Business question

[Proletariat]

So today I was approached by a company with deep pockets who likes my designs and wants to help take me to the next level. They want to finance my trade show circuit and get me out to a lot more venues. This is on the heels of an A-lister coming into the shop to buy some of my designs yesterday, so I am riding kind of high right now. Anyways, what I am wondering is do y'all think it would be better to show up to Pool or Project on my own with no financial backing or link up with these guys and split the profits? I have built this thing ground up with no help and I never want to lose my vision of the brand (sweatshop free/American made/limited runs) but I also like the idea of covering my bills every month. Anyone have any experience in this arena?

http://www.arevolt.com

[Persia]

This is a tough one but I'll right to the point. There is something to be said about being an indie. But I want to be realistic. Product development needs money for trial and error. Knowing what I know now, I would go for funding. But let's get it straight. I've tooling at this clothing gig for 5 years with my wife. I've also been a practicing attorney for 6 years (please not that I have not spent one dime on Mama.....all my money goes to my loans). But I know contracts. Get it all in writing. Every fucking thing. Get off cloud 9 and remember shit can all go wrong. People have different visions, different goals. Example: Paul Frank.

Ask these cats, "why do you want to invest?" "what's their goal?" Don't be afraid discuss the best result and the worst result. This will be like a marriage and divorces get ugly. Example: Trump.

Keep control. Whether it be ownership interest, design control, distribution control, marketing control, copyright control,........control everything. People will have no problem fucking you.

Understand the buy-out options, understand and agree with every word in the contract. Don't fall for the "we'll work it out later" or "we don't have to worry about that now". Its all bullshit. Its money to them....Its life to you.

best of luck.

MAMA is watching

www.mamaclothing.com

[LanceP]

That is awesome news Prole (depending on how you look at it.) But good luck either way!

Like Persia said up above... keep control of everything and put everything down on paper. Best piece of advice I can think of and have learned in regards to small businesses buying in. Keep focus of your OWN vision, and never lose that... no matter how much $$$ and bullshit is thrown at you.

[Proletariat]

Thanks y'all, this is all very positive advice. Just sitting on it overnight a good amount of clarity has settled in. I'll let you know if anything comes of it.

http://www.arevolt.com

[holotekor]

Totally off topic-- Proletariat, I just tried registering on your board on arevolt, and i got some critical error about the email... is something down? should i just try it later? thanks man!

[Jay Allen]

Thats a tough one. I'm in essentially the same position as you are. One man operation....no one to answer to....completely self funded. If someone came to me with that offer I'd have to consider it...not sure what I'd do. The trade show circuit is really only the starting point. There are production issues that would need to be addressed as well. Once you start getting orders you need to produce the goods....and generally give 30 day terms. This all takes capitol that they may be willing to provide. I don't think the tradeshow backing is enough to jump at. It would have to be a package that included a salary for you.....line of credit to produce the goods.....the tradeshow expenses and the real possibility that you might need to move to a different space to do the production.

Anyway....just my 2 cents. I can understand your excitement....someone is recognizing your shit as valid.....and want a piece of it. Good luck to you!

Conceived and executed on the working waterfront of Portland, Maine. www.jayallen.biz

[Proletariat]

As for holotekor, were you trying to sign on to the flix section of the site or the ecommerce shit?

Thanks for the words Jay, good advice.

http://www.arevolt.com

[holotekor]

the flix section, in fact im gonna try to sign up again now.

*edit* i tried again, and it said username taken, so i tried 'holotekor2' with a diffrent email and i got the message:

critical error- The registration confirmation email can't be send !

Edited by holotekor on Apr 27, 2006 at 12:05 AM

[Proletariat]

That would be my fault. I fucked up the coding on that thing and that is the only part I can't figure out. The only way I can add new flix is for me to put them up in the admin mode. DO you have a lot or just a few?

http://www.arevolt.com

[vinz]

I worked for a company that did the same thing to this other dude. His company was bigger then a 1 man operation but not big enough to do the big numbers. So he got the backing from this company I worked for.

A few years later the company I worked for edged this guy out and took the brand away from him. This dude restarted a new brand and is doing pretty good.

I dunno what were the contract entailed that they signed but make sure you protect what's yours.

www.youngestincharge.com