Society. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  27. ↑ Conin, Sean (February 2017). "Tough Mudder in Dubai Meet the Former Diplomat Who Made 100 Million Out of Mud". The National. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  28. ↑ Trazo, Dwynn (February 2017). "Tough Mudder in the UAE". Gulf News. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  29. ↑ Connolly, Tony. "Tough Mudder Continues to Show Its Marketing Appeal with Lucozade Sponsorship". TheDrum.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  30. ↑ "Tough Mudder Wants Asia's Weekend Warriors to Get Dirty Too". Bloomberg News. April 2012.
  31. ↑ Fischer, Ben (December 2016). "Marketing and Sponsorship/Tough Mudder". Sports Business Journal. Retrieved December 12, 2016.
  32. ↑ "CW's Seed Will Showcase Tough Mudder". MediaPost.
  33. ↑ "CW Goes Multi-Platform Tough Mudder". MultiChannel News.
  34. ↑ Rath, Julien (January 2017). "How Tough Mudder Went from Harvard Business to TV Show on Sky and CBS". Gulf News. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Tough Mudder Muscles Up with New CBS Deal". Deadline.com.
  36. ↑ "CBS Tough Mudder Expand Partnership". USA Today.
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