Northwind Labs: one pattern from the bench to the booth.
A 60-person biotech presenting good science in whatever was clean.
Why a 60-person biotech was losing candidates
Northwind had 60 people and was losing candidates to companies with less science and more presence. Its researchers presented at conferences in whatever was clean, and at career fairs the table sat between two pharma giants with branded everything. People ops wanted one kit that works under a lab coat on Tuesday and at a poster session on Thursday. The scientists' one condition was that nothing in it look like a softball-league tee.
The lattice is their own lead compound.
We began by asking what the molecule was. Northwind's lead compound has a ring structure with six-point symmetry, and redrawn as a repeating lattice it becomes a pattern a chemist recognizes and everyone else reads as sharp. On the white tee the lattice is DTF-printed in teal, and on the charcoal hoodie it runs across the back.
The hoodie carries the lattice as a print across the back and the wordmark on the chest. The cap takes the wordmark only. So does the polo that leadership wears on investor days.
The Lattice Kit, piece by piece
Sixty people at three pieces each made 180 pieces on the first order, which clears the 150-piece tier and takes 22% off everything. At that tier the lattice zip hoodie goes from $25.22 to $19.67. The other four pieces carry the stitched white wordmark, and we price embroidery in one business day, so their figures above cover everything except the stitching. When new people start, Northwind emails us names, sizes and a quantity, and we make the kit from the design on file.