Meet the Company
This athleisure brand aimed to be the sustainability leader in their category. They created high-quality, sustainable clothing using recycled plastics, with design talent from leading athletic wear companies. The company built a significant social media presence and distributed through 80 retailers nationwide, backed by 160 investors who believed in their mission to revolutionize sustainable athletic wear. At its peak, the company maintained a team of 40 people across full-time employees and contractors.
There's no manual out there for how to shut down a company. Even with SimpleClosure, shutting down a company is more involved than you might anticipate – but SimpleClosure made it way less annoying. I would just tell other founders to trust me, suck it up, and pay the fee to make it simple on yourself.
The Challenge
After five years of building the company, the founder faced a difficult decision. Despite achieving notable success with 30-40 million TikTok views and 80,000 followers, the business model proved increasingly challenging. Rising costs for influencer marketing and paid advertising, combined with diminishing returns on these investments, made sustainable growth difficult. The capital-intensive nature of physical product development and inventory management further complicated the path to profitability.
The Solution
Through a recommendation from their lawyer at Gunderson Dettmer, the founder discovered SimpleClosure as an alternative to expensive legal services. Having previous experience with software solutions for business operations, they were receptive to a technology-enabled approach to dissolution.
SimpleClosure streamlined the process by preparing necessary documentation and providing clear guidance on required actions. The platform enabled efficient communication through Slack, requiring only one initial call to make key decisions. For unavoidable tasks like wet signatures and mail submissions, SimpleClosure provided step-by-step instructions, making even manual processes straightforward.
The Outcome
With SimpleClosure's help, the company completed their dissolution in approximately four months. The founder was able to focus on their new venture while SimpleClosure handled the complex administrative burden of winding down operations. The process proved particularly valuable as the founder grew increasingly reluctant to deal with shutdown-related tasks.
The platform's guided approach eliminated the need to research requirements or navigate complex legal processes independently. By choosing SimpleClosure over traditional legal services, the founder saved both time and money while ensuring all necessary steps were properly completed. The experience validated SimpleClosure's mission to make company dissolution as painless as possible for founders ready to move on to their next chapter.