A Day In The Life
By Romney Evans
Entrepreneurship Is a Good Fit
Babson MBA Romney Evans describes a typical day at his startup Web site where customers each can select jeans based on their own measurements
As co-founder and CEO of True Apparel Company and its online jeans store, truejeans.com, I am responsible for the success and well-being of the entire business. True Jeans is an online jeans store that sells a wide variety of existing brand-name jeans, such as Lucky Brand Jeans (LIZ), Chip & Pepper, Blue Cult, and Wrangler 47 (VFC). Through a partnership with Montreal-based firm My Virtual Model, True Apparel customers will be able to go online, input their measurements, and have our software tell them which brands and styles of jeans best fit their unique body shape and measurements (see BusinessWeek.com, 1/12/06, "Sewing Up the iPod Market").
As CEO, it's fun to be able to touch all aspects of the company, but my direct responsibilities include technology development, corporate finance, and marketing. Fortunately, I also have a really talented business partner to share the load with. My partner, the co-founder and COO, Jessica Arredondo, who is a fellow Babson MBA, is directly responsible for the product side, accounting, and marketing. Having a partner in an early-stage business who has a complementary skill set is a huge benefit.
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| Romney Evans
Co-founder / CEO
True Apparel Company, truejeans.com
Babson MBA '06
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This past May, 2006, I graduated from Babson's
Olin Graduate School of Business in Massachusetts. My biggest fear of getting my MBA was that I might be part of the commodity MBAs flooding into the job market year after year. I decided to get my MBA at Babson because the school lives and breathes entrepreneurship.
I brought my business idea to the program, and was able to cultivate and refine the idea into a high-potential growth opportunity while at B-school. Therefore, I didn't take a typical MBA job after graduation (see BusinessWeek.com, 10/31/05,
"Entrepreneurs: Cream of the Young Crop").
Here is an example of a pretty typical day:
8:00 a.m.—I leave my house in Watertown, Mass., and head for Woburn where True Jeans was able to get a year of free office space after being finalists in the Babson Business Plan Competition in 2006. It's a 30-minute commute, which is longer than I prefer, but you can't beat free office space.
8:30 a.m—I arrive at the office, review my calendar, and respond to any e-mails that have come in through the night.
9:00 a.m.—Conference call with Web developers in Slovenia. A team of 8 to 12 highly skilled programmers has spent the past six months working on our new Web store. We review our 100-plus page specifications for the site and update with improvements and corrections.
10:00 a.m.—Conference call with our designer in Switzerland. We review all our graphic interfaces for our new Web site. In a world where everybody is outsourcing overseas for the best pricing, people always ask me, "Of all places, why in the world are you outsourcing to Switzerland?" Once you visit our new online jeans store this fall, you'll know why (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/18/06,
"The Bootstrap Report").
11:00 a.m.—Go over financing documents with my attorney. Until now, we've been running our business on our own money and a small convertible note from an angel investor. I'm working to close our A-round financing with a larger group of angel investors. We set a new closing date for the third time.
1:00 p.m.—This is usually the time I walk to Subway to pick up lunch. I bring my sandwich back to my desk to eat. While I'm eating, I usually call my wife to check in and say hello to my 4-month-old daughter who can't understand me, but responds anyway with gorgeous grunts and brays. She's really cute. This is my mid-day slice of heaven, and then I'm back at it.
2:00 p.m.—I meet with my partner, Jessica Arredondo, to discuss our progress with several key jeans brands. We review the 17 brands we already have on board, which include Chip & Pepper, Blue Cult, 575 Denim, Carpe Denim, J & Co., Odyn, and Wrangler 47. Jessica just closed a deal with Lucky Brand Jeans and IT Jeans, which are both great mid-priced mainstream denim brands. We make a goal to increase our brand portfolio by five by the fall launch (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/22/02,
"Lee Jeans: A Brand With Lots of Legs").
3:00 p.m.—I call one of our key strategic partners, My Virtual Model, to discuss our license agreement and data exchange specifications for some new features for our Web site and fit technology.
4:00 p.m.—My partner and I review and refine our fit testing process, where we perform empirical research to calibrate our fit prediction software and test results.
5:00 p.m.—By this time, I'm usually trying to wrap up the day's work. Our phone system's auto attendant says the office is now closed, but we're still here. I try to respond to any outstanding e-mails, make plans for the next day, and catch up on any other details that I didn't get to address today.
I think one of my major misconceptions about starting a business right out of grad school is how long it really takes to raise money and close your first financing round. Everybody says it takes a long time, but I guess I thought it would be different for me. It simply takes a really long time, and for no apparent good reason.
If you're interested in getting a position at my company, the best way is actually to check postings on the online classifieds site Craigslist. We've tried a couple of different venues for posting jobs, but our best luck has been with this site. Currently, we have two partners, 15 outsourced developers, and we're currently hiring 4-5 additional employees in October.
As a startup company, we're looking for a technical designer with extensive denim experience, online marketing manager, content manager/editor, creative designer, and administrative staff. Candidates should be passionate about fashion, magazines, and movie stars; should also thrive in a startup environment; and should be committed to evolving with the company.
When interviewing candidates, we judge them based on a score sheet that outlines hard skills needed for the job, such as software programs and the type of experience they should have. We also take notes based on their "soft skills" such as interpersonal skills, general demeanor, and personality—a major focus for B-school deans nowadays.
WEAR YOUR PASSION. If you're trying to sell jeans online, let the world know it. Ask people if they know of people you can meet or talk to about it. Wear your passion on your sleeve. The more you talk about it, the more people identify you as "the person who really wants to do XYZ."
If you want to enter the online jeans market, people should think of you the next time they think of jeans or e-commerce. Your colleagues and contacts will start bringing up your name in conversations if the topic of jeans or e-commerce is broached. Suddenly, doors are opened. Also, try searching the alumni database at school and look for people with related experience. Avoid cold calls. Find a professor or faculty member who knows the individual personally. Ask for an introduction.
If I could go back to business school, I would focus more attention on accounting and finance courses. Babson has an amazing curriculum for entrepreneurship and has some great courses in entrepreneurial finance. There are a few early-stage financing courses that I didn't take, but they would have definitely been beneficial for early-stage finance at my company.
I came to Babson with the goal to launch my own business by the time I graduated. Babson helped me to open all the doors necessary to reach this goal. It gave me access to partners, advisers, investors, and office space at the school's business incubator. I can always use my MBA from Babson to go get a safe job at a large company, but right now I'm doing what I love and working for myself. As my dad always says, "There's nothing like hoeing your garden." And I agree.
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