As a kid, Kevin Zinniel hated the long johns that his mom made him wear.
They were bulky and they bunched up at his knees. They made him hot and uncomfortable, even in frigid Twin Cities winters. A pair of scissors and a couple cuts later, Zinniel invented his first product: Sir Short John, a thin layer of underwear that just covers the body's core.
Now, as president and co-founder of Artisan Venture Lab, he’s taken Sir Short John to market, and the team has sold them in all 50 states. AVL has a unique setup: it acts as a marketing firm that helps with branding and web development and has an incubator aspect. It also helps to fund product startups. Zinniel said the goal of AVL is to bridge the gap of funding and execution.
Last week, Sir Short John received the Amazon’s Choice badge based on ratings, price and availability to ship immediately.
As the holiday season approaches, Zinniel said AVL is making a big push for Sir Short John. Sales are climbing, he said, and the company has already doubled its revenue from last year with its busiest three months yet to come in the year.
Zinniel hopes to double sales again in the coming year and get connected with some retailers. He said if AVL can increase sales for the third year, “that’s a good story to tell.” The company has already had some high-level discussions with some bigger box stores.
The team at AVL is looking to shift its focus to emphasize product development to beef up its stream of recurring revenue. Besides Sir Short John, AVL has a stake in LiLLE Cover Company, which sells water-resistant furniture covers.
The firm’s goal is to get more products on board and dial down the services side, allowing it to be more selective on where it offers those services. Zinniel said the service side can have a “churn effect” where there’s more of a project-based ebb and flow.
It’s a national marketing push and AVL has connected with some influencers to push the product on Instagram and TikTok.
“The goal of the company in the next three to five years is to have a portfolio of products,” which are ideally Minnesota-based, Zinniel said.
The company was founded in July of 2020 and was intentional to find space near downtown Minneapolis. “It was important to set our roots and say ‘We're not going anywhere. We're not scared of being downtown and we want to invest in the community, we want to invest in the city,’” Zinniel said.
