Rhode Island Company of the Year for 2014
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Founded by two Brown grads in Providence, Teespring hit the biggest venture capital score in Rhode Island - arguably ever - when they closed two rounds of capital in 2014 totaling a reported $55 million.
Their brilliant idea was one of the simplest -- make T Shirts cool again, and let other people be your sales force. For Walker Williams and Evan Stites-Clayton, the secret to their success has been they continue to flatten the entire manufacturing, sales and marketing process.
GoLocal tapped Betaspring to get the beat on Teespring when we named them a "14 to Watch in 2014" company last year. "Teespring is going big time. BIG TIME," Betaspring's Melissa Withers told GoLocal. "It's amazing to have a top tier company in our midst."
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTLike Uber (but, nicer guys), Teespring is a a classic disruptor - taking the old-line model of T-shirt shop and perfecting it.
Disruptive innovation is the term developed by Clayton Christensen, describing the "process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established competitors."
If the Model Works Across a Range of Products
Forbes magazine writes the big opportunity for these guys is, "Where Teespring could make a bigger impact, however, is if its model can work across a range of products. Right now, the company says it’s happy to stay focused on its booming shirt business. But the back-end system that Teespring has built internally to handle its payments and logistics could prove valuable for many more types of entrepreneurs."
With pressure from venture capitalists to drive growth and scale, there may be pressure to relocate to San Francisco. For Rhode Island, one already missed opportunity with Teespring was their recently announced manufacturing facility to be in Kentucky and 300 new jobs.
Teespring is just what Rhode Island has always wanted to be good at - smart kids who come for a great education, then they come up with a big idea, they make it work, and they raise $55 million in capital to blow it out. Congratulations to Teespring, their mentors, and their funders.
Now Rhode Island, let's spark 20 more in 2015.
RUNNER UPS:
Swipely - When you manage billions of pieces of data and grow like a rocket you are doing something right.
Alex and Ani - Recently, it was announced the company has a $1 Billion valuation. Not bad for a company that did less than $5 million in revenue five-years ago.
CVS - the ban cigarettes and improve profits.
BENRUS - Gio Feroce may be building the next mega-lifestyle brand.
NanoSteel - making products stronger, lighter, and cooler
2013 Rhode Island Company of the Year: Twin River
Related Slideshow: 15 to Watch in RI in 2015
Take a look at the 15 for 2015.
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