Posts Tagged ‘Entrepeneurs’

Our CEO makes CNN’s top 10 Entrepreneurs to watch List

Tuesday, July 12th, 2011

Juggling t-shirts

On Thursday, CNN Money came out with a feature on the Top 10 Next Generation Entrepreneurs to watch. Included in the list of 10 was a Restauranteur, a Vending Machine Mogul, and Yours truly. What an honor.

We launched the brand in 2005, and have been working since then to build Crooked Monkey into what it is today–awesome t-shirts for awesome people.  When we started, we focused on the humor market.  Then we added the graphic market to our catalog.  Now we are the destination for awesome tees. The nomination is a thumbs up/recognition to everything we’re doing here at Crooked Monkey–and all the loyal fans and supporters across the globe.

The piece itself is pretty funny and cheeky, check it out.

So what’s next for Crooked Monkey? How are we going to continue to provide awesome t-shirts and build the brand?  Well most importantly we’re relaunching/revamping our site.  Its an exciting and long process–right now we’re going through the cosmetic changes. It’s all about finding that unique Crooked Monkey voice and funneling that into the design.

We’re super stoked to be on CNN Money’s top 10 list, and we won’t let them down.  Cheers to the next six years of Livin the Dream.

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Broke into the Old Apartment

Tuesday, October 26th, 2010

Crooked Monkey moved offices about three years ago. And by “offices” I mean basements–we moved from my former business partners basement… to my mom’s basement.

Just last week, my former partner’s mom was reorganizing, and called me to pick up some Crooked Monkey boxes. It took me about a week to find time to head over there, but when I did it was like going back in time.

Heading down the staircase brought memories of a nascent company looking to find its voice amongst the throng of t-shirt companies. Swinging open the doors to the basement door, I flashbacked to the dog days of cold calls and 2 PM happy hours. Of long road trips to Chicago and of Crooked Monkey Hotties.  Of “Fuck Duke” and Cease and Desist Letters.  Of “Party with the Monkey” and of brainstorming sessions into the wee hours of the morning. Of being a budding Entrepreneur, living in my parents house and sleeping on friends couches, with wide eyes and the naivete to push forward–against the odds.

I haven’t looked through all the boxes yet, but I’m excited to. It’s like a time capsule–a window into the beginnings of the Crooked Monkey brand.

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Crooked Monkey wins BB&T Invitational with Under Armour

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Crooked Monkey was established in 2005. In May, it will celebrate its 4 year anniversary. We’ve accomplished a lot in our short history–featured in magazines, picked up by department stores and trendy boutiques, and put a smile on over 120,000 happy customers. And now, finally, we can add, “receiving an oversized check (a la Happy Gilmore) to our list of accolades.”

Starting in 2006, Kevin Plank (the founder and CEO of Under Armour) has hosted an annual business competition for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, called the Cupid’s Cup. In its first year, Crooked Monkey was nominated for the award and finished as a runner up in the competition. This year, Crooked Monkey could not compete for the award because our annual sales volume exceeded the upper limit.

Luckily BB&T; launched the BB&T; invitational–which features companies connected with the University of Maryland. It allows us to showcase our businesses, and invites students, alumn and other entrepreneurs to get a taste for each company. The attendees then vote for their favorite company and the winner is announced at the Cupid’s Cup, in front of the entire Under Armour Executive team. There was stiff competition from a list of other strong, thriving entrepreneurs. But in the end our Funny t-shirts were a fan favorite and we took home the prize money and an oversized check!

Than you to: Kevin Plank, Asher Espstein (from the Dingman Center) and BB&T;.

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Why I leave for work at 11 AM

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009


Yesterday I decided that I wanted to get to the office early, so I left my apartment at 9 AM. I was rewarded with a lot of traffic and an extra 25 minutes to my early morning commute. I learned my lesson. Today I’m still working from my apartment.

Early bird gets the worm? More like, early bird gets stuck in traffic.

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My cousin’s Crooked Monkey illustration

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

I was in Miami last week and, among other things, got to see my cousin. She’s a budding entrepreneur–at the age of 12 she started her first magazine. When I launched Crooked Monkey she told me she wasn’t accepting any advertisers because she hated how ads take up the first 40 pages of most magazines. By the age of 14 she got smart and asked if I’d advertise.

She just recently got Adobe Illustrator, and made the above illustration. Fantastic.

If you’ve got any Crooked Monkey illustrations–using funny t-shirts, the monkey or our name–send them through and we’ll post them.

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