Miami man quit business school to sell Pokemon cards and watches for ₹74.4 million | Today’s news
The stories of people who didn’t graduate from college often make for exciting stories of success in the business world. Consider, for example, Bill Gates, who dropped out of Harvard to co-found Microsoft, or Steve Jobs, who dropped out of Reed College before co-founding Apple. In the same vein, the story of a man from Miami who once dropped out of business school to sell Pokémon cards full-time and made $7.8 million, or ₹Last year, sales of 74.4 million.
From college graduates to entrepreneurs
Andres Fernandez is the founder and CEO of MintlyCollects, which offers Pokemon cards on the Whatnot live sales platform. The company operates through two accounts with around 500k followers combined.
According to a Business Insider report, Fernandez enrolled in business school after his mother convinced him. “I studied business, which I think is a cliché,” the report quoted him as saying.
After just one semester, Fernandez dropped out of college to pursue a career as a Pokémon card dealer. “For the first two or three years, I did everything myself. I was streaming six days a week, packing orders, shipping them, and repeating the process Monday through Saturday. My uncle finally sat me down and said, ‘You’re on to something.’ Quit your job. Stop school and run with it.” So I did,” he added.
Read also | Nepal floods: School principal hails hero for early action to save 1,643 students
Growth phase
Fernandez said he learned all about the business over time. For the first two and a half years, he decided not to take a salary for himself.
He said he eventually realized he couldn’t do everything by himself. A self-described “control freak,” he took a big risk by investing $150,000 in his first major closed-end product purchase, prompting him to seek help. He approached friends and family and offered them a commission on the profits.
“Now my girlfriend works for me. Her best friend and her best friend’s boyfriend work for me. My brother works for me. My girlfriend’s cousin works for me. My childhood best friend also works for me. Today I have 10 streamers. We can stream more than 20 hours a day on one account and 15 hours a day on the other with both accounts running at the same time. We have reached $207 million in revenue 203.4. $7.8 million and we’re on track to do over $10 million to $11 million this year,” he said of the business.
Read also | How “Pokémon” and “Resident Evil” rewrote gaming history
Finding your true calling
The young founder shared how he found his calling one fine day. After an early interest in Pokémon, his love of cards developed into a business opportunity.
As someone who has played Pokemon video games since he was 10 years old, Fernandez said he became interested in collecting the cards after buying a pack for his younger cousin’s birthday. It was when his cousin pulled a $100 card from a $5 pack that Fernandez was hooked.
At the time, he was working in a croquet bar for $10 an hour. He soon started creating Pokemon content after realizing he was spending too much on cards. He eventually grew his account to around 30,000 followers and began selling cards on Instagram Live before joining Whatnot in late 2020.
He was 20 years old at the time and decided to stick with it.
“People won’t like to hear this, but being comfortable doesn’t equal success nine times out of ten. People think, ‘Oh, I’ll go to college and everything will be fine.’ No. You should be doing internships. You should be working. You should be getting real-world experience.”
“Even if my business somehow fails today, I know I’ll figure something else out,” he concluded.
