Profile: Poketo

I have know Ted and Angie from Poketo for many years now. We’d see each other occasionally in NY or LA or SF, which seems fitting, as they seem like the perfect global brand to me, with young, fresh designs that appeal to a wide swath of people. Their business is big now but started very casually. Read on!

The Start

Our business was a total accident. We were throwing a lot of art shows back in 2003 and wanted to make something that was affordable and easy for people to buy so we made some wallets featuring the art of our friends and they sold out instantly… people flipped out over them so we just had another show with other artists’ work and it just went from there. Even though we didn’t set out to have a business, it just became one shortly after we started it and we just went with it!

Challenges

Well, not knowing a thing about having a business, for one. Everything we learned, we learned by doing. We asked whoever we thought knew more than us and just learned by doing it. We’re still learning everyday to this day. 

Advice to Newbies

You gotta really love what you’re doing. Be innovative. Don’t copy others. Just do what feels right. 

Thanks, Angie and Ted! Small business owners, if you’d like to be featured in this space, drop me a line.