CURRENT FOCUS - BRUMMELL
Entrepreneur and Founder of Brummell, a Direct to Consumer men's brand currently focused on providing premium top drawer basics, undershirts, boxer briefs, and socks both on a subscription or single purchase option. While working as a banking analyst, I wore a suit every day, and one day I was trying to find a company that would send me plain dress socks, quarterly, at a fair price; no company existed, so I thought I should start my own. Within the following ten weeks, I designed a new dress sock, found a supplier overseas, built a Shopify site, partnered with a Third-Party Logistics firm – ShipBob, picked a brand name, Brummell, named after Beau Brummell, and partnered with the @GSElevator Twitter account to promote the brand launch in an upcoming Business Insider article. The brand's goal is to target men in their 20's transitioning from post-graduate life into professional life and retain loyalty through a mix of premium products and content.
In December 2017, I launched Brummell as a direct-to-consumer men's brand offering premium dress socks on a single purchase or quarterly subscription basis. While utilizing social media exposure, we attracted customers from all 50 states and over 30 countries. As our customer list kept growing, we organically grew to offer new products to cross-sell our customer base – boxer briefs and undershirts and a $150 limited-edition tie comprised of silk from Como, Italy. As an eCommerce brand, I continued growing Brummell while still working full-time in banking, but then in late 2019, I left my full-time job to run Brummell and raise capital to assist with fueling growth.
PRIOR WORK EXPERIENCE
My desire to work for a smaller firm that was rapidly growing and offered a fast-paced environment led me to start my career at Metropolitan Capital Bank, a boutique universal bank that provides financial services within Commercial Banking, Investment Banking, and Wealth Consulting. Metropolitan Capital specializes in direct lending to high-net-worth individuals who leverage their personal balance sheets and non-liquid assets to acquire additional liquidity to use for new investment opportunities.
During my three years at Metropolitan Capital, I learned the inner workings of a commercial and an investment bank. As an analyst, I was a part of the entire loan process from prospecting clients, underwriting, presenting at Investment Committee, working with outside counsel to prepare and review loan documents, and monitoring the relationship throughout the loan's life. As our credit facilities were typically 12-month revolving lines of credit, it was vital to have fluid communication with all our clients. Our loan portfolio doubled within the first two and half years I was in this role, and our clients ranged from real estate investors, fund managers, restaurant owners to founders who were now raising capital for their next startup.
Within this role, I was fortunate to gain close exposure to some of the top entrepreneurs in Chicago, and this exposure sparked a genuine excitement for me to work with entrepreneurs and startups and learn more about fundraising and the venture capital industry.