Most new business owners worry about getting customers through the door. Not Andrew Blackmon, co-founder of online tuxedo rental service The Black Tux. He was worried about getting trampled by them.
When The Black Tux launched in June 2013 — born out of Blackmon’s own “terrible” wedding experience with the tuxedo rental industry — the company was equipped to fulfill roughly a thousand orders per weekend. But then GQ magazine gave The Black Tux a positive mention, triggering a surge in demand. Overnight, they sold out for the entire fall wedding season. And the orders kept coming.
“I remember my co-founder, Patrick Coyne, and I sitting in his apartment, just looking at each other in horror, wondering what we were going to do next,” says Blackmon. “It felt like we had reached the pinnacle — and then the ship was slowly sinking.”
The co-founders decided to approach their problem from two sides: First they personally reached out to any disgruntled customers to explain the situation and set up a waiting list for those who wanted to stay in the loop. About 20,000 signed up.
Then they went looking for more suits. As newcomers, The…