Announcing ILT Trust

Nadine Chahine

Hello all! 
John, Julia, and I have exciting news to share with you:

In April we soft launched ILT Trust, a set of foundry services aiming to support the growth and success of indie foundries. Today we added the option to offer sales trainings and direct support with enterprise deals with the 3rd ILT founder, Julia Hiles.

Julia was the UK Sales Directer at Monotype when I was there and she’s the best sales person I've worked with. Her insights into customer psychology and how to close a deal are unmatched. We’re very exited to be able to offer this to you all! Julia’s time is very limited so please do get in touch if you are interested. And fyi, we consider Enterprise to be deals above £10k.

About ILT Trust:

In a nutshell, it covers almost all business needs that a foundry has, with the exception of type design and font production.

How do we support? 

We can support with royalty & sales analysis, business planning, product marketing, marketing, sales & library management.

Why are we doing this? 

The health of the type industry depends on the financial health & success of its indie foundries. There are currently services that support foundries with design, production, and IP infringement but there is a big gap when it comes to running the business.

We’re happy to share our insights into the font business & we base our recommendations on data. Like we did in our talk on font pricing at ATypI last year! There’s an objectivity to numbers, very different from the subjectivity of design.

Success requires us to balance both! Analysing the happenings of the font business, keeping an eye on the latest developments, staying on top of the market trends... All of this is time and effort and not every foundry has the capacity to navigate the complexity of it all. We’re here to help!

Often, it’s just being there that helps. Most foundries are quite small in size, and the principal has to juggle all aspects of running the business. Sometimes it’s helpful to have someone to discuss business with, even if it is just for the occasional check-in!

More info on ILT Trust is here:

https://ilovetypography.com/trust/

If you have any questions please feel free to ask! 

James Hultquist-Todd

Congratulations! This looks like it'll be extremely helpful. Negotiating enterprise licensing can seem very intimidating, especially to newer designers. Most of us had to learn through trial and error; it'll be nice to have a way to learn the sales side of the business without having each foundry reinvent the wheel.

Miles Newlyn

A fab opportunity to learn from the best. Count me in.

Nadine Chahine

Thank you, James!! And yes exactly that. There is the issue of pricing, of reading the situation well, being able to close a large deal. 

Licensing for enterprise customers is a highly profitable business and it is in the best interest of indie foundries to keep those profits to themselves. We're excited to help make that happen!

Miles, thank you so much for the kind words