

Johnny Cupcakes - eam
http://shop.johnnycupcakes.com/story/

======
pmichaud
Johnny had a commercial dispute with a friend of mine. Short version is that
my friend is an amazing designer, one of Johnny's guys ripped my friend off,
and Johnny ended up selling my friend's stolen design on his t-shirts.

In the end, Johnny was a real gentlemen and took down the whole line, and
actually ended up doing a joint venture with my friend. I think the ripper was
fired. He handled it correctly.

------
JacobAldridge
Fantastic story, and a great non-tech example of the importance of 'releasing
often', shifting your focus and business in the direction of the best
opportunity.

Reading the story, I don't doubt that Johnny is an energetic person to be in
the room with, and he seems to have transferred that into creating an exciting
brand experience.

------
johnyzee
_I'd rather have a strong brand filled with knowledgeable customers who truly
enjoy and appreciate what I've created instead of making a quick buck - being
just another fad._

Come on now, it hardly gets anymore faddish. It's just t-shirts, and people
want them because cool people they know have them. The fact that there is some
random theme to them makes it feel like you are "in the know" about something,
even though nobody knows what the hell it means ("keep on trunkin'"). Once it
hits mass market, the cool early adopters have moved on and it is all over.

It is still inspirational that a guy can succeed like this just by being
himself and being an original, which is undoubtedly what got him his early
customers. Who knew that people are so hungry for something real that they are
ready to line up for four days just to buy a t-shirt? That is somehow
depressing.

Awesome story.

------
tdonia
Regardless of how inspirational this Johnny's business might sound, he's
making his money on spam. I've never signed up for 'johnny cupcakes' merch and
i've attempted multiple times to unsubscribe. Works briefly, but in a few
months the emails start coming again. I don't bother unsubscribe attempts
anymore; thank Regex for spam filters.

I am curious as to where he got my address - i usually tag anyone i don't know
personally with an alias rather than a real address yet this guy has found a
way to get a better email address. his story would be a lot more interesting
if it shared that secret to his miraculous success.

~~~
thinkbohemian
Try using a disposable email next time. I never give out my real email address
anymore. (of course i am the developer of a disposable email app, so i'm a
little biased...WhySpam.Me)

------
goatforce5
Talked to him for maybe 10 minutes a couple of years ago in his Boston store.
He picked up on my accent so I quite happily gave him a quick brain dump on
t-shirty stuff in London, UK. He's very charming and polite.

Love his work.

------
jdietrich
Johnny Cupcakes is a cool guy. We often get hung up on the technology here at
HN, but this story makes it abundantly clear to me that business is about
people, how you communicate with them and how they feel about you. Johnny
Cupcakes isn't selling the utility of being less naked, he's selling
membership of a tribe, he's selling the start of many conversations, he's
selling mementoes of a cool experience with a cool guy. I think we have far
more to learn from this than any number of case studies about AJAXifying a
Social Platform with Ruby on Django.

------
mattwdelong
I originally thought this was spam, but after checking out the story I
realized its an awesome and inspirational story. A story of entrepreneurial
drive and passion. Love the site design as well.

------
jf
Be sure to click on the "Next" buttons, they don't scroll the story down, they
scroll each little story sideways!

------
auston
I interviewed Johnny last year!!

<http://www.limitemagazine.com/2009/08/qa-johnny-cupcakes/>

------
Hexstream
I'm intrigued about how to deal with the, hum... logistics issues that arise
from being 4 days in line.

------
DannoHung
I am honestly disappointed that this isn't about designer cupcakes.

Guess that tells you where my brain is located.

~~~
crux_
I'm going to guess, right about here:

<http://www.teeandcakes.com/blogosphere/>

------
jajilore
The First time i heard about him, i couldnt believe he wasnt selling cupcakes,
this just shows us about branding, its awesome.

~~~
pivo
I've walked by that store for years and until today didn't realize that it
wasn't a store that sells cupcakes. I'm kinda glad too, that would have been
weird.

~~~
jajilore
i know right, going in and asking for cupcakes

