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.

Patrick Fitzgerald – San Francisco, CA
Every day. Someone. Smiles. Somewhere.

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.

Ryan Everett – Detroit, MI
Every day. Someone. Smiles. Somewhere.

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.

They were nine African-American teens who in 1957 wanted to go to the best high school, the all-white Central High, in Little Rock, Ark. It took an order from President Dwight Eisenhower and the protection of the Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne to get them inside. These nine heroes were willing to step forward and in doing so, altered the course of history. – via Marquette Magazine

Join The Merit Community
Merit is building an exclusive online community of fashionable givers. Get your free membership, by invite only, for Merit’s viral invite site!

This picture is not about the University of Michigan. It’s simply about higher education period, and what we must do to place our young people on a path to get there. #Merit

Join The Merit Community
Merit is building an exclusive online community of fashionable givers. Get your free membership, by invite only, for Merit’s viral invite site!

Looking back on it, I didn’t know what I was doing. Young. Inexperienced. Call it whatever you want to call it. When we began developing IMU, I played a lot of defense. Dwight Howard type. What I mean is that I protected our idea more than I should have. I only let select individuals in on what we were planning, and I was always second guessing myself about telling people. Big mistake. Major mistake.

Why did I feel this way? Well it’s pretty simple, I didn’t want anyone to steal the idea or come out with it before I could. Which makes sense, if I was talking to a potential competitor. But how often is that going to happen? Anything outside of that particular situation, it’s pretty crazy not to be open with the idea. Let me tell you why.

“When we serve others we gain more hope. We gain energy.” – Margaret Wheatley

When we started on this journey a few years back, it was never about making money. Never eva Eva Eva evaa Evaaaa.

Our mission and vision started in a much deeper realm. Our beliefs started on the principle that all our lives are so wonderfully connected, woven, and intertwined with the lives and contributions of others. We simply wanted to make people happy. We simply wanted to make things better. Communities better. People better. We wanted to make ourselves better.

And we felt strongly that we could accomplish our goals by creating a lifestyle brand. IMU. A commitment to make people feel special while serving our customers and community.