Jeneé Naylor could have paid for her own eyewear brand, and she decided that was exactly the problem.
Naylor founded 12 PM Studios, an eyewear line that launched six styles after two years of development. Rather than fund it herself, she raised $275,000 from investors, and her reason was not access. It was what her own money would have done to the product.
“I knew if it was my money, I’d be like, ‘Maybe we don’t need that, maybe we don’t need another sample,” she said. “But I want the best possible product.” Samples run $300 to $500 each. She also said plainly that she would not sacrifice her comfort and way of life to build this business, which is the part of the founder story that usually goes unsaid.
The brand made $400,000 in revenue within two weeks of launch. Sunglasses are now its highest-converting product, and Naylor said she sells thousands of them. “That kind of put the nail in the coffin for me, like, this is probably a good business decision,” she said of the moment she understood what the frames were doing.
Her pitch to a buyer is about where the frames are made and what they cost. “My brand is made in the same factory as a lot of your favorites,” she said. Designer sunglasses run up to $1,000. “You actually get more from us than you do from most designer brands,” she said. The standard applied to the box as well. “When we got our packaging, everything had to impress me like it was a designer brand,” she said.
Asked where this goes, she did not give a target. “I am only building to be better than we were yesterday,” she said, and added that she does not really have a plan beyond that.
