Intro to Business Q&As: Ryan Sutherlund – Tee Off

Product: Tee Off

Instagram: @teeoff_shirts

Group Members: Ryan Sutherlund (manager), Sam Yeager (finance), Evan Lubben (sales), Owen Barber (supply manager), and Ryan Messner (marketing).

What purpose does your product/company serve and what problem is it looking to solve?

“We sell t-shirts because everyone wants t-shirts. We are advertising to golfers with the tee-off pun, and friends and family thought it was a good idea.”

Why did your group decide to go with this business idea?

“Since friends and family said they would buy it, we thought other people would as well.”

Why do you think your product will be appealing to the student body in general?

“Mainly golfers, but I think other people would like to wear them too. We are coming out with new designs for the shirts. We are going for really vibrant colors on some of them, so I think that will be pretty cool.”

How did you come up with the name?

“At first, we were thinking t-shirts, and then tee-off came to mind as a go-together pun, and then it just stuck.”

How can people hear about you and buy from you?

“We have our Instagram, and we will be passing out flyers [that] will have a phone number and an email to make pre-orders. Then, in a few weeks, we will be selling them at lunch.”

What will you be doing with your profits? Is there an organization you plan to donate a percentage of your profits to?

“For every shirt, we will be donating one dollar that helps veterans and military members. It is run by the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour.”

Tell me a story from your experience working on this project.

“We emailed one supplier first, and they didn’t respond, and then we emailed a second one, and we actually got that order in today. But, we emailed, and they don’t respond now because they needed Mr. Lowe, but at least now we have the shirts ordered.”