If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Founder CEO Katie Echeverry had a pharmaceutical sales job that she used to bootstrap with a paycheck for 5 years, before quitting to go full-time with her business, Unique Vintage. Here is her story from 2015. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of
If you haven’t already, please study our freeBootstrapping courseand the Investor Introductions page. Katie Echeverry, CEO and Founder of Unique Vintage, had a pharmaceutical sales job that she used to bootstrap with a paycheck for 5 years, before quitting to go full-time with her business. Here is our conversation from 2015. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Founder CEO Katie Echeverry had a pharmaceutical sales job that she used to bootstrap with a paycheck for 5 years, before quitting to go full-time with her business, Unique Vintage. Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Tell us where you’re
If you haven’t already, please study our free Bootstrapping course and the Investor Introductions page. Katie Echeverry, CEO and Founder of Unique Vintage, had a pharmaceutical sales job that she used to bootstrap with a paycheck for 5 years, before quitting to go full-time with her business, Unique Vintage. More stories like this can be found
Sramana Mitra: You sell apparel through them or shoes? Katie Echeverry: Apparel. Sramana Mitra: That’s awesome actually. Katie Echeverry: It is. I really knew nothing about wholesale. They were so patient with me with all the terminologies. I remember saying, “What’s EDI?” They were very patient and have taught me a lot. I couldn’t have
Sramana Mitra: At what point did you introduce alternate channels like eBay and Amazon? Katie Echeverry: I brought eBay into the mix in 2003. We were doing so well in 2006 to 2007 that I stopped, because I couldn’t manage two platforms. This was before there were a lot of connector tools that can keep
Sramana Mitra: Do you remember what your revenue level was in 2007? Katie Echeverry: About $100,000. Sramana Mitra: For the year? Katie Echeverry: Maybe a little bit more. We got our first space to accommodate the Internet business, but people were coming in off the street wanting to shop. We made a little showroom. Within six months,
Sramana Mitra: What happened in year one and year two? What kind of numbers did you do in year one and year two? Katie Echeverry: I think I did about $3,000 in my first year, and then $6,000 the next year. Every year, I doubled. Sramana Mitra: In year three, you still have your pharmaceutical job,