GM’s Men of the Week: Shane Robinson & AJ Steigman

The economy is in the crapper. The job market continues to spiral out of control. Widespread panic is upon us. We should all jump ship and cut our loses, right? Well, not for two ambitious ex Wall Street bankers. After the well went dry in investment banking, Shane Robinson teamed up with his former Merrill Lynch colleague, A.J. Steigman to embark on a new business venture.

Much of 2010 was spent working 18-hour days fundraising across the country, shacking up on friends’ couches, as they raised the $265,000 needed to launch Soletron.com. Soletron is an online urban clothing marketplace that’s one part social network, one part e-commerce and one part online men’s magazine – a trifecta unmatched within the industry. Robinson said, “We started Soletron because we were tired of start-up design companies with the best ideas and talent not having a voice or platform to showcase their products. We provide a service for designers looking to display their talents on an international level and assist them in running a legitimate small business.” Evil Wall Street bankers, right? Soletron assured their success by joining forces with giants in the music and entertainment industry, sports stars such as SuperBowl XLIII MVP Santonio Holmes and industry icons such as Tom Austin (co-founder of AND1). This coupled with perseverance and market research positioned Soletron as a leader in online retail.

“Coming from Corporate America, it’s really rewarding to be in something like this. It’s important to have a lot of fun as a entrepreneur.” – AJ Steigman

“It’s all about doing what you love. If you do what you love, hopefully the rest falls into place.” – Shane Robinson

Businesses do not do well by accident. Success is the byproduct of hard work and no one I know works harder than these guys. Hats off to them as they inspire us all to dare greatly and take a chance, even in a bad economy.

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