Shoe Dog is the enthralling memoir of Phil Knight—Nike''s cofounder and board chairman—revealing the company''s earliest days at his parents'' basement and its rise to become one of the world''s leading brands in the shoe-making industry. Young Phil Knight had just finished graduate school, yet he was already yearning to make his mark in the world. With the fifty dollars his father had given him, Phil managed to establish a company with a mission of supplying the American market with low-cost Japanese running shoes of such superior quality. Phil sold his first imports in 1963 out the back of his Plymouth Valiant. Phil certainly got a long way from that first year''s $8,000 to today''s $30 billion. Phil Knight''s Nike is considered the gold standard in the modern era of start-ups. Representing greatness and grace, Nike''s swoosh is among the few iconic logos that can be recognized by anyone anywhere in the world.