When a friend introduced Liam Nyland to Class of 2021 business school grads Rider Tuff and Eric Gonzalez, he knew that interning for their company would be a great opportunity. Last summer, the two alumni founded Timeless Patents, which sells framed watercolor prints of patent drawings that illustrate inventions submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office — such as the surfboard, tennis racket, and the Gibson Les Paul guitar.

“Rider and Eric are young, motivated, and passionate about their business. They take a modern approach to work,” Nyland said. “And they are Richmond alumni, so we have a lot in common.”

When Tuff and Gonzalez realized they needed help pitching the wholesale side of their business, building on the traffic from their website and Etsy shop, they decided to hire summer interns. The interns would find prospective clients by reaching out to boutiques, pro shops, and other retail vendors that might want to include the illustrations in their product offerings.

Nyland, a sophomore who will declare business administration as his major later this year, is interested in marketing and finance. He welcomed the idea of developing a wholesale marketing plan.

“On a typical day, I send out 25 to 30 personalized emails about why I feel our products would do well in a particular store,” Nyland said. “It is so satisfying when a company responds and is interested in working with us.”

Nyland works remotely four days a week and commutes to the company’s SoHo WeWork office one day midweek. The proximity of Timeless Patents New York City location to his Bronxville, New York, home was another selling point for him.

“While going into the office is old school and classic, it’s also nice to work from home,” Nyland said. “I like seeing my mom and family. After five, I can go straight to what I want to do next without an hour-long commute.”

Alumni connection

Tuff and Gonzalez thought about the possibility of a UR alumni-summer internship program several years ago, when they were members of UR’s Entrepreneurship Club. They had the idea to create an internship matching platform that paired UR students with local startups that allowed for remote work.

“As students, we would have loved if more alumni were actively looking for interns,” Gonzalez said. “That’s why we decided to give back and offer internship opportunities this summer.”

The team hired UR junior Madison Greenspan and Nyland for the project, which the company founders said would have taken four to six months if they had to manage the wholesale channel alone. “Liam owned this side of the business and learned it as an end-to-end process, rather than just being told what to do. He figured out what worked and what didn’t, and that has been massively helpful,” Tuff said.

Tuff and Gonzalez were highly transparent with their financials, giving their interns an inside look at what it’s like to grow and scale a business. “We made it clear to both interns that we wanted the summer to end not only with a good learning experience but also with specific data points that they could talk about when interviewing for future jobs,” Gonzalez said.

Working from home

Nyland works from a desk in his bedroom or at the family dining room table and said his productivity on a hybrid schedule is the same at home as when he’s in the office. The team has at least two virtual meetings daily to set goals and brainstorm improvements. 

“I don’t have any room to slack off because everything I do is on a Google spreadsheet, so that the team can see my progress,” Nyland said. “Today, I’ve sent out 24 emails and I’ve gotten two responses, which is an eight percent response rate. That’s definitely good for cold outreach.”

Timeless Patents has gained several new wholesale clients through Nyland’s marketing efforts.

“After this experience, I definitely think finance is the path for me,” he reflected. “But it doesn’t have to be the only path. Entrepreneurship is also very intriguing to me.”