SitDown. StartUp.

The Day Before I Sold My First Start-up: The College Shack

In 2006 during my freshman year at Boston University, I launched my first ecommerce startup called The College Shack with my best friend, Ben Glaze. We were the first online retailer that carried the increasingly popular, Game Bar Hats. We scaled quickly over 4 years and reached 6 figures in revenue and expanded the business to t-shirts, custom apparel, and accessories; not bad for a start-up we funded with only $3,000 of Bar Mitzvah money.

4 years later we were approached by brick & motor retailers that were interested in acquiring us to expand their collegiate presence through our brand. We ended up selling the business and all of our inventory to Carolina Beach Apparel in NC.

We kept costs low, marketed the entire business via WOM, and had virtually no overhead because we inventoried 70% of our products in our college apartments and eventually our parent’s basement. After we graduated in May of 2009 and moved to New York City, we had to move all inventory to our parent’s basement in Plymouth, Minnesota.

In the 3 months during our closing, my parents lovingly assumed the roles for all inventory management, packing & shipping, and customer service  while I focused on closing the business while starting my next venture, Spinback.

Above is a rather hilarious video tour my Dad emailed to me the day before they shipped off inventory. My parents were rockstars and packed up and shipped over 102 boxes-3,150 pounds of hats and apparel-to North Carolina.

Hey, what are parents for?  I really owed it to them and ended up sending them on a vacation with some of the proceeds from the sale :)

Video Highlights:

Mom’s cute red socks

Mom dancing up and down for the “Final Hat Sale”

Command Central= packaging hats on our vintage pinball machine

Dad saying “GameCocks?” while my Mom holds up a South Carolina T-Shirt

Guest appearance by our family cat, Mocha (she’s a Cornish Rex)

Thanks Mom & Dad!