Meet David Escalante | Dog Sunglass designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with David Escalante and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi David, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?

I am a first generation college graduate. Born in San Jose,CA. I quickly noticed that most of the people that lived a life similar to the one I’d like to have were business owners or entrepreneurs. On top of that the majority of them would write books about how they succeeded in freeing themselves from a traditional 9-5 job. So it wasn’t too difficult to go to Barnes & Noble’s and read up on the struggles and successes of these individuals that lived a life similar to the one I’d like to have . In combination with my college days where I took a good amount of industrial design clases. I’d say my professors teaching me to constantly look at products or services around me and ask the question,

“what if?” In the hopes that my brain would learn to spot out opportunity for improvement when considering product design or a service. That’s where my desire to create a product and start a business came from.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
When people ask me what I do for a living I tend to think about that question differently. To me “for a living” in other words, “to feel alive;” I make music, design Dog sunglasses and spend as much time as I can with my boys and wife. For a “ living” in the traditional sense, how I make money. I try to sell two of the last three items mentioned. My dog sunglasses and my music. It wasn’t easy starting a business. I didn’t know anything about business. It’s foreign in my family the concept of starting a business instead of looking for a job. It took me 12 years of planning, of writing down ideas in a note book and spending my tax return money every year trying to create a product and test it. I gave up on Kaykos Dog Shades along the way. It was my wife (girl friend at the time) that saw the idea in my closet one day and encouraged me to try and finalize the design with her help. 12 years of planning is a long time. Yet, those 12 years would pass regardless if I tried to make it work or not. It was better in my mind to try to make it happen one small step at a time, learning from each small failure instead of calling it quits. All the books I read encouraged the failure and hard times. It was part of the process. I heard someone say. “ Being poor is hard, becoming wealthy is hard. Both are hard, choose the one you want to spend your time wrestling with.” Something like that, I’ve turned to that many times. In short, I’ve survived most of my life on a 9-5. If chasing a dream didn’t work out, I’d simply fall back to something I already know. So most of my time is occupied working on that dream.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I like to fish and be outdoors. I’d take my friend to Santa Cruz in California for some fun by the beach. Then I’d take him to Capitola, not far from Santa Cruz for some light fishing and lunch by the water. I’d catch an earthquakes soccer game one day. A giants game another and a warriors game another. Then make our way through the San Francisco city. To lighten things up I’d visit San Pedro square in San José for light talk and drinks.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’d love to dedicate this shout out to our family dog “Kayko” who inspired our line of dog sunglasses. My brother who pitched the idea to me and all the women in my life. My wife, mother and sister who always kept me grounded to ensure my ideas weren’t to crazy and my designs to outlandish. Their input narrowed down my business idea into the well received line of dog sunglasses we carry now. Also, to my father who comes home from work every day and helps me craft these sunglasses by hand. Growing this until it gives them all a desire to have an entrepreneur spirit is my goal and fuel.

Website: Www.KaykosDogShades.com

Instagram: Instagram.com/kaykosdogshades

Facebook: Facebook.com/kaykosdogshades