by Alana Laanui |
Nicholas Ost and Paul Dilley have been working together since their freshman year in the halls of Shipstad. Today, they are the founders and owners of a growing company that has already generated over $400,000 in revenue.
Their company, Townie Shades, creates sunglasses that are custom designed for different cities. They’ve featured towns like Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Portland pair proudly represents the PDX carpet design. Their sunglasses are made in China and generally cost around $20.00 a pair.
Ost and Dilley, senior finance majors and entrepreneurship minors, are part of the School of Business’ Entrepreneur Scholars Program, which allows students of all majors to take part in the growing trend in entrepreneurship. A study from Babson and Baruch Colleges reported a record high of startup businesses in 2012, and the movement is growing.
They decided to start a company together at the end of their freshman year and created Rage Shades. Their idea was to provide sunglasses for the college party demographic. This initial startup taught Ost and Dilley what they were missing, knowledge that they would use when starting Townie Shades.
“At the end of it we probably didn’t break even,” Dilley said. “But we learned that there was nothing differentiated about our product, our branding wasn’t really there.”
After Rage Shades, they learned of another startup in Washington that was selling sunglasses with the Seattle skyline, a concept they were interested in. They contacted the owners and created a partnership with Ost and Dilley in charge of the branding.
“We essentially formed a new company,” Ost said. “We made more revenue in two months than what they had ever made previously.”
Townie Shades is expanding its reach and has a unique mission to give back to the community. The company does this by donating a portion of their proceeds to local nonprofits. Townie Shades has already donated over $16,000 to nonprofits that address hunger in communities across the country.
“We decided we wanted to give to nonprofits in the communities we represent,” Ost said. “We like that even though we may not be from that area, we can still make a difference in that community.”
Ost and Dilley have come a long way since the halls of Shipstad, and they credit a lot of their success to the E-Scholars program. They said the program has forced them to get out of their comfort zone in order to expand their business. They have travelled to places like New York and Italy to meet and learn from professionals in the business world. These experiences have taught them the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone in order to promote your idea.
“As a student, no one expects you to know what you're doing,” said Dilley. “Use this to your advantage and learn as much as you can from people who know their stuff.”
Peter Rachor is the Director for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UP and has served as a mentor for Ost and Dilley.
“They identified a good opportunity,” said Rachor. “They have done a good job of figuring out how to grow that opportunity, they continue to find new ways to expand the idea.”
Rachor is also in charge of the E-Scholars program which encourages students to come up with a unique idea and then helps them make that idea happen. Rachor said the program aims to create “entrepreneurs, innovators and leaders.”
E-scholars is available to all students at the university and aims to help students become their own bosses one day. This is what Ost and Dilley look forward to after graduation as they look to expand Townie Shades and possibly create sunglasses for Pilots. Alana Laanui is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at laanui18@up.edu or on Twitter @AlanaLaanui.
