Ryan "Minu" Sim [ edit ]

How it Started [ edit ]

As a kid, my mom encouraged me to try everything—soccer (my favorite), music, art school, and the dreaded academics I never quite clicked with. While I was far from the model student, something from those afternoons sketching in art school managed to stay with me. ^[2]

I always wanted to be the fly in school, so I always saved a portion of my lunch money I got from my mom (sorry Mom!) and instead of buying a whole meal @lunch, I would save up that money with odd part-time jobs to get my first pair of Jordan 4 cements ;). ^[3]

Growing Up! [ edit ]

When I was 13, my family moved to Dallas, and that's where sneakers really became more than just something I liked—they became a hustle. I'll never forget flipping my first pair of Yeezy 350 V2 Zebras the same day I bought them and walking away with $250 profit. For a 13-year-old, that was insane. From that day on, I was hooked. ^[4]

What started as flipping sneakers turned into something bigger. I built a small SaaS business teaching people how to resell and spot retail arbitrage opportunities online. Then Covid hit, and like everyone else, I suddenly had endless time at home. That's when I started diving into stocks and crypto. At first it was just curiosity, but over time it became part of my everyday rhythm. ^[5]

University.. Kinda? [ edit ]

At 18, I moved out of Dallas and tried the university route—studying Finance and Mechanical Engineering in 2022—while still running my SaaS agency and spending more time trading and learning about crypto. But the more I split my time between school and my own projects, the more obvious it became: my energy wasn't in the classroom. I wasn't giving 100% to either side, and it felt like a waste of momentum. ^[6]

So two months into my freshman year, I made the call to drop out and move to Los Angeles.

LA changed everything. I dove deeper into NFTs, but more importantly, I started meeting people who showed me you don't have to take the "safe" path of school → degree → job to build something real. It opened my eyes. ^[7]

I'd always wanted to start a clothing brand, but I knew if I was going to do it right, I had to actually learn how to make clothes from scratch—sourcing fabrics, pattern-making, cutting and sewing, embellishments, trims, finishing. It all became part of the process.

That's how Matte Black Dept was born in early 2023. What started as a small clothing design and manufacturing studio has been growing into a full creative agency—helping brands, companies, and people connect with the right talent to bring their creative ideas to life. ^[8]

Most days, you'll find me in the LA studio sketching, experimenting, and building wild new concepts. Whether it's for Matte Black Dept or my personal brand, Minu (@minuarchivee), I'm always creating. And recently, in a full-circle moment, I found myself back in crypto—now building with @Klyra. ^[9]