How Select Turned Scarcity Into Scale

From $600 Yeezys to Six-Figure Months

Arjun Dhilon turned a $400 markup into a business. At 18, he started reselling sneakers in Sacramento because he saw what others missed: Yeezys retailing for $200 were selling for $600, and most people had no idea how to navigate that gap.

At 18, Arjun started navigating the sneaker resale market. Four years later, he co-founded Select, a Sacramento boutique that's gone from $50,000 in first-year sales to high six figures in monthly revenue. His customers include NBA players like P.J. Tucker and Sacramento Kings stars Keon Ellis and Malik Monk, alongside local high schoolers and sneakerheads. It's become exactly what he envisioned: a cultural hub where sneaker culture connects across demographics.

Navigating Limited Capital

But getting there required solving one of the classic entrepreneurial catch-22s: you need capital to grow, but you can't afford to tie it up when growth is happening fast.

In sneaker resale, timing is everything. Limited releases move in hours. Hot collabs require quick capital deployment. The business model works when you can move fast—but traditional financing isn't built for that rhythm. Banks want years of history and predictable revenue patterns, the kind of stability that doesn't exist when you're scaling a business in what Arjun calls "the gray market."

When Select decided to build out their physical retail location, capital was tight and timing was critical. Arjun had been working with Slash for years through several product iterations. Slash Capital provided what the moment required: flexible payment terms that didn't demand he drain his working capital when every dollar mattered for inventory and operations.

"We didn't have to put up our own capital at a time where our capital was really sparse," Arjun explains.

It's a pattern we see constantly—entrepreneurs building real businesses but moving too fast, operating in markets legacy institutions don't understand, or simply too young to have the credit history banks want. The gap between their potential and available capital shouldn't exist, but it does.

Rethinking How Markets Are Built

What's compelling about entrepreneurs like Arjun is that they're not just thinking about the next sale. Select is expanding into sports cards, high-end fashion, collectibles, and building what Arjun calls "cultural hubs" where communities can gather and participate in the market through trading, swaps, and resale.

"The gray market has no limitations," he says. "All I want is to build communities where people can come together, share their interests—and hopefully make a little bit of money doing it."

That philosophy of community first, commerce second is what separates businesses that scale from ones that flame out. Arjun isn't just moving product; he's building infrastructure for a new kind of retail that's more democratic, more participatory, and more connected to the communities it serves.

What We're Building For

Arjun's story is one of thousands we're part of. From sneaker resellers to performance marketers to crypto founders, we work with entrepreneurs rewriting the rules of their industries—entrepreneurs who need financial infrastructure that understands how they actually operate.

The traditional banking system wasn't built for them. We are.

When you remove financial barriers, young entrepreneurs can compete at the highest level. They can take the rejection of $600 Yeezys and turn it into a thriving business that serves everyone from local kids to professional athletes. They can build cultural hubs that reshape how communities engage with commerce.

Four years in, Arjun has proven what's possible. We're proud to have played a part in that journey, and we're excited to see what Select becomes next.