Longtime Primary Flight sponsor Jakprints got a nice write-up in the Cleveland Scene, Northeast Ohio’s alternative weekly, written by Michael Gill. The article focuses on company founders Jacob Edwards and Dameon Guess, and how they went from being high school drop-outs, to highly-successful entrepreneurs. It’s an inspirational story, proving that there’s no one formula for accomplishing your goals. Both Edwards and Guess cut their teeth on skateboarding, music and art as teenagers. They parlayed touring the country in a band van into a multi-million dollar printing & merchandising company specializing in flyers, t-shirts and other promotional items.
“For the uninitiated, Jakprints is the Cleveland printing company whose principal means of marketing for years was a garage band’s tour van. They grew out of a second-floor apartment in Willoughby to become a major player in the industry in less than a decade — all the while staying true to their roots. The company now has 120 employees and 69,741 customers worldwide. In May, Jakprints was honored by Harvard Business School’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner City as one of the top 100 U.S. companies doing business in the urban core. Not bad for a couple of guys who didn’t get past 10th grade.”
The article goes on to talk about Jakprints spin-off company Indiemerch:
“As it turns out, these passions are translating to money. According to Harvard’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, Jakprints had $13.5 million in revenue in 2008 and was growing at an average rate of 33 percent per year. Just three years after buying the Chester Avenue building, they leased the one next door to house a spin-off called Indiemerch, an apparel merchandising company that is Jakprints’ major clothing customer. Run from a California office by Edwards’ brother and Sheilbound bandmate Isaac, Indiemerch prints and distributes T-shirts and other apparel for bands, handling the process from beginning to end and paying the artists a royalty, just like record companies do.”
Jakprints was also recently honored by Harvard Business School’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner City, when they were named one of the top 100 U.S. companies doing business in the urban core. Kudos, guys.
All photos by Anastasia Pantsios. Read the full article here.
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