Jerry Wilmink, a recovering bio-engineer turned entrepreneur and CEO and founder of Wisewear.com. Listen how Jerry fuses fashion and technology to keep people safe. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – Startup CEO What CEO do you follow? – N/A Favorite online tool? — Strategyzer Do you get 8 hours of sleep?— Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – “Go for it. Don’t be scared”   Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:13 – Nathan introduces Jerry to the show 01:33 – Jerry was connected with Nathan through Twitter 01:51 – Jerry is a startup junkie 02:16 – What is Wisewear and how it generates revenue 02:29 – Wisewear is a propriety smart jewelry product that allows women to stay safe 02:41 – A fusion wearable product 03:00 – Develop a jewelry product that transmits Bluetooth through metal 03:15 – Iris Apfel is the designer of Wisewear 03:35 – Each piece is priced at $ 295 - $ 345 depending on the collection 03:59 – Currently sold online but will be available at Saks 04:05 – Wisewear was founded in 2013 04:15 – They just started selling this year 04:20 – Current sales is close to $ 4 million this year 05:04 – Started shipping late March 05:19 – No problems with P.O 05:55 – There’s more risk in international market with P.Os 06:00 – Wisewear demands 30% upfront payment for bulk P.Os 06:22 – Average number of devices sold 07:40 – They are initially bootstrapped but raised a little over $ 5 million from friends and families 08:03 – Note from friends and families and they’re doing equity now 08:15 – Raising $ 10 million from equity 08:40 – Fashion brand is not a traditional tech-play 09:05 – Retailers that can potentially pull down the brand 09:49 – Expenses per piece of jewelry is quite expensive 10:55 – Retailers are selling the jewelries at the same price with them 11:05 – Distributor price 11:25 – 8 people in the team from San Antonio and New York City 11:45 – They can track online orders easily 12:08 – Goal for 2016 revenue 12:34 – They have multiple products 12:48 – The initial product was a medical device 12:56 – Jerry’s grandfather was suffering from a type of dementia 13:13 – When Jerry’s grandfather passed away, that’s when he started Wisewear 13:15 – Developed a hearing aid device 13:50 – 65% of their sales is from college women 14:35 – Biggest market is 20 – 35-year old women 14:49 – There’s a lot of burglary and sexual violence on college campuses 14:58 – There’s a panic button on the jewelry 15:14 – There’s a big market on realtors too 15:25 – Most realtors show homes and there’s a safety concern 15:51 – Connect with Wisewear through Instagram and Facebook. Jerry is more active on Twitter 17:15 – The Famous Five   3 Key Points: You can take inspirations from the people around you. Fashion retail brand is not a traditional tech-play. Choose your business partners wisely.   Resources Mentioned: Toptal – Nathan found his development team using Toptal  for his new business Send Later. He was able to keep 100% equity and didn’t have to hire a co-founder due to quality of Toptal  developers. Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks – The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages  – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. @Wisewear – Jerry’s business Instagram account Facebook – Jerry’s business Facebook account @GeraldJWilmink – Jerry’s twitter handle Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives