The reality we face. 7,000 high school students drop out every single school day.

More info on the great Spiderman coming soon! Read three of my recent posts on Merit’s laser focus on product.

Skype Sessions
Under Construction: Finding Your Focus
New York Visuals

Montage from my recent trip from Detroit to San Francisco to New York, as we prepare for Merit’s launch. Everywhere I went, I ran into a constant theme/question; What makes you different? What makes you unique? Why will people gravitate towards you or your product? If you can’t answer this question, find the answer quickly. And once you do find the answer, simply and cleanly tell us why you’re worth picking.

Photos – New York Visuals – San Fran Visuals

Last month in New York, I had the privilege of meeting with Mentoring USA’s Executive Director, Stephen Powell. Mentoring USA’s mission is to create positive and supportive mentor relationships for youth ages 7-21, through a structured site-based model. Since 1995, it has provided mentors for more than 5,000 children. Stephen joined Mentoring USA back in 2005 and has since expanded the program across the nation in major cities such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, and also in Newark, NJ.

Some call the Detroit Public School (DPS) system the worst public school system in the country. Some say there have been improvements. Most say there’s still a long way to go. But very rarely, does the general public get to see visuals and hear the sounds of what goes on inside DPS from the people that experience it day after day: principals, teachers, students, and non-profit organizations on the ground. The constituents that truly matter. Here at Merit, we’re working on providing those visuals and sound bites through DPS Inside Voices, a series centered on the Detroit Public School system.

The first video episode features a very candid interview with Principal Jared Davis of Detroit Finney High School. He talks about his role as Principal, daily challenges facing the school, and what accomplishments his students have achieved despite those challenges.

I love New York. No doubt about it. Late in May, I made another trip to NY that not only included meeting Seth Godin, but all the wonderful things that are portrayed below:

I’m back from San Francisco! You can check out my collection of photographs from the trip (San Fran Visuals). My main reason for flying out to SF was to attend the “Ahead of the Fashion”(AF) event that took place downtown. “Ahead of the Fashion” (AF) is a growth accelerating program for early stage technology start-ups in the consumer, fashion, and retail industries. AF recently launched a monthly event, where they select a group of fashion/tech founders, along with fashion designers, to pitch their companies in front of a notable panel and audience. As I mentioned in my San Fran post last week, it’s hard to find incubators and resources that are directly aligned with Merit. As a result, I was really excited to experience this event because it’s focused on combining fashion and tech.

I returned from my trip to San Francisco last Thursday. The trip was awesome and I’ll be sharing more and more about my experience over the next few weeks. For now, check out some of the visuals from the journey.

I’m beyond excited to head out to San Francisco on Monday morning! The purpose of the trip is to attend the “Ahead of the Fashion”(AF) event that takes place on Tuesday at the Julia Morgan Ballroom. “Ahead of the Fashion” (AF) is a growth accelerating program for early stage technology start-ups in the consumer, fashion, and retail industries, as well as fashion designers. It promotes a monthly event and in its accelerator program it provides a selected group of companies advice and access to capital in partnership with industry experts and investors that have experience and relationships in the technology and consumer industries. I sent in an inquiry concerning submitting an application for the last cycle, and even though we didn’t get ours in, they still invited us to attend their May event (we aren’t pitching but still)! God is so awesome. As the founder of a fashion brand that sells through an online platform/community, it’s hard to find incubators and resources that are directly aligned with our company. Today, most tech incubators are focused on disruptive and innovative tech companies, not consumer goods. While most fashion incubators are strictly focused on fashion designers. So to find an accelerator that is focused on both is amazing.

It has been about three weeks since I posted “The Best Offense is Not Always a Good Defense – The Get Ready Pt. 4.” That post talked about some of my current experiences as an entrepreneur, in that, it’s okay to be transparent. There’s a benefit to being open and honest. Getting out of the building and just talking to people. What I didn’t mention was that, sometimes, it’s not always the fear of someone stealing your idea/product that prevents you from freely discussing your vision. Sometimes it’s that nervousness that people may not like what you’ve created. The fear that someone may tell you, “This is not good.” And not only is that fear real, it may be an even bigger reason why we’ve been reluctant to Jump. Why we put it off until the right time.