Find a team you believe in
Meet the Unspun team!
Start-Up: Unspun
Co-Founder: Beth
Location: San Francisco and Hong Kong
Founded: 2015 (really started 2017)
What is Unspun?
If you check out their website, you will find that Unspun makes custom-made jeans! However, they do much more than that. They are both a software and a hardware company, which is built on the idea of creating products for people, and not fitting people into products that are already made.
The Big Picture
Unspun is re-imagining what the clothing industry would be, if the industry started from scratch today, considering the latest technology. Currently, the industry is set-up around mass manufacturing and production of a lot of product with the hope that people will buy it. This causes a lot of guessing and lead time, and results in a lot getting produced. Beth recently learned that about 60% of what is produced in the clothing industry goes to waste within a year; she noted that it is insane how much people buy to begin with, and then still, how much doesn’t have a home at the end of the day.
How the idea came about
Beth’s love for self expression guided her to study clothing in her undergrad and enabled her to dive into the connection between material science and art. She went into the industry and realised how unglamorous the industry actually was. She questioned why the changes that have happened to computers hadn’t happened to the clothing industry yet. She started to put the pieces together and realized that the industry had not yet done this because every part of the process is very siloed and extremely efficient and economical, so much so that it does not make sense from a bottom-line perspective to make any changes. Something didn’t sit well with her and she thought why don’t we sell product and then make it, reversing the model. At the same time, she noticed the potential for 3D printing, and was inspired by how you could build something and create a product from it.
Experimenting
She started exploring and experimenting with 3D printers, hot glue guns and building product around mannequins. She realised there was something in additive manufacturing and building from the ground up; now, one of their products include custom made jeans. The tech behind this basically involves taking a body scan and digitally building jeans around that body scan. Right now, they send the scan to a local cut and sew facility in San Francisco, but they are currently developing hardware to replace this, which will instead, take the 3D-model and weave jeans from the ground up. This way there will be no inventory and no waste.
Challenges the team have faced
1. Finding the right people, who they can afford, to join their team in San Francisco.
2. Learning how to present in an understandable way and sharing their story line in a way that paints the full picture of the company.
3. Working on a hardware company in the US that deals with textile machinery, which is something that doesn’t really exist in the US anymore.
4. It is easy to get a meeting for an investment because there are so many facets to the company, but this also gives investors a lot of ammunition to say no.
Funding
Beth noted that funding is not all about of the money; a big part of it is the network and connections you build. They started with funding from the National Science Foundation, which provides money if you have an idea, team, and if you are willing to write a long report on your idea. The big thing is that you really have to start small, and you can build from there; investors like the company of other investors. Once you get a few votes, it is much easier to get funding as long as you are reaching your milestones. Something Beth noticed in Silicon Valley was that there is less investment in hardware companies, in comparison to investment in software companies; a big reason for this is that software companies are typically much cheaper to build.
Unspun has also worked with Hax, an accelerator that focuses on hardware. Since the textile industry was pushed overseas due to globalization in the late 80’s and early 90’s, Beth knew that they needed a strong partner to help put a machine together.
Through the National Science Foundation and Hax, the team was able to connect with investors through mentors and cold emails, which led the team to raise a pre-seed round, and a seed round. In 2021, they hope to raise a series A. For early stage investment, the team and the idea are really important, but as you move into later funding rounds, traction and revenue become much more key.
Be thoughtful about the investors you sign with and recognize how important your investors are. Beth noted that they almost signed with the wrong investors in the past and it would’ve ended the company, but luckily, they did their own due diligence. Some investors may be super controlling, may not care about working with other investors, and they may not care about the long-term vision you are going after.
Beth has some great advice!
1. Get as much as you can on paper and start vocalizing and bouncing ideas off people. If you are not willing to talk about it or write it down, then it is hard to get anywhere.
2. Be ready to explain and gather as much feedback as you can; be agile and flexible.
3. Don’t skimp on the equity you give people, having a team is really important. Let people in on your idea because execution is much harder and you’ll be much happier to have a support system.
4. If you are founding a start-up, you absolutely should find a team that you believe in and that they believe in you.
5. Hiring someone without the exact experience provides an opportunity because they don’t necessarily have pre-conceived notions of what something should be.
Best piece of advice Beth has received
Beth noted that the most successful entrepreneurs she has seen follow the quote by Gandhi “Be the change that you want to see” because they are not only looking for returns, but they are also looking to make an impact. It is a combination of wanting a self-sufficient company following a for-profit business model, and pairing this with the better world the entrepreneur imagines.
Managing teams across borders
Unspun has an office in Hong Kong, which is their gateway to retailer production partners in this region. Beth noted that they want other companies to use their technology so that they can get rid of inventory, get rid of waste and deliver custom products to their customers. She noted that it is a challenge because there is always some miscommunication due to the time change and culture. For example, she noted that in Hong Kong, people are used to being a little more direct in comparison to people in California, who tend to sugar coat things a bit more. They are currently experimenting with an online portal, which allows the offices to see each other as they work.
Meet the Team!
Besides Beth, Walden and Kevin are the other co-founders on the team. Walden has a background in business and Beth met him while they both completed Masters programs at Stanford. Combining business and design made them a strong team, but they knew that they were missing a technical aspect and brought on Kevin to the team a year later. Currently, they have a team of 24 people. Whenever they were struggling with something, they would see if there was room in their budget to hire someone. They originally found additional team members through their network, but realised this was not a great way of diversifying the team, so they moved more towards using LinkedIn, Indeed, Angel-list and posting on various meet-up groups.
Get to know Beth!
- Growing-up, Beth didn’t have any entrepreneurs surrounding her, but she noted that she is from Maine and that Mainers are pretty self-sufficient.
- She completed her undergrad at Cornell and then moved to Boulder, Colorado. She then moved to California, and spent some time in Oregon and Hong Kong, before heading back to California.
- What helps her stay grounded…is her 6-month old! She noted that being a new mom has been a good balance for her; she doesn’t waste so much time and is more elective about what she chooses to spend her time on.
- Beth is really proud of…her team and is so appreciative of them. The team also recently signed a partnership with H&M last year, which was a huge moment for them because fast fashion is exactly what they are trying to combat. They have a few other partnerships coming-up, which they are excited about.
- Embarrassing moment…one of their first body scans involved going inch by inch around Kevin, one of the co-founders. Beth noted it was a rather bizarre moment, but the jeans ended up fitting him well! The team has also had some interesting experiences with customers. For example, they had one customer who wanted the tightest style with a non-stretch material…Long story short, they needed to make a new pair.
- Beth struggles with…understanding why people say that they want to be an entrepreneur. She noted that it would make more sense if they said that they wanted to learn how to run a business. When she thinks of an entrepreneur, she thinks of someone who feels so strongly about something that this person is willing to forgo pay and sacrifice a number of things to pursue it.
Thank you Beth! Please feel free to check-out their website if you would like to learn more about their team.
