DadGang: Turning Fatherhood Into a Movement
key takeaways:
Fatherhood is hard, but it’s supposed to be.
The struggle of being present, building a career, and leading your family is what shapes you into a better man.
Community changes everything.
DadGang started as a group text between friends and became a global movement because men are craving connection and support.Success without alignment isn’t success.
Building something meaningful requires sacrifice, faith, and the courage to choose presence over pressure.
Building Brotherhood: How DadGang Turned Fatherhood Into a Movement
There are some brands that sell products, and then there are brands that represent something deeper.
In this episode of the Choose Hard Podcast, I sat down with Ejay and Bart, two of the three founders of DadGang — a brand that started with $250, a group text between friends, and an idea to make being a dad cool.
Fast forward just a few years, and DadGang has become an iconic brand recognized nationwide — worn by professional athletes, celebrities, and everyday dads at grocery stores, cheer competitions, and church.
But this episode isn’t about hats.
It’s about identity, leadership, and fatherhood- and as always, Choosing Hard when it matters most.
You can view the whole DadGang X Choose Hard Episode here:
Who Are Ejay and Bart?
Ejay and Bart are husbands, fathers, entrepreneurs — and two of the three co-founders behind DadGang.
Ejay runs operations — the backend systems, logistics, forecasting, and infrastructure that keep the company running efficiently.
Bart leads marketing and brand — from social media and content creation to paid ads, email, SMS, and brand storytelling.
Their third partner, Grant, oversees retail partnerships, customer service, and sales — completing a trio of founders who each operate in clearly defined lanes.
But before DadGang, they were just dads in a text thread.
And that’s where the story really starts.
Left to right: Bart, Grant, and Ejay- the 3 dads behind the DadGang movement
DadGangInstagram
What Is DadGang?
DadGang is more than apparel.
It’s a movement built around celebrating fatherhood — without sarcasm, without stereotypes, and without reducing dads to the “dad bod” or recliner clichés that culture often pushes.
It began as three friends texting each other about:
The struggles of parenting
Marriage challenges
Career pressure
Sleepless nights
Identity shifts
At the end of those texts, they’d sign off with one phrase:
“DadGang.”
Eventually, someone said:
“We should put that on a hat.”
The first 100 hats sold out in 36 hours.
But what made it stick wasn’t the product — it was the meaning behind it.
DadGang became a symbol of:
Brotherhood
Support
Presence
Pride in fatherhood
Accountability
Growth
Today, there are organic DadGang meetups happening in cities across the country — dads wearing the hats, gathering together, sharing stories, building connection.
That’s beyond marketing. It’s a movement, and it keeps on growing.
Why Fatherhood Is the Hardest — and Most Important — Leadership Role
One of the biggest themes in this conversation was this:
Fatherhood isn’t passive. It’s leadership. And it requires a lot.
It requires:
Presence
Emotional maturity
Discipline
Faith
Patience
Self-awareness
For Ejay, there was a defining moment when his three-year-old daughter said:
“Dad, I need more time with you.”
That sentence changed everything.
He was successful, his work was thriving, but he was missing out on important moments.
The next day, he wrote his resignation letter.
No backup plan or guarantees.
Just conviction.
That’s Choosing Hard.
Not because it’s flashy, but because alignment matters more than comfort.
Redefining Success
One of the most powerful conversations we had centered around redefining success.
Both Ejay and Bart came from working-class backgrounds. Their fathers sacrificed time and comfort to provide.
But this generation of dads is asking a new question:
What if we could provide and be present?
What if success wasn’t just income — but impact?
What if the goal wasn’t more revenue — but more alignment?
So instead of chasing vanity metrics like “$100 million company” or “unicorn valuation,” DadGang focuses on:
Sustainable growth
Strong systems
Profitable operations
Community impact
Long-term longevity
Because burnout kills more companies than competition and fatherhood suffers when the entrepreneur at home is exhausted and disconnected.
The Power of Staying in Your Lane
One of the reasons DadGang works is because the founders don’t step on each other’s toes.
Clear lanes.
Clear ownership.
Clear trust.
They vote when necessary.
They remove ego.
They respect experience.
Most partnerships fail because ego creeps in.
But DadGang operates from trust, not pride, and that trust allows them to move quickly, efficiently, and without unnecessary drama.
Faith, Silence, and Cutting the Noise
Another powerful segment of the episode centered around something we don’t talk about enough:
Noise.
Modern men are surrounded by it.
Podcasts, social media, advice, opinions, metrics. More, more, more.
At some point, you have to cut the noise.
Ejay talked about reordering his life priorities:
Mind.
Body.
Soul.
Family.
Friends.
Business.
Money.
In that order, too. He found that when business and money are at the top, everything else suffers.
When faith, family, and health come first, business becomes aligned — not obsessive.
That’s the shift.
And it’s one more reason DadGang resonates so deeply with men right now.
Why This Brand Feels Different
DadGang didn’t start as a money grab.
It didn’t start as a “let’s build a brand.”
It started as therapy between friends.
That’s why it feels different, and why it will last.
It represents something men actually need:
Support
Brotherhood
Accountability
Encouragement
Pride in being a father
It’s not about the hat, it’s about what’s behind it.
Final Thoughts: Choosing Hard as a Father
Being a father is hard.
You will question yourself.
You will doubt yourself.
You will feel pressure.
You will struggle.
But that struggle is what builds you.
DadGang exists because three men chose hard:
They chose presence over pressure.
They chose faith over fear.
They chose alignment over ego.
They chose brotherhood over isolation.
Because of their choice, thousands of dads around the country feel less alone.
If you’re a father — or preparing to become one — this episode is a reminder:
You don’t have to do it alone. You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to show up.
And as always, keep Choosing Hard.