# Sun Bum: Tom Rinks

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2023-03-27
- Length: 1h 15m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks

## Summary

Tom Rinks, co-founder of Sun Bum, explains how he built the sunscreen brand into a $400 million business by mashing up surf culture, Scandinavian furniture design, and Japanese streetwear into a distinctive wood-grain bottle and stone-faced gorilla mascot. He details his earlier career, including a five-year legal battle with Taco Bell over the iconic Chihuahua mascot, which he won after they stole his concept. Rinks also discusses his strategy for scaling Sun Bum through guerrilla marketing, selective retail placement, and eventually handing CEO duties to an experienced operator before selling to SC Johnson.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=0) Introduction: Tom Rinks and Sun Bum
- [4:37](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=277) Early Career: Art Van Furniture and T-Shirt Hustles
- [16:11](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=971) The Psycho Chihuahua Brand and Taco Bell Deal
- [26:48](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=1608) The Taco Bell Lawsuit and Legal Battle
- [33:17](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=1997) New Ventures: Christian Videos and Daily On Tequila
- [46:19](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=2779) Creating the Sun Bum Brand Identity
- [53:46](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=3226) Sun Bum Launch and Guerrilla Marketing Strategy
- [1:01:06](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks#t=3666) Scaling Sun Bum and Exit to SC Johnson

## Topics

- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)
- [Intellectual property](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/intellectual-property)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Growth, exits & acquisitions](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/growth-exits-and-acquisitions)

## Most relevant to

founders before launch, early-stage companies, companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Sun Bum (product)
- Taco Bell (company)
- SC Johnson (company)
- Daily On Tequila (product)
- Made by Dentists (product)
- Art Van Furniture (company)
- Meyer (company)
- Perrin Screen Printing (company)
- Rinks Canetti (company)
- Sidley and Austin (company)
- Coppertone (product)
- Neutrogena (product)
- Hawaiian Tropic (product)
- Playtex (company)
- Rock and Republic (company)
- Michael Asara (other)
- Adam Francis (other)
- Renee Canetti (other)
- Joe Shields (other)
- Vivian Dryer (other)

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## Citing this page

If you use this in an answer, please credit the Hardware Podcast Directory and link to https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-03-27-sun-bum-tom-rinks. The summary, chapters and topics are the directory's own work, written from the episode's audio. The episode itself, its title and its audio belong to How I Built This.