Zero to One, A Gifting Story

My business partner and I created a B2B corporate gifting company, Grow by Gifting from zero to one with no outside capital. Today we are on track for over $250k in annual revenue. Here’s how we did it...

The Idea ??

The year was 2020 I was working my first job out of college as a business development strategist for a tech startup. I was catching up with my good friend Nico in Berkeley, CA’s Freehouse Tavern. Nico was in his senior year at UC Berkeley and sharing his plans to work with his dad and help grow his family’s succulent farm in San Diego, CA.

Given my current role, I was acutely aware of utilizing corporate gifts to generate leads for sales teams. This made me think of an idea, so I asked Nico: "Why not build a succulent gifting company? Succulents are far superior to the typical swag, and I'm all in to help you make it happen." Several months later, my phone rang, and we decided to dive headfirst into this new venture.

I booked a flight to San Diego, CA and we quickly got to work.

Market Research ??

We started by removing all assumptions and then dove into secondary research. Corporate gifting is a huge market with around an $8 billion market size , we wanted to figure out where we fit into that so we conducted market mapping, landscape analysis , and total addressable market on it. We also looked into active disruptions or new trends in the market. By conducting this research on the gifting market we shaped our product strategy to optimize the needed services of end users that we felt were missing from the current market. We also discovered new trends in this market and pinpointed it as a vertical segment to learn more about as a potential opportunity for our services.

User Research ??

We conducted user interviews with potential ICP target customers to learn their pain points with the gifting experience. We created a list of potential ideal customer profiles, I used LinkedIn DMs and Hunter.io to find their emails, I was honest and asked for a quick phone call of no more than 30 minutes. The interviews helped us define our Ideal Customer Profile and User Journey, a key step before our launch and go-to-market strategy.

Build MVP & Launch ??

Utilizing the Lean Startup approach from Eric Ries we built our version of an MVP . This included a basic Shopify website Nico and I designed and engineered and a simple 4-inch succulent gift. We dedicated a month to designing the gift. We needed it to provide a unique unboxing experience that would leave future customers in awe, trusted shipping processes for healthy gifts upon arrival, and an exquisite succulent for our gift collection. An important note is that we only created one gift size and didn’t offer any features for our gift.

Go-To-Market Strategy ??

This was undeniably difficult, it took me a while to land the plane here. Something that helped me a lot was Dan Hockenmaier’s growth model strategy and Lenny’s Engine of Growth framework . We went to market in 2020 during this time SAAS entrepreneurs were carving new digital spaces for gifts, enabling gift automation paired with advanced marketing tools and analytics. Standing against these well-funded giants felt like a modern-day David vs. Goliath scenario. Our initial strategy leaned on account-based marketing and sales motions. This failed, we were overshadowed and outbid by larger companies with deeper pockets. This challenge led us to focus on our market research and embrace a supplier-focused business model. Focusing on partnerships we grew our business. This move increased our visibility and introduced us to a model that brought in recurring revenue and insightful data on our unit economics. Customers gravitated towards our sustainable offerings, appreciating our thoughtful and eco-friendly gifts, affirming our product market fit in the corporate gifting space.

Securing a revenue stream from our marketplace partnerships we focused on building our Engine of Growth , harnessing the power of SEO, email campaigns, social media, and more. This strategic pivot allowed us to secure annual contracts for recurring business gifts. This marked a significant shift in how we approached customer acquisition, retention, and monetization.

User Focused Product Development ??

Our primary objective was to create a recurring revenue model using a product-led growth framework. We knew we had to boost our customer acquisition retention rate by increasing the number of purchases per customer, thereby improving our lifetime value (LTV) to customer acquisition cost (CAC) ratio. Two key insights emerged: (1) clients want to send gifts on-demand using account-based systems (2) customers need to easily send gifts to multiple addresses at once on our website. To achieve this, we collaborated with a third-party engineering team. I contributed by creating comprehensive technical documentation and designing mockups that outlined our goals. This partnership resulted in us developing a custom API that enhanced our fulfillment process, a custom checkout experience, and a user account system. As a result, our team now efficiently handles numerous personalized orders, ensuring each gift is delivered accurately and effortlessly.

While we aren't yet thriving, we are undeniably growing. Today we are on track to secure over $250k in annual revenue for 2024. We have a growing list of vendors and individuals seeking alternatives to conventional gifting experiences. We aim to be the sustainable option, committed to building a brighter future in the corporate gifting marketplace. Today our products employ recycled materials, ceramic pots, living plants, rocks, and soil. They're gifts that encourage growth and contribute to a better world, something we hope more people will consider when gifting.

So, here's to the journey!

Curious what we are up to today? Check us out www.growbygifting.com