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Bart Szaniewski, Grant Eastey and Ejay O’Donnell didn’t set out to start a big business. But their quick friendship and overlapping interests led to one that just celebrated its fourth anniversary: the apparel and lifestyle brand .

Szaniewski and Eastey met while attending Washington State University. Around the time they graduated in 2012, they connected with O’Donnell, who had a company making stickers for major brands like Nike. 

When Szaniewski and Eastey launched a T-shirt brand for fun, O’Donnell helped them print the apparel. Naturally, a group chat was born — and, as three dads with kids of all different ages, it wasn’t long before the texts veered beyond business. 

“We  started talking to each other and venting to each other about dad stuff, looking for some support, telling funny stories, needing tips and tricks on how to do this whole dad thing,” Szaniewski tells 91����. 

Soon, commiserations over diaper blowouts and sleepless nights were sealed with some version of this supportive signoff: “You’ve got this. Dad Gang.” 

Szaniewski, Eastey and O’Donnell found encouragement as a group of three, but they wanted to build a community of dads around the positive “Dad Gang” messaging. The friends were tired of seeing low-quality merchandise with the usual “goofy” dad tropes: all drinking beers and mowing lawns. 

So they decided to rewrite the script. “We wanted [our product] to represent the reality of being a father, not just the funny stuff,” Szaniewski says. “And we wanted something nice, quality and kind of streetwear-esque.” 

Investing $250 each to start a business: Dad Gang

It was 2022 when Szaniewski, Eastey and O’Donnell each put in $250, a $750 total investment, to print “Dad Gang” on 100 A-frame snapback hats. The dads listed them on their website and saw an “incredible” response, selling out within 36 hours. 

Although the hats disappeared, the co-founders admit they personally knew nearly every customer at that point. “I call it the Girl Scout cookie method, where your family and friends support you,” Szaniewski says. 

Still, the traction was encouraging (in the past, they’d attempted other businesses that didn’t garner the same response). So the co-founders placed an order for more hats. Before long, complete strangers started buying. 

With the “Dad Gang” message resonating, the co-founders leaned into the business. Their team of three divided and conquered: O’Donnell on operations, Szaniewski on marketing and Eastey on customer service, retail and wholesale. 

In the early days, Dad Gang’s growth was completely organic, largely driven by social media.

The co-founders made sure to post content every day, primarily across Instagram and Facebook. Later, they expanded their social media strategy to additional platforms, including TikTok and X. But their main channel remains Instagram, where they’ve amassed 350,000 followers. 

Organic growth fuels celebrity sightings and inspirational DMs

As Dad Gang continued to catch on, organic growth even led to some celebrity sightings: Mookie Betts, Justin Turner, Teofimo Lopez, Alex Verdugo, Juwan Johnson, Justin Britt, NBA Champion Josh Hart, Post Malone and Teddy Swims have all been spotted in Dad Gang gear. 

Seeing a professional athlete like Mookie Betts wearing a Dad Gang hat bridged the gap between famous and non-famous fathers and emphasized the brand’s universal appeal, the co-founders note. 

But some of the brand’s most inspiring stories come from everyday dads — often through Instagram DMs, Eastey says. 

In the early days, Eastey received a message from a father facing eviction; he asked if he could have a hat as motivation. 

Eastey agreed immediately — stressing that support is “what Dad Gang’s all about” — and shipped the hat free of charge to a relative’s address. About six months later, the co-founders heard from the man again: he’d gotten a job and a place to stay. 

“ If it wasn’t for that hat, he didn’t believe he would’ve been able to get through that,” Eastey recalls. “Now he has over 10 hats, and he’s going to be a forever supporter of the brand.” 

Growing the business with intention, keeping it simple and affordable

The goal wasn’t for Dad Gang “to scale to the moon” and expand its product line as fast as possible, but to grow the business realistically and with intention.

Dad Gang’s original black trucker hat remains one of its bestsellers today. After that release, Dad Gang rolled out tan and olive hats to gauge customer interest. 

“A big thing for us is it’s designed by dads,” O’Donnell says. “We really wanted that input and that feedback. All of that performed extremely well and gave us confidence to bring in another style or SKU and slowly go from there.”

The company has since added select merchandise, including  T-shirts, jackets, cups, mugs and stickers, but remains “80% a headwear brand.”

“We wanted to keep it so simple,” O’Donnell adds. “At $35 [for a hat], we wanted to keep it as affordable as possible for dads, especially in this day and age where everything is so expensive.” 

Over one million hats sold and $35 million in lifetime sales

Dad Gang saw steady growth for about a year and a half. In year three, business really ramped up; Dad Gang expanded into retail, landing in SCHEELS, Pro Image Sports and tens of dozens of small boutiques. 

“ We didn’t have this crazy business strategy,” O’Donnell says. “We wanted to continue to build great products for a big community that needed it and let it organically grow without adding all those stresses to hit numbers. So whatever we earned, we just put back into the business.”

The sustainable approach to growth continued to work in Dad Gang’s favor. 

Today, in addition to boasting collector customers who purchase every drop, Dad Gang is available in more than 200 Lids stores across the country, forged a recent partnership with Shopify, has sold over one million hats and hit $35 million in total revenue.��

Gary Vaynerchuk joins Dad Gang as a partner, strategic advisor

What’s more, Gary Vaynerchuk, serial entrepreneur and CEO of VaynerMedia, joined Dad Gang as a partner and active strategic advisor earlier this week. 

“These guys are entrepreneurs trying to build as big a company as possible, but the collateral value to the world is what makes it special,” Vaynerchuk said in a statement shared with 91����. “Dads supporting dads is one of the great ways to make the world a better place. Two dads seeing each other in an airport wearing this hat and feeling just a little more supported with a micro ounce of humanity. That matters.”

Partnering with Vaynerchuk is a full-circle moment for Dad Gang. Fresh out of college, Szaniewski read all of Vaynerchuk’s books, and from the very beginning of Dad Gang, the co-founders took to heart the CEO’s belief that a phone and a product are enough to make content and build a business.��

“When we made lists of dream people we’d want to work with, it was Gary at the top, and then Gary, Gary, Gary again,” Szaniewski says. “It was a no-brainer for us, because when it comes to building community, real, authentic brands, connections, and all those things, Gary is that person for us.” 

Balancing being present fathers and running a business

All three Dad Gang co-founders work from home and have found ways to balance being present with their kids — the priority that started it all — with growing their business. 

O’Donnell considers it “work-life integration” over work-life balance. 

“ I take my kids to school,” he says. “I work, have lunch with my wife, work some more, pick up my kids from the bus stop, and have some hard stops in these blocks. But we’re in this 24/7 text chain all the time. We’re always thinking of new ideas.” 

Szaniewski keeps what he calls “dad hours” before his kids wake up — from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

“That’s when you work out, do what you need to get done, try to work on yourself,” he explains. “Then, at 7 a.m., come back home, get lunches ready, all these things for school drop-off. Owning your own business, you should dedicate some time to yourself, but make sure it doesn’t cut into time with your family.” 

Eastey agrees, noting there’s “no 9 to 5” when raising young kids and running a business, and that carving out time for other priorities, like staying active, is key. 

“ It’s always working on the fly and just adjusting to life,” Eastey says. “So no routine, but constant adjustments, with the peace of mind knowing that I’m giving it my best.” 

The power of manifesting business success

Dad Gang is excited to expand its inventory, hire to keep up with scale and harness the power of a positive saying they’ve had from the start: “It already happened.” 

“Manifestation is 100% real,” Eastey says. “ If something’s coming up and we know we want to do it or we hope it happens, it’s never, ‘Oh, we hope this happens. I wonder if it’s going to happen.’ We just say, ‘It already happened.’ And I would say 11 times out of 10, it does.”