Exploring Life and Business with Woodie Neiss of Gamos

Today we’d like to introduce you to Woodie Neiss.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I proposed to my husband, I purchased a ring off of Amazon. I planned a surprise proposal at the Miami Beach Symphony. Afterwards we asked someone to take a photo of us holding up the ring finger and I posted that to social media.

My best friend Tom called me promptly and said, “You got married without telling me?!?!”

I told him it was a proposal and the rings were engagement rings.

He asked, “What’s an engagement ring for men?”

I said, “Well there are none so I just bought one off of Amazon until we get our wedding rings.”

He said, “You are an entrepreneur. I’m in fashion and my cousin is a jewelry designer. Why don’t we designed the world’s first engagement ring for men!”

“I’m in,” I said and three years later after many prototypes and patents, Gámos Rings was in business. (Gámos means matrimony in Greek. And since same-sex marriages were openly practiced in Ancient Greece, we chose that as our company name).

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
As with every business idea, they evolve over time and what you go to market with can be very different from the problem for which you were trying to solve. This was our case as well. We decided we didn’t just want to make an engagement ring but ‘an engagement ring that became a wedding ring.’ This led to many conversations and technical challenges. How can we make two rings attach to each other without having to do it at a jeweler?

This led to the two designs we went to market with. The Syndeo ring consists of an engagement band that slides into a wedding jacket. And the Vida ring consists of an engagement band that has an insert that unscrews so that you can attach it to the wedding band. And we’ve also expanded our vision. Why can’t a woman propose to a man or a woman to a woman? Our rings are unisex (and customizable … think different metals, engraving, diamonds) so that anyone can now propose to anyone?

What’s great about this is that we’ve expanded our addressable market. And we aren’t done. Next up a ring to remind yourself the importance of self-love!

Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Gamos, Inc.?
I actually run 3 businesses. Gamos, Crowdfund Capital Advisors, and GUARDD. Crowdfund Capital Advisors is a consulting and advisory firm that creates data-informed policy and education to enable online startup and small business financing. I was one of three entrepreneurs who wrote the framework for what is known as Investment Crowdfunding. It was a fundamental change to the securities laws that allows entrepreneurs to raise money online from friends and family provided they follow a regulated process. I testified in front of both chambers of Congress and was invited to the White House by President Obama for the bill signing ceremony. This launched an entire industry in 2016 and since then over 5,000 companies across the United States have raised over $1.4 billion enabling entrepreneurship, innovation and creating thousands of jobs. I know this data by heart because when the industry launched I created a data aggregator that collects information on all these companies raising money online and I report that data over to Bloomberg daily.

More than 1.5 million investors, the majority of them average Americans, have invested in these promising startups. But how do they exit their investment? This led to GUARDD. GUARDD is an API-enabled compliance technology tool for hyper-growth companies that wish to allow their investors to exit pre a sale, merger, or IPO. Investors that wish to sell the securities they bought in these companies can list their securities on private exchanges known as Alternative Trading Systems. The companies must provide current and ongoing company and financial information, much like a public company does, so that investors can make an informed decision (is it worth buying given the current state of their financials?) GUARDD is the technology that allows these issuers to publish their information in a way that is compliant with individual state securities laws.

On top of all this is Gamos, the wedding/engagement ring for all business! We aim to disrupt the wedding ring business by introducing inclusivity. The current brands miss out on markets like the LGBTQ+ communities. We target them directly because we are one of them!

So as you can see, I don’t rest. I like a challenge (big ones) and I don’t accept defeat. This is what motivates me every day when I wake up. I don’t get paid right now but the payoff will come. I’m certain of it!

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m married and have two wonderful children. My oldest and I wrote a book called the Love Battery. It is about how our hearts are batteries that store love and how we need to recharge that battery with human interaction.

Pricing:

• Vida collection starting at $1,560
• Syndeo collection starting at $1,940

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gamosring.com/
• Instagram: gamosring
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/G%C3%A1mos-Ring-106843040876260/