Since we first came up with the concept of Common Soles earlier this year we've been chugging along quite quickly and smoothly. Fueled by passion we were able to come to market with our first flip-flop more rapidly than what others thought possible. Now we are a few weeks away from having our next few styles available which will go to funding new initiatives. Thus, we've proven our model is scalable which is a critical step in building Common Soles as a brand, and as a business. Without the business aspect the social aspect doesn't get the necessary funding and the whole model doesn't work. So happily it is all working out great thus far!

Rao and I are busy working on the new products and initiatives, but to the above point we are just as busy working on building a stable platform for Common Soles. Necessary components of that platform include such functions as: Distribution, Marketing, Accounting, and Finance. The two big ones for us at the moment being Marketing and Finance.  Without people knowing about what we are doing nobody can become a supporter or purchase a pair of flip-flops from us, and without the necessary finance, we won't have enough capital to invest in growing the organization.  This is our challenge - our solution? Communication.

Last Friday Rao and I pitched Common Soles at Babson (I know, we mention Babson quite frequently). We participated in Rocket Pitch which is a really cool event where presenters are given 3 minutes to present 3 slides to an audience comprised of business school students, attorneys, CPAs, investors, and other interested folks, a business or product idea in hopes that some of the attendees can and decide to provide value to the presenter in the form of investment, connections, advice, etc. It's an incredible experience and we got A LOT of positive reaction from our audience.

So this is us communicating. Reaching out to the world and asking how we can be the organization we have planned on building. It takes time, it takes a plan, and it takes help.  Thanks all for everything you've given us thus far.

-Dave