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?

Stephanie Madesh: Yes, we were doing all women’s sports t-shirts. It was highly focused. It was a real SEO grab. 

Sramana Mitra: What was the backend of the print-on-demand? Were you outsourcing that?

Stephanie Madesh: I started designing my own software in 2010. I was able to hire out software development. We were able to create software. 

Sramana Mitra: To do print-on-demand manufacturing, that’s not software.

Stephanie Madesh: You would take the order. You pull up the artwork into the software that cuts the design. Then I hired extra employees in 2010. They would pull up the packing slips and scan it. It would pull up the artwork. They would be in charge of heat pressing it and packaging it.

Sramana Mitra: I see. You had an inventory of t-shirts of different sizes and you would just print the artwork on top of that inventory.

Stephanie Madesh: Yes. 

Sramana Mitra: How many were you at San Francisco at this point?

Stephanie Madesh: In 2010, I had one full-time and one part-time employees.

Sramana Mitra: You’re doing about $300,000 right?

Stephanie Madesh: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: What happens next?

Stephanie Madesh: 2011 is a big growth year. I have this new business partner.

Sramana Mitra: Who is this business partner?

Stephanie Madesh: My business partner then is now my husband. We met in 2009. He was great for bouncing off ideas. He lost his engineering job in 2011 and then started working for me part-time. Then he was like, “I want to invest.” After many arguments about it and working together for nine months, I was like, “You know what. You’re right. I need more hands on deck who’re willing to work 60 to 70 hours to make something happen. “

In 2011, I sold him part of the business. That’s the year we saw the most growth. I had my first actual business loan. I had a business partner who was working 60 to 70 hours a week with me. We changed our focus away from print-on-demand and back towards clothing. We realized that we almost have the numbers to start manufacturing ourselves. That’s when we started dipping our toes into our own designs. 

Sramana Mitra: Category-wise when you switched back away from print-on-demand, was that back to dresses?

Stephanie Madesh: That was focused on yoga wear.

Sramana Mitra: Where did that come from?

Stephanie Madesh: I had made a factory connection that did all activewear. I decided to go for that.

This segment is part 3 in the series : From Student Entrepreneur to a $15 Million Revenue Ultralight Business: Stephanie Madesh, CEO of Kalon Clothing
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