Men’s Style Lab co-founder Derian Baugh (above) pitching at gener8tor’s Premiere Night earlier this month.
It’s been a whirlwind couple of months for Des Moines ecommerce startup Men’s Style Lab.
In late Dec. 2013, the company’s co-founder Derian Baugh learned he and CTO Aaron Hoffman had been accepted into gener8tor, a 12-week Madison, Wisc.-based accelerator.
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Now the pair has returned to Iowa with the potential for investment, a new crop of mentors and lots more eager customers.
“There’s times where it feels like you’re having long days, but then you blink and it’s gone,” Baugh told Silicon Prairie News of his time at gener8tor.
Baugh and Hoffman entered the accelerator in early January and pitched Men’s Style Lab during gener8tor’s Premiere Night on April 3. Looking back, Baugh says it’s the connections not necessarily the money—$70,000 minimum investment by the time the program wrapped—from gener8tor that helped his company the most.
“Investors don’t walk around with a sign around their neck or a tattoo across their forehead that says, ‘Hey, I have money and I want to invest it,’” Baugh said. “They just don’t.
“But at gener8tor, it’s the fact that they introduced us to well over 100 people who have been successful entrepreneurs as mentors, you just feel like you hit the mecca of opportunities.”
The startup ships clothing all across the country to men in need of a style upgrade. While the startup offers a similar service as the Chicago-based Trunk Club, Baugh says Men’s Style Lab offers its customers double the merchandise at the same price point, calling the startup “Trunk Club for everybody else.”
Men’s Style Lab was already a working business with real customers and real orders when Baugh left for Wisconsin, he says managing the accelerator’s demands while still trying to run the business side of things was challenging at times.
But thanks to gener8tor’s initial $20,000 cash investment in Men’s Style Lab Baugh and Hoffman were able not only to cover their living expenses while in the accelerator, but also traveled to trade shows in New York and Las Vegas in search of “Style Lab approved” clothing for their customers.
Now that Premiere Night is behind them, the team has three full-time stylists, warehouse space and a network of mentors and advisers with the resources and connections to continue growing Men’s Style Lab.
While Baugh says the startup’s subscriber numbers didn’t quite hit its goals while the team’s time was being split at gener8tor, he’s confident that Men’s Style Lab will continue to grow quickly.
Just over two months ago, the startup launched a new website and has since processed more than $80,000 in sales, which Baugh says puts Men’s Style Lab on pace to break $1 million in sales by the end of 2014.
Learn more about gener8tor’s winter 2014 class of companies, including Men’s Style Lab:
Credits: Photo courtesy of Derian Baugh. Gener8tor video from Vimeo.
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