Brands large enough to lose cultural credibility but not large enough to compete on scale:
Lululemon — $10B (too big for culture, too small for scale)
Under Armour — $5B (same structural problem)
The Central Tension
The Incumbent Trap: Every brand in crisis (Nike, Lululemon, Under Armour) optimized for scale at the expense of the community credibility that originally built demand.
The Insurgent Test: Every disruptor (On, Hoka, Tracksmith, Bandit) built community credibility first and is now testing whether it can scale without losing soul.
The 2026 Question: Can scale players rebuild community credibility faster than community brands can build scale?
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
