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Jake Nickell Highlight
I've been lucky-I've done pretty well-but even if I'd been doing this for the past 14 years and making just enough to get by, I'd still consider it a success.
About Jake
- Taught himself how to build websites when he was 14, but kind of "burnt out" on that after he got stuck making basic sites for local businesses.
- Was into art and math/computer science, and he had choose between the two when he was picking a college.
- Decided to choose art school but worked as a web developer on the side.
- Entered a t-shirt design into a competition and won; realized how amazing that felt and started Threadless that day.
- Had been spending most of his free time browsing a global art forum online; offered to start printing artists' work on t-shirts.
- People were interested, but Jake didn't even really know what he was doing; had to call screenprinters, figure out how to make his offer work.
- Wasn't financially successful for the first two years because he put every dime back into printing more shirts, but that paid off in the long haul.
- Loves that Threadless fosters a community where artists can show pride in their work, know that 5,000 people all over the world are wearing their prints.