July 28, 2011

I started a company in 2004 called LittleMissMatched, built on the inconceivable idea that socks don't have to match. We had a dream of building a consumer brand targeting kids with creativity as our focus. But in the beginning, it was just an idea. We did not have a store in Disneyland, Disney World or on Fifth Avenue; and we had yet to raise large amounts of private equity money. We hadn't designed thousands of items, shipped catalogs, developed an e-commerce site, licensed our brand or built a wholesale business.

Now we have achieved all of those things.

But to get to where we are today, we have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. It would have been far easier had someone lent us their crampons and sleeping bag. Overcoming this adversity, fighting to get to the peak—this has been my experience of entrepreneurship since founding LittleMissMatched. After scaling this mountain, I've learned a thing or two, and I'd like to share some words of advice, from one entrepreneur to another.

1. Remember that you are not really selling anything until the customer says they are not interested in your offering

In the beginning, we targeted Nordstrom as an ideal launch partner: an upper-middle class customer base, strong in the kids' footwear category. After a 4-month struggle to land a meeting, I booked an appointment with the senior buyer—we were finally getting our chance.

We pitched and it went well, I thought. But not a moment later, the buyer announced, "This is a terrible idea. No one is going to buy mismatched socks!" Not the reply I expected. I felt an upwelling of anger, frustration and confusion. Packing up with a gracious, “Thanks for your time,” could have been an appropriate response, but we wanted to summit Kilimanjaro. We knew our product was great.

So instead, we asked, "Do you have kids?"

“Yes,” came the reply. Her daughter was 11—the perfect age to appreciate our socks, and our only hope to save us from slipping down the mountain.

"We only have these samples, but take 'em home and see what your daughter thinks. You can return them on our dime if you want.”

Two days later the phone rang, and we had distribution across all of her stores. "My daughter loves them,” she said.

2. Don't get complacent with your success 

Fast-forward two years. In an effort to re-think our packaging, we hired a friend and former BMW car designer. After a year of development and an exciting launch, I walked into a big-box retail store and found our packaging strewn on the floor, torn with the peg hooks, and ripped from the packaging. We had achieved uniqueness in its visual rendering, but once it made it to retail we discovered its poor execution. It was a mess: the cardboard too thin, the stickers not sticky enough, the sock folds too complicated…you get the point.

This single incident, however, lead us to learn many lessons that have positively impacted the business since. So although we tried something new and stumbled, we gained knowledge also, and became more successful as a result.

3. Ask your customers for advice

Just one month ago, we tried something new. We held a 23 percent off sale. Why? Well, why not? Who's ever done a 23 percent off sale? Seemed innovative to me. Our brand is rule breaking, so why not try it?

We e-mailed the promotion with great expectations. Our first customer response to the sale, however, was, "Are you too cheap to offer 25 percent off?" The promotion had not resonated. We listen to our customers, and we got the message.

So that’s us. Over the years, we’ve made mistakes doing everything: from packaging to signage, shopper experience, uniforms, music, offers, customer relations, warehousing and quality. We’ve made mistakes with our patterns, colors, styles, distribution partners, PR and marketing.

Certain businesses fly to meteoric success overnight, but those are the outliers. For most entrepreneurs, success is the will to press on—to redesign, rethink, revisit. Success as an entrepreneur is a series of failures that add up to a mountain of collective success.

For us, the most important success is the smile that our consumer product inspires. Our customers say, “I love LittleMissMatched because...” Each customer has a different reason why they love us, but the bottom line is that they do. This is what keeps the registers ringing. This is what keeps us climbing to the top.

OPEN Cardmember Jonah Staw is CEO and co-founder of LittleMissMatched.

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Join the conversation ( 1 )

• William Xifaras 9 months ago

  

  Thank you for the insight Jonah. It's easy to become complacent if there are no huge signs of disaster. Re-thinking strategy, product placement, packaging, etc. is vital for growth. And if we ever lose touch with the customer, then it's over.