Name: This Flower Delivery Startup Aims To Connect The Consumer Directly To The Grower
Uploaded: 2016-11-07
Duration: 13 min 46 s
Description: The service is only available in New York City right now.

[ BLANK_AUDIO ] Hi Facebook, my name is Polina Marinova, and this is Founder Friday. I'm here with founder Sarah Corrigan, who is the founder of a startup called, a flower delivery startup called Leblum. Sarah, welcome. How are you? I'm good, thank you for having me. Good. So tell me about yourself and about your business. So LaBloom is, you can kind of think of it as a digitized version of the wholesale flower market. So, what we do is we take what's available and we put it online so that way you can kind of skip the florist. So, the prices are really low And you got a quality of clarity you really want to see anywhere else. Yes. And you actually, in 2013, you bought a flower shop of Brick and Mortar Flower Shop. That was on the brink of bankruptcy, and you manage to turn it around. Tell me about that. Yeah, so, that was. That was a long road, but it was in bankruptcy, and within the first week of owning it, we were also evicted. [ LAUGH ] You were evicted. We were evicted. And then, the landlord were suing us, so it was just a free falling into debt. Yes, it was a mess but, we ended up very slowly, it's not like an overnight turn. What things did you do to turn it around? They were more or less an FTD Flower Shop, so they were one of the shops the one 800 flowers would call and kind of. Push their orders through. So what I did is I basically just ended that entire style of flower and I re- branded it. So every single flower that left my shop was impeccable. So if we had one order that day, it would be the most beautiful arrangement you've ever seen. And so, that actually led to, if you think of the gifting industry. Each order in, is a potential new client. So, that kind of extrapolation of our client base, just kind of grew. It was really word of mouth, and we just made sure that everything that left our shop, was impeccable. Got it. And at what point did you decide to start your own business? I don't know if I ever decided to, it kind of just kept happening. So I've had three companies now before the shop, I actually did garden design for rooftops and boutique hotels. I think it was just, I didn't like the corporate setting so much And I'm really efficient and I like systems, so it just kind worked out that I ended up owning and owning and owning [ LAUGH ]. So, but you told me that when you decided to launch There was a very conscious decision to go directly from consumer to grower, which is essentially what your business now does. Why leave the brick and mortar to all online? Well, I love small business, and I loved the shop, but you get to a point where you can't scale because everything that you create is a work of art So for you to franchise you really are, really jeopardizing the integrity of your brand, you really don't know you're putting out there. So for me, I saw the LeBlum concepts throughout my entire time being in the industry. And I just, the industry as it set right now it's very difficult for us suppliers, and it's very difficult for a florist. So it was hard to see- All of these difficulties, and it was a really inefficient system. So when I sold the shop and I left, I kinda felt like I had to create it, or someone else would. So tell me about, if I'm the consumer, and I want to buy these flowers Tell me about the business model for Le Bloom. Yeah. So you as a consumer, if these are in the market right now, you'll see them on the site. So we have something called a live market. And so the live market is open from 6 AM to 3 PM cuz that's when the whole sale is open. So you'll see this product tile on our website. You'll press buy. So one click and you're done. And then that order goes into the vendor. And then the vendor presses, accept. And then our courier gets sent directly to the vendor, and then brings the flowers to you. Great, and that's actually perfect, because we have a Facebook question. And the question is, how do you deliver? Do you have delivery trucks? How do you deliver to the consumer? What do you use? So we actually use a combination of Uber Rush So their API is connected to our API, so it's a really seamless sort of transition. And their prices are so great. But for larger orders, we have some clients that come in and they'll buy 300 stems of flowers. Yeah. So those go through a local courier. Okay. Yeah. And somebody just also asked, Facebook is very on it today. [ LAUGH ] They asked is this only available in New York or do you have other markets? So right now we're in Manhattan, we're in Queens and Brooklyn and we are launching nationally in the next few months. So basically what we'll do is we'll be adding the geolocation feature. And so you as a user, wherever you are, it will pick up where you are and connect you to vendors or growers that are in your area. Got it, okay. And when do you expect to grow in other markets? So it should actually, once we add that feature it'll be on all markets. Which is the great thing. That's great. And that should be in January. Okay, so going back to fundraising. So when you, you said that when you left the shop, you used some of the money from whatever you made there Yeah. To actually fund your startup. Yeah. And totally self sufficient. So what do you? Think about doing that at a time when you need a lot of capital to grow. Luckily for me and my company, I don't see it requiring as much capital as a lot of the other companies. So being e- commerce and kind of aggregating the suppliers, we don't actually have Really, any overhead. We don't hold inventory. So it's not like I need to front so much cash. So, for me, I'm lucky in that I get to actually. ideally partner with an investor who brings something to the table, strategy wise. So Yeah. And so you told me that you're actually in the process of raising around right now. Yes. What's been the hardest thing about fundraising, in pitching through investors? So I've been getting much better with taking criticism. Okay. So when you go into a lot of these meetings with investors, it's their job to poke holes in your concept, in your company But when you're a founder of that company as your baby, and so it's almost like someone is saying your baby is ugly, and you just wanna fight back. So, I fight with eloquently accepting their criticism and calming their nerves. How do you do that? I take a lot of deep breaths, I go to yoga every day, and I try not to take it personally. But Again, they wanna see you succeed as an investor. They want to give you their money, because they wanna make money. So, you just have to make it easy for them. And you have to explain your concept, and, yeah. And Sara, I mean The flower delivery market is so crowded right now so there's the giant which is 1- 800- FLOWERS. And then you have all these start ups that are bloom that, the [ UNKNOWN ] bloom nation it's everywhere. So how is your business different and how do you see potentially taking on these other companies. Yeah so In my mind, I try not to think of it as me taking on. Okay. I try to think of it as I'm creating a new market. Okay. So one thing that a lot of those companies did and didn't do, they came into capitalize on a market that has huge imbalances. And there's a major consumer gap in option and pricing So they came in and their solution was more or less to kinda create a really efficient flower shop. And so, I did that in my brick and mortar. I had a really efficient flower shop. But I think what they're finding is that the scalability of having all of those layers is not there. So my competition with them, I guess I don't really look at it as I'm competing with them. Your creating a new market. Yeah, because we actually found that a lot of our consumers, actually 65 % to 75 % of them are actually buying flowers for themselves. That's interesting, I want to talk about that. Why do you think that people are coming to your startup to buy flowers for themselves? Yeah, for sure. I noticed a lot of them will actually use them to gift. Our prices are actually much lower than all of the competitors But once they realize what they're doing and they get them and they see how simple it is, I see them come back a few days later and buy for themselves. So, that's my favorite KPI to follow, because it's my belief that flowers are not really for gifting. I think that the occasion of life, and that we should really just always have them around. Yeah, and tell me how, in comparison to your competitors What you retail for. Yeah, so I'd say our smallest bundle price is around $ 15. 15. Average order value is probably, well, it's up because we have some people that buy a lot, But the average bouquet is around $ 35 to $ 45. Got it. Yeah. And you recently, this summer, graduated from a startup accelerator called Tech Stars. What is one lesson you learned there that you didn't know before. Man, I learned so many. I think I learned through that process to not really abuse the pivot. Don't abuse the pivot. What does that mean? [ LAUGH ] So I think, especially in Tech Stars, you have so many amazing mentors and investors around you all the time. And so you're hearing a lot of input. And so for me going into that program, I really, I catered to everyone's input. And so I think that we pivoted for four, five months straight. You just totally changed your business model, or what did you do? We became a B2B, we became a subscription service, just anything to differentiate ourselves from the gimmick and the noise. Cuz that's what I kept hearing is all the investors would say How are you different than all the other ones out there? And so you kinda just have to listen to your intuition at one point and just start getting data and listen to your data and your intuition. So we also have another Facebook question. Sure. It's about packaging. How do you make sure that, first of all, How do you package your flowers when you send them to people, and second of all, how do you make sure you stay on brand? Yeah, so, Especially when you've pivoted so many times. Completely. Well luckily, we pivoted before we actually did any PR. So, it was a audience of eight people that were saying yes and no. And so, our packaging, and kind of the whole idea behind Leblum is that the beauty is in the flowers, and that we don't actually pay for, we don't make you pay for all the variables like ribbon, cellophane, and all these things that. It's just, it's about dump out the flowers. So our bundles are actually arranged exactly as the growers arrange them. So really, just bundled, they're not arranged. Okay. And then we have, once the order comes through, the vendor actually just wraps it in brown craft paper, and then it's out the door. So it's just raw flowers, the way you get them, the way you deliver them. Exactly. That's great. Well, thank you so much, Sara. Thank you. Now, we're going to do something we're trying. It's Just the random question fish bowl. Okay. So if you take that. Okay. And pick one. And read it? Yep. Okay. [ LAUGH ] I'm so excited about this. What was Will Smith's character's name on Fresh Prince of Bel- Air? Wasn't it Will? Yes. Yes right? Yes yes. Yes, it was Will. My gosh. Let's do another one. So fun. That's great. I wonder if you're going to get the [ INAUDIBLE ]. What has been your most embarrassing moment? M G. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] My gosh, on camera? On camera or just- I know, yeah, I have a horrible stage fright. Okay. So I've stood up before a panel of 30 investors- [ LAUGH ] And just stood there for three minutes, because I couldn't get a word out. What did they say? [ LAUGH ] It was pretty bad. They actually were the investors that ended up going with me. Well maybe that's a tip. So. Maybe we should all be doing this. Please, it's painful, but it ended up working out for me. That's great. Awesome. Okay, let's do another one. This is great. [ LAUGH ] Okay, if you could meet anybody in the world Who would it be, is this a dead or alive. Anyone. I would say Einstein. Really. Yeah I think he's just like a genius man who understands the cosmos and the universe so I feel like he's like cool on an energy level and a brain level and. Could you imagine having like dinner with him that would be so interesting [ LAUGH ]. Yeah that would be awesome. And let's do the last one. Okay, cool. Pick a really good one. [ LAUGH ] Do I have a secret talent? Do you? I can do crazy back bends. Really? Yeah, but it's not happening. [ LAUGH ] Because my [ UNKNOWN ] sheets are not signed. [ LAUGH ] That's so funny. Thank you so much, Sara. Well, we'll save that for another time. Thank you Facebook, thank you for joining us today. That's so funny, [ LAUGH ] I love that.

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