A company with both a profitable business model and social impact? Heller School for Social Policy and Management alumna Brenna Nan Schneider MA '11 is showing that this enviable combination is possible with her start-up 99Degrees Custom, and in late October she won the prestigious MassChallenge competition to help move it along.
99Degrees Custom is a manufacturing company that offers clients built-to-order custom apparel made in Lawrence, Mass. Schneider founded the company in 2012.
"People are not able to customize the features and the colors and the cuts that they buy online," Schneider said. "We're the manufacturing solution for that."
In the end, there were two qualifiers in founding 99Degrees Custom. "It had to really have a market opportunity that was clear and that had some growth potential, but also that it had the ability to have a social impact in a positive way and create jobs that mattered. When both of those things checked out, I decided to start," Schneider said.
99Degrees Custom provides practical benefits. One of these is the speed with which the company can produce its product. While these products would typically take about four to six weeks to produce overseas, 99Degrees Custom is "able to turn around custom clothing within a few days of an order," Schneider said.
Another important factor is 99Degrees Custom's tailored approach. The company focuses on single-piece manufacturing. "We're building the business around the custom market so rather than mass production, which has dominated the apparel industry from the late 1800s, we're kind of turning that on its head," Schneider said.
In addition to 99Degrees Custom's unique offerings, Schneider noted that their specific type of American manufacturing is special. Schneider wanted to "create jobs that really mattered, rather than low-income, low-wage jobs that were dead end."
"Stitching isn't a broader skill that's applicable to many industries in the States, so while it's an incredibly skilled job and industry, it doesn't translate to upward mobility," Schneider said. 99Degrees Custom helps with this because "this particular market and the complexity that comes with custom manufacturing does translate, and helping to build that bridge is really important."
Schneider says Brandeis helped prepare her to found her own company. "Not only were my goals that were strengthened at Brandeis, but it was also the skills that I have," she says. Business school increased her comfort with numbers and taught her to build financial models, analyze businesses analytically and make critical decisions.
However, Schneider notes that she came away from Brandeis with more than just analytical skills. In addition to teaching her to make savvy business decisions, the University "also really gave me a sense of community and leaning on a community to build something - that we're not in it on our own," she said. Both the skills she learned and the community that she found at Brandeis have "been invaluable and have been a huge part of the success of the business so far."
MassChallenge, a Massachusetts-based organization, seeks to help early-stage entrepreneurs and start-up companies such as 99Degrees Custom by connecting them with resources such as mentors, advisers, investors and funding. Primary activities include running an annual global accelerator program and startup competition, documenting and organizing key resources and organizing training and networking events.
This year, over 1,300 teams applied to the MassChallenge startup competition. 128 of these teams got into the program, 26 won and five of these were awarded the Diamond Prize, which Schneider's 99Degrees Custom received. The Diamond Prize grants $100,000 in prize money.
Schneider first learned about MassChallenge about two years ago. "Last fall, I was in the Merrimack Valley Sandbox Business Accelerator, a regional accelerator," or a program for entrepreneurs where they receive advising, workshops, and mentors. "They are really trying to bring entrepreneurship to other parts, gateway cities, not just Boston," she said. After speaking with an adviser there, she entered that competition, where 99Degrees Custom earned first prize. She launched the company with the funds from that win, a total of $7,500.
"One of my judges at that competition was John Harthorne, the [Chief Executive Officer] of MassChallenge, and so that was my first formal introduction," Schneider said. The introduction turned out to be an important one, as MassChallenge provided Schneider with both financial resources and support as she grew 99Degrees Custom.
Though she has been at the helm of 99Degrees Custom on her own, Schneider says that MassChallenge has provided her with crucial support from advisers. MassChallenge includes speed-networking events to help entrepreneurs meet mentors, including some extremely successful entrepreneurs, investors and executives. "You have access to some of the smartest people who have come before you," she said. "I had an amazing team of mentors." Schneider met with her mentors every other week. "They were invaluable. They gave me great insight."
Larger corporations also played an important role in MassChallenge and provided important benefits. "It was an amazing opportunity because the mentorship is amazing, the resources," Schneider says. Sponsors include United Parcel Service, American Airlines and ZipCar, all of whom contribute in-kind donations and support. It is "amazing to be a start-up and have access to these resources and these discounts, especially when things are so financially tight," Schneider says.
The money from MassChallenge will help expand the start-up's capacity. This means "taking on new machines. It also means improving the [production] machines that we have" to make production even quicker and more accurate, according to Schneider.
As the single founder, Schneider is currently the only person on 99Degrees Custom's executive team. She has a team of five people who work in production. In addition to the infrastructure of 99Degrees Custom, it "enables us to grow our team," she said.
"The money allows me to hire a vice president of operations, who functions on the executive team and helps make strategic decisions and really thinks through the future of the business on the production and operations side, which is a really key role."
The win, she says, is "a huge step forward for our company. It enables us to do things we could never do on our own."