We had the good fortune of connecting with Eva Chan & Jane Lee and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Eva Chan, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
We started Launch Pop out of a need! Our friends would reach out to us to pick our brains about what activities to prioritize, how to build brand, how to get your first customers. It was very natural for us to help and get very excited and so our first company Morning Recovery was a hit. We launched within 6 months, driving over 200,000 in sales in the first hour of launching on Indiegogo. As a result, the founder was able to secure two investors very quickly after launching with us. When that happened our inbox was getting flooded with requests from founders who all had a passion to launch a product that was innovative. The only thing they didn’t know was ecommerce marketing and finding product market fit. So it became clear right away that we needed to start Launch Pop.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Starting Launch Pop was really hard in the 1st year. How do you build a sustainable business model helping early stage founders who are bootstrapped and their equity is not worth anything yet? We had to get really good at identifying founders and be bullish in conceptualizing the product with the founder. It meant that every tiny decision we make and discuss together had to feel like we’re co-founders of the business. Over time we developed a unique methodology at Launch Pop is to test, gather data and then quickly iterate. Even with ads, copy angles, formats: video vs stills etc. This creates a culture with both the client and internally to try new things, new channels, new design approaches. – Using a data-oriented approach to build brand – Building an innovation playbook for founders and large CPG companies – New client + company relationship: We like to have skin in the game by taking equity/future bonus and offering lower monthly payments. If the client wins, we win – which creates an environment where we aren’t here to please them, we are here to win together (have the hard conversations together, debate, ask questions, learn together etc) As a result, we bring to life products that truly disrupt categories or create new ones. Some of the case studies that we’re really proud of include: 1) Morning Recovery (www.morelabs.com) $8MM Series A 2) Rael (www.getrael.com) 17.5MM Series A led by Soft Bank, BAM and NYX Cosmetics founder Toni Ko 3) GEM (www.dailygem.co) $750K Seed 4) Hydrant (www.drinkhydrant.com) 5.7MM Series A 5) Topicals (www.mytopicals) 2.6MM led by Lerer Hippeau
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We had a rotating door of friends from out of state and from Toronto staying at our space for over a year. First spot we would take them is the boardwalk from Santa Monica to Venice Beach. Along the way, we make pit stops to the pier, ferry, acai bowls, garlic fries, and watch skateboarders at the park. Then walk over to the Venice Canals to share the history of Venice, how the area did not have roads back then and the story of the black house at the end of Venice and Marina Del Rey. At night we head to Abbot Kinney to grab a cocktail at The Butchers Daughter and then make our way to the Tasting Kitchen. It’s fun to eat by the communal table. For extra fun, we sometimes go to Elephante after for more drinks.
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Sisun at Morning Recovery Drink for believing in us as individuals to help him launch his brand and as a result, we launch Launch Pop Sarah at GEM because we discovered our research can really shape industries Ameet at Golden Ventures for moral support and answering questions on equity Will and Erik @ Mucker for supporting us, making us a partner and helping us with our Visa and all the investors that took our calls and took us seriously when we said we needed money in order to check off the requirements of getting a visa Friends & Family for unconditional love even when we went MIA for bit to build Launch Pop Friends who gave us loans here and there to just survive as humans in our 1st year Brother who gave us a larger loan so we don’t have to get VC money and made our first hires that changed everything Airbnb because we were strapped for cash and renting our rooms out allowed us to make ends meet Team members at Launch Pop who believe in us as leaders and making every brand their baby.
Website: www.launchpop.com
Instagram: @launch_pop
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/echandesigns/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-lee-92120321/