Let’s start with the fact that even Akasia at some point was a start-up and even today we are still embracing the start-up mindset, so we do know exactly how you feel and understand that you’re looking for the best possible supplier so you can hit the ground running.
On the other hand, with our approach of being responsible for the product development and manufacturing to your brand’s values, we are limited in the amount of clients we can take on each year.
Start-ups in particular tend to use much more of our available capacity of experts and while we are sure that you only come to us while having a million dollar idea or collection, please take the time to show us where you are, what you expect from us and where you want to take it and we promise you to take your inquiry as serious as you do. It might be that we refer you to more suitable suppliers to your needs, or we might decide to get into a trial to see if we’re the right fit.
What we look for in the start-up jewelry brands we invest our available resources in, really depends on different factors as well as our available capacities on different levels. We are more likely to take up projects where we think we can really add a significant value in terms of manufacturing capabilities or where we think our team can learn and adopt new technologies to overcome manufacturing challenges not resolved by other suppliers.
Another significant factor for the Akasia assessment team to consider would be any other entrepreneurial, market launch or significant following on social media of the founding team. Even though as jewelry enthusiasts we like to think that a great piece of jewelry sells itself, over the years we have seen a lot of great jewelry brands with even greater designs and technically advanced concepts fail by the lack of traction they were able to generate and therefore we also do look at the expected marketing and sales efforts the start-up is able to pull up with.
Even though we do turn down on a lot of interesting projects, we will try to help you on your way and leave the door open for future collaboration.
Since your time as a start-up founder is precious, we do ask you to give us a brief introduction of the founder or founding team with details like, but not limited to:
Who you are, what your experience is with jewelry or with market launches, are you an influencer with millions of followers trying to tap into the protentional? Or are you already in business, while having issues on your supply side?
This would be the kind of information for us to assess what kind of support you would need from us.
