The SlideBelts offering is now closed and is no longer accepting investments.

SlideBelts

Own a Piece of the Next Big Thing in Belts

Regulation Crowdfunding
Sacramento, CA
Consumer Products
Accepting International Investment
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Building a Better Belt

The Problem with Wearables

Technology is shrinking. Not in popularity, but in physical size. It's rapidly getting smaller and smaller. Therefore experts are realizing that our inevitable future is wearables: tech will increasingly be integrated into clothing.  The problem so far, is that all these wearable tech products seem to forget the fundamentals: 


  1. Simplicity in product design. 
  2. Subtlety of feature integration. 
  3. Style. Nobody wants to wear something clunky no matter how innovative it is.


OUR AMBITION: To Empower People with

Simple, Subtle, Stylish Wearables.

                    

At SlideBelts, we decided to start with the basics and see if we could begin by simply improving the traditional leather belt. We said to ourselves: "Before diving into tech and changing the world, let's get a good foundation; let's see if we can begin by simply improving the traditional leather belt, and go from there." 


As with any great idea or invention, product development always builds upon work from past innovators. It involves a culmination of ideas across various industries. In our case, it began with the discovery of a novel military belt concept, inspiring us to improve and build upon it in numerous ways. With each refinement, our sales continued to surge. 

Turning Brand Ambassadors into Future Owners

So why in the world did we decide to jump headfirst into equity crowdfunding?  SlideBelts strives to stay one step ahead of the pack.  We constantly innovate both our products and our business strategies, utilizing any & all tools necessary for driving growth — while never forgetting the fundamentals. Innovation is the only way for a company to not only survive, but THRIVE. 


What better way to thrive, than to utilize the JOBS Act, which the United States very recently signed into law. The Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act allows, for the first time, everyday consumers to invest in startups. Having the ability to democratize capital beyond the institutional walls of Wall Street or Silicon Valley makes Regulation Crowdfunding an attractive option for us to drive our business forward, and allows those who love our products to take part in our success.

Take Part in our Success and Join our Belt Crusade

I love this company and the team that's helping me build it. As CEO, I place my employees at priority number one, above all other company priorities. If you treat your team right, the results will follow. They are the ones that make the magic happen, and keep the fire burning brighter. They constantly impress me by the speed at which they adopt tried & true business principles, never forgetting to focus on the fundamentals, and at the same time charging boldly into uncharted waters.


This offering is a labor of love from all of us on the SlideBelts team. We hope you enjoy the content on this page, as we showcase some of the hard work & accomplishments that we've achieved as a team. I invite you to join our crusade and own a piece of the next big thing in belts.

Brig Taylor
Founder and CEO

THE OPPORTUNITY


INVESTMENT

SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)

$20M valuation cap| 20% Discount

Minimum $250 Investment


What is a SAFE?

A SAFE is an acronym that stands for “Simple Agreement for Future Equity” and offers you the right to future shares in SlideBelts. The number of shares you will receive in the future will be determined at the next equity round in which SlideBelts issues preferred stock to institutional investors. The highest conversion price per share is set based on a $20M company valuation cap or if less then you will receive a 20% discount on the price the new investors are purchasing. We have modified the standard Y Combinator SAFE to comport with Regulation Crowdfunding.

THE BUZZ ABOUT SLIDEBELTS

"This super tough Survival Belt hides a handy multi-tool in its buckle: 

EVEN BATMAN WOULD ENVY A BADASS UTILITY BELT LIKE THIS."

Scott Tharler, Maxim


"This is not just a belt; allow me to introduce you into the world of SlideBelts, 

the one-of-a-kind ratchet belt system that gives the classic belt a well-needed, well-deserved upgrade."

Jessica Huang, Huffington Post



Praise for Our Products

OUR FAST GROWTH

The Proof is in the Numbers

As a result of our rapid growth, in 2016 we earned #151 on the Inc5000 List of America's Fastest Growing Private Companies.  Given our revenue of $6.5 million last year, we are likely to make the list again for 2017.  *Note 2015 states $2.9 million,  compared to the $2.7 million revenue filed with Inc 500; the increase is due to subsequent reclassification of shipping charges to customers as part of gross sales (previously netted within cost of goods sold).  

SlideBelts' Achievements

Though SlideBelts initially began as an online company, you can now find SlideBelts' products in over 130 retail stores throughout the country (and growing). See the full list here.

OUR PRODUCTS

The Belt That Started It All

In 2004, Brig received a generous gift from one of his students while teaching abroad in Moldova: a ratchet belt. Instead of using worn-out holes and an unreliable prong, this leather belt used something different: a tab on the buckle that ratcheted into teeth-like ridges sewn to the back of the leather strap. Fascinated with the utility of the belt, Brig thought it could become a huge hit with some stylistic changes. He collaborated to improve and refine the buckle for the fashion world. As it turned out, the ratcheting buckle was already public domain, and a SlideBelts patent would not be possible until 9 years later when he improved and redesigned the buckle into a dual-ratchet lever.

Anatomy of a SlideBelt

WHERE ARE THE HOLES?

"Ratchet belt" is a popular term that refers to a certain style of holeless belt. Around the world, it may also be referred to as a click belt, automatic belt, or a no-holes belt. Instead of using holes, ratchet belts use an array of teeth sewn into the underside of the belt strap. A tab in the buckle engages with the teeth and locks in, similar to how a zip tie operates.


HOW DOES IT ADJUST?

From its closed position, a release mechanism allows the belt strap to come free. Most ratchet belts use a small button for this, but a SlideBelts brand ratchet belt uses a patented frame-release lever that's easy to access and never jams.


WHY DO YOU NEED IT?

Since there are 6x more size options than traditional belts, you won't find yourself in-between holes. Our belts are therefore more comfortable, while also allowing for quick discreet adjustments. The leather or strap is better preserved, since all the tensile stress is not directly on one hole, but diverted to the notches instead. Also the low-profile buckles are interchangeable for custom styling.  Plus for those individuals with impaired fine motor skills, our belts are vastly easier to operate than traditional belts.



Recently Launched: The Survival Belt

With a passion for quality and itch for innovation, SlideBelts has been making leather ratchet belts for almost a decade. 

Now, with the launch of the Survival Belt we have crafted our core product's concept for the ultimate outdoorsman.

Let's take this outside.

Brought to life by a successfully funded Kickstarter project, our much-anticipated Survival Belt recently launched last September 2016.  It's primary purpose: if you're out in the wilderness and lost or damaged your gear — so you only have what you are wearing — then you have tools to survive.


The unique body of the Survival Buckle is composed of highly durable glass-filled nylon, and features an integrated folding knife with bottle opener, LED flashlight, and a ferrocerium fire starter rod. The knife is made of heat-treated AUS-8 stainless steel with a durable Titanium Nitride coating. A liner locking mechanism allows the knife to be opened with one hand.  

The strap is proudly made in the USA and crafted to withstand the harshest elements and most extreme treatment. The strap is composed of an internal webbing core coated in a durable TPU alloy protective shield. This proprietary combination is therefore leather-free, and complies with US FDA skin-sensitivity requirements. Additionally, the straps have high tensile strength and are designed to remain rigid without twisting — ideal for those who carry firearms.



Sneak Peek of What's Next: The GPS Belt

Also, we are very excited to give you a glimpse into our next project that’s currently in development: a GPS Belt estimated to launch in Fall of 2018 or 2019. Offering more than just precise location tracking outside the cellular network, it’s actually a Satellite Emergency Notification Device, or SEND, that can push your location to emergency services almost anywhere in the world. Depending on where you are, the appropriate response team will be dispatched so you can get lifesaving help when every minute counts. 


Since the belt is on your body, it's not easily forgotten or lost. It will also have other features such a sending a short message, and calling for assistance in a non-life-threatening situations as well. Again this project is in development, so though the image below is the current design, it may not be the final look or features of the finished product.



MARKET ANALYSIS

How We Stack Up to the Competition

From the first prototype in 2007, the image below shows the product evolution of all our buckles.  Companies who never improve their products usually fail — but we are not them. Our products that you see today are the result of continual innovation of that first product that we sold. SlideBelts has released numerous generations of improvements: from as simple as smoothing down sharp buckle edges — to as extreme as removing the entire button and turning the buckle frame into the dual-lever release. Conversely, many of our competitors started late in the game and 

they are still selling the mechanism we sold way back in 2008. 

With the introduction of the dual-lever mechanism in 2012, we discovered another positive yet unintended benefit of our new design via customer feedback. Those with impaired fine motor skills, like arthritis or cerebral palsy, stated that our belts are vastly easier to operate than traditional belts, especially given that you can remove it with one hand. This was not true of our older belt models with the button release, thereby further setting us apart from competitors utilizing those older models. We are extremely thankful that we have been able to empower those individuals by giving them greater independence. 


 Additionally we have the widest range of belt materials than any competitor, and none of them have anything even close to our Survival Belt. 

That's because we are the true innovators on the field.

Intellectual Property

Just like any company with innovation at its core, we smartly protect all our intellectual property (IP). We have 4 issued patents and 5 registered trademarks — and that doesn't even include the submissions still being reviewed.  


If a company is not protected, then they have no foundation to stand on and others can undercut with cheaper knock-offs. You can see a full list of our issued IP here on our website.

Historical Traffic Trends: Alexa Traffic Rank

The above graph from Alexa.com shows website traffic of SlideBelts compared to other US ratchet belt companies. The more traffic a website gets, the greater the popularity and therefore greater sales. You can clearly see the rising trend of ratchet belts overall in the US, and that we are leading the pack. Our upward trend is also further proof of our growth.  The huge bump in early 2016 was the result of a massively successful marketing campaign in a space we hadn't tapped before; so successful that it swamped our operations!  We scaled back the marketing in order to bolster our operations to be able to handle larger sales volume. The fact that there was such a drastic rise by utilizing only one new marketing technique shows the huge growth potential for SlideBelts in the market.


Market Potential

Ecommerce for Apparel is Growing

SlideBelts' main target market: generally any person who wear pants with belt loops. You could say our ultimate goal is "world domination of waistlines." We make products for men, women, and children, and ship all over the world.  Though we are first focusing on our own country of America, we have already begun to increase international expansion to the UK and Canada.  Our core competence is belts, but we also have ancillary products like wallets as well as aspirations for other accessories. 


For those who enjoy the numbers: the clothes and accessories ecommerce segment worldwide was expected to be more than $223 billion USD for 2016, and is forecast to grow 12.2% annually to more than $355 billion USD by 2020 (Statista, 2016). If we capture even 0.1% of that global online market, that is potentially more than $355 million.  Similarly, of all US online sales of apparel and accessories, eMarketer forecasts sales will reach $86.4 billion in 2018, a 17.5% share of total US retail ecommerce.  This does not even include brick-and-mortar retail.


Additionally, as SlideBelts moves into the wearable technology market, it opens up even more opportunities: the wearables market is expected to grow from $15.74 Billion (USD) in 2015 to reach $51.60 Billion by 2022. 

SLIDEBELTS GIVES BACK

To date, we have donated over $50,000 in cash, products, or by volunteering as a company 

during our work hours to the following organizations.

TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK

The strength of SlideBelts is not in our innovative products — the true strength of this company is the TEAM of people who make it happen. In the same way that a sports team loses games when they don't work together, a business team that doesn't work together will produce terrible products. 

SlideBelts focuses on what matters most: the people. Everything else falls into place.

In the Press

Show More
2016 INC. 5000 RANK: #151

The 2016 Inc. 5000 are the superheroes of the U.S. economy. America’s fastest-growing private companies wield powers like strategy, service, and innovation. On this list you’ll find businesses that exercise the body and the mind, push the boundaries of virtual reality and 3-D printing, and delight fans with rock concerts and (in the case of the No. 1 company, LootCrate) superheroes. Thrill to these companies' amazing exploits--and learn a thing or two about the hard, real work.

SURVIVAL BELT

It might look like a normal belt, but if you find yourself out in the wilderness and short on supplies, the Survival Belt will do far more than your average leather strap. Remove the ratchet-style buckle from the belt and it becomes a versatile multitool, with a knife blade, bottle opener, firestarter, and LED light. Thanks to nylon fiber unibody construction, the buckle itself is nearly as rugged as the strap, which is waterproof, flexes even rimmed with ice, abrasion resistant, UV protected, and available in four colors.

THIS SUPER TOUGH SURVIVAL BELT HIDES A HANDY MULTI-TOOL IN ITS BUCKLE

Most everyday carries are really everyday pocketables. But the Survival Belt lets you inconspicuously wear a handy multi-tool without that extra bulge in your pocket—or suffer the indignity of rocking a fanny pack. The tools hidden within the belt buckle include a bottle opener, flashlight, fire starter rod and Titanium Nitride coated AUS-8 stainless steel blade. It's not just convenient, but tough as hell, too, with a nylon fiber unibody that can stand up to water, stains, mud, dirt, frost, sun and abrasion. In other words, you don't need to baby this everyday wearable. (EDW?)

What’s so wrong with belt holes?

That was the question I asked Brig Taylor, the CEO of SlideBelts. SlideBelts makes “ratchet-style” belts that the wearer slides to adjust. “There’s like 30 different adjustments on a SlideBelt, as opposed to the six you have on a regular belt. That’s not a terrible catastrophe, but most people agree that it’s the small things in life that you kind of appreciate,” Taylor said. Taylor says he never completed his Boy Scout training to the point where he learned how to make a fire out in the woods. “I always joked that I’ll never have to learn how to start a fire in the wilderness – I’ll just create something,” Taylor said. Taylor may not know how to start a fire using sticks and stones, but he and his wife Michelle, the president of SlideBelts, do know how to build a business from the ground up. In 2015, SlideBelts sold $2.6 million worth of belts; this year, they’ve already nearly doubled sales.

Fast-growing El Dorado Hills company ratchets way onto Inc. 500

SlideBelts co-founders Brig and Michelle Taylor ship their ratchet belts around the world from El Dorado Hills, and they have celebrated that fact by surrendering about 20 feet of wall in their company headquarters to a world map. That wall provides a portal for viewing the company’s rapid growth. The Taylors were just preparing to move into 3,740 square feet of their current space when this columnist initially wrote about them in August 2014. Their company now leases about 6,500 square feet. The continental incisions and the expanding floor plan provide tangible evidence of the growing consumer interest in the company’s products, but numbers offer an equally vivid picture. SlideBelts’ annual revenue in 2015, $2.7 million, was 24 times what the company earned in 2012.

Startup of the Month: SlideBelts

While teaching English abroad in Moldova, Brig Taylor received a gift from a student: a belt without holes. This was not a prank. It was a belt with a buckle that ratcheted across teeth-like ridges sewn to the leather. This type of belt is popular overseas, not so much in the U.S. But for the past few years, Brig and his wife, Michelle, have been on a mission to make hole-less ratchet belts the go-to accessory for American waistlines.

The Best Places to Work: 2016

This belt company has redesigned and refined the concept of the ratchet belt—one without holes—by using teeth on the belt’s underside and a buckle that locks into the teeth. The company’s 20-plus employees enjoy a 35-hour workweek, product discounts, a chance at spinning the company “money wheel” when they produce forward-thinking ideas. Employees can win up to $100 a spin.

SlideBelt founders add coolness to a utilitarian accessory

Two El Dorado Hills entrepreneurs have found success by marketing belts as a badge of coolness — rather than a utilitarian accessory. Brig and Michelle Taylor are the top executives at SlideBelts, a company that sells belts without holes. Their belts have buckles that are ratcheted into ridges sewn into the strap. Priced at $39 to $65, the belts are more of an investment than some of their mass-produced counterparts.

Knife Built-In On 'Survivor' Belt

Meet the Explorer Survivor Belt, a do-it-all fastener being funded now on Kickstarter. It has already surpassed its funding goal and looks to be coming to market within months. The company, called SlideBelts, isn’t new to the scene. The brand has been making unique “ratchet-style” belts for more than five years. There are no holes to use for adjustment, instead the buckle engages with “teeth” on the bottom of the strap similar to how a zip-tie functions.

Clothing Brands and Pieces That Will Define Fashion In 2017

I know what you’re thinking. Wait, this is not a belt. Where are the holes? This is not just a belt; allow me to introduce you into the world of SlideBelts, the one-of-a-kind ratchet belt system that gives the classic belt a well-needed, well-deserved upgrade.

SlideBelts Launches Highly-Anticipated Survival Belt

With a passion for quality and an itch for innovation, SlideBelts has been making leather ratchet belts for almost a decade. Now, with the launch of the Survival Belt, the company has crafted its core product's concept for the ultimate outdoorsman.

SlideBelts Survival Belt

A ratchet belt with a bottle opener buckle and a rugged strap. Assuming the project hits its stretch goals, the buckle can have a multi-tool, fire starter, or a GPS chip, while the strap is waterproof, abrasion resistant and UV protected.

Offering Summary

SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity)

$20M Valuation Cap| 20% Discount


Company
SlideBelts Inc.
 

Corporate Address
4818 Golden Foothill Pkwy #9, El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
 

Description of Business
SlideBelts is a wearable tech company that designs, manufactures and sells innovative ratchet belts without holes.
 

Type of Security Offered
SAFE
 
Purchase Price of Security Offered
N/A
 

Minimum Investment Amount 
(per investor) 
$250.00











Your SAFE will convert to Class A Non-Voting Common Stock at a discounted price using either the Valuation Cap or Discount Rate, whichever results in more shares to you, the SAFE holder.

The SAFE is intended to be an alternative to convertible notes, with no interest rate, maturity date or automatic conversion at a priced round. For the protection of both the company and SAFE holders we have also removed investor pro rata, acquired a repurchase right, and added a class action waiver and arbitration clause.


Investment Limitations: Investors are subject to the following limitations on the amount they may invest in this offering, as set forth below:

  • Annual income AND net worth greater than $100,000:
    • 10% of the lesser of your annual income or net worth, subject to a maximum of $100,000;
  • Annual income or net worth less than $100,000:
    • the greater of: $2,000 or 5 percent of the lesser of the investor’s annual income or net worth.

Note: You may include the income of your spouse for purposes of determining your annual income. Your net worth must exclude the value of your primary residence, and if you have a mortgage on your residence that exceeds its worth, you must include that negative equity for purposes of determining your net worth.

Offering Exemption: This offering is being conducted by Start Engine Capital LLC (“Start Engine”), a leading investment crowdfunding platform, pursuant to Regulation CF, promulgated under Title III of the JOBS Act, and specifically Section 4(a)(6) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.


When do you get to realize your investment?

Good question! By joining us today and taking part in our journey, you are betting on our future. Although nothing is guaranteed, and we have no plans to sell out prematurely or liquidate any investments; any return on investment will likely be realized via an acquisition or IPO. However, the crowdfunding laws are evolving, and we are hopeful that in the not-too-distant future there will be an opportunity for our investors to sell and buy their investments via a secondary trading platform, similar to how Regulation A+ currently works. Please keep in mind the law currently requires us to lock in your investment for a period of one year, but we plan to hold onto these investments for longer.




Irregular Use of Proceeds

There is no intended irregular use of the crowdfunding proceeds in this offering.
Show More
Most recent fiscal year-end:
Prior fiscal year-end:
Total Assets
$1,986,121.00 USD
$1,197,438.00 USD
Cash And Cash Equivalents
$621,396.00 USD
$95,059.00 USD
Accounts Receivable
$126,413.00 USD
$114,961.00 USD
Short Term Debt
$918,818.00 USD
$246,407.00 USD
Long Term Debt
$517,823.00 USD
$609,708.00 USD
Revenues And Sales
$6,227,791.00 USD
$2,569,177.00 USD
Costs Of Goods Sold
$2,338,992.00 USD
$1,366,087.00 USD
Taxes Paid
$203,198.00 USD
$89,974.00 USD
Net Income
-$17,366.00 USD
-$309,497.00 USD

Risks

A crowdfunding investment involves risk. You should not invest any funds in this offering unless you can afford to lose your entire investment. In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of the issuer and the terms of the offering, including the merits and risks involved. These securities have not been recommended or approved by any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority. Furthermore, these authorities have not passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this document. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission does not pass upon the merits of any securities offered or the terms of the offering, nor does it pass upon the accuracy or completeness of any offering document or literature. These securities are offered under an exemption from registration; however, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has not made an independent determination that these securities are exempt from registration.

Updates

Sharing Some Big News

about 4 years ago

Hello, investors!


First and foremost, we apologize for the lack of communication recently. We've been working hard through the first two quarters of the year to ensure that we hit the very lofty goals we've set for ourselves this year. The good news is that we're well on our way to reaching those goals. The bad news is that it's taken some of our focus away from keeping you in the loop.


We know we've dropped the ball, but we've already taken steps to ensure that we're ahead of the game from this point forward with the appointment of our Communications Manager to oversee all investor communications. So you can now expect much more consistent communication from us moving forward.


With all that being said, we are moving your investments to an online equity management platform called Carta. With Carta, you can view and print your electronic safe note certificates at any time -- this was important to us that you see your investment in a tangible way. This is an exciting step in providing you a much better option to track and view your investment. 


By early July, you will get an email from Carta that will ask you to review and accept your electronic certificate. For more information on this, please refer to these acceptance instructions.


Finally, we have two really exciting announcements that will explain why we've been a little bit quieter recently. First, we eclipsed the $1M mark last month for the month of May! This was our second highest grossing month in our history, only slightly behind December of last year. It was a huge win for our team and means big things for the future ahead of us. 


Second, we are preparing to launch a full line of men's and women's watches later this summer. This is a project we've been working on since last year and it's still top secret - you're the first ones to know, outside of our employees. We're starting the product line with a variety of simple, minimalist watch styles, made with high quality leather straps and a traditional clasp. Eventually, we will begin exploring a ratchet watch strap (and who knows, maybe even smart watches!), but not for this initial launch. There is a huge market for affordable, luxury, minimalist watches, and what could be more perfect to pair with a SlideBelt? Why match your shoes to your belt when you can match your watch to your belt and then wear your favorite kicks? (Yeezy 350's with a suit, anyone? 🤘)


See attached for some of the 3D images and sketches of the watches. We'll be receiving the final samples in the next week or two, and production is prepared to begin as soon as we give our factory the OK. This is something we're really, really excited about - we think it could really be a game changer.


Finally, please feel free to reach out to us directly at investor.relations@slidebelts.com with any questions moving forward. This will help us to ensure a timely response to your questions, comments, and inquiries.


That's all we've got for now. Stay tuned for another update from us next month, and in the meantime, feel free to read through our financials at any time on our website at https://www.slidebelts.com/pages/investors


Slide On!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO



Investor Update

over 4 years ago

Hey, SlideBelts investors!

 

Welcome, officially, to the SlideBelts team! As a new investor in our company, we figured we'd start off with some great news. We're really excited to have received some pretty amazing honors so far this year:


-Inc 5000, Fastest Growing Companies for the second straight year (#570)

-Sac Biz Journal, Fastest Growing Companies (#4)

-Sac Biz Journal, Best Places to Work (#1 for small companies)

-Fortune Magazine, Best Workplaces for small companies (#9)

-Fortune Magazine, Best Retail Workplaces (rank not yet known)

-Sac Biz Journal, 40 Under 40 list for SlideBelts CEO Brig Taylor

-Outside Magazine, Best Places to Work (rank not yet known)


Now onto the business: since the end of the campaign, the team at StartEngine has been working tirelessly to sort out the 1,000+ investments. Thanks to you, our campaign was an overwhelming success and there were many over-subscriptions, which means that there was a lot for the StartEngine team to sort through. This tedious work includes reaching out to investors to complete their investment, waiting for investments to clear, and then refunding the over-subscribed investments. 


The long wait time is due to compliance and SEC regulations, which says that StartEngine cannot finalize wiring funds raised from the campaign until all the investments have cleared and the over-subscriptions have been refunded, but the good news is that everything has now been finalized.

Your investment/ownership will be “evidenced” by way of an “electronically counter-signed subscription agreement” that will be sent back to you from StartEngine which all investors should have received by now. However, if for some reason you still have not received it, please notify StartEngine at contact@StartEngine.com and they will take care of you. For those of you who would like an actual stock certificate, you can receive one separately by contacting StartEngine and requesting one.

 

Ongoing ownership records will be kept by the StartEngine Secure Services group at StartEngine (formerly known as CrowdManage), so if you lose your email you can always reach out to them directly. Please email contact@StartEngine.com with any questions about your investment and/or any changes or updates to your contact information to their team to keep the process moving and to ensure that all information is current. 

 

We're rolling out some exciting features to keep investors in the loop with all things SlideBelts. In addition to keeping up to date with our team via our daily company blog {https://www.slidebelts.com/blogs/blog} and our monthly Vlog {https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WelqIVzeu7o}, we will be sending out a video each month with highlights from our all-hands meeting to keep you apprised of everything going on across departments on a monthly basis. We also intend to share some financial info intermittently throughout the year before we release our annual audited financials in March for the previous fiscal year. 

 

Again, many thanks to each of you for your support and your patience through this exciting time!


*Note: This will be the last public update. From now on, updates will only go to finalized investors.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Investment Update

almost 5 years ago

Happy Friday, everyone!


I just wanted to send a quick note to update our investors on where we are currently in the post-offering process. Thanks to all of you, we were very successful in over-subscribing our investment offering, which means that it's taken a little bit longer than usual for StartEngine to get through all of the pending investments. At this point, we're just waiting for the team at StartEngine to finish the process of diligently reviewing each investment. If you have any questions or concerns before then, please feel free to reach out to StartEngine's Investor Services team directly.


Thank you for your patience and bearing with us through this process. Have a great, long holiday weekend!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Inc. 5000 for the Second Straight Year!

almost 5 years ago

Good morning!


Happy Friday, just checking in with some exciting news to share. If you don't follow us on social media or subscribe to our email newsletter, you might not have heard yet that we are on Inc. 5000's list of fastest-growing private companies for the second consecutive year! 


We've grown a ton over the past few years in particular, landing at #151 on last year’s Inc. 5000 list thanks to four-year growth totals topping out at 2,365.32%.  This year, we ranked at #570 on the Inc. 5000 list with nearly 1,000% growth —which is still incredibly exciting, especially considering such remarkable growth is more difficult for retail companies. 


As exciting as this honor is, we aren't slowing down or resting on our laurels anytime soon. In addition to continuing to add on to our ever-growing team, currently at 31 employees, we're also hard at work on continuing development of future products like the GPS belt. Additionally, we are preparing to launch our revamped women’s line later this fall, with an improved buckle design and an array of new colors.


It's a really exciting time to be a part of the SlideBelts team - we're thrilled to have you on board!


Brig Taylor 

Founder & CEO



What Happens Next?

almost 5 years ago

Happy Monday, everyone!


We are very excited to announce that we have finished our Regulation Crowdfunding investment offering and we successfully raised $1,126,250. We were oversubscribed beyond the maximum limit of $1.07M by $56,250, which is incredible. We want to give a sincere, heartfelt thank you to everyone who saw our vision and invested in our company. 


Please be patient over these next few weeks as the dust settles because it can take up 3 weeks to clear all of the investments and refund those who were in excess of the limit. You will receive an email directly from StartEngine containing a copy of the fully executed Subscription Agreement. This is your proof of your investment in SlideBelts, so be sure to hang on to this email. 


Please note: Your investment cannot be sold or traded for one year from the date of the Subscription Agreement. If you have any questions or have not received the email after four weeks, please send an email to contact@startengine.com.


Thanks again and welcome to the team!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

To Our Fans and New Future Shareholders

almost 5 years ago


When we were deciding whether or not to be one of the first few dozen companies to try this pioneering form of fundraising, we had many things to consider.

We pride ourselves on being innovative and always thinking out-of-the-box, but at the time of our launch, Regulation Crowdfunding (or Reg CF) was less than a year old. Ultimately, the catalyst for our decision was that this groundbreaking law allowed anyone to invest in startups — people like you and me, who have never before had the option to invest in a private company or a product we really believed in. We were thrilled at the idea of giving our supporters a chance to own part of this company that they helped build over the past decade. To enable you to truly take part in this crazy journey with us.

For a company with humble beginnings in a college dorm room, taking a step back to appreciate how far we've come over the past 10 years is mind-blowing. All of these continued successful milestones could not be possible without one important thing: YOU, our loyal fan base who not only love and wear our products, but also bravely (and awkwardly) tell everyone they know to check out their cool new belt. Thank you for being our stalwart defenders, standard-bearers and brand-promoters.

Did you know that if you would have invested $5k in Amazon in 1997, you would have over $2 million today? Amazon started as just an online book company. Nike started with shoes. Ralph Lauren started with ties. Under Armour started with compression shorts. Abercrombie started with shirtless lacrosse players. SlideBelts is starting with belts.

As an investor, you will get a more expansive snapshot into what makes SlideBelts so special, exclusive videos and images of our daily operations and facilities, future plans, as well as early peeks at prototypes of our latest product developments. It's been a wild ride so far, and this is only the beginning.

For all the effort we've put into creating SlideBelts, we're grateful that you've seen our vision. Thanks to you, we became one of the first companies ever to hit the $1Million max through Reg CF!

Cheers and welcome to the team!



Founder Brig Taylor and Co-founder Michelle Taylor

AND THE ENTIRE SLIDEBELTS TEAM


Also, please note:

For those of you who invested, please be patient because it can take up to two weeks to clear all of the investments. You will receive an email directly from StartEngine containing a copy of the fully executed Subscription Agreement. This is your proof you own securities in SlideBelts.


**The pictures below are from SlideBelts' humble beginnings in 2012 and 2013 - fixing buckles on the living room coffee table and in Brig's parents garage.



SlideBelts 2nd Quarter Sales Highlights

almost 5 years ago

As we count down the final hours of our offering, please remember that you can still invest! There will inevitably be some drop off of early investors, so there will still be room for investments now to slide in at the end of our offering when the dust settles.


Additionally, we just finished up our 2nd quarter (Apr-Jun) of 2017 and wanted to share with you some exciting sales numbers that shows our fantastic growth from last year.


Q2 2017

  • Total Gross Revenue (all channels): $2.4M / 93% increase YoY
  • Gross Revenue (slidebelts.com): 195%+ growth from Q2 2016
  • Gross Revenue (wholesale): 142% increase YoY

*Please note that these are based on internally prepared financials and subject to adjustment at year end upon independent audit by Artesian CPA. 


This excellent Q2 growth is great to see, and it's in keeping with a consistent upwards trend that we're seeing across the market. For example, it's really awesome to see that search terms for both "mens belts" and "SlideBelts" are continuing at a very steady trend of upward growth, as seen in the charts below.


Thanks for your continued support - we're almost there!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

We Hit Our Goal!

almost 5 years ago

Huge news to share this morning, as we have officially hit our goal of $1.07M! 


Thank you so much to everyone who has supported our hugely successful equity crowdfunding raise! While we have now exceeded the $1,070,000 limit for a Title III capital raise, please feel free to continue to invest and refer others, as well. It is likely that some early investors will “fall out”, and anyone who invests now will be given preferential treatment over those who invest later.


Let's finish out strong!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Inc. 5000 List for 2nd Straight Year!

almost 5 years ago

The big announcements keep coming today! 


We received the official news this morning that for a second straight year, SlideBelts has made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Of the nearly seven million private companies across the country, only a tiny fraction have been recognized for consistently high growth, and we're incredibly honored to be one of them. 


This kind of accomplishment is truly worth celebrating as a company, but we can't do so just yet because the final rankings won't be announced for another month or so. After landing at #151 on last year's list, we are eager to see where we fall on the list this year. 
It's because of our amazing customers and supporters like you that we're fortunate enough to be recognized on such a distinguished list. 


Thank you for your continued support!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

We Hit the $1M Mark!

almost 5 years ago

As of this writing, we are officially over the $1M milestone! Thanks to a big investment early this morning, we are now well over $1M and quickly closing in on our $1.07M goal. 


As a reminder, our offering ends at midnight (PST) tomorrow night, so time and space is running out very quickly. If you want to join our team, now is your only chance!  


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

2 Days Left!

almost 5 years ago

Remember, our campaign extension ends this Friday at midnight PST. This is the only extension we'll be doing for our investment offering, so if you've ever wanted the chance to get in on the ground floor of a young company, you have 2 days left to do so!


Brig Taylor 

Founder & CEO

New Buckle Design

almost 5 years ago

As a company, we pride ourselves on innovation across the business. Innovation with our products, with our company culture and employees, and even with the way that we are seeking investors. 


Because innovation never sleeps, we're always looking for new ways to improve upon our products and designs based on customer feedback. The latest improvements we've made are on our our standard buckles, where we were able to remove an extra pin from the original design. This change allowed us to eliminate one more potential weak point, which gives the buckle a more unibody structure that lends well to its overall strength and longevity. 


In addition to the removal of a pin, we have also added a snapping feature to our buckles. The addition of a small tab allows the frame of the buckle to snap securely to the face of the buckle, effectively removing any rattling that might have existed on previous models of our buckle. 


Finally, we slightly widened the small door that attaches to the leather strap to add more surface area for attachment to the strap. This change also allowed us to add more "teeth" to the door and gave us an opportunity to change the shape of the "teeth" from a cone to a pyramid. This new shape helps the buckle to grip the strap more effectively and also lessens the likelihood of having the teeth tear through the strap. 


Overall, these are great improvements that we are really proud of. We are confident that these handful of small changes will make a huge difference for our customers when it comes to the overall use and functionality of our belts. See below for comparison pictures of the changes we made. 


As investors, we see each of you as an integral member of our growing SlideBelts team, and as such, we plan to involve you and keep you updated on all new product developments, improvements that we implement, etc. It's important to us to keep you all in the loop in the same way we would with our in-house employees, so look for future updates similar to this moving forward as as we continue to refine and improve our products.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO


(Note: in the images below, the lighter, more distressed looking buckle is the new version. The gunmetal buckle is the old version, used in comparison to show the changes we made. In order from first to last, the images demonstrate: the new shape and design of the buckle teeth, the wider buckle door, and the new buckle design with one pin removed.)


3 Days Left!

almost 5 years ago

We're at the 3 day point of our final countdown and we're SO close to our goal. Join our team by investing before midnight PST on Friday, and help us become one of the first companies to ever hit the $1.07M mark in regulation crowdfunding history.


 Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Exciting Business News

almost 5 years ago

Happy Monday!


We have a really exciting business update to share this afternoon. Our COO, Rick, and our Wholesale Manager, Jeff, are both up in Canada this week finalizing a deal with a Canadian distribution company that will be selling our belts to stores across the country, specifically golf courses and golf apparel companies.


This is a huge step for us because it's our first time expanding into another country. There will be minimal extra work on our end, as our manufacturer will take care of the packing and shipping directly to the distributor in Canada. It's really a win-win situation for us, as Canada already accounts for our highest number of sales outside of the United States. 


Aside from our big Canada news, we continue to make great progress here on StartEngine as we come down to the wire on our offering. Thanks for your continued support in helping us finish strong!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Another Huge Milestone

almost 5 years ago

We are thrilled to share the news that we've passed the $900K mark, thanks to a handful of big investments over the last few days. The pace of our steady progress has us well on our way to reaching our ultimate goal.


Thank you for continuing to share our StartEngine page with friends and family. Let's keep it going as we close in on the final countdown of our offering!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO


Fourth Disbursement Upcoming

almost 5 years ago

Friday is finally here and the weekend is just around the corner!

 

We're continuing at a solid pace as we enter the final week of our campaign, and while we’ll continue accepting investments through the end of our offering on July 14th, 2017 (or until we reach our $1.07M goal), we wanted to notify current investors that we are now preparing for our fourth disbursement of cleared funds on July 17th. If your funds have cleared, you will have up until 48 hours prior to this closing to cancel your investment.

 

Thanks for all your support to this point. We're looking forward to finishing our campaign strong over this last week.

 

Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

7 Days Left!

almost 5 years ago

After extending our campaign last week, today marks the final one week countdown of our offering. If you've been on the fence about investing, now is the time to jump on board and help us reach our $1.07M goal.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO


Behind The Scenes

almost 5 years ago

Happy Thursday! I hope you all had a nice, long holiday weekend.



I just wanted to write a quick update to share a few behind the scenes images that our creative team took from our photoshoot in San Francisco last week. The shoot went really well and produced some amazing imagery that we're excited to start editing and implementing across all of our platforms. Great imagery is crucial to any business, but perhaps even more so to ours, as ratchet belts are still a relative unknown for many people who are still using the old, traditional belts with holes. 


Creating images and video that demonstrate the ratchet design, while still keeping the shot creative and visually intriguing is not an easy task. Conveying all of these crucial elements to the person viewing our ads or our social media post or our website is integral to our success as an eCommerce company, and our creative team has done an excellent job mastering this skill. We are thrilled with how everything came out last week and we're eager to refresh the look of our website and other outward-facing visuals with the new images from this photoshoot. Check out a sneak peek from the shoot in the photos below.


Stay tuned for a full behind the scenes video from the shoot in the next week. Thanks to each of you for your continued support and for helping us finish this last week strong!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO


Some Exciting News

almost 5 years ago

Over the weekend, we reached the $850k mark and exceeded 900 investors! In other exciting news, earlier this year the SEC allowed Reg CF to now raise up to $1.07M, and since we like a good challenge, we have taken them up on the offer and increased our raise goal. 


We are getting closer by the day to knocking out one of our biggest, most ambitious goals to date as a young company. We couldn't be more excited or more thankful for everyone who has aligned with our vision for the future and joined our team. 


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

$800k Milestone!

almost 5 years ago

Happy Friday, everyone!

 

Big news today, as we've already hit that $800k mark and quickly approaching $850k and 900 investors! Let's keep up the great momentum – have a fantastic weekend!

 

Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Campaign Extended 2 weeks

almost 5 years ago

With the incredible momentum we've picked up over the past few weeks, we've decided to extend our investment offering by 2 weeks in order to ride out this full head of steam that we've built. Our goal has always been to hit the $1M milestone, which would make us one of a handful of the first companies to ever raise that amount via Regulation Crowdfunding, and we know that we can reach it with a little bit of extra time.


Because we are so confident in our products, our team here at SB HQ, the team of investors we've built over the past few months, and the vision we have for the future, we feel strongly that with this short extension we'll hit our goal quickly.


What this means for our current investors:


Because we are adjusting our deadline, investors whose funds have not yet been cleared must reconfirm their investment before Monday, July 10th. If investors do not reconfirm before the deadline, their investment will be canceled and the withdrawn funds will be refunded.


How to reconfirm your investment:


Each investor who needs to reconfirm their investment will receive an email shortly from StartEngine with a secure link allowing investors to re-confirm their investment. You simply need to enter your name, the company, and click the “Sign” button at the very bottom of the webpage.


If you do not receive an email, your investment is all set and you do not need to reconfirm your investment.


If you have any questions about the process or any trouble reconfirming your investment, please reach out to contact@startengine.com or call 800-317-2200 between the hours of 9:00am - 5:00pm Monday through Friday PST.


Thank you again for your continued support by investing in the brand that you helped build.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

2 Hours Left to Invest!

almost 5 years ago

If you've ever wanted to get in on the ground floor of a young company with an exciting vision for the future, now is your chance! We'd love to have you join our team.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Only 5 Hours Left!

almost 5 years ago

Join our team tonight and own a piece of the brand that you helped build.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Big Final Day

almost 5 years ago

We've continued to make great progress throughout the week, and that trend has held true so far today. Since midnight last night, we've received $40k from 57 investors and we're coming up quickly on the $800k mark.


As we count down our last hours, please keep sharing our investment opportunity with anyone who might be interested. We're almost there!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Meanwhile, in San Francisco...

almost 5 years ago

While our team continues to forge ahead back at SB HQ, our Creative Team is in San Francisco for the day for a photoshoot to update some of our old imagery with new faces and some of our new upcoming products.


The team is working with two models at two different beautiful shoot locations in the city to get some new imagery that you'll be seeing pop up soon across our social media platforms, on our website, in our email blasts and on our advertisements. Check out a few behind the scenes shots from the shoot below!



Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO


$750k Milestone

almost 5 years ago

Since our morning update was posted just a little bit ago, we have already hit our $750k milestone! That means we are a whopping 75% of the way to our $1M goal. Let's keep the momentum going through the rest of the day and make history by becoming one of only a handful of companies to ever bring in $1M through Regulation Crowdfunding.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Last Day to Invest!

almost 5 years ago

Today is the day! Our investment offering closes at midnight (PST) tonight. This is your last chance to get your investments in and help us hit our $1M goal.


Brig Taylor

Founder &CEO

Another Milestone

almost 5 years ago

With time winding down, we're continuing to knock out milestones. As of this morning, we hit the $700k mark and we're continuing at a steady pace on our way to $750k. With this big momentum, it's an exciting opportunity to jump on board while there's still time left.


We also have a cool update to share, as we recently confirmed our booth for the upcoming Outdoor Retailer show in Salt Lake City from July 26-29. This will be our second year attending the show, and it's quickly become one of our all-time favorites. We might be a little biased, but we definitely had the best booth at the entire show last year. 



As always, thanks for your support!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Only 2 Days Left!

almost 5 years ago

With our investment offering closing at midnight (PST) tomorrow night, that means you only have 2 days left to get it on the ground floor of our company. If you're still on the fence and have any questions, please leave them in the comments section below and I'll respond as soon as I can.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Big overnight success!

almost 5 years ago

Since close of business yesterday evening at 4:00p PST, we've made some serious headway. We received $31,500 from 39 investors, including a significant $10,000 investment from China.


When we made the decision to take investors through Regulation Crowdfunding, we were very excited about giving our supporters and loyal customers a chance to invest in this brand that they helped build. However, the interest internationally has been amazing. We never expected that we'd receive such sizable investments from across the world, including countries like Canada, Dubai and China.


A huge thank you to everyone who has invested in our offering and gotten us to this point. To those who are still considering an investment, now is the perfect time to join our team!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

3 Days Left to Invest!

almost 5 years ago

We are now just 3 days away from our investment offering closing on Thursday at midnight (PST). 


With only 3 days left, now is the time to invest and join our team, persuade a friend or family member to come on board, or add on to your current investment if you've been considering doing that.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Huge week ahead and last weekend to invest!

about 5 years ago

Happy Friday, everyone!


We all made it to another weekend, and it's a big one for us! This weekend represents the last one before our offering closes this coming Thursday (June 29th).


Our momentum has been awesome heading into this last week, as we are heading towards that $600k mark this weekend. Continue spreading the word with friends and family as we hit this crucial home stretch!


Also, some exciting news to share on the business end: we just confirmed our booth for the PGA Las Vegas Fashion and Demo Experience Show in mid-August. We have been proud sponsors of the PGA Ambassador program for over a year now and we always love going to the PGA Show every year. Our belts are represented in numerous golf clubhouses across the country, so it's been an incredible opportunity for us to partner with the world's premiere golf organization.


Thank you all for your continued support. Have an awesome weekend!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

One Week Left and Our Biggest Giveaway Ever!

about 5 years ago

Today marks exactly one week remaining in our investment offering. Continue sharing our StartEngine link with friends and family to help us hit that $1M mark by midnight next Thursday! 


In keeping with yesterday's trend, we have some more awesome stats to share with you from our very successful Father's Day push this year.


Over the course of our sitewide sale, which ran from June 1st to June 13th:

  • Gross sales totaled $318k, which is a 306% YoY growth from 2016 sales, which totaled $104k.

  • Our highest sales day of this period brought in $36k, a 300% YoY growth from $12k last year.

  • Between our website and Amazon combined, gross sales came out to $385k from 5,167 total orders.

  • Our Amazon sales were also stronger this year than 2016 with our gross sales totaling $67k this year, versus $53k last year.

  • We received 3,648 total orders over this period, compared to 1,468 orders last year.

  • Our top-selling products this year were: Classic Black Leather at 561 units sold, Black Top Grain Leather at 483 units sold, and the Survival Belt came in third with 395 units sold. Comparatively, our top three sellers last year only sold 508 units, 151 units, and 149 units, respectively.


As you can see from the statistics above, we continued our fantastic 2017 growth with another excellent shopping holiday. 


Last but not least, to celebrate the last week of our offering, we teamed up with some of our friends from some really cool companies on a giveaway worth over $550. Go to https://www.slidebelts.com/pages/odetosummer to enter to win our biggest giveaway ever! 


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Some Exciting Campaign Numbers to Share

about 5 years ago

We have been going over some of the data from our investment offering to this point and found some really interesting statistics that we wanted to share with all of you.


1. We've had 7 investments of $10,000 or more.


2. Our top 3 investment amounts to date are: $100,000, $35,000, and $20,000.


3. We've received investments from around the world, including countries like Canada, Dubai, and Indonesia.


4. The overall average of all combined investments is $1,086.


5. The state where the majority of our investment dollars have come from is California at $119,500 from 107 investors.


As we close in on a week left in our offering (as of this Thursday), we continue to be blown away by everyone across the world who has aligned with our vision for the future and the endless opportunities that lie ahead of us. Thank you all for your support!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Third Disbursement Upcoming

about 5 years ago

Happy Monday, everyone!

 

We're continuing to pick up some steam after hitting that $500K mark last week as we continue to ramp up our efforts across the board heading into the end of our campaign.

 

While we’ll continue accepting investments through the end of our offering on June 29, 2017 (or until we reach our $1M goal), we wanted to notify current investors that we are now preparing for our third disbursement of cleared funds on June 27th. If your funds have cleared, you will have up until 48 hours prior to this closing to cancel your investment.

 

As usual, another sincere thank you to those who have already invested and who've shared our link with friends and family and invited them to join the team as well.

 

Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

$500k milestone reached!

about 5 years ago

Happy Thursday!


If you haven't checked in on our progress in a while, we hit our $500,000 milestone earlier this week. We're humbled and thrilled to have hit such a huge number with a good chunk of time left and we'll be ramping up our marketing efforts extra hard for these last two weeks to ensure that we finish strong and make our goal.


Today marks exactly two weeks left in our investment offering, so if you haven't passed along the link to friends and family yet, now is the perfect time! Also, those who have already made an investment are more than welcome to increase your investment amount if that's been something you've been considering but might not have been sure if that was permissible or not.


On another note, we were really excited to be a sponsor for the inaugural El Dorado Hills half marathon and 5K this weekend. We had a few employees run in the 5K and our Marketing team manned the SlideBelts booth, where we gave out a few free belts and created some new SB fans in our own community. We've always had such amazing local support that it was great to be able to give back in supporting a really fun, community-building event that we hope will become an annual mainstay in El Dorado Hills.


Last but not least, we are in the process of wrapping up the overhaul and revamp of our women's skinny belt line. We just got some early color samples for the new straps and buckles in today and they look amazing so far. We'll be doing a photoshoot with our new women's line later this month and the new belts will be ready for release later this summer. We love how they turned out and we're thrilled to be able to provide a wider range of strap and buckle options to our female SlideBelts fans. Check out the attached picture for a sneak peek of some early samples of the new women's buckles (note: the colors of a few of these buckles will be tweaked and perfected over the next month or two).


As always, thank you for your continued support!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO



Hurry, Only 5 Investor Spots Left!*

about 5 years ago

*That is...if the next five people all invested the Reg CF max of $100k 😉


Joking aside, time is moving quickly. It feels like we just kicked off our StartEngine campaign a few weeks ago, but in reality we only have 23 days left in our campaign. We'll be making a big push over the final weeks to reach our $1M goal, and we always appreciate you sharing our StartEngine link with anyone you think might be interested in investing.


On another note, we also wanted to update you on a really exciting upcoming event that we are thrilled to be part of. The annual Sacramento Kings golf tournament is coming up at the end of the month and the Kings Foundation chose us to be the official gift for this year's tournament. 


The tournament is a marquee event that is attended by Kings players, coaches, and front office personnel, former Kings greats, media members, and other legendary athletes like Jerry Rice and Charles Woodson. In addition, the event is also played by executives from some of the region's biggest and most influential companies. This is a great opportunity for us and we're beyond excited to be partnering with the Kings for this tournament.


Thank you all for your continued support!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO


Top 25 Reg CF Ranking

about 5 years ago

Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed the long holiday weekend, and the ensuing short week. 

Just wanted to touch base with a really cool page we discovered last week that shows the success (in order) of every Regulation Crowdfunding offering since the inception of the provision last May.

As you'll see, we currently rank 23rd all time in terms of money raised through a RegCF offering. The best part is that we still have 29 days of fundraising left! This is very exciting news and this chart serves as a visual representation of just how successful our offering has been thus far.

As we ramp up our efforts to close strong and hit our goal over the course of the month, we are really excited to become the 10th company to ever raise $1M through equity crowdfunding. We'll need you to help get us there, though - keep spreading the word and sharing this link with any friends and family you think might be interested.

Finally, we wanted to give our investors and potential investors a special heads up that our Father's Day sale is live as of today and will run through June 13th. Just enter code '15FORDAD' at checkout for 15% off sitewide 😀

As always, thanks for your continued support!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

E-commerce Growth in the United States

about 5 years ago

Good morning! 


We have a few exciting pieces of information to pass along today.


We were notified this week that we will be recognized by the Sacramento Business Journal as one of the 60 fastest growing companies in the region. As exciting as it is to be honored by national publications like Inc. 500 (#151 on last year's list), it's just as rewarding to be acknowledged for our growth locally within our own successful business community. We will receive our official ranking at a ceremony in August.


In the annual Internet Retailer Analysis Report for 2017, the report goes into detail about just how much the online retail industry is booming. The report says that online retail sales to U.S. consumers became a nearly $400 billion industry in 2016, which is up 15.6% over 2015 sales - good for the biggest jump in three years. See the attached chart below to view the current year-over-year e-commerce trends. That's great news for us, as about 90% of our business is online -- since our founding, we've been able to ride this wave of growing e-commerce sales.

As of Wednesday afternoon we hit the $470K mark, getting that much closer to that $500K milestone. As always, keep sharing the link and spreading the word about our offering to anyone who might be interested in joining the team!


Thank you for your support.


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Second Disbursement on 5/30

about 5 years ago

Happy Friday!

 

We're now just over the halfway point of our offering and we're quickly closing in on that $500K milestone, which is huge. While we’ll continue accepting investments through the end of our offering of June 29, 2017 (or until we reach our $1M goal), we wanted to notify current investors that we are now preparing for our second disbursement of cleared funds on May 30th. If your funds have cleared, you will have up until 48 hours prior to this closing to cancel your investment. 


On another note, this week officially marks the first year anniversary of Regulation Crowdfunding. Reg CF formally launched on May 16th of 2016 and has already shown its many benefits for companies like ours. It's a huge milestone signifying opportunity and a level playing field for passionate investors and innovative startups alike. 

 

Finally, another huge thank you to those who have already invested and who've shared our link with interested friends and family. Your support has been integral in helping us to get to this point as quickly as we have. Let's keep the momentum going for the second half of the offering!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

Some Exciting Updates

about 5 years ago

Happy Tuesday!


I hope your week is off to a great start. Just wanted to update everyone on a few exciting things we have going on here at SB HQ. Our sales team, Jeff and Brenda, head to Chicago this week for the National Restaurant Association show. This is our second year at the show, where hundreds of restaurants and hotels convene for a four day exhibition of the latest and greatest advancements in the food services industry. Our team will be showcasing our full range of belts, with an emphasis on our customizable buckle options for wait staffs, executive teams, corporate gifts, etc. Our dynamic sales duo is excited to network and connect with some incredible industry professionals in Chicago this week.


On the topic of custom buckles, we will soon have the capabilities to do all of our custom buckle engraving in-house with the addition of a new laser that we purchased this week. The laser, which should arrive by mid-August, is the most compact direct metal marking laser on the market. We've been offering custom buckles to businesses and organizations for a while now, with an average of two of those bulk orders per week. In fact, we're just finishing up our largest custom order to date - a 1,200 belt custom order for a golf course in the Midwest. Now, with this new investment, we'll now be able to offer customization to all of our customers, as opposed to just wholesale customers. We're very excited about the countless new opportunities that we'll have and the ways that we'll be able to go above and beyond with our guests to further set ourselves apart from our competitors. With there being no bigger trend on the market right now than personalization and customization, this is the perfect time to be adding this option to our product line.


We're now right around the halfway mark of our offering and we're quickly approaching the $500K milestone, which is a huge accomplishment. As always, please feel free to share our StartEngine link with anyone you think might be interested in investing.


Thank you to those of you who saw our vision, felt our passion, and jumped on board with us. We're thrilled to have you as part of the SlideBelts team!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

One Month Milestone

about 5 years ago

Happy Thursday!


Today marks exactly one month since we launched our StartEngine offering, and we are already well beyond the $400K milestone! Thanks again to those of you who saw our vision and jumped on board with us early - you're the ones who've helped us to nearly half of our goal in such a quick amount of time. 


At this pace, we're on track to reach the $1M mark - and thus end our offering opportunity - well ahead of schedule. So if you have any friends or family in mind who might be interested in investing, please pass our StartEngine link (https://www.startengine.com/startup/slidebelts) along to them sooner than later to ensure they have ample time to invest.


In other exciting news, we had a record month of sales in the month of April. Our website sales alone totaled more than the sum of our 2013 sales, across all sales platforms for that entire year. The momentum that we have going right now is huge, thanks in part to re-focused marketing efforts, excitement around our developing product line, and the incredible momentum we all have built around our StartEngine offering. 


Finally, we wanted to share an article written by Fast Company detailing the exciting future of Regulation Crowdfunding and some of the big wins that companies have had in this first year of RegCF. The author does a good job of laying out the pros and cons for both companies and potential investors, and even likens this new form of revenue generation to online dating in the days before it took off into the billion dollar industry it is now. It's definitely worth a read if you have a few minutes.


Thank you all for your continued support and for being an important factor in the huge year we're having so far!


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO

First Milestone Reached! Disbursement on 5/1

about 5 years ago

Happy Friday!

We’re now 2.5 weeks post-launch and we’ve already substantially exceeded our minimum funding goal by over 255%, which is incredible! We want to notify our current investors that we are preparing for our first disbursement of cleared funds on May 1st. You will have an unconditional right to cancel your investment commitment for any reason from now up until 48 hours prior to the close. 

We will continue to accept new investments through the end of our final offering date, June 20, 2017 or until we reach our maximum, whichever comes first.

Soon after our first rolling close, we will create investor accounts to keep investors updated on news and next steps for SlideBelts.  

We are so excited to have you on our team and thanks again for all the love and support! 


Brig Taylor

Founder & CEO 

First Week in the Books

about 5 years ago

Happy Tuesday!

We’re now officially one week post-launch, and we’ve already hit over $250,000! This is an incredible start to our campaign and we are well on our way to our $1M goal. Thank you to the early 199 investors who were among the first to see our vision and passion to help us reach this milestone mark in the first week.

Based on our current pace, it’s looking like we will likely hit our $1M funding goal well ahead of the latest closing date of the offering period — indicated at the top of our page. By law, we cannot accept any more than $1M from non-accredited investors; so for those of you reading this update and still considering an investment, now is a great time to ensure a spot on our team before we reach our goal and close our investment offering. We’re excited to have you as a part of the SlideBelts team!

Finally, because word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing, we’d love it if you sent our offering link (www.startengine.com/startup/slidebelts) to anyone you know who might be interested in investing. We’re excited to see how our second week unfolds!


SlideBelts Team

Minimum Funding Goal Reached

about 5 years ago

We have some really exciting news to share - we've already reached our minimum funding goal! This morning, just short of our first full 24 hours on StartEngine, we hit the $150,000 mark. As of this moment, we're sitting at $155,750 from 86 investors.

These are amazing numbers and we are so grateful to those of you who took that early leap in investing in our offering on the very first day. We have some incredible momentum going already and we are so excited to see it continue as our first official week rolls on.

To those who've already invested, a heartfelt welcome to the SlideBelts team! For those of you still considering investing in our company, we hope you'll read through the page to learn more about who we are and our successes up to this point. If there are any lingering questions after reading through the page, feel free to leave them in the questions section at the bottom and we'll get an answer to you as soon as possible.

Again, a huge thanks to those of you who've helped us hit this milestone so quickly - we are ecstatic to have you as part of our team!


SlideBelts Team

LAUNCH DAY

about 5 years ago

Wow! Less than an hour after launching, we have already raised over $100,000! We’re so excited to officially launch our offering on StartEngine, and very grateful we are off to a amazing start.

Our team has put a lot of time and attention to detail into making this page the ultimate resource for you, as a potential investor. This page will be updated periodically with campaign milestones, news and other noteworthy items, so check back often and share the link with any family and friends who might be interested in investing in SlideBelts.

Additionally, if you have any questions that we haven’t already addressed, please feel free to leave them in the comments section at the bottom of the page. We are super grateful for the positive feedback we have gotten so far.

Thank you for checking out our page and considering our offering. We are incredibly excited to take this big step as a company and we’re honored to welcome so many of you to our SlideBelts team!


Brig Taylor

Founder and CEO

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