Will This Float?

Time flies when you are having a good time. A lot has been happening in the past month. . . 

First things first - SWAYY is among the eight finalists that have been selected to share their pitch at The Company Lab's annual "Will This Float?" competition! How awesome is that? The event will take place Monday from 6 to 9 p.m. at River Place, located at 2 W. Aquarium Way during the first day of Startup Week in Chattanooga, TN. You guys should totally come out and show your support! Click here for tickets. 

We have one main goal for this competition buzz – to get people talking. Word-of-mouth benefits a small company like SWAYY in literally dozens of ways:

1. It helps us generate sales

2. It widens our networks. It is amazing how so many people will knock on our door to see how they can help when they hear about us, our products, and our visions. 

3. It puts us in front of potential investors. If I am being completely honest, we are not to the level of "sustainability" that I would like, but I hear this is relatively normal for startups - I want to live outside of those norms. Bring on the sustainable growth!

4. It helps me (Seth) learn how to better pitch the mission and vision of SWAYY. Public speaking is a huge thing for leaders in the world of business. Being able to cast a vision through verbal pictures is huge: it is what inspires those on your team to get up and make decisions. 

5. It's super fun. I love talking. My mom sometimes calls me a "Chatty Kathy", but let's be real, who doesn't like talking about their passions and experiences?

6. It's therapy. Being able to express to others your past, present, and future goals helps bring in confidence and encouragement from others, and that is ok! The day of the pitch is the 16th of October. The day of the pitch is the 16th of October, which happens to also be the anniversary of my father’s passing. Honestly, I can't think of a better way to spend the day! 

7. It's educational. I can say with confidence that I will make mistakes on stage, that is a no-brainer. What I am thrilled about is that I can learn from those mistakes, showing me how to make the next pitch even more impactful.

I have started negotiation talks with several retailers in the Chattanooga area this week. This past Friday I meet with the buyers of RockCreek. Our main goal was to explore the retail opportunities and to find out what it takes to get a product on the shelves. Our meeting went very well. We were able to secure official invitations to the many events that RockCreek hosts in the TN area. Also, we will be revisiting in the coming months about the opportunity to test some of our products in their stores. More to come…  The retailers that we are most excited about so far are RockCreek, L2 Outside, and RAK Outfitters. Keep an eye out for updates on all of these retailers. 

Finally, I have been talking closely with a potential manufacturing company overseas. They have the capacity to help us out, unlike the other six manufactures we have been wrestling with. The most exciting part is that they specialize in making backpacks. This is a great opportunity because they willing to work out a synergistic deal where SWAYY will sell some of their backpacking packs for a royalty in exchange for solid deals for the production of our hammocks. The bottom line is that we need to find a way to grow in production without going bankrupt or sacrificing obscene amounts of quality - this may just be the big break we need.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on right now. I can’t wait to see where all of this activity leads our company, and I look forward to sharing more exciting news with you in the future! Keep an eye out across our social media platforms and we will keep you updated. And remember…

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