From Student Entrepreneur to a $15 Million Revenue Ultralight Business: Stephanie Madesh, CEO of Kalon Clothing (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What happened in 2010?

Stephanie Madesh: We doubled that year. We were at the $300,000 level. That was two-fold. We had started a print-on-demand. That had its own website. That drove the other $150,000 in sales.

Sramana Mitra: What were you printing on demand? T-shirts?

From Student Entrepreneur to a $15 Million Revenue Ultralight Business: Stephanie Madesh, CEO of Kalon Clothing (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: Was the age group you were trying to go after your own age group?

Stephanie Madesh: Yes. I was going after the 20- to 30-year-old market back then. As it evolved, my customers base were more in the 20- to 60-year old category.

Sramana Mitra: How did you acquire the customers?

From Student Entrepreneur to a $15 Million Revenue Ultralight Business: Stephanie Madesh, CEO of Kalon Clothing (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Stephanie was a Sophomore in college when she started her venture.

Wonderful story of a student entrepreneur growing into a multi-million dollar ultra-light e-commerce business.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, raised, and in what kind of background?

From Student Entrepreneur to a $15 Million Revenue Ultralight Business: Stephanie Madesh, CEO of Kalon Clothing (Part 6)

Sramana Mitra: What percentage of your business is the plus size?

Stephanie Madesh: From 2x up, we run about 30%. Men’s is higher – about 35%. We go up to 4x for men’s. For women’s, we go up to 2x on a knitted item and 4x for the rest.

Sramana Mitra: What other categories are big winners for you?

Bootstrapping to $10 Million Using Services: Sameer Maggon, CEO of SearchStax (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: What was the pricing?

Sameer Maggon: The first offering that we sold was for about $10,000 a year. 

Sramana Mitra: How did that business ramp? When you start off with a bootstrapping with services model, your services revenues far outpace product revenues. Gradually, it starts to tilt.

Bootstrapping to $10 Million Using Services: Sameer Maggon, CEO of SearchStax (Part 2)

Sramana Mitra: What go-to-market strategy are you following? Is it a SaaS product that you go to market with?

Sameer Maggon: SearchStax, at a high level, is a search company. We offer Search-as-a-Service. It’s a SaaS/PaaS offering that is provided for mid-market to large enterprises on a subscription basis. 

Sramana Mitra: So it’s a SaaS product.

Bootstrapping to $10 Million Using Services: Sameer Maggon, CEO of SearchStax (Part 1)

If you haven’t already, please study our Bootstrapping Course and Investor Introductions page. 

Excellently navigated journey!

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start at the very beginning of your journey. Where are you from? Where were you born, and in what kind of background?

Sameer Maggon: I grew up in Delhi. I did my engineering in Computer Science from Pune. Then I came back to my hometown to work for a document management company. Then I decided to learn more. I came to USC in Los Angeles and did my Masters in Computer Science. Since then, I’ve been in LA and worked in a variety of startups and larger companies in the greater Los Angeles area. 

12 Udemy Courses with Entrepreneurship Case Studies

Entrepreneurship is not a career. It is a way of life.

For me, this journey began as a graduate student at MIT in 1994. The world watched Netscape go public that spring, and the Internet swept over us like a virus. As I wrote my Masters thesis, I also wrote my first business plan. We were, as a generation, shaping the Internet during those early years, and, my degree in hand, I was ready to jump into the unknown – from then on really, I have been jumping into unknowns at every turn.