doesitmakesound

I never wanted to be in apparel actually. While working the corporate finance job, I was constantly doing startups. My previous was a bitcoin company that couldn't land funding.

I don't really tell people what I do and I don't go out much anymore. I've seen some people wearing our shirts out now and I just tell them I've seen it and ask to take a pic. I've stayed completely anon about this for the most part - which I prefer since I can do this without any personal agenda.

So - mostly I tell people I started a company that is doing well and I am anonymous about it. I'll maybe say it's a user-submitted design website. All of our designs are submitted, voted, and then I license what I can and create the actual designs that we sell.

Yes I would print it and my parents are Jewish.

I have both a licensing professional I work with and a local entrepreneur that has been licensing major brands for 20+ years. He's kinda taken me under his wing which is exciting.

There is a book I have with all of the relevant licensing contact information I could ever need. It's given out to specific people at some convention but I got it from that guy I mentioned. If something has no trace-able OP or is created anonymously, then it is generally public domain at that point. While we source and vote images, I constantly get incontact with the artists.

If something has an OP on reddit, I contact them and wait. I have several designs like that up. I also recreate a lot of them. Blowing up pictures from the internet doesn't work on shirts, so I have to do a lot of deisgn work.

Famous people / musicians I mostly just don't have on the website right now. I'm talking to Lil B and Xzibit and stuff though.

Copyright is mostly just a business proposition, so it's different basically every time. Unlike most of my competitors it seems... I do this legit as possible. I don't even want cease and desists, that shit gives me anxiety. So It's a pain in the ass but I get the licenses I need, give the money out from it, and sleep well at night. That was a personal decision I made early on and artists thank me for it when I talk to them.

I'm not worried about it. I want to keep this as true to the internet as possible and I personally don't submit those. Everything is user-submitted and voted on. I do what my community tells me to. Just like Reddit, the good with the bad.

I think we have a wide range of mass-market appeal actually. We have some really horrible shirts - one I even have a disclaimer on it that people shouldn't buy it.

I think this pic from someone's bachelor party shows how great this brand can be too.

Bravery shirts sell but not anywhere near as much as a lot of others.

Since going on "salary" with it, I take what I need but am living pretty minimally right now since it's not a piggy bank. The majority I guess goes into the business, soon web development is going to pick up so that'll be pretty major.

I'm focused on stuff that grows the community and products sold, I don't really think about the money besides as a daily / weekly statistic.