Episode #533 - A Funny Brand in a Boring Space with Colin McIntosh

Welcome to this edition of the million Dollar Mastermind podcast. This is where we pick the brains of high achievers from all walks of life and get their hard earned real world insights on winning. I'm your host, Larry Wydell.

I'm talking with Colin McIntosh. Hey Colin, how are you?

Good. Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.

I appreciate you taking the time and sharing and congratulations on your business. You're CEO and founder of Sheets and Giggles. And so where'd you get that name?

It just hit me. So I wrote a business plan for a bedsheets company. I think a lot of founders are a little neurotic and they've written business plans for a lot of companies they'll never start. I've written probably 50 business plans in the last five or six years and I wrote one for Sheets Company and I always say, what's a funny name for blank? And it just hit me like a lightning rod. Sheets and Giggles. And that was actually the moment I became obsessed with the idea of a funny brand in a boring big space because there was nobody in the sheets industry doing anything interesting. And so I. It kind of just really stuck out to me as a unique opportunity.

Yeah. And a funny brand in a boring space. Yeah, that, that might hold some potential for a lot of businesses.

Well, that's the thing is I've got a lot of domains if anybody wants any pun based domains. I've got sunglasses/full.com Romanhemperer.com for a hemp business if anybody wants a CBD business. But a lot, you know, like I think that you're right. They're like, if you can be funny selling carpet or funny selling, you know, like it's. There's a lot of spaces that are left that are, you know, very boring, very, very, very terrible spaces. So.

Yeah, well, you show. I mean, you've done a lot in a short period of time. Yeah, you're like 32 now, is that right?

Sorry, I'm 32, yes.

Yeah, 32. And grew up in South Florida. Graduated from Emory University's business school. And so you've been successful enough to where they have you come back and speak and teach an entrepreneur class, Is that what you're telling me?

Yeah, I teach the entrepreneurship class. I take over as a guest lecturer usually once a semester at Goizueta Business School at Emory. And the professor there, Andrea, Andrea Hershadder, she's the dean of the business school. And she and I have become good friends over the years. You know, me traveling back and Doing the class once a semester for her.

And so what? Well, let's get into that a little later. But your company, let's make sure we get that on there. Founded in 2017, is that right?

Correct. Yep.

And so revenue in 2021 was what? Because we get our. Off of. Off LinkedIn and everything and they're usually wildly inaccurate.

So yeah. Is it okay if I'm not overly specific, just from a competitive standpoint? So the timeline that I like to share is we founded the company in September 2017. Sorry, October 2017. We shipped our first box in October 2018 and November 2020. So two years after we shipped our first box, we had our first seven figure sales month. That was sales month. Month, yeah. So that's kind of the timeline I like to share. And then 2021, we more than doubled from 2020. And now at the Inc. 5000, we were just ranked the 309th fastest growing company in the U.S. that was just crazy to me that a bedsheets company should be anywhere on that list. But it was really a really cool honor to be named 309 on that list. Yeah.

Congratulations. And you've got all kind of awards. And how did you get.

Yeah, yeah, my fiance built this shelf behind me for all the, you know, I have some real awards and then I have some fake awards. The real one I'm very proud of. Most influential Gen XYZ person in Colorado, which is cool. Small business awards for the Denver Business journal. We did $40,000 in COVID 19 donations in 2020. We got an award for that, which is really cool. I also have one from techstars, which is the accelerator we went through. And it's a little tongue in cheek. It's most bed sheets ever sold by a techstars company.

Which is an award.

Yeah, one of one. But yeah, I mean, they don't let a lot of bed sheets companies into the accelerator. So yeah, it was pretty funny.

Talk about the first one. You were talking about the Most influential Gen XYZ.

Yeah. So I'm top 25 according to the Denver Business Journal, which is really cool. Great organization. I'm top 25 most influential Gen XYZ professionals in Colorado, which is like a funny string of qualifiers. It's not that big of a deal. But also when I think about it, I'm like, that's cool. That means that I'm 32 and people like what I'm doing and what I have to say and can make an impact in my state. And We've donated over $100,000 to charity in the last three years. A lot of that in Colorado. And it's, you know, it's great to be able to see, you know, just get that recognition sometimes. It shows you you're on the right path.

And so talk about how would you be influencing people through your just social media. Are you speaking a lot?

You know, it's actually interesting. I'm not a big social guy. I don't do, I don't do a ton of. I do a little bit of Twitter, I do a little bit of Instagram, but I don't do like the whole, like, my social media is not like my professional Persona. Like, my social media is my personal Persona. Because I, I don't, and I don't really have a difference between those two, to be totally honest with you. But I, I don't like the whole social influencer atmosphere. I think it's very fake. I think it's very profit driven. Like, people are, are giving tips that I think are like, somewhat obvious a lot of the time. And, you know, I don't want to be that guy. That's like seven ways to like, wake up as a lion on a Monday morning. Like, I'm like, that's like, I hate, I hate that stuff. So for me, it's actually more of like, I will. I'm part of Good Business Colorado, which is a group of progressive business owners that lobbies for legislation that helps small businesses in Colorado. So I will go to the Capitol and I'll lobby, you know, our state reps for legislation that I think is important for small businesses. I will work with both Republicans in the Colorado Chamber of Commerce, who I'm playing golf with next week in the tournament, as well as, you know, work with House Speaker Alex Garnett, who's a Democrat, and, you know, try to get a more equitable business landscape for startups and small businesses in Colorado. And then, yeah, I do tweet and I do, I do put a lot of thoughts out there on LinkedIn and on Twitter, just about whatever might be something interesting that I think is worth discussing on a week or maybe a topical matter. So I, you know, it's kind of a mix of a lot. And then I think our donations and leading by example, you know, we did a big Earth Day event this year in April with Women in Sustainability, which is a big Colorado sustainability group. And that was headlined by the co writer of Don't Look Up, a guy named David Sirota, who's based in Denver and his wife is a Colorado state rep. As well, Emily Sirota, so how, you know, bringing these people together for these events, throwing our company name behind things that we think are important and good and then fostering discussion and doing donation drives is really, I would, that's the way I'd sum it up, I guess. There's a lot, a lot of different things all at once.

Okay. And how did you come out? And before you started this company, you've written 50 business plans. What were you doing?

Maybe 30. It's, it's, it probably feels like 50. They're all on Google Drive somewhere.

Yeah. And so was this just ideas you had?

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Not.

Yeah, I so a lot. I think you're probably the same way. I bet you have a thousand business ideas. Like, you know, and, and I think most founders have a thing on their phone that's a notepad that says business ideas. And they just, every time one comes up, they write it down, I take it a little bit further, I try to sit down and I write a business plan whenever I have an idea. And if I can't build like a compelling two page plan, I'll just kind of trash it. But if I can, I'll usually buy a domain. I'll buy, I'll get the social channels and I'll kind of park it for myself in case that there's any future prospects there. Or I'll share it with like I do mentorship in the downtown Denver Commons, which is like a group of 10 entrepreneurs. Every quarter they get free mentorship and training. And I, I mentor at techstars Boulder as well. So I'll do a lot of, I'll give a lot of free business ideas to people if they want to start a business. I'm like, hey, I've got a business plan and a business idea here to start this company for yourself. So I think Sheets and Giggles is just one of those ideas that took on a life of Its own. It became overwhelming for me to think about having this incredible lightning rod of a brand and not starting it. So that was kind of the. I just. I couldn't look away. And so I ended up doing a crowdfunding campaign in May 2018, so about six months after I founded the business. And we raised $300,000 in 30 days for bed sheet pre orders, which is crazy. Like, who would give money to a company to wait six months for bed sheets? But thousands of people did. And that was when I knew we had lightning in a bottle.

Yeah, but what was your pitch? You're right. The sheet business, you have these brands, Boland and whatever.

And.

Yeah, very Sincerely, you know, 85 presidents sleep on these sheets. And, you know, you know, they're fine.

You know, they stopped. They stopped running those ads for a few years.

Well, I'm sure they're wonderful people. But the thing is, the lead in just caught me. It's just like, you know, Barbie and I went out and we could, you know, get some sheets one weekend. And, you know, there was just no good sheets out there. It's like, where did you look?

You know, okay, I'm so glad you brought that up, Larry, because they had the founder of Brooklyn and who I respect the business they built, like, don't get me wrong, but they had them on how I built this on that podcast. And like, he was like, yeah, we stayed in this hotel in Las Vegas and the sheets were incredible. And then we looked up how much money they cost, and we were like, oh, my gosh, $400. There has to be a better way. And so we. And I'm like, that's not. That's crazy that you did not do that. Like, that is. That is like one of the most. So, like, I think that all these founder stories are made up in a lab of like, a relatable story that people. So for me, I swear to God, this is how it happened. I was watching War Dogs with Miles Teller and Jonah Hill, and Miles Teller's character is selling sheets out of the back of his pickup truck in the beginning of the movie. And the retirement homes, they all say, F off, like, we don't need your sheets. And he ends up having to burn his inventory. And I turned to. This is five years ago. And I turned to my now my ex girlfriend, and I said, this is ridiculous. He bought all this inventory. He didn't do a go to market plan. He has no idea who his core demographic is. His pricing strategy is terrible. You know what? Pause the movie. And that was the night I wrote a business plan for a bed sheets company. And then I said, what's a funny name? Sheets and Giggles. And I bought all the domains about sheetsgiggles.com eatsgiggles on Twitter and Instagram and everything. And I think three months after that I was laid off from my last job at 1pm on a Monday. And I remember I went out to the baseball game that night with my coworkers who had all just gotten fired alongside me. And they said, what are you going to do next? And I told them, I said, you know, I've got this idea for a company called Sheets and Giggles and it sells sustainable bed sheets. And they all looked at me like I was actually insane. Like I, like I had lost my mind. Which to be fair, you know, maybe I had a little bit, but yeah, so that's my founder story and it's one of the dumbest founder stories you'll ever hear in your life. I was watching a 6 out of 10 IMDb movie and changed my whole life.

Well, I, I think you're right that these founder stories do come out of a lab and they remind me like the Alaskan TV reality stories in the sense like, you know, the a founder story is going to get to the point where they say, and we said to ourselves, there's got to be a better way.

There's got to be a better way. And I'm like, so actually if you go on our about page on sheetsgames.com about, we have all these fake stories. For me, one of them is I was in prison and I was trying to break out of my jail cell, but the cotton sheets that they gave us in the prison cells, just the tensile strength wasn't strong enough and I couldn't fasten a rope to climb out of my tower. And I thought, there has to be a better way. We got, we got a few, a few of us.

Like the Alaskan reality show. They all are going to get to the point where somewhere during the half hour someone looks with great, you know, the camera zooms in, right? If we don't get the, you know, get a, kill a moose or whatever, you know, or catch a pile of fish, you know, we could, we only have a couple of months here.

We could starve this winter.

It's just like we've never heard that idea. You know, it's the summers in Alaska. Wow, that's information.

I feel like. Yeah, and like reality imitates art where like they have these branding meetings and these. It's, it's always like, some direct to consumer brand. Like, and the other thing about this, Larry, is, like, the. The missions of all these brands. Like, you know, like, look, we. We sell bed sheets on the Internet. They're sustainable. We're proud of the product. It's phenomenal. Like, it's the best sheets you'll ever own, don't get me wrong. And we donate $100,000 of charity in our first three years of operation. Very proud of that. We do good in the world, right? But at the end of the day, we sell bed sheets on the Internet. The period, end of the story. That's who we are and doesn't need to be any loftier than that. And my whole team has bought into that as, like, that's what we do. Be proud of it. Own, Own it. Whereas every other consumer brand, like, we're changing the way that people approach their personal hygiene. Like, no, you sell a toothbrush on the Internet. Like, we're. We're changing the way that cultures interact with one another. No, you sell a suitcase on the Internet. Like, don't. Like, you know, like. Like, where to teach these people these crazy, like, ways to communicate with people. And I think that, like, people's authenticity meters are so strong in 2022. Like, and it's on all of these consumer brands is like, it drives me nuts. So, you know, like, what you see is what you get with us. And I think that that's been really successful for us.

Yeah, and it's the same way in the art world. You know, it's like you go in and somebody's got this piece of crap in the wall, and then there's somebody else trying to sell this. Like, you know, he went in there and he's, you know, taking a stand against, you know, the injustice in the world, you know, for. It's about, you know, how women have fought and been underpaid for all these things. But this symbolizes some kind of crap. It's just like, some.

Some struggle in this painting. And it's like, no, it's a. It's a nice painting. Like, it's like, most of the time.

It'S a piece of crap, but they're just trying to talk you into, like, but this is profound. Changing how painting will be done and artwork for the coming generations. It's like, shut up. It's ugly.

It's really. It's really a. It's really a commentary on the Turkish genocide of, like, you know, it's like, it's, you know, it's just. No, it's a Painting, right.

You know, it's a painting if you buy it, you know.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah.

So, you know, one last, I'm going to hit you one last time on this. You get an idea for maybe this is a long, if it's a long story, just tell me and then we'll, we'll do it on another episode.

Okay, sure.

How do you get, how do you go from a guy watching Netflix or something and then you, all of a sudden you become the sheet king, you know, like, like the pillow king.

Yeah, the. My pillow guy.

Yeah.

Well, I get that, I get that comparison a lot. And it is not the most flattering comparison in the world. Well, you're really going to get it.

When you run for president now. You know, that's the thing.

But the thing, I'll do the beard, he's got the mustache and yeah, we'll clash a little bit. Yeah, I'm like the bizarro world. My pillow guy. I think that the answer is just neuroticism, like in the sense of like, you know, you started a company, like you work 16 hour days, seven days a week for two years, right, getting company off the ground until, yeah, you shake every hand, you say yes to every single thing. You fly to New York on a red eye, you, you know, you meet manufacturers, you go to India, you like, they're all, all these things you, you can do. So I think people, there's a great quote, I think it's by Bill Gates and it's people overestimate, overestimate what they can do in a year and they underestimate what they can do in 10. And I, and I think that if you're working 16 hour days, seven days a week, really what you can do in, in two years is, is really incredible. And so, yeah, I mean, I think that there's like just a healthy amount of neuroticism of, of trying a bunch of different things. Failing and treating people the way that you want to be treated, I think is always the key for me of like, why do our customers love us? Is because we, you know, we treat them like human beings and we, we don't treat them like wallets with mouths. And so, yeah, I mean, that's the short answer, but there's a lot of yada, yada, yada in there of how you go from zero to seven figure months in two years, you know.

Thanks so much, Colin.

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