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- The Accelerator Conundrum
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- The Future: End of Capitalism
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From The Seedy Underworld of Drugs and Prostitution To Entrepreneurial Success: David Sharpe’s Journey with Empower Network (Part 2)
Sramana Mitra: How old are you now? David Sharpe: I just turned 30 last November 17. Sramana Mitra: How does this bridge us to your entrepreneurship? Where does your entrepreneurship begin – more of the kind of entrepreneurship that we cover? David Sharpe: Certainly, you guys didn’t contact me because of my entrepreneurship in the
How An Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapped to $5M: RuffleButts CEO Amber Schaub and COO Mark Schaub (Part 6)
Sramana: How have you expanded your team from 2010 onward? What has your recruitment philosophy been? What positions have you hired for and how have those people helped you scale the business? Amber Schaub: Throughout the process, we have hired on a need basis. We are a family business and we did as much as
From The Seedy Underworld of Drugs and Prostitution To Entrepreneurial Success: David Sharpe’s Journey with Empower Network (Part 1)
From drugs, sex, prostitution, David Sharpe has seen it all. Hopelessly lost since his teens, a father at 15, jailed in his twenties, David has found his way back to a healthy life through entrepreneurship. Enjoy reading one of the most unusual stories we’ve done in the eighth year of Entrepreneur Journeys. Sramana Mitra: Dave,
How An Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapped to $5M: RuffleButts CEO Amber Schaub and COO Mark Schaub (Part 5)
Sramana: Did you gain traction with the brick and mortar retail stores? Amber Schaub: We did get some good success early on. Nordstrom contacted us in late 2008. Sramana: How big was your first Nordstrom order? Amber Schaub: They did a 5 store trial order, which at the time, seemed huge to us since no
How An Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapped to $5M: RuffleButts CEO Amber Schaub and COO Mark Schaub (Part 4)
Sramana: How did you handle such a big event so early on? I imagine it was quite an ordeal to get ready for celebrity exposure. Amber Schaub: I only needed 300 pieces to be able to do the event, so I had the factory send the completed work out to the hotel in LA. I
How An Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapped to $5M: RuffleButts CEO Amber Schaub and COO Mark Schaub (Part 3)
Sramana: You said you designed the clothing yourself even though you did not have a background in design. Can you explain that process to us? Amber Schaub: I would draw things up and take my designs to a pattern maker. She would take my designs and convert them into a paper pattern. I sent those
How An Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapped to $5M: RuffleButts CEO Amber Schaub and COO Mark Schaub (Part 2)
Sramana: You had the intuition to react to something that a retail salesperson was giving you. What did you do next? How did you go about setting up your business? Amber Schaub: My first step was to go back to Mark and share my idea. I also had to get the trademark, which cost $400. I
How An Entrepreneur Couple Bootstrapped to $5M: RuffleButts CEO Amber Schaub and COO Mark Schaub (Part 1)
RuffleButts is a perfect story on how to bootstrap with a paycheck. Amber Schaub started RuffleButts, a children’s apparel company, in March of 2007, backed by her husband’s full-time job. He later joined in 2010 as the COO after the company had gained traction. Sramana: Let’s start at the very beginning of each of your