Tim (the CEO) and I met through the aforementioned Overwatch esports and ended up quickly befriending each other. While talking about mascot design and the general process of merchandising, we realized fairly quickly that we had very complementary skillsets: I was great at envisioning, designing, and driving the artistic side of a product line, while Tim knew a ton about product fulfillment and had access to lots of manufacturer contacts. Making some plushies together seemed like a great way for me to create something that I'd otherwise have no clue how to execute, while also giving Tim a way to use his hard-earned logistics knowledge to do something fun.
The easiest way for us to do this was to use infrastructure that already existed, meaning we'd take advantage of Vite's facilities and servers to sell, pack, and ship all the plushies. That's all! There's no catches or hooks or extra charges that are secretly redirecting your money to some noodle conspiracy. I just happen to be friends with a guy who runs a ramen company, so we're selling through the ramen company's site. Simple as.