We recently had the pleasure of catching up with Jake Nickell, the founder of Threadless and author of the new book by the same name. Not only is the Threadless book visually stunning, entertaining, and mind-bending, it’s full of great information and views about the creative process.  As it should be, as it’s written by a guy who has taken an idea and turned it into a $30 million+ business without following any of the normal tenets of big business success.

Jake is as unconventional a CEO as you’ll find anywhere, and it works!  Enjoy the interview, then go order the book.

Young Entrepreneurs: Threadless is so much more than a T-shirt company – it’s a community. To what extent has the community aspect played a role in the company’s success? Was building a community what you had in mind from the outset, or did it just happen?

Jake Nickell: Threadless started as a project within another online community called Dreamless. Had that community not existed, Threadless never would have existed.