Startup Snag: Your Samples Are Stuck Overseas. How Do You Get Them in Time for the Trade Show?

When Matt Martin was in college, he and his skiing pals had trouble finding retro-style one-piece ski-suits to wear on the slopes. After graduation, Matt decided to fill the gap in this niche market by creating his own brand of retro skiwear. Almost immediately, Matt hit some bumps that were far more challenging than any mogul run he’d ever been on. It was time for him to conquer some startup snags!

Flexibility is not only a crucial key to success, it’s also necessary -- especially when bringing a brand-new business to life. Things don’t always go according to plan, and when that happens entrepreneurs have to think on their feet, come up with new strategies and sometimes even take their venture in a new direction. In The Startup Snag, we’re learning from established business owners who hit a snag early on and cleverly solved the problem. We’ll also find out how they’re doing today.

Name: Matt Martin

Business: Retro Mountain Skiwear

Started: November 2014

The startup snag: Matt says, “My initial stock order was for 300 ski suits in six different designs — three male and three female. I’d booked a spot at a skiing trade show, but there was a last-minute problem with the shipping. Our manufacturer is based in Shanghai, and I thought I’d done all my research and completed the paperwork I needed to in order to get them here. Unfortunately, I’d missed one very important number — the Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number -- which meant the suits couldn’t be shipped to me.”

The savvy solution: “I couldn’t do the trade show without the samples, so I flew out to Shanghai to fly them home,” Matt says. But while he was in China, he ran into yet another startup snag. “I noticed a design fault with the hoods of the women’s suits. The seamstress worked overnight to correct them and she delivered 18 suits to me at 5:50am the next day, just ten minutes before I needed to leave.”

“We did the show with those 18 samples and I directed people to the website to buy them. Because of the on-going problems with my manufacturer, we had to tell them that they’d be available ‘soon.’ It was a shame to lose some sales that way, but once the shop was up and running and the stock was in, I was definitely happy with the sales we made.”

The current company: Retro Mountain Skiwear is approaching its fifth winter season and has expanded the company to also include Dinoski, a skiwear line for children launching in October 2018.  

Read the full story of Retro Mountain Skiwear on QuickBooks Community

Have you hit a startup snag? If so, how did you handle it?

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