Latest / Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast) / From Syrian refugee to 7 figure entrepreneur with Magic Dates Founder Diana Jarrar (Part 1)

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From Syrian refugee to 7 figure entrepreneur with Magic Dates Founder Diana Jarrar (Part 1) · Imagine If with Doone Roisin | Health, Wealth & Wisdom for Women (formerly Female Startup Club Podcast)

• 0:00
  This is Diana Girard for Female Startup Club.
• 0:12
  Welcome back to the show. It's Dune here, your host and hype girl. If you're new here, I am so happy to have you joining us. In these incredibly inspiring episodes, we meet with successful founders who happen to be women to deep dive into their story of building a business.
• 0:32
  We love to dig into things like money and marketing and the challenges we face in the hopes that by sharing the blueprint, it'll help others going through the journey. And in today's episode, we're learning from Diana Girard, founder of Magic Dates.
• 0:50
  Diana is a former Syrian and Palestinian refugee who immigrated to North America to find a new path for herself, and she launched her business in 2018. Magic Dates celebrates the cultural heritage and rich history of the Middle East while reclaiming the date as a symbol of cultural connection.
• 1:10
  And we're covering so many good things today, like proving out your product and idea with real customer feedback, the importance of bringing Middle Eastern culture to the Western world, a crazy mistake that cost her $50k, getting rejected from Shark Tank four times, and the importance of relationships in business.
• 1:33
  If you learned something in this episode or you love it, please do shout about it from the rooftops and send it to someone else who would benefit from hearing it. And if you want more of all things Female Startup Club, we send out a juicy newsletter every Monday packed with industry news, job opportunities at the world's coolest startups led by women, and a bunch of tactical insights that can help you if you're building a biz or even if you're just dreaming about building a business.
• 2:01
  Okay, let's get into it. This is Diana for Female Startup Club.
• 2:07
  Diana, hi. Hello. Welcome to the Female Startup Club podcast. Thank you for having me, Dune. I'm so excited to chat with you. Me too. So you're in LA. It's raining. I'm in LA. Yes, it's raining. Nothing to brag about today, but talk to me end of the week. Yeah, you guys are so lucky with the weather. It's good all the time. I feel like I've moved back to Australia specifically for the weather, but like,
• 2:32
  I arrived here and it's El Nino. So it's just raining all the time. Although I actually feel like the last two weeks has been great. But when I first arrived, it was like pouring rain every day. And I was like, yep. Woo. Weather's great. We're back. Yeah. Yes. Well, you're going to miss the warm weather even more. So when it comes back, you're going to be that much more grateful for it. I know. I mean, any sunny day, I'm like, get me outside. It's so beautiful when it's sunny. Especially by the beach. Yeah. Yes.
• 2:59
  We hike a lot here too. We hike, we have beaches. I think similar lifestyle to what maybe Australians do. Absolutely similar lifestyle. I totally know those vibes. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm back in Australia. I'm so happy to be here. But enough about me. Let's get into your story. Tell me about Magic Dates. What is your business all about and what's your brand ethos? Yes. So with Magic Dates, my idea was always to use dates as a symbol of cultural connection.
• 3:25
  I grew up eating dates in the Middle East. I'm Syrian-Palestinian. And it's such a staple in our culture and like my household specifically. You know, we take boxes of dates to family gatherings, just like you would with chocolate here. And so it's just such a big part of our culture, all Middle Eastern cultures. And so to me, that was just the perfect vehicle for communication and to really share about
• 3:48
  the Middle Eastern culture, which can be so elusive to a lot of people. We don't have a lot of representation in the West, especially here in the United States. And so to me, this was sort of like the vehicle and the way to share more about where I come from and my people vis-a-vis this delicious fruit that is just nature's candy.
• 4:06
  Wow. Wow. So cool. I love dates, by the way. I feel like we need to see more dates everywhere. They're a vibe. Yes, they're going to save us because honestly, we're just eating so much refined sugar and then all these sugar alternatives now I'm just not a fan of. It's so funny. I just had something with monk fruit today for the first time and both me and my husband had the same reaction where we had this really weird blood pressure dropping and I started sweating and
• 4:31
  And I think it's because your taste buds register something sweet, but then your brain doesn't actually get the nutritive value of sugar and it's expecting sugar. And it like releases insulin or something into your bloodstream when it shouldn't. And that's why I'm also like so against, you know, so many different sugar alternatives that are being used now. We don't have like super solid research on them yet.
• 4:53
  But in my mind, it's like just have sugar directly from its source, from the fruit. It's the whole fruit that has the fiber and that has all the micronutrients and phytochemicals that really offset any negative impact sugar might have. Wow, that's so interesting. So you grew up with dates. You grew up having this as part of your culture. Were you always wanting to start a business or when did this kind of light bulb moment go off for you and where does your entrepreneurial journey actually start?
• 5:23
  I think like any entrepreneur may tell you, you're always an entrepreneur at heart. You may just not know it yet. It's just something you're discovering rather than becoming, you know? I think it's just something that's always there that you then fall into.
• 5:37
  And I didn't know that I wanted to start a business all along. I did different things. I studied marketing in college. And from there, I did different things. I always wanted to be in food, like in the food space. I wanted to either become a chef or, and I did that for a little bit. I did some catering. I did some private, like personal chefing. I just wanted food to be a bigger part of my life. I'm a super taster. I cook. I love to eat.
• 6:01
  And so how can I make this my career as well? But having tried all those other things, it just wasn't quite it. I didn't just want to be in the kitchen, like cooking all the time. I wanted something that was,
• 6:12
  Not that the thing isn't challenging, but something more challenging, like a cerebral and more inflectual level. And I started doing real estate. And that was also something that was not my calling. I mean, it just was not something that my heart was into. But the reason I wanted to do real estate was because I felt like it was that perfect medium between being in a corporate space, but then also being independent enough like an entrepreneur. I guess I was just too scared to jump and dive completely into what entrepreneurship is.
• 6:40
  And from there, I felt that I just wasn't contributing the way I wanted to in the world. I wanted my life to have purpose and for me to have work that meant something and that was helping people. And so I actually wanted to go to law school. I wanted to study international human rights law.
• 6:58
  And I took the LSAT, which is an exam here that you take in the US that you might be familiar with, to help you get placed in law schools. So I took that in 2016. I was studying for it for a few months. And at the same time, I had a friend approach me. He'd invested in this paleo ice cream sandwich company. And he said, will you help us make a recipe vegan? We're doing some recipe testing and just some like formulation and R&D. Because he knew I was in the food space just in terms of like my skill set.
• 7:28
  dabble I had in the, in that world, that was like just a little bit of a, you know, a little taste. I'm like, wow, what if, what if I do this? And so that same person goes to me, what if we started business together?
• 7:41
  So I was at a fork in the road where I was either going to go down this path of becoming a lawyer or going to law school and studying for that or starting this business. And so it just was this very intrinsic thing. And I had to trust my instinct. And I moved forward with MagicBate. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Yeah, you're really at the crossroads. That's crazy. Your life was really pulling you in two different directions. Yeah.
• 8:09
  how did you come up with magic dates? Like, how did you know that was the idea? Like, were you riffing on all sorts of different businesses to get to that? Or were you like, I know what it is straight out of the gate? Yeah. You know, I think, you know, it's a bit mythical to think that,
• 8:24
  something screams at you immediately like this is what it is maybe that's true for some people to me that's never really been my experience that it was like this one thing that was so black and white and clear-cut and so you that's what we have to like trust your intuition and listen more to that and do your homework and do your research as well of course so initially for me I actually wanted to potentially do something in food in food tech
• 8:47
  which was more about like preservation of food. I shopped organic a lot and I would go to the farmer's markets and that produce goes bad very quickly. And so I thought, you know, what if there was something that you can store the produce in that would make it last longer? And so I was thinking of like organic ways to do that using rosemary extract and different things. And starting a snack business was sort of on the back burner and like specifically dates. And again, the date part did pop up in my mind just because of my upbringing with it.
• 9:17
  But I had that on the back burner. And then one time my partner and I, we went to this meeting here in LA. It's like a food scientist meeting. And they have all these branches and just different like chapters all over the US. It's called SCIFS. So I was at this meeting and he and I were there like super early. So we got to choose like our seat.
• 9:36
  And then this woman comes and she ends up being the keynote speaker and she sits next to me. And we start talking about different things. It turns out she's the one who created the nutrition label here in the US and just has done so much for like produce and crops and whatnot.
• 9:49
  Then she told me, well, if you have any questions, just, you know, give me a call. Here's my card. And she gives me her card and it says Date Research Institute on it. And I had not said anything to her about dates at that point. So I'm like, wow, you know, I believe in science and I believe in just life guiding you in a certain direction. I'm like, you know what? I think we need to explore the date idea a little bit more. Wow. That's serendipity right there. That's cool. I love that.
• 10:16
  So this happens, you have this kind of moment, you decide to explore this as a business idea. How do you actually get started? What kind of capital did you need to invest to get the brand kind of off the ground? And what were those early days like? So my partner and I at the time committed to investing 50,000 US dollars each into the business. So we were only together for a few months. Once he left, I was on my own. So basically I put in about $100,000
• 10:45
  It was honestly a number I pulled out of my butt. It wasn't necessarily, I mean, I had such little experience at the time and like such little knowledge that that's just what I knew I can do, you know, at the time. And everything, just when you speak about serendipity, I feel like when you make a choice, things either gravitate towards you, resources, people, or you just start seeking them more. And so therefore you notice them more. And so mentors started coming in my path at the time.
• 11:15
  And again, like this very serendipitous thing and way of things happening. I was at a coffee shop and we were talking about innovation, what we wanted to do with dates that would have been different. And then like we caught someone's ear and he happened to be an innovation consultant who works with like Mattel and Red Bull and all these like super multi, you know, global companies. And that's sort of how it started where I got the first, my first mentor for the first several months.
• 11:43
  to help me along the journey of doing our research and figuring out what do customers actually want. And I started interviewing customers. We didn't have any customers yet, obviously. And so we would go on forums, Facebook groups, and we would find people that were enjoying other products. And we'd reach out to them and say, hey, do you have 30 minutes? Talk to us about an idea that we have. We spoke to acquaintances, not friends, but acquaintances, so they were more comfortable sharing more with us.
• 12:11
  And we just started gathering data and creating something called the consumer journey map, which basically really gets to the core of why people do what they do and buy what they buy and like consumer behavior. You know, it's not just for sustenance, you know, with food. It's there's so much more emotion, especially with food products. Wow. Gosh, so interesting. And I think that's one of those things that like one of the pieces of the puzzle that
• 12:36
  Sometimes people can forget you have this great idea, you go out, you go 50 million miles an hour, but you forget to actually stop and interview people who could be your potential customer and get that feedback and kind of let that spark new ideas and kind of build on the idea that you already have. Once you go through that kind of phase of customer interviews and feedback, how do you come up with your product? Like how do you get to the stage of being like, yep, I've got a manufacturer or like a, you know,
• 13:06
  I don't know what we call it here, a manufacturer developing the product or more like a kitchen or? You got it. Yeah. I mean, manufacturing is correct. If you're a co-manufacturer, a co-packer would also be correct. A co-packer, great. Finding this person and being like, okay, here's what we want. Here's what we need. Let's get a batch done. Yeah.
• 13:24
  So, you know, first we started doing some R&D so we can land on the flavors that we wanted to use. So first of all, we came up with our values. I wanted it to be plant-based. No added sugar was like the most important thing. And then using very nutrient-dense ingredients so that you feel like you're eating something that is not only a snack, but it also satisfies more than that for you. So it actually can hold you between meals and it becomes like a, not a meal replacement, but a snack that actually sustains you and gives you the energy you need throughout your day. Okay.
• 13:51
  And so once we landed on those values, I started redeveloping. This is a part that I was good at, I was comfortable with, that I was excited for. And we started off with like a dozen and a half flavors and slowly narrowed it down and did like taste testing all over. I have some friends who worked in different companies and we'd go to their lunchroom and just set up some flavors and just get some honest feedback.
• 14:12
  And we finally landed on four flavors, our hero flavors. This was our line that was not covered in chocolate. So this is our uncoated line. And we have the coconut, the chocolate, and the lemon. We also had a matcha at the time. And we pulled that one. We decided that would be more of a seasonal item. So we decided to launch with three. And...
• 14:34
  You know, it's your question about co-manufacturing. This is where the research really comes in. At this point, I knew that I needed to find a turnkey partner, meaning somebody who would charge us one fee with everything included in it. Versus something called the tolling agreement, which is where you source the raw materials and you're just paying for the labor.
• 14:53
  And so early on, you really want it to just be as smooth as possible because there's so many moving pieces, like sourcing your own raw materials. It's just can be a lot. And Turkey was just the ideal thing for that stage of our business. So there was a lot of research to be done because manufacturers don't really advertise themselves in the same way that, you know, like a brand does. They're not really they don't really work that way. And so you really have to do some digging, some some research.
• 15:19
  referrals are very helpful but ultimately I used the platform that specifically was a search engine for co-manufacturers and that's how I found ours and you need to find someone who's going to just what's it called it was called um it's on the tip of my tongue something with a p and it'll either come to me it'll come to you maybe we'll maybe maybe we'll put it in the you'll put it in the show notes yeah of course of course it'll come to you at some point it's not palette it's not something with a p
• 15:47
  Because I haven't used it in a long time. I haven't needed to use it in a while. But it will come to me. And if not, yeah, no, it's okay. I'll like email you what it was. Good Lord. It's a good resource because it has a lot of manufacturers on there and we did find ours there. And then like subsequently, the manufacturers we're with now also happened to be on there. We just didn't use that search engine for them. Don't worry, I'll follow up with you afterwards and we'll put it in the show notes for anyone listening who wants to check that out. That would be great. Yeah, for sure.
• 16:16
  So yeah, so having someone, finding someone who's willing to do low MOQs for you, minimum order quantities, is really important, especially for a perishable product. You just don't want to be sitting on a bunch of inventory so early on when you don't have an outlet for it and you haven't started selling it yet. So we found that. Yeah.
• 16:33
  I did R&D in my kitchen initially. So it was just here, you know, at home, I wasn't selling that product. So it was okay that I was doing it in my kitchen. But then we produced it in a facility. And we would just put it in homemade bags or bags. So like hand-packed, nothing super professional. I didn't have our packaging at that point. And I started selling it at the farmer's market. So farmer's markets are very popular in California. So I was lucky that way to just have this very quick turnaround outlet for our bites. And I would go every Sunday.
• 17:02
  you know, from like eight to two. And it was, I just remember my first sale ever. It was like this woman named Diane and her mom, Betty, I'll never forget. And they were actually wearing purple. It's my favorite color. So I remember that. And it's such a special moment when you're like, wow, I just created something that someone like wants to actually like pay money for. And we just got feedback from there. Do you like it? Do you not like it? Just to really find out what people were interested in, how's the price point, all that. So again, more listening, more research, more talking to customers, which is something you always want to be doing.
• 17:32
  So you're in the markets every Sunday, eight till two, you're learning, you're listening. How do you kind of keep getting the word out there and how do you grow outside of the markets? Yeah. So, I mean, this is where now in hindsight, you know, I've learned that like an omni-channel approach is really, you know, the ideal way. This is back in 2017 where, yes, the internet force was around, but sales of food was not such a big thing yet.
• 18:00
  that really expanded during COVID, you know, more so than any time before where people were like, okay, buying their food online. And so in 2017, we're not set up for D2C, basically, whereas now in hindsight, I would have set us up for that much sooner. We started offering D2C in 2019. And so I think I would have just gotten that going a little bit sooner so that we can actually
• 18:23
  start running ads and really capturing people where they were. But we took the traditional approach of brick and mortar and was actually going door knocking to like all my favorite like retailers and coffee shops and yoga studios here in LA because this product is great anywhere and just meets so many snacking or fulfills so many snacking occasions. And the first 30 accounts we got were literally just from me going door knocking and asking them if they want to buy magic dates.
• 18:52
  Amazing. Wow. And then did you kind of like start working with a distributor to kind of expand that? Or was it more just you hired a salesperson? Like how did you kind of keep growing on those first 30 people accounts rather? Yeah. So we do a lot of demos early on, which is really great because then you get people to try it. There's nothing like just a taste test to sell your product, especially if it's actually good.
• 19:14
  And during one of my demos, I actually met a person who was coming in to like stock the shelves. And it turned out it was like a local distributor here in LA. And so we started working with them and they got us into like another hundred locations and we still work with them today. I mean, five years and it's super small scale. So this is not really a way to scale per se, but it was definitely a great way to get started. Hmm. Amazing.
• 19:39
  For you now, like in 2022, actually, before I get onto the kind of what's working for you now, at some point you get on Shark Tank. Let's talk about the Shark Tank experience and what that impact was like for your business. What are we talking like 2021 or 2022? Well, we aired this year. We aired March 2022 and we actually taped last year. We taped September 2021.
• 20:03
  Okay. I read that you like applied four times before getting on. You were super passionate about being on Shark Tank. Tell me about the experience. What was it like? Yeah. So we definitely were not ready. And I say we, by the way, it's like the royal we. There's no, it was just me. So it's I, but magic date, the collective we.
• 20:23
  We were not ready for Shark Tank in 2018, 2019, 2020. And those are the years that I applied that I did not get on. And actually, as a matter of fact, when I did get on finally in 2021, one of the producers came up to me. She's like, finally, you made it. I've seen your application so many times. I was really glad that you finally made it.
• 20:39
  So it was so funny. And I've seen her name in email correspondence because she would email me back when we were just kind of going back and forth early on for all those other castings. And so I recognized her name and I was like, oh my God, I'm finally here. It's like so surreal to actually have it happen. And I think the reason we were not ready, as a matter of fact, I know that's the reason, is because I was not fully owning our story. Like everything I shared with you about dates being a symbol of cultural connection, where I come from and my connection to dates.
• 21:09
  was not something I was embodying with our brand. So if you look at some of our old branding from when we launched up until really 2021, it looks completely different. I don't know if you had a chance to look at it, but it's a great case study in branding. Your branding now is phenomenal. It's amazing. And it's like, and I feel it. Like you just, again, I feel like your body sends you messages where for the first three, four years, I didn't feel aligned with it. I'm like, I don't feel, something doesn't feel right here.
• 21:36
  I'm going out, I'm selling my product, but like I have anxiety about it for some reason. And it wasn't until the shift happened with the branding and that the voice was what it was supposed to be that I actually felt like so excited and like elated to share more and to sell it because I felt like I was now truly selling the vision.
• 21:52
  I feel like you've shared just two really good lessons that people really need to remember. The first is persistence. Never give up. Yes, you're going to get rejected. You're not going to get that thing that you're aiming for. But if you keep trying, good things will come to you. And the second one is where you start isn't where you finish.
• 22:11
  Everyone wants everything to be perfect at the very beginning and, you know, amazing, but your brand is an evolution and where you start isn't where you finish. It's okay to change, to evolve the brand and kind of like come into it as you, as you go through it and as you build it. That's amazing.
• 22:27
  I feel like you have to treat your brand like a person. I mean, it truly is what it is. Because even when I first started, even with the old branding, even though I didn't align with it, I just understood that a brand has a voice, it's going to evolve like a person, there are archetypes that we were using to decide what our brand was going to embody. So archetypes are basically these
• 22:52
  symbol characteristics of adjectives and just different personality types that you want either your brand to represent or people can have archetypes too. So for example, there's the magician, there's the everyday person, there's the lover. And so one of our archetypes was the magician. And that's how Magic Days ended up coming about. I initially thought it was going to be, it was just like a tester name. And then the more I studied it, I'm like, oh, this actually really fits for some reason. I like this because we want it to be that aspirational brand.
• 23:22
  And, you know, when they say perfect is the enemy of the good or something, I forget what the exact saying is, but it's so true. It's like you just cannot get stuck in that cycle of like something has to be perfect. It never will be. What even is that? Like what even is perfection? Like what are you comparing it to? So it just has to be good enough. And then you can iterate and like keep making it better. 100%. I totally agree. Yeah.
• 23:47
  Back to Shark Tank. I digressed. You get offered a deal from Kevin O'Leary. I think it was 150,000 for 33% or something along those lines. What's it been like kind of after the show, working with him and then following that, what was it like when the show aired? So yes, he's very particular about saying that it was 33% and a third. Because I say that on the show, I'm like,
• 24:16
  you're going to take a third of my business? And he says, no, 33 and a third. So it's like a very, very specific. 33.3. Yeah, yeah, 33.33. I'm like, okay, got it.
• 24:30
  So our experience, you know, it took us a while to close the deal just because just the nature of things. There was a lot of back and forth and it was like almost 10 months in before we actually inked the deal, which was just a couple of months ago. So we actually had our first strategy call recently. So everything is truly in its infancy. But where I see Kevin, you know, fitting in and where I know he sees, you know, himself and his team fitting in is really just opening those doors for us. Because, you know, as he said, it's like we're working hard. We're doing our thing here. But.
• 24:58
  having someone like him with those relationships, but backing us and having his name on, basically like it offers so much credibility to what we're doing that someone like him believes in our mission, our vision. He's half Lebanese. So I believe he truly gets this story and what we're trying to do really is the value that I see.
• 25:17
  in addition to you know the PR opportunities that we'll have so for example he was on a podcast a couple of months ago before we even signed the deal and he's talking about female founded companies and the businesses he's invested in and then it you know our name popped up and like immediately we saw a spike in sales that day so just yeah I mean I wasn't even expecting I literally woke up and I don't even know what the process is
• 25:39
  who the podcast host was honestly it wasn't um a show targeting females but my brothers knew about it and they're like have you seen you know Kevin O'Leary talking about you on so-and-so podcast I was like I did now that's so cool I love that for you yeah I know it's awesome I love those surprises yeah a nice surprise yeah and then now you were talking about airing the airing of the show
• 26:01
  and how things were, you know, after that. So we were expecting a huge spike in sales. It's something that you absolutely have to be prepared for. We earned on a Friday. You immediately, I mean, just to my inbox, you just watch those sales, like,
• 26:14
  coming in it was insane like what are we talking i mean thousands of thousands of orders just thousands i think we ended up getting like 3 500 orders or something in total i mean it's thousands of orders that continue to trickle in for like two weeks after because people are you know fans are watching the show you know in hindsight they're missing some episodes they're going back and catching up it streams on hulu here in the u.s so people are catching up there they're catching it on different streaming services like amazon prime
• 26:41
  And so for two weeks, it was just nonstop, which was awesome. And we were prepared for it. We produced enough inventory. At the time, I actually went to where my co-manufacturer is located because it's not in Los Angeles. And I was there for three, four days expecting that spike. So I can also help fulfill and get orders out the door. And we, I think, got most orders out the door on time, like 90% of orders. And then just had a little bit of lag time for the next batch. But it was great.
• 27:11
  Wow. And since then, like since that's aired and you've kind of had these like, you know, PR experiences and things like that, what are the things that are shifting the needle for you now in terms of your marketing and kind of leaping forward? Yeah, so growing our email list has been a really big, big thing because.
• 27:30
  It's such a great way to directly communicate with our customers in a more nuanced way than these like short form videos that you can that you find on like social media. And so Shark Tank helped us do that. Social media helps us do that as well. And so for us really harnessing that email list and that direct communication where we're able to share our message on a deeper level, to share cultural content, to share the value of, you know, having a snack like Magic Bates that really helps you bridge that gap between wanting to stay healthy, but still indulge in something sweet and like delicious.
• 28:00
  And that's been a big piece for us. And then also really figuring out that the machine of Meta, you know, it was something that I was intimidated by for a long time. And it definitely has changed. We came in at a time where Meta has changed because of the data policies that Apple has developed.
• 28:18
  has instilled. And as a customer, it's something that I appreciate as an Apple customer. But then as a business person, it's made it a little bit more challenging to like find the right people. And so it's ever changing. I mean, these are our marketing channels. Something I've learned about marketing is that consumer behavior and psychology does not change. We're wired the way we're wired. So if you read marketing books from like,
• 28:40
  the 50s and 60s the principles still apply it's just like a tools change so whether it's now a reel or an ad or whatever it might be it used to be radio it used to be tv it's the messaging is the same at the end of the day customers are here they want to get here and then how do you help them how do you help them get there basically is what your product's doing um and so that's just something that i think is core to any marketing effort
• 29:05
  Yeah, absolutely. Gosh, the meta, Facebook, Apple, it's a big, it's a big shift. I feel like people are really still kind of like trying to find their feet after that all happened last year.
• 29:18
  I know, for sure. I think for us, we have a Shark Tank ad going that has been doing really well for us, showing magic dates and recipes. So you really have to test and iterate a lot. Some things just didn't work, like straight up product trust, for example, for us didn't work, whereas for other companies, it does. So you have to find out what works for you and it's all about testing and really finding the right team or person or maybe doing it yourself. I actually taught myself the Meta Machine from an Australian course, funny enough,
• 29:48
  Maybe, maybe, you know, the guys, but they have this course all about Facebook ads. And I took the course back in 2020, but then ultimately felt like it's not something I wanted to spend time doing. So I hired someone, but at least I can have an intelligent conversation now with that person and I can understand. 100%. Yeah. It's so important to have like informed conversations. So even if you teach yourself the basics so that you understand when things aren't working or not working, because otherwise it can be so frustrating. If something isn't working, you're spending money on it.
• 30:17
  And like, then you feel like a lack of trust because you're not sure if this person is actually as skilled as they say they are. And so for me, just having that base knowledge and that foundational knowledge helped me just become more trusting in the different, you know, freelancers that I hire and being able to have a conversation with them about that thing. I totally agree with that. A hundred percent.
• 30:39
  How have you approached the money piece of kind of, you know, we all know in D2C and retail and things like that, the working capital piece is really important. In the beginning, you were bootstrapping, you were funding it yourself. How has that kind of progressed and what's your plan at the moment? Yeah, we actually bootstrapped for a long time. I mean, really up until Shark Tank, that was the first time we raised money.
• 31:02
  So it was so nimble. It still is. And so you get so creative when you don't have that much money to spend. You become so creative. And then things also come in your path and resources come in your path. If people believe in your story, they want to help you in different ways.
• 31:17
  But at some point, like more capital is just absolutely necessary. And so this is actually the stage we're at right now where we raised money from Kevin. But then in order for us to really launch the brick and mortar strategy, like the traditional retail strategy next year that we're planning on, we're going to need.
• 31:34
  you know, more capital. So that's something that I'm exploring right now. There's so many options, you know, equity crowdfunding is really interesting to me. I'm not sure who would go to a VC. So this is a conversation that I'll be having with our team and with Kevin's team to figure out the next step. Oh, very exciting. New learning curve, new stuff to learn. Totally. Yes, it is new for us. So this is something that is not exactly in my house yet. But that's what happens with being
• 32:04
  figure out and learn and, and you will because you're an entrepreneur and you're going to figure it out. Absolutely.
• 32:12
  We have talked about so many of kind of the highlights to your story and, you know, what's been going really well. And that's what we all love to hear. But being an entrepreneur, there are also so many lows and so many challenges that we face that I think it's important to also talk about and bring to the surface. So everyone listening who's going through highs and lows can relate. Yeah.
• 32:35
  Are there any sort of challenges you've been dealing with recently or any challenges that come to mind that you've had to overcome in this journey of building Magic Dates? Yes. You know, relationships are so important. Like,
• 32:50
  Not just, you know, with mentors or with partners, but also especially with consumer goods. Just finding the right distributor and broker partner is so key. And we had just a terrible experience in the past in 2019 with a broker that ended up, you know, costing us money, a waste of product and just like time.
• 33:12
  of them saying that they're going to deliver X, Y, Z, and then they didn't. And then you put all your eggs in that basket because that's the relationship you're investing in. You're investing in resources, time, energy, and you're expecting things to go a certain way. You make certain predictions about your business based on that relationship and what they say to you. And it didn't pan out. So I would just say it's so important who you partner with in that regard. Distributors and brokers love to bring on new hip products that, oh my God, I'm so old. Why did I say hip? Yeah.
• 33:43
  I'm a millennial, I swear. But like trendy product. But at the end of the day, if they don't have the infrastructure to really support your brand the way that it deserves to be supported, it's just going to fall through the cracks. So I think for us, that was a big thing. And I wouldn't say it's a challenge now. It's just something that we're working on is like finding those right partners. And I think we have, but it's just a matter of giving it a little bit more time to see how it actually goes with the current brokers and distributors we're working with.
• 34:12
  So TBD. TBD. Very cool. What does the future look like? What are you excited about that you can shout about? Yeah. So, I mean, I'm excited to see what else we can do with dates. You know, we have them. We launched this date flight in the summer. And it's the first time that customers have gotten a taste of other varieties. Most of our customers say they've only ever heard of Medjool dates. And they were excited to know.
• 34:38
  First of all, there are like over 60 varieties that are domesticated now. There were like hundreds of varieties historically. And so we're just sharing four here. But then there are like dozens of others. So it's so exciting to know that there's so much more that we can share with our audience. And yeah, what else can we use dates and what can we make out of them? How else can they fulfill our sweet tooth in like new and interesting ways? That's what I'm really curious about and like excited to try.
• 35:05
  I'm excited for you. I'm excited for everyone. Excited for me. It sounds amazing. We got to bring it over to Australia. Yeah. You got to bring it here. Launch it here. It'll be great. What advice do you have for other founders who are early on in the journey and just getting started? I would say really do your homework. I mean,
• 35:27
  it always feels like things are moving at such a fast pace that you just want to catch up and make sure that you're in the game. And to a certain extent, that's true. You have to pull the trigger on things. At the same time, execution is really important. And so from the get-go, just really do your research on, first of all, is this going to do well in the market? Do people want this? That's really the most important thing. Do customers want this? Don't be so attached to the idea and don't let your ego get in the way just because you're
• 35:56
  it's your baby. When they say, you know, kill the baby, I hate that analogy, but just take your ego out of the way and try to think of it as objectively as possible. Because if you don't, it prevents you from coming up with other better ideas or really just veering and taking a different path. And so I would just say be as egoless as possible when it comes to that. And really consider that retail is very expensive. That's something that I've learned, you know, we did
• 36:26
  And it didn't go as planned because COVID happened. And so things come up that are just so outside of your control. We got this new account. Maybe I won't say their name. I don't want to throw them under the bus. It was, you know, it was all good. But it's this retailer here in the United States. And we went national with them. We actually created the four chocolate covered SKUs for them.
• 36:45
  expecting it was going to be a repeat item. And they were on the shelves for about two months. They said it was the fastest moving date product they'd ever had. And so we were excited for those reorders. And then since they were not a traditional grocer, they basically shut down for COVID for about six or seven months. And so that was like a big chunk of business that we were expecting to have that year. And then we didn't.
• 37:07
  And, you know, just keep that in mind that like things are very tickle in retail and that if you are going to be in stores, like don't be attached to this like romantic idea that you're going to be in thousands of stores and just be all over the place. It really is just about focusing more on the retailers that are key for you and supporting them as much as possible. You know, demos, promos, being having, you know, feet on the ground in store is so important because it is absolutely 100% true that it is difficult to get into
• 37:39
  absolutely like 100 true wisdom that any perishable cpg brand should be aware of great advice yeah and i love that it's like focus on all of your foundational stuff first like just one at a time like build on like your building blocks and keep stacking it i love that
• 38:03
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 38:27
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 38:50
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.
• 39:05
  Hey, it's June here. Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast. If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter. We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
• 39:30
  And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash Hype Club. We have guests from the show joining us for intimate Ask Me Anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
• 39:52
  As always, please do subscribe, rate and review the show, and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories. I am beyond grateful when you do that.