Jerry Wilmink, a recovering bio-engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Wisewear.com. Listen how Jerry fuses fashion and technology to keep people safe.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Startup CEO
• What CEO do you follow? – N/A

• Favorite online tool? — Strategyzer
• Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes
• If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Go for it. Don’t be scared”

 

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:13 – Nathan introduces Jerry to the show
• 01:33 – Jerry was connected with Nathan through Twitter
• 01:51 – Jerry is a startup junkie
• 02:16 – What is Wisewear and how it generates revenue
• • 02:29 – Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe
  • • 02:41 – A fusion wearable product
    • 03:00 – Develop a jewelry product that transmits Bluetooth through metal
    • 03:15 – Iris Apfel is the designer of Wisewear
    • 03:35 – Each piece is priced at $ 295 - $ 345 depending on the collection
    • 03:59 – Currently sold online but will be available at Saks
• 04:05 – Wisewear was founded in 2013
• 04:15 – They just started selling this year
• 04:20 – Current sales is close to $ 4 million this year
• • 05:04 – Started shipping late March
• 05:19 – No problems with P.O
• 05:55 – There’s more risk in international market with P.Os
• 06:00 – Wisewear demands 30% upfront payment for bulk P.Os
• 06:22 – Average number of devices sold
• 07:40 – They are initially bootstrapped but raised a little over $ 5 million from friends and families
• • 08:03 – Note from friends and families and they’re doing equity now
  • 08:15 – Raising $ 10 million from equity
• 08:40 – Fashion brand is not a traditional tech-play
• • 09:05 – Retailers that can potentially pull down the brand
• 09:49 – Expenses per piece of jewelry is quite expensive
• 10:55 – Retailers are selling the jewelries at the same price with them
• 11:05 – Distributor price
• 11:25 – 8 people in the team from San Antonio and New York City
• 11:45 – They can track online orders easily
• 12:08 – Goal for 2016 revenue
• 12:34 – They have multiple products
• 12:48 – The initial product was a medical device
• • 12:56 – Jerry’s grandfather was suffering from a type of dementia
  • 13:13 – When Jerry’s grandfather passed away, that’s when he started Wisewear
  • • 13:15 – Developed a hearing aid device
• 13:50 – 65% of their sales is from college women
• • 14:35 – Biggest market is 20 – 35-year old women
  • 14:49 – There’s a lot of burglary and sexual violence on college campuses
  • 14:58 – There’s a panic button on the jewelry
• 15:14 – There’s a big market on realtors too
• • 15:25 – Most realtors show homes and there’s a safety concern
• 15:51 – Connect with Wisewear through Instagram and Facebook. Jerry is more active on Twitter
• 17:15 – The Famous Five

 

3 Key Points:

• You can take inspirations from the people around you.
• Fashion retail brand is not a traditional tech-play.
• Choose your business partners wisely.

 

Resources Mentioned:

• Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers.
• Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible.
• Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts.
• Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+
• Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books.
• @Wisewear – Jerry’s business Instagram account
• Facebook – Jerry’s business Facebook account
• @GeraldJWilmink – Jerry’s twitter handle
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives