Rob Walker’s Q&A With Jeff Staple

Staple Design is one of those bubbling companies that you can’t stop hearing about. Rob Walker interviewed Jeff Staple on his blog recently because, “Staple seems a bit ahead of the pack in terms of building a real business. If I had to bet on one brand-underground entitity that’s really going to ‘make it big,’ not just as a brand but as a business as well, it would quite likely be Staple.” Quite a statement. Read Rob’s Q&A with the entrepreneur and decide for yourself. Here’s an extract:

ROB: I feel that by and large being sort of openly entrepreneurial is seen as not just acceptable, but kind of cool, for this generation… But there’s still some stigma around “selling out” in the “wrong way.” Maybe I’m wrong about all that, so what do you think?

JEFF: The way I see it, there are a whole lot of creative people in this world. The differences are the ones that are able to make something out if it. Even back in design school for instance, tons of kids had a great eye, great talent, and graduated with great grades. But what you were able to do with that talent was the deal breaker. Maybe it’s because I am now so neck deep in this industry, but in my opinion, there is a HUGE chasm between being an “entrepreneur” and “selling out”.

My company is somewhere floating in the middle of this chasm. I’ve been doing this long enough to remember the days when doing a shoe with Nike or designing a soda can would automatically be deemed as “selling out”. Now it’s a badge of honor. I wonder why this is sometimes. Maybe reality has set in for many people. Rent, Mortgage, Car Payments, Child Support, Sneaker Habit…hey whatever your thing is, you’ve got to take care of it and “keepin it real” maybe doesn’t work out like it used to.

murketing » Blog Archive » Staple: The Q&A