This letter has not flowed as smoothly as most. It's really fun to write about bad news, and unfortunately, I have nothing but good to share.

Sweater samples en-route.

I am happy to report that after more than 6 months searching for a knit sweater factory, meticulously iterating through designs and tweaking the fit, often at 2am via video chat with my factory owner, I've approved two samples for shipment to Cambridge. These may be the final iterations before presale officially begins (that's really big news!).

The newsletter has been growing slowly and it's heartwarming to see the product and community grow in tandem. I appreciate everyone who has shared the journey with friends and family as I navigate this process. Thank you!

Also, congratulations to Ethan Phan on solving last newsletter's sweater color challenge by correctly using the first letter of each sentence to spell Pink and Lavender (not "purple," as several people guessed).

Fundraising

I have spent the past few months perfecting my pitch in advance of a potential fundraising round. As a result, I've had to dig deeper into what this company means to me. For a while, I was afraid to tackle this project because I worried there wouldn't be much substance beyond my idealistic entrepreneurial spark. For the first year of this project, I often avoided talking about it publicly because progress was slow and I was afraid that I'd be unable to articulate its meaning.

That was completely wrong, of course, because A) cool things deserve to be made regardless of intellectual meaning, and B) colorful men's sweaters are important. In this process I have developed a new type of confidence – resulting not from dreamy optimism but from a structured feeling of clarity.

My inspiration, Paynter Jacket Co., claims that they didn't raise any money to start their seven-figure brand, instead relying on savings and preorders to fund their first drop. I used this story to convince myself that fundraising was the enemy. While my model is not a good fit for Venture Capital, my aversion to funds is overwhelmed by my desire to deliver an incredible product experience. By raising a "pre-seed" round of loans and small equity investments from angels, I won't have to struggle to fund basics like packaging, photoshoots, and a rock solid website.

So that's a mission for the next few months. I'll reveal what I can as I attempt to raise money. Wish me luck!

Finn