This morning’s installment for ideablob.com Week at the Entrepreneurial Mind looks at an idea to develop sportswear for women:
Vintage Blue is a vintage inspired sportswear line for women. We hold the exclusive license to the All American Girls Professional Baseball League featured in the film A League of their Own. We create t-shirts with graphics from the 1940’s and 50’s. Our line is environmentally friendly using non-toxic dyes and 100% organic cotton tees. We also give back to the community with our internship program encouraging young women to be positive, motivated individuals while learning the ins and outs of the fashion industry. We will also donate 5% of our profit to the Achieving Independence Center Female Mentoring which helps young women achieve self-sufficiency through mentoring relationships.
They stated that their main concern is funding, so here is my advice:
Funding for this venture is probably limited to family and friends.
Your market is probably too limited and does not offer enough growth potential for traditional equity investment (angels and VCs). Not enough growth potential, especially using a movie that is several years old as your theme. Don’t feel bad about this, as they actually only fund a fraction of a percent of deals in the US.
Banks will only loan you money on your personal credit for a start-up like this. If you have homes that you can borrow against you should be able to get some help from a bank.
So that leaves friends and family. Treat their money as a true outside investment. Set up terms and conditions. Be realistic with them about potential returns and all of the risks. Thanksgiving dinner comes every year, so let’s avoid creating family problems that center around unrealized expectations of any investment. Families can be complicated enough as it is!