在大学宿舍里创业的美国姑娘们

奢侈品香皂品牌You Smell

创始人：梅根•卡明斯

年龄：27岁

学校：萨瓦纳艺术设计学院

毕业时间：2008年

    2007年卡明斯大四，正在萨瓦纳艺术设计学院（Savannah College of Art and Design）准备毕业论文。她的想法？创造一种包装设计。她决定将手工香皂用复古设计的材料包裹起来——从此便一发不可收拾。卡明斯将其命名为“You Smell”。现年27岁的她表示，经常有客户写信给她，说甚至在打开信箱的时候就闻到了香皂味。与Wild Squirrel创始人一样，卡明斯今年也上了Shark Tank节目；罗伯特•赫雅维克表示，愿意出105,000美元收购该公司20%的股份。拍摄完成后，交易没有落实，但投资者们开始打电话给卡明斯——电话来得正是时候。她说：“我起步时非常艰难，（我和未婚夫）一度身无分文，只能动用自己的储蓄和订婚戒指钱来维持生计。”一位投资者给了卡明斯超过14万美元，而她给了这位投资者30%的You Smell股份。

    下一步？这家奢侈品香皂初创公司正在打造客户群，拓展产品线（正在考虑身体磨砂膏和液体香皂），接着计划与高端连锁店洽谈分销事宜。卡明斯说：“最难的是拒绝一些天大的机会。这些机会能让我们赚到快钱，但它们要么最终会毁灭我们精心打造的品牌，要么会在快速成长中榨干我们。”

    译者：早稻米

You Smell

Founder(s): Megan Cummins

Age: 27

School: Savannah College of Art and Design

Graduation: 2008

    In 2007, Cummins was working on her thesis as a senior at Savannah. Her prompt? Create a package design. She decided to bundle handmade soap in vintage-inspired wrapping—and hasn't stopped since. She titled it You Smell and Cummins, now 27-years-old, says that customers frequently email her saying that they can even smell the soap when they open their mailbox. Like the Wild Squirrel founders, Cummins also appeared on Shark Tank this year; Robert Harjavec offered her $105,000 for a 20% stake in the company. The deal fell through once filming ended, but investors began calling Cummins—just in the knick of time. "I started a very difficult journey where [me and my fiancé] went broke and had to use our savings and engagement ring money to stay afloat," she says. An investor paid Cummins upwards of $140,000, and she gave him 30% of You Smell.

    Up next? The luxury soap startup is building its customer base and expanding its product line (think body scrubs and liquid soap), then plans to start distribution conversations high-end chains. "The hardest part has been saying no to big opportunities that would make us fast money but would ultimately ruin the brand we've crafted—or crushed us from rapid growth," Cummins says.