Saying No to Inventory and Yes to Values

Amanda Hofman didn’t want to start a swag company. She wanted to solve a problem she’d experienced firsthand—without getting buried in cardboard boxes.

Years ago, Amanda was running her first business, a women’s networking group in New York City. She knew branded merchandise could’ve been a great fit for her community, but she never pulled the trigger.

“Even though merch made a lot of sense for us, I still never did it,” she says. “I was overwhelmed by the options, the cost, the logistics. I just didn’t want to fill my apartment with mugs and then go to the post office and ship them out.”

She sold that business just before her second child was born—38 weeks pregnant, right under the wire. Then she spent several years home with her kids. But by the time her youngest started kindergarten, she was ready to build something again.

“I knew I wanted to start a business, but I didn’t know what it was going to be,” Amanda says. “I had a long list of things I didn’t want to do. No events. No massive inventory. I wanted something that would fit into my life, not take over my life.”

She didn’t want a company that would demand 70 hours a week. She wanted something real, sustainable, and values-driven—something she could be proud of and grow at her own pace.

That’s when she discovered print-on-demand.

“When I learned about the technology, it all clicked,” she says. “It solved everything that was hard about swag. You don’t have to carry inventory. You don’t have to guess what people want. You can offer real design and let people pick what works for them.”

That idea became Go To Market Studio, the company Amanda co-founded to reinvent the way businesses do branded merchandise. Instead of dumping logos on cheap gear and handing out one-size-fits-none t-shirts, Go To Market creates on-demand merch shops where customers and employees can choose what they want, when they want it—without the company ever holding inventory.

The business is designed around a few core beliefs: values should come before logos, design should reflect culture, and no one should get stuck with fifteen leftover notebooks and three umbrellas.

“You don’t have to give people the same unisex medium shirt anymore,” she says. “Let them choose something they’ll actually wear—and that reflects what your company stands for.”

Amanda didn’t go it alone. She brought on a co-founder—her former designer from her first business—someone she trusted deeply and who complemented her skillset completely.

“We have totally different personalities and strengths, but we’re aligned in values,” Amanda says. “That’s the key. You don’t want to partner with your best friend. You want someone who does the things you don’t want to do—and vice versa.”

Go To Market started lean. Amanda and her co-founder built the early processes themselves, then slowly expanded. First a VA, then a design assistant. They’re now a team of four—and not in a rush to scale for the sake of scale.

“I believe in slow and steady growth,” Amanda says. “Not the flashy story of getting 16 new clients in a month or 10,000 followers overnight. One step at a time is a huge win.”

That mindset is a quiet rebellion against the loudest parts of startup culture. Amanda isn’t chasing hockey-stick graphs. She’s chasing work she’s proud of.

“I feel like there’s this LinkedIn version of facetuning,” she says. “People post growth numbers that sound amazing, but there’s so much behind it that isn’t what you want for your own business. I’m not here to impress investors—I’m here to build something that lasts.”

And it is lasting.

Go To Market has started working with larger companies—enterprises that want their merch to reflect their values, not just their logo. The scale is different, but the mission is the same.

“Seeing our design and sustainability come to life at a bigger level is so rewarding,” she says. “But I don’t make projections like ‘we’ll land X big clients next year.’ It’s still one win at a time.”

Not everything’s smooth. There are still moments that feel overwhelming. Especially when difficult clients come into the mix.

“Sometimes we get challenging clients,” Amanda says. “Most of our clients are lovely. But every now and then, someone’s just mad at everything—and it’s hard not to take it personally.”

That’s where the co-founder relationship becomes more than strategic. It becomes emotional grounding.

“In my first business, I didn’t have someone in the trenches with me. Now, if something feels off, I can gut check with my partner. We ask—‘Are we the problem here? Or is this just someone having a rough day?’ And when we are the problem, we own it and fix it. But when we’re not? That outside perspective is everything.”

It’s one of the things Amanda thinks newer founders often overlook: the emotional intensity of early entrepreneurship. The feedback isn’t always clean. The bad days stick. But perspective makes the difference.

“If you’re solo, you don’t always see clearly,” she says. “And when your business is your whole identity, everything feels personal. Having someone else in it with you—someone who shares the same values—changes everything.”

Amanda knows she’s lucky to have that. And she wants to build a company where that kind of care shows up in the product, too.

She’s not trying to make swag cool. She’s trying to make it intentional.

One client at a time. One shop at a time. One thoughtful product at a time.

Because for Amanda, growth that reflects your values isn’t slow.

It’s sustainable.

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