The brief to our designer was simple: come up with a branded UM tee you actually want to wear. It took us a few rounds to dial things in and here’s where things ended up. Grey/black for classic fashion-y types and fresh blue for all the sporty dudes (and girls!) up here in VT and beyond.

So far so good with about 50 tees sold in our first week (keep’em coming!). Em’s eating some humble pie as she was willing to bet a four-pack of #heady that grey would outsell blue, but blue’s turning out to the the winner, though only slightly. But the tide could turn at any moment…

Pretty soon we’ll be out of this first run because part of the idea here is to give these tees away as ‘thank yous’ to friends and collaborators out there who’ve been helping The Great Bear find its footing and meander along…. You know who you are and we love you for it!

Thanks to Leo (and Andrew) at #iskraprint for working with us to have these screened locally in BTV. It’s always fun to see stuff being made and Leo was nice enough to let us in to his workshop and take some pics. I missed the grey blanks being screened but you can see the grey ones here.

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

As we mentioned last week we now have four open positions we’re trying to fill in our new office in downtown BTV (we’re not actually moved in yet… our lease starts 6/1):

• General Assistant – see previous post
• Account Manager – read on…
• Marketing Guru – read on…
• Product Development Specialist… read on (scroll down to the bottom)

Give us a holler if you’re qualified and you wanna come join ‘The Great Bear’ in #BTV!

(Excuse the formatting in these posts… sometimes WP can be a little wonky.)

ACCOUNT MANAGER
The main role of the Account Manager is to help grow our wholesale business by nurturing healthy working relationships with – and proactively supporting – our growing list of wholesale accounts.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Helping the founders develop an annual wholesale sales plan
• Developing and maintaining useful and accurate sales reports
• Establishing and communicating sales goals for each wholesale account
• Proactively following up with each account to check stock levels, make sure they have what they need to be successful (samples, etc), communicate goals and glean market insight (monthly call rotation)
• Drafting and sending out a monthly sales newsletter to all accounts
• Researching new account leads and channels and maintaining accurate and up-to-date sales prospect lists
• Sending out prospecting kits to approved leads and proactively following up with leads
• Keeping track of account activity via our CRM system
• Helping us prepare for and be successful at trade and consumer shows
• Preparing for a weekly sales meeting with UM’s founders
• Ultimately, helping us meet our wholesale sales targets each year (through a combination of carefully increasing our reach while also steadily improving sell-through in each door)

Key Attributes
In order to love this job and be successful at it the ideal candidate should possess most or all of the following attributes:

• Outgoing and positive; enjoys interacting with and helping others
• A natural and effective communicator (written, verbal)
• Great phone skills
• Persistent with a competitive, winning spirit
• Well organized
• An intuitive feel for and interest in our market landscape (premium natural men’s products)
• Loves working in a fluid, entrepreneurial environment
• Persistent… tenacious even!

As our first outside sales hire, the Account Manager will be working directly with UM’s founders.

Requirements

• College degree
• Proven track record of high achievement demonstrating the above ‘key attributes’
• 1-3+ years relevant experience

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive salary & benefits, depending on candidate’s skills & experience

Note: One of our goals over time is to become ‘a favorite place to work’ for Vermonters. Together we’ll decide what that means and how we get there.

Target Hire Date
Summer 2013

How To Apply
Does this sound like a great fit with your skills, interests, experience and personality? Are you ready to rock it with our small but mighty team? Are you a fan of premium natural products?

If so email us your resumé along with a brief cover note or video to jobs@ursamajormen.com explaining why you are the person we’re looking for (please put the position you’re applying for in the email Subject field, thanks).

***

 MARKETING GURU
We’re looking a smart, ambidextrous ‘Marketing Guru’ to help us achieve our mission of becoming the favorite skin and body care brand for men who insist on ‘living major’. This will be our first marketing hire so this person will be working closely with the founders.

Key responsibilities will include most or all of the following, depending on the person’s skills, experience and interests:

• Planning – helping the founders develop an annual marketing plan (strategy, goals, tactics, etc) and iterating/learning as we go to maximize our effectiveness
• Project management – overseeing all our marketing programs (ideation, briefs, implementation and follow-up, performance tracking, lessons learned, etc)
• Market research – conducting ongoing market research as needed (market trends, competitors, new products, potential partners, etc)
• New products – collaborating with our Product Development Specialist to help bring market insight to the table to help achieve our goal of creating awesome products
• Content generation – generating content ideas and potentially contributing to UM content (copy, photos, video)
• Social media – helping manage and build UM’s nascent social media effort
• Sampling – putting in place and managing our sampling programs
• PR – strategy, sourcing leads, crafting pitches, pitching stories, following up, etc.
• In-store – creating and implementing effective in-store marketing programs
• Partnerships – helping to support and manage our various marketing partnerships
• Production – overseeing production of collateral and other marketing materials
• Web site – helping keep our web site up to date (online store, retailer list, etc)

Key Attributes
In order to love this job and be successful at it the ideal candidate should possess most or all of the following attributes:

• Passion for brands and marketing
• Social media pro
• Love working in a fluid, entrepreneurial environment
• Creative, innovative thinker
• Have a solid balance of analytical and creative skills
• Be an excellent communicator (written & verbal)
• A true team player
• Outgoing and positive; enjoys interacting with people and building relationships
• A competitive, winning spirit (someone who’s driven and likes to ‘get their hustle on’)
• Detail-oriented and well-organized

… Whew!

Requirements

• College degree
• Proven track record of high achievement demonstrating the above ‘key attributes’
• 1-3+ years relevant experience

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive salary & benefits, depending on candidate’s skills & experience

Note: One of our goals over time is to become ‘a favorite place to work’ for Vermonters. Together we’ll decide what that means and how we get there.

Target Hire Date
Summer 2013

How To Apply
Does this sound like a great fit with your skills, interests, experience and personality? Are you ready to rock it with our small but mighty team? Are you a fan of premium natural products?

If so email us your resumé along with a brief cover note or video to jobs@ursamajormen.com explaining why you are the person we’re looking for (please put the position you’re applying for in the email Subject field, thanks).

***

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SPECIALIST
We’re looking for a super-talented ‘product development specialist’ to take the lead on developing all new products at Ursa Major. As our first outside product development hire, this person will be working directly with UM’s founders.

Key responsibilities will include most or all of the following, depending on the person’s skills, experience and interests:

• Working closely with UM’s marketing folks to determine which products Ursa Major should develop (market research, ideation…)
• Co-authoring detailed product briefs with UM’s marketing folks, detailing all relevant specs for new development projects
• Developing accurate target cost sheets for each new product to make sure we’re meeting our goals for cost of goods (bulk, fill, components, etc)
• Working with the founders to identify, put in place and build strong working relationships with top-tier supply partners (formulators, suppliers of components, fillers, etc)
• Project management (this is a big chunk  of the job) – working proactively with our formulators and suppliers to ensure we meet all our development goals (quality, timeframe, budget, etc)
• Researching  and keeping abreast of market trends – natural ingredients, green packaging, etc.
• Helping ensure that UM becomes a sustainability leader vis a vis ingredients, processing, manufacturing, packaging, etc.

Key Attributes
In order to love this job and be successful at it the ideal candidate should possess most or all of the following attributes:

• A passion for developing premium natural skin, body & hair care products
• Desire to work in a fluid, entrepreneurial environment
• An excellent communicator (written and verbal), including great phone skills
• Outgoing and positive; enjoys interacting with people and building relationships
• A competitive, winning spirit
• Strong project manager
• Detail-oriented and well-organized
• Hands on problem-solver…

Requirements

• College degree
• Proven track record of high achievement demonstrating the above ‘key attributes’
• 1-5+ years relevant work experience

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive salary & benefits, depending on candidate’s skills & experience

Note: One of our goals over time is to become ‘a favorite place to work’ for Vermonters. Together we’ll decide what that means and how we get there.

Target Hire Date
Summer 2013

How To Apply
Does this sound like a great fit with your skills, interests, experience and personality? Are you ready to rock it with our small but mighty team? Are you a fan of premium natural products?

If so email us your resumé along with a brief cover note or video to jobs@ursamajormen.com explaining why you are the person we’re looking for (please put the position you’re applying for in the email Subject field, thanks).

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

So we’ve decided to move our fledgling operation from Stowe to downtown Burlington, VT. It’s been a really tough decision because we have friends and family here and we love being so close to the mountains… on the other hand we know we’re going to need ready access to bright, motivated, creative and diverse folks to keep growing our business and the available pool of talent in BTV is obviously much larger than it is here in Stowe (BTV’s population, at a whopping 43,000, is 10x larger than that of Stowe). It’s going to be a big change but we’re looking forward to it.

As we posted last week we have some job openings to fill, the first of which is for a ‘General Assistant’. In addition, over the coming month or so we plan to post additional job openings, for a total of four new positions:

• General assistant – entry-level position (currently interviewing – more info here)
• Account manager – entry-level sales position
• Marketing guru – entry- to mid-level marketing position (focus on online marketing)
• Product development specialist – mid-level position

To apply for the General Assistant position, please check out this post. If you’re interested in applying for one of the other positions, please wait ’til we post the job openings here on our site and then follow the application guidelines.

Btw feel free to let your friends know about these job postings by sharing on FB, etc.

Thanks so much!

Photo credit: Wikipedia, Church Street in Burlington, 1907

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

Intro
Ursa Major (‘The Great Bear’) is hiring! We’re moving our office to downtown Burlington and plan to fill several key positions this spring as we continue to build out our small team, starting with the ‘General Assistant’ position.

General Assistant (GA)
We’re looking for bright, motivated all-round assistant to provide critical support to the founders in a number of important functional areas across the business, including:

• Product development – market research, competitor analysis, follow-up with vendors, etc.
• Wholesale sales – market research, follow-up with customers and sales leads, help prepare for trade & consumer shows, etc.
• Marketing – market research, production of collateral, general assistance
• Customer service – answer phone, take phone orders, etc.
• Office – maintain organized and well-functioning office (interface with vendors, office supplies, etc)
• Other – participate in weekly company meetings, mail/UPS drop-off, pack out web & wholesale orders, etc. as needed

This GA will learn a ton about the natural (men’s) skin care business, product development, marketing and sales. Over time the GA position could grow into a dedicated marketing, sales or product development role, depending on the candidate’s skills and interests and Ursa Major’s needs.

Key Attributes
The ideal candidate should possess most or all of the following attributes in order to enjoy and be successful in this role:

• Desire to work in an entrepreneurial environment
• Well organized
• Strong listener and communicator
• Attentive to detail
• Creative thinker and proactive problem-solver
• Friendly and persistent
• Competitive, winning spirit
• An underlying interest in premium natural products and brands
• An ability to work comfortably alongside our flatulent #tripawd bulldog, George

Requirements

• College degree
• Relevant work experience demonstrating the above ‘key attributes’
• Proven track record of high achievement

Salary & Benefits

• Competitive salary & benefits

Note: One of our goals over time is to become ‘a favorite place to work’ for Vermonters. Together we’ll decide what that means and how we get there.

Target Hire Date
Spring/early summer 2013

How To Apply
Does this sound like a great fit with your skills, interests, experience and personality? Are you ready to rock it with our small but mighty team? Are you a fan of premium natural products?

If so email us your resumé along with a brief note or video to jobs@ursamajormen.com explaining why you are the person we’re looking for (please put the position you’re applying for in the email Subject field, thanks).

***

Background
We created Ursa Major to provide men with a spirited natural alternative to the bland, toxin-laden products that pervade today’s market. Our advanced formulations artfully blend nature’s most eff¬ective ingredients to provide luxurious textures, sublime aromas and unbeatable performance. That’s why we call them ‘super natural’. The result is clear, healthy skin – and a kick in your step – so you can get out there and make the most of every day, or ‘live major’.

We launched in December 2010 with our Stellar Shave Cream and have since carefully expanded our line to include a simple yet robust daily skin care regimen for men (face wash, shave cream, face tonic, face balm). We’re currently developing several new products and over time plan to serve as a one-stop, head-to-toe solution for our customers. Ursa Major is currently based in Stowe, Vermont and will soon be moving to a new office six miles south of Stowe in Waterbury.in Burlington, VT.

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

When we launched our popular limited-edition UM x Topo Designs Dopp Kit back in December, we promised to contribute 5% of kit sales towards a program set up by Orvis and the National Wildlife Federation which protects critical winter habitat for grizzly bears, wolves and bison in the Yellowstone ecosystem (learn more about the innovative conservations program here). Well we’re delighted to report we just sent the NWF another $400, bringing the total donated by Ursa Major to $587.50, which will understand will be matched by the generous folks over at Orvis. Even though we’re still a tiny company, it feels great to be able to start channeling some of our precious resources towards protecting the wild places we love so much. Thanks to all of you who bought a Topo kit, to Orvis for being a leader in this area (Orvis donates 5% of it’s pre-tax profit to protecting nature), and to the National Wildlife Federation for the great work you all do. Onward!

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

Our shave cream won another award, “Best Groom” from Wallpaper* magazine. Sweet! This is the kind of stuff you can’t plan for, but you’re so grateful when it happens – every indie brand worth it’s salt deserves a lucky break or two, haha. Hearty thanks to the friendly folks over at Wallpaper* for having the eminent good sense to include our shave cream in your 2013 design awards. We owe you a keg of cold Trapps Vienna Lager!

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

Overall we’re really pleased with way things came out and will, of course, continue to dial things in over time… As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts as the Great Bear evolves! (Note: the new blue/green accent color in the image above appears a little bluer/brighter than it actually is.)

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

We took a little break this morning with our team to celebrate two years in business and a major 2012. Mimosas, pancakes, eggs, etc. at one of our favorite local places, aptly-named ‘The Bees Knees‘. My father even brought along his marmalade! I meant to take a photo of the crew (six of us) but I was too busy eating and drinking I guess. Wish all our collaborators could have been there… maybe some day we’ll organize a boondoggle in Vermont so everyone can come and relax for a few days. Onward!

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

J Crew picked up our Big Kahuna set for the holiday season which is pretty cool. It’s featured on their web site (’101 Gift Ideas, for Him’) and also in their holiday catalog in the coveted ‘In Good Company’ section (along with a mix of other brands like Dodocase, London Undercover, Billykirk, Juniper Ridge, New Balance, Saint James, Ray Ban, etc). We did a special holiday wrap for their set which you can check out here. Good stuff!

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men

This is one of those things you can’t plan for: it came over the fence late in the game and we had to say ‘yea or nay’ within a day or so. We decided to make the investment and go for it. Should be a great group of people and we never regret getting out there into the field to connect with customers, media, other brands… who knows what will come of it?

Please stop by and say hello if you’re in NYC this weekend!

Ursa Major - Super natural skin care for men