Social Capital Exercise III

Hyosuk Roo

- She used to be a freelancer as a graphic designer but after she got a graduate degree from Hong-Ik University in Seoul, South Korea, she joined a company. She taught multimedia classes for several years in college. She is a hard worker and willing to help and work together with people who need her help. She is active in providing best quality products with supporting follow-up service of final products if there are needed some amendments.

- She and I worked together in my company to develop user interface for a Windows-based computer system. She was charged of the design tasks. She developed screens, colors, and icons on screens. She not only easily understood what I asked but also brought out new ideas about improving user-friendly interface.
- She can help us with t-shirt design by using a graphic software and web design if we launch our web site.

Sungmoon Kwon

- One of my wife’s college alumni lived in the same apartment building where we lived. Her husband worked for KTB Network, a venture capital company, during his graduate school days. Now he has been studying a doctoral program of computer science at University of Maryland, College Park here. Four months ago, I was introduced to him and realized that he is also my alumnus with the same major, computer engineering in college.
- He has been touch with Mr. Kwon, the CEO of the venture capital since he was involved with his projects in his graduate school. The CEO’s wife visited last winter break to take care of her child in the Child Care Resources On-Campus (CRC) winter camp at University of Maryland. My alumnus said that the CEO has many experiences of investing startups and handling M&A cases, and so our team can get advice from him about feasibility of our team project. The CEO can help us with how to plan, finance our team project, and come into a real product.

Insik Joh

- He is one of my close friends and alumni. He has become a venture capitalist for several months. Two weeks ago, I chatted with one of my friend in Korea over the MSN messenger. The friend told me that Mr. Joh entered a venture capital because his business failed but he did not have any information about the detail of the failure. He was involved in an IT venture company that developed and manufactured a touch screen targeted on cellular phones. He was one of the four cofounders, one of whom had a patent on the technology. He can give us the way not to fail in starting up a business.
- He has some experience as a salesperson in a telecommunication industry for several years as well. I guess he has a human network for us to use.

Social Capital Exercise II

Uzoma Ajeroh
Uzzy is a friend of my who is deeply into fashion. He once made a trip to New York and scoured SOHO for t-shirts he liked. Uzzy would be a source of knowledge that I can tap into in regard to the current trend and what are the do's and don'ts of vintage t-shirts. Uzzy can also provide me with a list of his friends who may also be into vintage T-shirts. Since he is very connected with other college students, Uzzy may be able to shed some lights on how other college students get their t-shirts and whether they are satisfy with the available options and processes.

T-Line Printing
T-Line Printing is one of several online printing companies that offer T-shirt printouts. The online site offers volume discounts it's located in Chestertown, MD. Since the company is in the Maryland area, we would be able to visit the company and talk to the people there in person. If this is a good source for T-shirt printing, we could just scan and email our design files in photoshop formats and have them print for us. Of course, we can also do some comparative shopping and use this company as a benchmark to measure other suppliers of T-shirt printouts. Although I do not personally know anybody from the company, I should be able to find someone to talk to through emails or phones.

Asher Eptein
Asher is the managing director for entrepreneurship at the Dingman Center. We had the opportunity to hear what he had to say about the Entrepreneurship program at the University of Maryland and feel that he is a source of knowledge and connections. We should take the opportunity to go up to the Dingman Center and ask for his feedback on the business concept. Asher may also provide us with ideas on who we should talk to if any. Most importantly, Asher may be able to provide us with objective view of the concept. We may be able to find Asher by simply going up to the Dingman Center.

Social Capital Exercise

Lawrence Lee
Mr. Lee has been in the printing business for the last 20+ years. I am a friend of his son Andrew through church, but my contact with Mr. Lee has been limited. Since we would be a customer of his business, I am optimistic that he would be able to provide a cost breakdown of printing on t-shirts in various configurations (e.g., one color on color, two colors on white). Additionally, I believe if we became his customer, he would be able to provide the best pricing for any screenprinting jobs.

The strategy for establishing contact will be straightforward. I will ask my friend Andrew to provide his father’s business telephone number in Los Angeles. Next, I will inform Mr. Lee that I am in the process of starting a t-shirt business and would like his opinion and expertise on the matter.

Since I am seriously pursuing the venture, I will defer directly contacting Mr. Lee until after graduation. I will wait until I am in Los Angeles after graduation to discuss in person at his business location. However, I was able to contact Andrew via email to retrieve Mr. Lee's business telephone number.

Frank Giambattista (American Apparel)
American Apparel is made in the U.S., free of sweatshop labor. Additionally, they have an exhaustive line of blank apparel with endless color swatches and all of their product lines are fitted so that you are not swimming in your clothes. I specifically wanted to contact American Apparel because of these two criteria. I own many of their products and they provide a superior fit versus any other brand I have purchased. The fabric's texture also is of higher quality versus other brands and there is minimal shrinkage during washing and drying.

The strategy for establishing contact will be through email. I will inquire within their wholesale department to find out what types of bulk discounts are available, if any. I will also gather information on which product lines are best for screenprinting and ink transfers.

I have applied for a wholesale account through their website. I have not received a confirmation, but am optimistic about getting my account approved. By having an approved wholesale account, I will have full access to view bulk discount amounts and also directly place an order through their website.

Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters is a leader in “funky” fashion. By having Urban Outfitters carry our product line, we will be able to gain national and international exposure for our products. This will directly increase sales as well as amassing a loyal fanbase.

The strategy for establishing contact will be through the Internet. The purpose of establishing contact will be to learn the formal channel for placing products in the Urban Outfitters retail stores. I imagine the process akin to sending a photo or prototype to their corporate buyers to have them review, assessing quantity and pricing the products.

Since I currently do not have a prototype or a business established, I will defer contacting Urban Outfitters until prototypes have been created for showcasing.

Preliminary Feasibilty Study

Preliminary Feasibility Statement

The T-shirt. The t-shirt is not only an important part of daily fashion, but also a vehicle for individual expression. There have been many trends that centered around t-shirts—white with the sleeves cuffed (a la James Dean), tie dye, Generra Hypercolor and loud logos of rock bands from the 80s. The newest trend, vintage or faux-vintage t-shirts, has been spotted in virtually all social and cultural circles. From hipsters and scenesters in the Meatpacking District in Manhattan and Silerlake in Los Angeles to celebrities on MTV. The t-shirt designs have been as diverse as its owners. From the faded Miami Vice logo to a commemorative 1977 Bob Marley Germany tour design.

The Product. The product will be mostly t-shirts with an assortment of hooded sweatshirts and track jackets. All products will feature at least one faux-vintage characteristic (e.g., faded color, softness, contrast stitching, etc.). The fit will also be critical in creating the vintage appearance. The fit will be slimmer and will be snug compared to an ordinary t-shirt. The quality, or softness of the t-shirt, will also be creating the vintage appeal. It will be very soft, as if it had been washed many times prior to the purchase. The designs will be very diverse and will feature an element of popular culture or counterculture. The design will range between slogans, logos, taglines, and graphics.

The Buyers. The buyers will also feature a wide variety of demographics, from 20-something scenesters, teenyboppers to post-MBAs! Common characteristics between the buyers may be followership towards a certain popular culture (or sub/counterculture) theme and keen fashion sense (either legitimately derived or self-promoted!).

The Competition. The current competition appears to be entrenched in three major areas: major retailers such as Urban Outfitters, Internet one-offs and the brick-and-mortar boutiques. The major retailer offers a large selection. However, the designs are somewhat sanitized and its “hip factor” is usually in its mature-to-decline phase. The Internet one-offs also offer a large selection and are usually ahead in the “hip factor” curve. However, the t-shirts are not always vintage-based and are sometimes esoteric. The brick-and-mortar boutiques vary on its selection. The designs will be likely high-profile (i.e., Jessica Simpson was photographed in InTouch with the t-shirt) but the price points will also gravitate toward the extreme.

The Bottom Line. The venture in this preliminary analysis will provide a bridge among all the great characteristics exhibited by the competitors: great designs, significant “hip factor,” and quality. The aim will be to straddle the sweet spot between esoteric and mainstream.

Since product sales will be driven primarily by the designs, no special equipment or knowledge will be required. The critical element will be to stay ahead of culture and be readily adaptable. Virtually all phases of the workflow can be outsourced, which will reduce some operating costs and will allow the venture to be sustained through an Internet store front.

Team Contract

Team Contract

I. Team Name

Team T-Shirt

II. Team Members

Ben Hsieh (BH)

Graham Kim (GK)

MyoungSeok Song (MS)

III. Activities, Roles and Responsibilities

Activity/Stage	Participation	Purpose
Ownership of ideas	GK	Idea generation
Collaborative brainstorming	All	Idea generation
Research	All	Product/operations research
Benchmarking	All	Competitive benchmarking
Design	MS	Design e-commerce platform
Operations	BH	Blog management
Documentation	All	Document activities/processes
Presentation	All	Final presentation

IV. Team Procedures

a. Meetings

Team members will meet every Tuesday between 1100 and 1200. Additional ad-hoc meetings will be conducted as needed.

b. Communication

Preferred methods of communication will be the team blog (http://teamtshirt.blogspot.com) and email. Telephone conferencing will be conducted as needed.

c. Decision-making Policy

All team decisions will be made on a consensus basis.

d. Documentation

Each team member will be responsible for documenting individual activities and processes as outlined in the section: Activities, Roles and Responsibilities. If team participation is required for an activity, documentation responsibilities will be equally distributed among all members.

V. Accountability and Agreement

By signing below, the team member understands and agrees to the outlined team contract. The team member also understands and agrees that (s)he is expected to perform quality work that is consistent with a MBA-level course and will be subject to peer review for all submitted materials.

Signature	Name (Printed)	Date
______________________________	Ben Hsieh	March 6, 2007
______________________________	Graham Kim	March 6, 2007
______________________________	MyoungSeok Song	March 6, 2007

Welcome

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