Published: Oct. 18, 2016, 9 a.m.
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
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- 02:29 \u2013 Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 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
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- 13:15 \u2013 Developed a hearing aid device
- 13:50 \u2013 65% of their sales is from college women
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- 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
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- 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