91原创

Her company headquarters was her student apartment, and her mobile sales office was her car. Four years later, Maya Nazareth has built her passion into a growing enterprise called . 

She was passionate about Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but noticed one irritating problem: the fightwear. 

鈥淭here just wasn鈥檛 a lot of gear that was thoughtfully designed for women,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淪o I was wearing gear that was very unflattering, that rode up while I was training, and it didn鈥檛 fit my body properly.鈥� 

About to start her senior year studying international business at the 91原创, Nazareth didn鈥檛 know much about the industry. But she spent hours in her apartment planning, developing a rashguard, and selling it out of the trunk of her car after jiu-jitsu practice. (A rashguard is a specialized shirt that protects the skin during grappling.) 

Alchemize Fightwear was born. Nazareth has built it steadily in the years since, recently announcing that the company more than doubled its business in 2023 and had just shipped its 10,000th order. It also hosts Brazilian jiu-jitsu events around the country that bring together hundreds of women and donates a portion of profits to combat violence against women. 

Despite launching the initial phase of her business on her own, Nazareth knew she wanted help and expert input. That鈥檚 why she turned to Horn Entrepreneurship. 

Horn is part of 91原创鈥檚 and promotes entrepreneurship throughout the University. It supports an entrepreneurship major, several minors and cross-disciplinary certificates. Beyond coursework, Horn offers programs that help budding entrepreneurs refine their startup ideas and build their ventures.

Nazareth benefited from several of Horn鈥檚 classes and workshops that school year, then after her graduation went through its Summer Founders program, which offers students mentorship, training and a stipend as they work on their startups.  

That summer brought a lot of clarity to Nazareth鈥檚 business ideas, partly by introducing her to the concept of evidence-based entrepreneurship, which calls for meticulous advance research about the market. It was an insight she calls hugely helpful. 

鈥淚 had never heard that [concept] anywhere,鈥� she said. She knew the challenges that led her to start the business, and why she cared, but didn鈥檛 really know if her potential customers felt the same way and what they would want. 

That summer, Nazareth spent a lot of time talking to women about problems they faced with fightwear, gathering a wealth of information. 

鈥淎ll those details are what helped us develop a really great product,鈥� Nazareth said, saving her from possibly wasting money on products that didn鈥檛 work. She still uses that approach today as a more seasoned business owner. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 launch something if I don鈥檛 know that people are going to love it. We de-risk the business by asking those questions up front.鈥� 

She also benefited from mentorship from leaders at Horn and said she still checks in regularly with them. 

鈥淚 feel like I would not be where I am today without Horn and these mentors who believed in me,鈥� she said. In particular, she mentioned , senior instructor of entrepreneurship, as an incredible professor and mentor who has had a big impact on her. 

The networks she built, she said, have also helped her make important connections in the broader industry as she looks to grow. 

鈥淭he network and the guidance that I鈥檝e received at Horn has probably been the most valuable thing that I received from the program,鈥� she said. 

She鈥檚 passed that benefit along, helping mentor students going through Horn鈥檚 programs. Last year, she was the featured business in the at the Lerner College. Teams of graduate business students came up with ideas for her enterprise, and she served as a judge in the final round. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of knowledge that I鈥檝e gained, one, through mentorship, but two, through just falling on my face in business, and making mistakes all the time, that I would like to share with people,鈥� Nazareth said. 

She sees Alchemize Fightwear as still in the startup phase, but is in the process of scaling up. While Nazareth still does much of the work herself, she鈥檚 added a full-time staff member and six part time employees and hopes to expand the team further. 

As Alchemize Fightwear grows, it remains focused on opening doors for women and is investing in marketing through building community. The company hosts self-defense events every other week at its Philadelphia office. It has also held larger conferences around the country, including a two-day grappling camp in San Diego in January that brought together 250 women. An even bigger three-day event in Austin, Texas, is in the works, aiming to draw 500 women to learn about jiu-jitsu and well-being, with sessions on nutrition, strength training, and mobility, as well as balancing motherhood, life and combat sports, Nazareth said. 

Nazareth鈥檚 goal is to reach $1.8 million in sales this year, and she is working to raise $1 million in funding, she said. She鈥檚 excited about recent partnerships with large factories. 

鈥淭he next few years, it鈥檚 just going to be about scaling and trying to see how much market share we can grab,鈥� she said.

One of the challenges she hopes to address with new funding is actually a positive indicator for the future.  

鈥淲e鈥檝e grown so fast that oftentimes we鈥檙e out of stock,鈥� Nazareth said.