In January 2021, longtime business partner and friend Kari Morris and I had to make a big decision. we were both pregnant. My baby was due in April for her and Kari was due in June for her. Our family already had her 2 year old and her 3 year old son respectively, so the family was growing.
We’ve spent the past year growing our business featuring a range of food brands that offer healthier options, and things were on track. But the craziest thing happened and we realized that everything had to change. And it turns out that not everyone is on board.
Our food business, Reimagine Foods, was successful and building something we were proud of. But in January we had an idea. an even better idea. New Holiday Pancakes When he was bringing his mixes to market, he ran into a very real problem of excess inventory. Come December 26th, this holiday pancake mix no longer makes sense, leaving the palette alone with no real brand or climate-friendly way to stock up. Sadly, this story is all too widespread. Nearly 40% of America’s good food ends up in landfills, and 42 million Americans experience food insecurity.
That led to our idea. Marty – Online discount grocers that save shoppers up to 70%, prevent great food from going to waste, make checkout easier for partners, and are brand-friendly online discount grocers.
So we had to make a big decision. Were we really going to pivot our food manufacturing business to an online food retail business and fundraising while pregnant?
The answer was a big yes. Our beliefs were untenable and felt like it was our true calling. As a two-time retired entrepreneur, I know it’s time to take action when I feel that way. Understanding the baby timeline, we set to work. It took him six months to bootstrap, build a business plan, and most importantly learn.
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Learning was the first step in our journey to build this business and eventually raise $3 million in seed funding. We contacted key groups of people by phone to collect as much qualitative and quantitative data as possible. Who can we learn from? How does this idea work? How could this idea fail?
The four types of groups we have learned are:
Founders of competitors and complementary businesses (some failed, others still in business):
- We dug deep into the competitive landscape to understand these business models and spoke with the founders on the phone. What were the missed opportunities? What were the pitfalls? What were the most important data points? What were you obsessed with?
Former Employees of Competitors and Complementary Businesses (Executives):
- This cohort really helped me understand the behind the scenes. What does it take to make your department successful? How do you measure and understand what drives your business?
Investors in companies like ours:
- We brought in investors early on, long before the fundraising. what are they looking for? what did they see? Why is this failing? Investors are great data collectors and asking the right questions can yield important information. This started a conversation that led to an ongoing feedback loop and an introduction to our progress with experts. The key here is to leverage investors who have invested in similar businesses.
Prospects:
- You cannot do this exercise too early. You’ll never be perfect, so don’t be afraid to ask questions. We spoke with hundreds of potential customers. Why would they prefer something like this? How will this improve their lives? Where do they buy their groceries?
This group has become our pool for potential investors, advisors and employees. It boils down to, “Who can I introduce you to?” and “Do you want to be more involved in this too?” And I quickly learned that not everyone wanted to participate. One investor had a very uncomfortable reaction when we shared the pregnancy news. Of course, all entrepreneurs are used to hearing “no”, but this was personal. result? stronger belief.
When I was ready, I got everyone ready for a raise. We have a clear understanding of what the timeline is (for us this timeline has been very difficult…the deadline has been set!) and we can filter the list of potential investors to , which finally determined the top 10 list.
We never questioned any part of the trip. The stars were aligned and the moment was right. Sure, we both happened to be pregnant, but it helped us move forward.
And in November 2021, Marty.com – A new online grocery store on a mission to make delicious food more accessible and save the planet from food waste. We have worked with over 1,500 food producers and distributors to eliminate excess inventory, saving Smartie Shoppers shoppers over $2 million and £1.5 million compared to shopping at a traditional grocery store. Avoid wasting more food. We currently ship in 12 states and plan to expand nationwide later this year. We have built a lean remote team of 6 full-time staff and his 6 part-time staff, even during the pandemic.
We are extremely proud of what we have built over the past two years and the relationships we have built with Kellogg’s, Kind, Annies and hundreds of other brands. The tagline “Fundraising while pregnant” is certainly catchy, but it’s not the whole story.
Our two beautiful babies, Coco and Leo, both born healthy and happy in 2021, have guided us to follow our instincts. They both provided a neat timeline for us to organize our business for which we are so grateful and always inspired.