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verge becoming stltoday complex I told people, you know, when they were emailing back and forth or communicating in our systems like don't waste time putting thanks or thanks for your help or anything like everyone knows everyone else is thankful that's one extra email one extra thing to click on or whatever, like, that's a waste that's inefficient. So you're growing this t-shirt business and at that point, you kind of know this is what you want to do. Seven new UGP office locations opened up: Additionally, in October we launched a newly redesigned. I'm good with that. You know, earlier in my career, and maybe still, maybe till till this day, I still maybe pushed too too fast. I know, this is one of the reasons I like I've wanted to start a podcast on my end was because I just love like, that's a that's really, really noble. So tell us a little bit about your roots and your family. But what makes for a good investment, right? In 2021, UGP celebrated their 20th anniversary. Right? Hopefully, we'll be around. I mean, some of it might have been dumb luck. But when you close down and you don't open yourself up to a lot of opportunities you don't feel as lucky but you also don't feel the ups and downs so to speak. And again, and startups the same way, just start a business every three to five years. A series of car "troubles" experienced by Rishi and his beloved Ford Probe GT led to a chance encounter with a tow truck driver who used to dabble in screen printing in a former life. Right? ft. to 55,000 sq. And when we were eight, we moved to Okemos, right outside East Lansing, which you know, all too well. Seed, Series A, Private Equity), Alternate or previous names for the organization, Whether an Organization is for profit or non-profit, General contact email for the organization. But, uh, we're surviving. I mean, there's a lot of examples out there of those companies. I was very guilty of that. And now, you know, I started to develop this kind of strategy at that time of the fast B which is basically like, you know, you don't need a get to the fast B because in real life nobody cares if you got A they just care if you got there, you know, and how and did you get there in time such for sure.

That's where I feel the most comfortable as I will tell anyone. Underground Printing employment reaches 150 people in July, and in December UGP adds a 2nd shift to production. I think that I'm a believer in hedging. You know, hopefully, again, back up to 250. And I just tend to be a person that likes to learn by, you know, putting my own chips in. But in hindsight, it helped develop and frame like my beliefs in hedging and risk taking, you know, that I don't believe that entrepreneurship is risk taking, I think it's smart hedges/smart bets and making the right decision more often than not. Throw you know, maybe any savings aside, you know, these are these are difficult things and I, you know, I remember like when we started the company and started, that at a very early age, sophomore in college, just got to get, and get a lot of kudos for being so young. And it was only sitting in, like, intro to thermodynamics, my sophomore year that I was like: "what is this, this is nothing like what I thought it was going to be." Get him to smile. We could have moved on and been fine. And we hope we can grow.

And it just that was a good lesson to learn is like, it doesn't matter how awesome the horses, how fast the horses, the jockey fail good. Even with this minimalist production facility, A-1 Screen printing really took off. Please note, comments must be approved before they are published. And so if I can derive the knowledge, often it's tuition, that's how I look at it. There you go. In class, I actually take a little bit of time to talk about, like, how to write emails, best ways to sign off. erosi prosecutor rustavi reveals ex owner death office dead found july Because, I want to make sure that I'm still good with the fact that if, by and large, the end of the day, if you like, "hey, cool," walk away, and you think "oh, Rishi, he prints t-shirts." Because a lot of the people that we talk with, it's like you can't hedge. We'll talk about all things in "end of 2019". And a couple years later, that turned disastrous for me. I think that's a great final lesson here. But because they were so far apart, in my mind, I don't even I don't believe that anymore. He's got a lot of work to do. And we all know that retail has been hit really bad recently. So yeah, so I grew up in Indiana. In March, UGP purchases historic Moe Sport Shops in Ann Arbor, MI.

But after some gentle persuading and reassuring, they convinced the now-infamous tow truck driver to let them set up shop in his garage, next to a broken-down Chevy and two golden retrievers who lovingly shared their hair with anything they touched. So now, you know, Underground Printing, custom t-shirt manufacturer and retail stores in a whole bunch of college stores. Yeah. I'm a grad student, you know, still, that's what I do. Because, it's so hard to do that. underground gym chroniclejournal them tarps thunder panetta removes instruments musical dry safe owner peter thanks bay They're areas, I'm interested in, people I'm interested in. I think, when you take other people's money, then you have to go all in. And it just came in a small dose and then it went from there. And we ended up deciding to take this guy out to dinner, offer to buy all of his t-shirt equipment, old, old t-shirt equipment, and start a t-shirt company. So you know, it was definitely an identity thing. But I also feel like there are a lot of hard workers out there that didn't, that didn't get lucky. You know, that's what I loved about President Obama, like such a great speaker. But, I do think that the way that I did it, the first time around was by just saying like, I can juggle a lot of things. But yes, we're up there. But, you decide to get a master's degree. hilly kristal cbgb gries For sure. And that's not really, that's just a facet, very small facet of chemical engineering. So I know those are two things that are really, really important to you. So you're a busy man. And if I get an extra money back, then that's, that's just gravy on top of it. And so I think that those managers, those leaders, those that can tell the story, well, you know, communicate well, and look, and that's something that's learned and it's learned with each new, triumphant and each new tribulation, you know, like, I don't think it's something like once you've learned to communicate, that's it. How are you doing? But he does have the right compensation ask. It's just like all things like. Yeah, I agree. It is true, it probably is inefficient. It's not going to win. That's a much difficult proposition. But that wasn't going to be what I wanted to do. And, you know, the reason not Michigan State where my father was a professor was because I just couldn't imagine myself in his, like, classes or anything like that. Okay, well, now he's changed. So it's your 250 employees-ish, you're in a number of different college towns, you've also started an angel investment group, you own a soccer club, the AFC Ann Arbor. But when you're when you're playing with house money, so to speak, or you know, a little friends and family or whatever, then yeah, why not? So we'll coach him up. But anytime you're doing something new, there's a whole lot of effort, there's a learning curve. And I'm curious, you know, how do you how do you overcome? And you probably didn't have that, you know, podcast run-in where suddenly you're talking with Tim Ferriss on the subway, right. Oh, that's clearly important running a business and investor. As compared to the predecessor. And a couple years after that, company tanked. He's got some work to do. And something is standing in their way. And really forces you to go back to your roots, you know, sales, if sales is what it was, or customer service, if that's what it was, or I would argue they are the same thing. Thanks. You know, I agree. View contacts for Underground Printing to access new leads and connect with decision-makers. And then going all in. [3], In 2018, they partnered with the Pittsburgh Steelers to produce Stronger Than Hate shirts in the wake of the Tree of Life synagogue shooting. Yeah. Hundred percent, I think that once I started, I think I did feel some guilt like and I wanted to have interest in other things. ft. facility to a state of the art 33,000 sq. I don't know what company we'll be or what everything will look like at that time. The t-shirts were available in Pittsburgh retail stores and proceeds from the sale of any products with the Stronger Than Hate logo went directly to the victims of the tragedy. Oh, by the way, you're also teaching classes at the University of Michigan in entrepreneurship. And what's the definition of success? Ryan and Rishi purchased a very basic screen printing setup, but still had one issue: Where would they produce their shirts? And I've learned things that from one that have applied to other even with the podcast, you know, it's like: "alright, learn this over here, this ties in over here sponsors this, that marketing," it, you know, it all, it's on me, I don't feel guilty about it, because it's on me, and I think I hold myself accountable to that, to derive the knowledge there to apply in other places, and vice versa. You should have a talk with that model. And that's what he did. But my parents are from India. It's, you have to do it again. My dad was a professor of chemical engineering both at Purdue and then at Michigan State and so I was a prototypical academic/academics kid, you know, definitely overachiever type, you know, wanted to take APs and do really well and be considered one of the smartest kids in school, I thought I was going to be a professor like my dad. Little did I know, that was what he did. Well, thank you so much, Rishi, really appreciate it. Changes name to Underground Printing (UGP). Well, listen, I want to be respectful of your time here. You can do the side hustle, if you have another job. Like what makes for a good risk versus return ratio, where you're you're not taking that risk, so to speak, but you're actually making a smart investment. In April, UGP employment reaches 200 people and just months later in August UGP adds 3rd shift to production. Yeah. SouthUStories.com. So I I truly do think it's not a thing that you get over the hurdle. All went up in flames. No, no, I mean, WeWork, Uber, Lyft, Fiverr. That's because that's what makes us go. They were pretty sure they couldn't sneak it all into their dorm room. Norman, OK near campus at the University of Oklahoma, Ann Arbor near the "Big House" - Michigan Stadium, Lincoln, NE near campus at the University of Nebraska. Get early access to clothing drops. So how did you learn that? Sure. They're really, really an aspirational thing. So, my name may have been a giveaway on it. SaaS, Android, Cloud Computing, Medical Device), Where the organization is headquartered (e.g. And yet, you chose to invest that incremental hour of time, not in running the business, but in investing in other businesses. I wasn't ready for that, you know, and I still needed to be able to tell people I was doing I there was a lot of pride in being on Sam's getting my master's in chemical engineering. We can grow together with him. And then what was the point, because I'm just gonna get diluted down anyway. Okay. And you know, it's like, those people that can talk to any audience at any time, at any age. In November, UGP moves production from a 12,000 sq. Give people time to adapt, like there is a cause for that, that actually can get you places faster than trying to just pull everyone along with you. And so there was something out there, we were going to do it, I was in like, student government and this and that, like anything else I could take you do to like, be busy. And I thought that was chemical engineering. And you've now been working at this for three years, right? Yeah. But you've been talking about it for years, you're really into it, give it a shot, give it a go. For sure. I think in some ways, it's actually harder once we achieve some success, because oh, yeah, you have this expectation of the results. Even now, UGP prides itself on its investment into manufacturing and technology.

Wait until you see if you've gotten to the point, why not hit that level? It didn't really become a real business still later on but but we got a lot of kudos for that. Ask anyone who's run a business, they will tell you, it's hard to run a business, and you're still running the business. And I'll fast forward 20 years, 19 years and still printing t-shirts to this day and still enjoying it. So you start this business after starting another business building lofts inside of dorms? I'm preaching and talking and teaching kids about taking a chance. No, my dad was a chemist and came to Purdue. This really exposes that. If you're a good communicator, your relationships are going to be a lot healthier. Yeah, exactly. And here I am being like, "I'm not gonna do this, because I'm worried about success and right, is it worth my time?" I actually think that part of it was rooted in the dichotomy between, say, chemical engineering, and printing t-shirts. It's fluctuating these days. A couple of my lessons learned that I've had people I work with that have, you know, taught me some hard lessons giving me some hard feedback. Take it. Which is interesting, right?

For sure. Okay. And I think that's really interesting, because we all learn so much when you can step outside, running the day to day business. But when you can do it, I'm advocate in that because that is the fast B, and that is that kind of mentality. Yeah. And sometimes sheer hard luck and sheer will can get you there. I worked at my dad's lab in high school, and I really loved it. The company would become known as Underground Printing in 2004 upon the acquisition of a company with that name. And you know, who knows, like 10 years later, five years, whatever it might be. The smiliest person I know who literally didn't smile in the whole thing. Right, because in college, it was kind of like, you had this serendipity moment of this tow truck driver, which, yeah, was was sort of a nice kick in the ass for for you to actually start this t-shirt company. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. Really inspiring. But before I let you go, I'm curious to understand as someone who's been running a business for while and obviously there's great benefit for people; they get a chance to work in a startup or a high growth, you know, business, what have you seen as the number one characteristic that you now seek out when you're hiring new people. And now I do it for me. I think hard work is a subset to a lot of, you know, a lot of us, you know, like we believe and we are hard workers, I think it's actually, the more you open yourself up to opportunities and potential chances of failure, the luckier you get. Several years later, A-1 Screen printing purchased another local screen printer named Underground Printing to expand their production capabilities and changed their name to something more relevant! So yeah, as you allude to, I went and realized very quickly that I didn't really want to be an engineer. And it reveals a lot of your thinking, because you've grown a really successful business with Underground Printing, you're busy, you mentioned it's hard to run a business, I can attest to that, right? I was fortunate enough to learn what I wanted to do while I was in school, by opening myself up to opportunities. But I'm like, I feel very confident in it, it's all about communication. Fast forward to two years later, when I realized that what an idiot I was, of course, I should have like, been in my dad's classes, like any advantage, I could have in college: course notes, like nepotism, I would have taken it all. The number one characteristic I think is the most valuable, but I don't know that I can seek it out. In November, UGP adds three more automatic presses to the shop, bringing the total count to 12 automatic presses and 11 manual presses. You know, look I'm, that's still an area I'm learning like all areas, I would say I learned a very interesting lesson, when it comes to investments pretty early on, where there was a company that we were pretty enamored with, and I'll leave all the names out of it. In 2006, they opened their first retail store in Ann Arbor, and since then they have expanded to open locations throughout the country. Free to drop me a line you can reach me at Rishi [dot] undergroundshirts.com.