Young entrepreneur balances school with start-up company

Undergrad turns class project into business opportunity

When shoes fall apart, most people go out and buy a new pair. Not if you’re Jason Shuman, Miami (Florida) ’13. When Shuman noticed his boat shoes had seen the end of their days, he started his own shoe company. But Shuman didn’t want just a new pair of boat shoes. He wanted a pair with his SigEp letters on it. After searching for a company that would do it, he found nothing.

“People are out there paying $60-80 for sweatshirts they wear once a week,” Shuman says. “I’m proud to wear my letters and proud to be a part of something and everyday by wearing boat shoes with letters, it shows this instead of just wearing a t-shirt one day a week.”

Shuman, second from left, with the friends who helped him start Category 5.

To see his creation come to life, Shuman recruited a group of his close friends and Category 5 was born. For the team, the biggest lesson learned in starting Category 5 was the power of networking. “We went on LinkedIn and looked for shoe manufacturers and found the one we wanted to work with the best,” Shuman says. After two years and 10 prototypes, they landed on the perfect boat shoe—the Yachtsmen.

“Networking is one of the biggest things they tell you about in SigEp and so I used that to reach out to other SigEps to be sales reps,” Shuman says. Category 5 has campus representatives on 80 campuses nationwide. This spring, they have plans to expand to over 200 campuses as they launch their sorority line.

For him, using the SigEp network wasn’t just convenient, but rather Shuman sees it as a way to give back and help brothers out, especially with his campus rep program. “I learned to network and be willing to call up brothers across the country and do something that can be mutually beneficial for everybody,” he says.

Now in his senior year, Shuman credits the balanced lifestyle learned from SigEp as the cornerstone to how he keeps up with school and his company. “It’s important to live a balanced lifestyle and it’s important to structure your day,” he says. “There are so many deadlines that come up whether it’s planning a philanthropy, a social event, or even just getting to chapter, staying organized is key.”

Being able to tackle deadlines will be crucial, especially with Shuman’s plans for Category 5. “I have the passion for the company to grow and the passion to serve our niche market,” Shuman says. The shoes can feature any logo, and Shuman hopes to expand to country clubs, yacht clubs, and as he puts it, “pretty much any company with a logo.”

For more information or to order a pair for yourself, visit: www.cat5boatshoes.com.

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