Making Something From Nothing: Krystal Gillis of Tighties On How To Go From Idea To Launch
An Interview With Doug Noll
Don’t’ quit. That is ultimately the difference between you and everyone else. When days get tough, take a minute, reset, and get back out there by completing small steps forward. You can do it.
As a part of our series called “Making Something From Nothing”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Krystal Gillis, Founder and CEO of Tighties.
Krystal Gillis, the founder and CEO of Tighties™ orthopedic activewear, is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader. Krystal’s career trajectory has been a dynamic blend of entrepreneurial ventures and corporate experience from sales for a large payroll company to founding her first business in payroll software at the young age of 24. After successfully building and eventually selling her first venture, she transitioned to corporate roles in the medical devices sector, contributing her skills at Abbott and Stryker. In 2017, seeking a balance, she took on a consulting role, overseeing the launch of five companies, three products and a foundation before the inception of Tighties™ in 2022 during her work on a product launch for an orthopedic company in San Diego.
As the driving force behind Tighties™, Krystal is deeply involved in every aspect of the business from product development and project management to overseeing finances, sales and pipeline management. With a strong focus on health and wellness, she created Tighties™ for anyone committed to an active lifestyle.
Despite the challenges, Krystal finds gratification in the small wins that accumulate to move mountains. Her favorite aspect of the job lies in the daily decisions that contribute to the company’s success. A firm believer in the adage “A rising tide lifts all boats,” Krystal brings not only her expertise but also a compassionate and visionary approach to the business landscape.
With a strong educational foundation, Krystal earned her Bachelor of Arts from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. She currently resides in San Diego, California.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
I’m from a small town in Minnesota and the youngest in a large family, both of which have profoundly shaped who I am today. Growing up, my friends and I spent a lot of time enjoying the simple pleasures of life. I am very aware of how special it was not to be influenced by things like brand names and the latest trends. We didn’t have access to much, which created space for creativity. My family instilled in us the values of hard work and accountability from a young age and led by example. Because my siblings are much older than I am, I had the benefit of extra sets of parents helping to pave the path and providing a support system. A great way to build confidence is to have a team of people telling you that you can be whatever you want and accomplish anything you’re willing to work for! I am very fortunate.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
I have a lot of quotes that play a role in my life; however, one that I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately is, “Stop regretting the past and fearing the future. Today is all you have. Make the most of it. Make it worth remembering.” — Ikigai
When you are working to build something — anything — there are moments of both success and failure. Staying present in your process as you work towards your goal helps to alleviate the feeling of being overwhelmed. By taking a deep breath and consistently moving forward each day, you will eventually reach your destination. Successes are moments to celebrate, and failures are an opportunity to grow.
Is there a particular book, podcast, or film that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story or explain why it resonated with you so much?
I love reading and have accumulated many books that help me focus on the right things in life. Recently, I read Atomic Habits and was captivated by its main premise: focusing on the processes and systems that lead to your goal, rather than the goal itself. When building a company or a product (or several), it’s a journey filled with ups and downs. It’s easy to get discouraged by setbacks that may feel like failures or missed goals. However, when you evaluate these setbacks against your processes, you often find that they have a purpose, and your consistency is what will ultimately help you reach your destination. For Tighties, development has been a multiyear process with incredible highs and lows, but following our steps and processes has brought us to the finish line for our current launch.
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion. There is no shortage of good ideas out there. Many people have good ideas all the time. But people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. Can you share a few ideas from your experience about how to overcome this challenge?
The road to success is often paved with good intentions, right? Overcoming the challenges of bringing an idea or product into reality requires hard work. It demands daily grit to complete tasks, make tough decisions and overcome obstacles to make strides up the mountain. If you have a great idea, you must seriously consider if you are ready to fully commit. If so, you need to be ready to make the necessary sacrifices — enduring late and sleepless nights, lonely moments, missed social events and occasional tears. Despite the difficulties, one of the greatest rewards is what you learn about yourself, your perseverance and the amazing people who stand by you. The life lessons gained make the journey to the mountain top worthwhile.
Often when people think of a new idea, they dismiss it saying someone else must have thought of it before. How would you recommend that someone go about researching whether or not their idea has already been created?
The simplest way to determine if your idea already exists is to research it online. Start with your favorite search engine. If you find no similar concepts, try a keyword search using the Patent Public Search through the USPTO. If you remain serious about pursuing your idea, consider contacting a patent lawyer for a formal search. They can identify potential conflicts and provide a professional opinion on whether your idea is worth patenting. One of the biggest mistakes people make is pursuing an idea without understanding what already exists.
For the benefit of our readers, can you outline the steps one has to go through, from when they think of the idea, until it finally lands in a customer’s hands? In particular, we’d love to hear about things like how to file a patent, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer to distribute it.
There’s not enough time in one day to cover all the necessary steps involved, but I can most certainly walk through key areas! As mentioned earlier, consulting a patent lawyer is crucial to ensure your idea has a chance. Many good lawyers offer services at reasonable prices, and it’s beneficial if the lawyer has experience in the industry you’re entering. This industry knowledge makes them an even more valuable resource.
Once your idea is filed, make sure to have a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in place. Anyone you discuss your idea with should sign this document, including family members in the early stages of development. Before proceeding further, consider forming a proper business structure and creating a business plan. This will help you organize your thoughts and decide whether you want to create the product yourself or also handle its distribution.
After conceptualizing your plan, identify the gaps in expertise you need to fill, which will be outlined in your business plan. For example, when developing Tighties, I lacked experience in apparel but had worked in orthopedics. One of the first contacts I made was Marissa Borelli, an expert in activewear and who also had experience with medical devices. She helped us source materials and find manufacturers for our initial samples. Understanding the expertise gaps in your product development is the first step after patent filing.
Working with Marissa was just the beginning of uncovering layers of valuable resources we needed throughout the development journey. Some contacts were helpful, others less so, but each provided valuable lessons for me and my team. Always trust your instincts about the people and companies you work with — if something feels off, it probably is, and it’s important to keep looking for the right associates.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started Leading My Company” and why?
1 .Thankfully, I was given this piece of advice: take the time and spend the money to have the proper paperwork in place. Be diligent with contracts, partner agreements, NDAs, and patents. Along with a patent lawyer, consider finding a corporate lawyer to help set up your business.
2. Entrepreneurship can be lonely. Despite having a phenomenal family and close friends, there have been extremely lonely times. Tighties and its products are incredibly important to me, consuming much of my life, which not everyone can relate to. Meeting other entrepreneurs revealed that feelings of loneliness are natural in this journey. It’s essential to have a support system and expand your network to connect with like-minded individuals. This period of growth is invaluable, and finding people on similar paths is worth the effort.
3 . Don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Seek advice, ask people to get involved and look for encouragement and connections who might also want to help. Building something great takes a village, and you need to find people who can help you realize your vision. This could be people you already know, or you might need to push your limits and join new groups and organizations to meet new contacts. Don’t be shy. And remember, when you’re further along in the process, lend a hand to someone else who’s just starting their journey.
4 . Hustle. No one will work as hard as you do, but everyone will follow your passionate drive. No setback can ever diminish the hard work you have put into something and that hard work, not the outcome, is something you should be proud of.
5 . Don’t’ quit. That is ultimately the difference between you and everyone else. When days get tough, take a minute, reset, and get back out there by completing small steps forward. You can do it.
There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?
It’s crucial to fill your expertise gaps but with an important caveat: learn the work being done. Identifying the skills you lack and finding the right person (or people) to fill those gaps is incredibly resourceful. However, it’s equally important for you to gain at least a medium-level understanding of their work. This enables you to ask informed questions, ensure alignment, and, if necessary, replace them.
One of my most valuable learning experiences during development was the unexpected departure of our original engineer. I had only been following his work at a high level, but I had to quickly step up and expand my skill set. While we still needed to hire a new engineer (or several), I became a better leader and our products improved because I had the opportunity to dive in and put an even better team in place.
What are your thoughts about bootstrapping vs looking for venture capital? What is the best way to decide if you should do either one?
You need to determine your goals. A common theme is that if you can manage everything yourself and retain full ownership, you should do so. However, there comes a tipping point where you must evaluate whether you are holding your products and company back by not scaling at the rate you should be. Spend time on this decision and revisit it regularly to ensure you are staying true to what is important to you while also doing what is best for your company.
Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Making an impact on the world is a never-ending quest, one that I’m currently trying to do in micro contributions, with hopes of transitioning to larger-scale contributions later down the track. For me, it’s about sticking to my core, which now shapes Tighties commitment: creating a community and supporting the unsupported. At present, I’m dedicated to creating job opportunities within my community and conducting as much of Tighties’ operations as possible from San Diego. Additionally, I find immense joy in mentoring and collaborating with aspiring entrepreneurs, sharing the resources I’ve discovered along the way.
One of my favorite quotes encapsulates my philosophy is, “A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats.” It’s our responsibility as humans to uplift others whenever possible. Particularly, women need to prioritize mentoring and supporting one another, as we remain underrepresented in both the capital and leadership realms.
You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
I’m deeply driven to inspire a movement that urges individuals to introspectively analyze the motivations behind their actions, ultimately empowering them to become proactive agents of change. This entails fostering a mindset shift where individuals consciously evaluate the impact of their choices and behaviors.
We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I was once asked this question before, and I answered Sara Blakely. I hold onto the belief that one day, I’ll have the opportunity to meet her. So, I’d like to put another name out into the universe: Glennon Doyle. Her book, “Untamed,” has profoundly impacted me, challenging the very foundations of my everyday beliefs. Thanks to her insights, I’ve grown as a person. Having a conversation with her would be nothing short of amazing.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on this link to learn more and apply.
