How to Serve a (Literally) Oversized Market
Recently I wrote that an entrepreneur's most important asset is irrational optimism, a willingness to embrace 
belief and ignore those feelings that we aren't smart enough, dedicated enough, adaptable enough-- or simply that, in spite of our best intentions and best efforts, we cannot and will not succeed.
Rico Elmore is a poster child for irrational optimism. He was shopping for sunglasses in Las Vegas in 2004 and couldn't find a pair that fit. (Rico is 6' 3" and weighs 300 pounds.) He left the store, walked down the Strip with his brother, and said, "I'm going to start a company called Fatheadz, and we're going to make sunglasses for people with fat heads." Then he went home and designed a pair at his kitchen table, and spent months working on his business at night from his home.
"In the beginning we came up with an idea," he said, "And I thought, 'Man, this is a knockout.' Then the next thing you know everyone says it's a terrible idea. Lots of people told me it wouldn't work."
He took his prototype to a design agency, and as he describes it, "They laughed me out their front door." Then he went to a patent agency. Same response. Finally he found a designer, lined up manufacturing, gained FDA approval, and reached out individually to dozens of distributors and hundreds of optical shops.
His big break came when a Walmart buyer noticed an article about the company in a local newspaper. In 2008, 300 Walmart optical departments started selling three Fatheadz frames. By 2009 frames were available in more than 3,000 Walmarts. And Fatheadz recently signed a deal with Walmart Canada.
"Some people say working with Walmart is hard for a small company," Rico said. "For us that is definitely not the case. Walmart is one of our premier partners. Together we offer a great product at a great price to a market that was definitely under-served."
For the last three years Fatheadz has enjoyed triple-digit growth, selling sunglasses and prescription eye wear -- all in spite of a name many people doubted. "What should you call them?" Rico said. "Fatheadz is edgy, cool, and definitely memorable. No matter what you do, you can't please everybody. I gauge our success by our number of satisfied customers, not by the few people who say they don't like the name."
Rico's advice for entrepreneurs who have an idea for a new product? "Build a product the best you can. If you can't get it into production, get samples made and sell off your samples. Use samples to get a few orders, and then start rocking and rolling from there."
"And more than anything," he said, "Just kept fighting through every 'never.' We did, and here we are."
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