By Dylan Roukous, co-owner of Nectar

Nectar is in the business of enjoying life. It all started with a pair of shades in college. I was at Radford University and simply set up a table outside and began selling low-end, neon sunglasses with our college name emblazoned on the sides.

It was clear from the start that there was a market for a higher quality model, but at a lower price point. Sensing the opportunity at hand, I did what any college student and entrepreneur would do: I called a friend.

Sean Holmes, a native Richmonder and VCU graduate, joined in the adventure and together we founded Nectar in 2011 in a small apartment in Atlanta. The recipe was simple. We were two friends who grew up surfing, skating, snowboarding, and causing trouble. We wanted to create a brand that captured the essence of living life to the fullest.

To get started, we used all of our own money and we assembled every pair by hand, often working until 2 a.m. Nectar quickly grew and in 2012 we made the decision to move back to RVA. In order to continue to grow our startup, we now operate out of an office in the Fan and our glasses are assembled outside of Richmond and then shipped out of a fulfillment center. This move freed up our time to do what we love best: develop a community around the Nectar brand.

The culture that we’ve created ever since stems from our athletes, artists, musicians, and other like-minded people. As a result, we’ve created a diverse community, one that is about far more than sunglasses. Nectar is a community for those seeking happiness in their life and sharing it with others through their personalities and actions.

Today we call members of this community our “advocates,” a collection of individuals who are in pursuit of the sweet life. Our advocates are made up of a diverse group of people with different styles, interests, and passions but are all connected by the same goal: to enjoy more. We encourage this group to not only wear our sunglasses, but most importantly, to enjoy the sweet life.

As a result of the connections we’ve formed, Nectar is not only available all across the country, but we now distribute in Brazil, Bulgaria, Dubai, Germany, and many more countries around the world. Our glasses sell for $20 to $35 a pair, with the majority of our orders coming through our website.

We’ve learned many lessons since the day we started this adventure and we enjoy encouraging other startups. The one lesson that we always like to convey to other entrepreneurs is to never sell yourself out in the short term. We still own 100 percent of the company and thanks to bank funding have been able to scale. Not many startups have been able to do that.

We are not building a sunglass company; we are building a lifestyle brand based on living the sweet life and doing what you love. RVA is a hotbed for startups and we came back at the right time.