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Jerry Wilmink, a recovering bio-engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Wisewear.com. Listen how Jerry fuses fashion and technology to keep people safe.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \\u2013 Startup CEO
• What CEO do you follow? \\u2013 N/A

• Favorite online tool? \\u2014 Strategyzer
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?\\u2014 Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? \\u2013 \\u201cGo for it. Don\\u2019t be scared\\u201d

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:13 \\u2013 Nathan introduces Jerry to the show
• 01:33 \\u2013 Jerry was connected with Nathan through Twitter
• 01:51 \\u2013 Jerry is a startup junkie
• 02:16 \\u2013 What is Wisewear and how it generates revenue
• • 02:29 \\u2013 Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe
  • • 02:41 \\u2013 A fusion wearable product
    • 03:00 \\u2013 Develop a jewelry product that transmits Bluetooth through metal
    • 03:15 \\u2013 Iris Apfel is the designer of Wisewear
    • 03:35 \\u2013 Each piece is priced at $ 295 - $ 345 depending on the collection
    • 03:59 \\u2013 Currently sold online but will be available at Saks
• 04:05 \\u2013 Wisewear was founded in 2013
• 04:15 \\u2013 They just started selling this year
• 04:20 \\u2013 Current sales is close to $ 4 million this year
• • 05:04 \\u2013 Started shipping late March
• 05:19 \\u2013 No problems with P.O
• 05:55 \\u2013 There\\u2019s more risk in international market with P.Os
• 06:00 \\u2013 Wisewear demands 30% upfront payment for bulk P.Os
• 06:22 \\u2013 Average number of devices sold
• 07:40 \\u2013 They are initially bootstrapped but raised a little over $ 5 million from friends and families
• • 08:03 \\u2013 Note from friends and families and they\\u2019re doing equity now
  • 08:15 \\u2013 Raising $ 10 million from equity
• 08:40 \\u2013 Fashion brand is not a traditional tech-play
• • 09:05 \\u2013 Retailers that can potentially pull down the brand
• 09:49 \\u2013 Expenses per piece of jewelry is quite expensive
• 10:55 \\u2013 Retailers are selling the jewelries at the same price with them
• 11:05 \\u2013 Distributor price
• 11:25 \\u2013 8 people in the team from San Antonio and New York City
• 11:45 \\u2013 They can track online orders easily
• 12:08 \\u2013 Goal for 2016 revenue
• 12:34 \\u2013 They have multiple products
• 12:48 \\u2013 The initial product was a medical device
• • 12:56 \\u2013 Jerry\\u2019s grandfather was suffering from a type of dementia
  • 13:13 \\u2013 When Jerry\\u2019s grandfather passed away, that\\u2019s when he started Wisewear
  • • 13:15 \\u2013 Developed a hearing aid device
• 13:50 \\u2013 65% of their sales is from college women
• • 14:35 \\u2013 Biggest market is 20 \\u2013 35-year old women
  • 14:49 \\u2013 There\\u2019s a lot of burglary and sexual violence on college campuses
  • 14:58 \\u2013 There\\u2019s a panic button on the jewelry
• 15:14 \\u2013 There\\u2019s a big market on realtors too
• • 15:25 \\u2013 Most realtors show homes and there\\u2019s a safety concern
• 15:51 \\u2013 Connect with Wisewear through Instagram and Facebook. Jerry is more active on Twitter
• 17:15 \\u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

• You can take inspirations from the people around you.
• Fashion retail brand is not a traditional tech-play.
• Choose your business partners wisely.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Toptal\\xa0\\u2013 Nathan found his development team using Toptal\\xa0 for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn\\u2019t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal\\xa0 developers.
• Host Gator\\xa0\\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks\\xa0\\u2013 The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• Leadpages\\xa0 \\u2013 The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
• Audible\\xa0\\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• @Wisewear \\u2013 Jerry\\u2019s business Instagram account
• Facebook \\u2013 Jerry\\u2019s business Facebook account
• @GeraldJWilmink \\u2013 Jerry\\u2019s twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives