Kim Gamez, tech govt and entrepreneur
In an trade—occasion planning companies—that was rocked to its core by Covid-19, Kim Gamez finds satisfaction in having an exit. After Mi Padrino shrank through the pandemic, the startup did not have the exponential exit she and her buyers had hoped for; nonetheless, it had one which was ok. The phrases of the deal weren’t disclosed.
The corporate’s worth was its massive Latina person base, social media following, and trusted popularity.
In 2015, when Gamez and her husband had been requested to be padrinos for his or her niece’s quinceañera, they had been delighted. In Latin America, padrinos sponsor totally different features of a celebration, together with the gown, venue, music, and cake.
Quinceañeras have a good time a woman’s fifteenth birthday and transition from childhood to maturity. “It is not executed due to the monetary standing of a household however as a result of the neighborhood is honoring the particular person being celebrated,” mentioned Gamez.
A padrino may tackle the position of organizing the items, which was the case for Gamez. “It is a stupendous a part of [her husband’s Mexican] tradition, however I hated the method. On the time, there was nothing that organized the method.
Gamez noticed a gap available in the market she may fill by organizing the gift-giving course of on-line. PayPal, Venmo, and Fb might be used to provide money items, so she targeted elsewhere.
There was an untapped alternative to attach reward givers to the reward producers. She used a dropship mannequin that enabled wholesalers and artists to promote their wares with out going by distributors. The sellers had been liable for fulfilling the orders. I first wrote about Mi Padrino and its enterprise mannequin in 2019.
Later, Mi Padrino enabled distributors like DJs, musicians, photographers, and venues, amongst others, to promote their companies.
Mi Padrino grew from 50,000 customers within the first 12 months to hundreds of thousands of customers earlier than the pandemic. It had a major social media following, too.
When the pandemic struck, occasions stopped. The corporate pivoted.
One in every of Mi Padrino’s producers began making masks. Mi Padrino facilitated faculties’ and well being programs’ buy of them for gratis. Later, it constructed a web site to promote masks to earn a living. The masks helped maintain them by the summer time of 2020, then everybody acquired into the masks recreation.
By the winter of 2021, Gamez laid off 17 of her 20 staff. Nonetheless, she knew she had one thing of worth to any firm that wished to interrupt into the Latina market. “Mi Padrino was thought-about a trusted model,” she mentioned. “We had hundreds of thousands of customers and an enormous social media following.”
Gamez was launched to Queenly, a market for formal put on for girls of all ages and sizes. Andreessen Horowitz is amongst its buyers. “It [Mi Padrino] is a good match for them,” Gamez mentioned. “And it was nice timing for us,”.
“It wasn’t the exit everybody wished, nevertheless it was an exit,” mentioned Gamez. Mi Padrino’s buyers included Astia Angels, Chloe Capital, Spend money on Detroit, Spend money on Michigan, Portfolia, and Texas HALO.
In the course of the financial downturn attributable to the pandemic, Gamez grew her popularity as a thought chief and parlayed that right into a job as the top of digital advertising and marketing at David’s Bridal. She began as a advisor and impressed them along with her concepts on the way to construct natural site visitors.
Gamez can be leveraging her startup expertise as Entrepreneur in Residence on the College of Michigan and Michigan State. Her recommendation to startup founders who’re elevating cash through the present enterprise capital downturn:
- Focus: “Do not boil the ocean,” she mentioned. Mi Padrino did not use off-the-shelf software program. As a substitute, it constructed totally different programs for the three traces of enterprise and needed to preserve all of them. It was loads for a small staff.
- Develop slower: Uncover what prospects need slightly than counting on assumptions. Even when they’re constructed utilizing Excel spreadsheets, take a look at ideas.
- The proof is within the pudding: Earlier than elevating enterprise capital, present that the corporate can generate income.
What classes have you ever realized by navigating by the pandemic?