Daniel Baumwald lovesbuilding massive brands and impacting lives.
Daniel Baumwald is passionate about building brands. He hasspent most of his career in the consumer product industry, growing brands from start-upswith little venture capital to some of the world’s most recognizable companies.
“I love building companies and making a difference inpeople’s lives,” says Baumwald, 39, who lives in western Howard County and is vicepresident of North America Retail & eCommerce at Performance Health. “I’mpassionate about the ability to impact the lives of people I come in contactwith, as well as help consumers overcome obstacles to get back to what theylove to do.”
As a child, Baumwald says he thought he would be the next “JerryMcGuire.”
“I didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur and build massivebrands,” says Baumwald, who received his bachelor of science in sportsmanagement and events planning from Shepherd University in West Virginia. “Igrew up wanting to be successful and make a name for myself. To me, it’s about personalitywith a purpose. The work has to be fulfilling and satisfying, and I have tohave fun with what I am doing.”
Baumwald started his career with the Washington Redskins,where he oversaw marketing and events planning. In 2003, he was coachingbasketball for the Special Olympics when one of his players mentioned a jobopportunity — a sales manager position for a new beverage company.
The company turned out to be the creators of Vitamin Water,and Baumwald helped grow his territory from $1 million in revenue to more than $100million in just six years. Eventually, the company was sold to Coca-Cola, whereBaumwald worked until he was approached with a new business venture called TheraPearl,the creators of a hot-and-cold therapy sports pack.
“I took the sports pack to the food court at the ColumbiaMall and asked people if they would buy it,” says Baumwald, who has three sons.“I wanted to know if people would buy it based on how it looked. Everyone saidthey would because it was cool and fun to play with. That’s when I knew we hada massive consumer item and just needed to figure out how to make it work inretail.”
Baumwald took a “calculated risk” and left Coca-Cola to workat TheraPearl, where he didn’t get paid for the first six months.
“I decided if TheraPearl failed in the first year or two, Iwould have learned more failing than if I stayed in the Coke system,” Baumwaldsays. “For me, it was OK to possibly fail, but not OK to give up.”
”Under Baumwald’s leadership, TheraPearl grew to be the premier hot-and-cold pack in North America. Baumwald also created licensing deals with some of the world’s largest companies including Lansinoh, Bausch and Lomb and the NFL Players Association.
“This is a stable and steady category because someone willalways be getting injured or need to reduce swelling or bruising,” Baumwaldsays. “I saw an opportunity to create a brand in a category that was dominatedby private labels.”
In 2014, TheraPearl, named by Forbes magazine as one of America’s most promising companies, was sold to Performance Health, a leader in consumer health products, where Baumwald now works while continuing to invest in beverage, food and health and wellness companies. He says those who want to start a business need to do all their research before taking that leap of faith.
“I tell 90 percent of the people who come to me aboutwanting to start a new business not to because there isn’t a differentiatingfactor in what they want to do” says Baumwald. “An entrepreneur has to take anexisting category or product and make it better, or have new products that areblue oceans. For those who really want to start a company, you have to makesure you do all your risk assessments, surround yourself with smart people whohave been there before and don’t give away your company just because you needto raise a dollar.”
Aliza Friedlander is a Baltimore-based freelance writer.
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