Oodie founder Davie Fogarty rallies behind friend who started business to support ill mother

A simple business mistake has nearly cost a Golden Grove entrepreneur with a sick mum everything – and an Adelaide business legend is calling on his followers to help.

A young Golden Grove entrepreneur is fighting to save his business and continue providing for his sick mother with the help of an SA start-up icon.

Billy Pippan, 23, opened the DailyPuzzles online store at the age of 16, selling competition-grade Rubik’s cubes.

However, soaring overheads driven by inflation have given Mr Pippan only about three months of cashflow.

Founder of the Oodie clothing phenomenon Davie Fogarty took to social media to help his friend and business mentee, revealing he had donated $10,000 to the company.

“He said, ‘Davie, I think my accountant has done something wrong,’ and looking into it, I determined that he actually only had about three months left of his business,” Mr Fogarty said in a video to more than 100,000 followers.

“Pretty much the last thing I can do to help him and fix his cash issues is have a big warehouse sale and sell as many of his puzzles as we can.”

The discount warehouse sale and ‘speedcubing’ expo will be held this Sunday, 9am-5pm at 11 Edison Dr, Golden Grove.

Speaking to The Advertiser, Mr Pippan said he started the business to pay medical costs and living expenses for his 57-year-old mother who lives with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition that affects the spine.

“A lot of the time she’s bedridden or doesn’t have a lot of energy, or is really sick, so she didn’t have anyone but me to really support her,” Mr Pippan said.

“That’s what drove me to make it work because ultimately we didn’t have a choice.

“I was 16 years old with no job, so I had to make a decision, and I was just kind of doing it as a hobby. But I liked it so much, and the community behind it, so when I turned 18 I decided to do it full-time.”

Oodie founder Davie Fogarty (left) with friend and Daily Puzzles founder Billy Pippan. Picture: Supplied

Daily Puzzles founder Billy Pippan (centre) at a speedcubing competition. Picture: Supplied

Mr Pippan, who hires just two full-time staff, said his overheads have “essentially doubled” since 2021.

“When Covid hit, everything just went up,” he said.

“People just have less money to spend, so we’ve seen our sales drop as well.

“There’s been a lot of uncertainty – you’re always thinking in the back of your head, ‘Is this the week where I can’t make ends meet?’”

He said the support from the speedcubing community has been “unbelievable”.

“It doesn’t matter your race, or age, or religion, everyone is just so welcoming,” he said.

“They might have learning disabilities, or family struggles, or social issues, but they get this real sense of community which hard to get in other places.”

Speedcubing is a worldwide competitive sport that involves solving Rubik’s cubes as fast as possible.