Paul Hedrick

Paul Hedrick was born in Texas, spent part of his childhood in Houston and grew up in Dallas during his school years. He enjoyed drawing and considered becoming a cartoonist or architect.⁠[1]

He graduated from Harvard University and worked at McKinsey and consumer investment firm L Catterton, gaining exposure to retail, restaurants and consumer brands.⁠[2][3]

He told The FORT that rejection from Harvard Business School and Stanford’s business school prompted him to reconsider his career. Combining creative interests with consumer-sector experience, he began studying the cowboy-boot market.⁠[3]

He left private equity in the summer and moved to Austin to develop the brand. More than a year of design and factory negotiations followed; he recalled exhausting his funds and accumulating credit-card debt.⁠[4]

He brought sketches to León, Mexico, to find a factory. He later recalled accepting a minimum order of about 2,000 pairs with half paid upfront and negotiating staggered delivery.⁠[3]

Tecovas began selling cowboy boots online from Austin, initially offering two men’s and two women’s styles. Hedrick started from his apartment and also sold at farmers’ markets and local fairs.⁠[1][5]

The name Tecovas comes from a geological formation in Texas’s Palo Duro Canyon. The company designs products in Austin and describes its dress boots as handmade in León, Mexico, through more than 200 steps.⁠[1][5]

Tecovas secured a $24 million Series A led by Elephant. Hedrick said the funding would support physical stores in Texas, extending a business then centered on online direct sales.⁠[6]

The company opened its first physical store in Austin, enabling customers to try on boots and experience its service. Hedrick described stores as an extension of the online business.⁠[4][2]

Hedrick said the pandemic complicated store expansion and safe customer service, but the business still grew that year. Its thirteenth store opened in November.⁠[4]

According to the company’s subsequent announcement, annual revenue first exceeded $100 million and cumulative boot sales reached one million pairs in the fourth quarter. These figures describe company operations.⁠[7]

The company announced a $56 million Series C led by Elephant, bringing total equity funding to approximately $120 million. It planned to invest in retail expansion, products and its team.⁠[7]

David Lafitte became CEO, while Hedrick moved to full-time executive chairman, retaining involvement in strategy, merchandising, design and brand experience. His personal website also identifies him as chairman.⁠[8][9]

The program released an approximately 55-minute interview about leaving his corporate career, founding Tecovas, developing its brand, scaling the business and overcoming entrepreneurial obstacles.⁠[10]

Tecovas announced sales to wholesale partners. Dallas Market Center simultaneously announced its first wholesale showroom, planned for January 2025, reflecting expansion from online direct sales into multiple channels.⁠[11]

In a public tenth-anniversary post, Hedrick recalled that his brother was the online store’s first customer. He reported about 1,400 employees, 56 stores and nearly four million pairs sold, and thanked Lafitte for his leadership since 2022.⁠[12]

He announced that he was joining Intro to advise other founders on consumer-brand development, retail expansion, fundraising, hiring and supply chains.⁠[13]

He emphasizes making cowboy boots approachable for first-time buyers and building customer relationships through fitting, service and physical stores. The brand has expanded from boots into Western apparel and accessories.⁠[2]

Personal website: https://www.paulhedrick.com/ (opens in a new window). LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulhedrick/ (opens in a new window). Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_hedrick/ (opens in a new window). The Tecovas brand’s YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel is https://www.youtube.com/@Tecovas (opens in a new window).⁠[9][5]