Alumna sees entrepreneurial success despite setbacks
Alumna Katie Everds invented the Tillow, a beach towel containing a removable pillow, storage space and a touchscreen-sensitive pocket. She will be featured on the TV show “Quit Your Day Job,” a show geared towards helping aspiring entrepreneurs. (Marley Maron/Daily Bruin)
By Artiom Arutiunov
April 14, 2016 12:00 a.m.
Katie Everds raised $30,000 to get her product out into the world, but then she lost it.
“I was so stressed out because I promised all these people that bought my product that I would deliver,” Everds said.
The UCLA alumna recently filmed on an episode of the TV show “Quit Your Day Job,” a business-themed show focused on developing aspiring entrepreneurs that airs April 20. Everds was forced to take out a personal loan in order to continue manufacturing her product and keep the business afloat – while maintaining her regular day job in marketing.
Everds’ invention is the Tillow – a beach towel containing a removable pillow, a storage space for belongings and a touchscreen-sensitive pocket. After a casual day of lying uncomfortably on the beach, the idea for the Tillow came to her.
Everds’ idea took off when she raised $30,000 in 30 days through a Kickstarter campaign. However, miscommunication between her and her offshore manufacturer resulted in the manufacturer demanding more money to make the Tillows. When she refused, the manufacturer failed to follow through on the promise of refunding Everds. She lost the entire sum.
“It was terrible,” Everds said. “You hear things like that about going overseas. I thought it wouldn’t happen to me, and it did.”
In retrospect, she said, losing the money was only a minor setback. Everds said she was invited onto the show the day of receiving her inventory for her product, meaning she went into the show without any sales numbers to further pitch her product.
Yet, in what she lacked statistically, she compensated with sheer will and enthusiasm, said Ariel Brozell, a producer of “Quit Your Day Job.” Brozell said the producers wanted Everds on the show regardless of her manufacturing issues, citing it as part of the entrepreneurial struggle.
“All I can say is Katie is definitely a fighter,” Brozell said.
Everds said it was a useful experience that opened up a lot of doors. Since the show was more focused on the contestants than the business itself, Everds said she developed essential business skills through a series of individually tailored challenges aimed to sharpen her business acumen.
Under the mentorship of four successful entrepreneurs including Randi Zuckerberg – the former director of market development for Facebook – Everds said she had gained the resources she needed to get her business back on track.
“It was terrifying,” Everds said. “All I could really compare it to was what I had seen on TV, and I thought: ‘They are going to eat me alive.'”
Alongside its role on “Quit Your Day Job,” the Tillow also appeared on The Today Show as part of a “beach bag essentials” list. Even though the Tillow had a mere 30 seconds of airtime, Everds witnessed a surge in sales and increased publicity.
Despite the Tillow’s recent success, Everds chose to work on all aspects of the Tillow herself, from patenting and designing to finding a distributor and managing shipments. She said she was determined to handle the main tasks instead of simply hiring people to do them to learn more about business.
“There’s definitely been ups and downs. It’s been really hard on her at times,” said Austin Melton, Everds’ boyfriend who appeared on the show alongside her.
The most challenging aspect of starting her own business is the constant feeling of self-doubt, Everds said. With no prior experience in raising capital or dealing with insurance, she said she frequently felt overwhelmed and helpless. The key is to be one’s own biggest fan in such a challenging situation, she said.
Melton said Everds’ focus hasn’t just been profitability, but also how to ensure she can start a business from scratch over and over again.
“That’s been really valuable to her and has been one thing that has really stuck out to me,” Melton said.
With professional guidance from the show and the help of her family, Everds has continued to expand her business, even opening up her own kiosk on Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica on Friday. Everds said she hopes to one day sell the Tillow business and continue to come up with new ideas, though she wishes she pursued her business ventures in college as much as she does now.
“If you have an idea, there’s no better time than now,” Everds said.
