Tribal member raises more than $37,000 to expand small business

By Danielle Harrison

Smoke Signals editor

Grand Ronde Tribal member Troy Douglass employed some creativity when deciding to expand his Portland-based small business, Back to the Basket, which specializes in 1990s and 2000s basketball memorabilia, and features an impressive wall of hooping shoes and new apparel.

Rather than trying to obtain a conventional business loan, Douglass decided to try an investment campaign using web-based Honeycomb Credit instead, with the goal of raising at least $25,000. By the time the campaign ended on July 14, he had raised $37,537.

Douglass, who founded the business in 2020, plans to use the money to purchase more items that tend to sell faster.

“For example, because it’s summer time, people are buying slides, jerseys and T-shirts more than any other time of the year,” he said. “The added capital from the Honeycomb investment gives us the ability to purchase these items up front, and in turn allows us to reap a larger profit margin when sold.”

Douglass was searching for grants in May and during his browsing, Honeycomb Credit popped up with a spring 2024 grant. He filled out the application.

“A couple weeks went by and someone from their team (Jon Hanks) reached out via text,” Douglass said. “He messaged, ‘I work for a separate department at Honeycomb and my job is to research businesses that I think would be a great fit for the Honeycomb platform and you check all of the boxes. You have a great branding, community backing and an amazing business that I know people would be excited to support.’”

 Douglass decided to start the fundraising campaign because of the ability to use funds for inventory purchases and the concept of having a crowdfunded public investment.

“I believed it would show publicly that we are looking to grow, we are investable and it would open the door to conversations with private investors,” he said. “The benefit for the investors is that they actually get a return on their investment, 10.5% over 36 months. Most crowdfunding campaigns work on a donation basis, whereas with Honeycomb, those donations are actually investments. Not only do investors receive a return, they are also investing in the well-being of community based small businesses, which I believe are vital to the local economy.”

He added that Back to the Basket isn’t looking to expand to another location at the moment.

“We’re looking to stay put and refine all of our current operations,” he said. “I like to make basketball analogies. We're like a very good team, looking to become a great team. That requires not only knowing the plays, but also how everything works. We are a profitable business. Infusing cash toward our own inventory will allow us to make that refinement in our inventory offering and will get us closer to being that ‘great team.’ I want Back to the Basket to be around for generations. Whether I'm at the helm or not is unimportant to me as long as it operates in the right way. Taking care of your customers, growing community and sharing the love of basketball are important elements to me.”

For more information, visit www.backtothebasket.com.