Make Money, Change the World: Cora- A High Growth For-Profit/For-Purpose Startup

Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

@Molly_Hayward
@CoraWomen
corawomen.com

“My work at Cora has taken hold of me. It really found me. I certainly wasn’t looking for it, but it’s been incredible.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“My background was in economic development, women’s rights and human rights. I thought I was going to work for a big NGO, join the peace core, or work for a non-profit after college. Fate kind of intervened and I very serendipitously joined a tech startup in Philly.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“I started as a intern. They paid me a thousand dollars a month, which was awful. Yeah, it sucked! Although, now I look back and I’d kill for a thousand dollars a month.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Within three months, I was out raising money with the CEO. That was where I cut my teeth, and I learned by doing. I really loved the CEO’s role. It was that high level, visionary work that appealed to me most.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“My first company was a draw. I invested a lot and somehow broke-even, myself. After two years, I couldn’t get an entrepreneurial visa to stay in London, and so I was unceremoniously deported.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Its really funny looking back on my journey, because it was just a fucking mess!”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“(At Cora) wWe are a Women’s health company that aligns technology and products to a Woman’s natural cycles, across her entire lifetime. We started out as a monthly subscription box for organic feminine hygiene products.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“We let women create a customized box of organic feminine products, and we ship them to her every month. Like Tom’s Shoes , like  Warby Parker, for every monthly box that we ship to a women here in the US, we provide a month supply of products to a girl in a developing country, who would otherwise be missing days of school every month during her period.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“This is a huge problem, all around the developing world. There are many NGO’s that are pumping tons and tons of money into girls education because we see these massive returns economically when we invest in girls’ education, and yet, girls at 12 or 13 drop out of school because they miss days of school, due to their period and they fall behind.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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Toxic Chemicals: “I found that most of the products that most
women use in this country, conventional products like Tampax, Kotex, Playtex, they’re made from cotton that has been heavily sprayed with pesticides, mixed with synthetics and bleached. All of those substances cause there to be toxic chemical residue, that are linked to reproductive diseases and cancers.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

“Women are exposing themselves to these products for days at time , every month, for forty years of their lives. And it’s really just wrong. I couldn’t in good conscience contribute to that.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“Prior to (raising 30,000 crowdfunding with) my plum ally campaign, I had completely bootstrapped it, including money from the job, as well as multiple credit cards. I don’t think enough people talk about that.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“Now, we are raising a seed round. And, I say we’re because while for a long time it was just me, I’ve more recently and all the sudden, hired on a team of five people.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

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“We advocacy center for women at Cora. We started out with menstruation, and we quickly noticed more comprehensive support system was needed. Our intention is to build a brand that is massive and inclusive, to become a mainstream provider, in a way that organic pr0ducts haven’t yet mastered.”
— Molly Hayward, Founder of Cora

Funnel Optimizer demo at WSL

@brandonhilkert
FunnelOptimizer.io

What is Funnel Optimizer?

Funnel Optimizer is a monthly subscription service to help bloggers provide more value to their audience and sell more of their products by offering subscribers access to new content and discounts, rather than showing them the same subscription forms.

Funnel Optimizer alters what the user sees, based on each individual’s level of involvement.

The current funnel looks like this:
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And, with Funnel Optmizer:
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Why did you create it?

Six months ago, I released a book called ‘How to Build a Ruby Gem’ that resulted in $16k+ in sales, so far. My Multilevel marketing approach, and a niche target population of ruby developers contributed to my book’s success. But, I also believe that choosing to capture emails on my blog and posting gem-related content regularly seemed like a good way to grow interest, offer subscribers additional incentives like discounts, and ultimately sell more books.

In the process, I observed that my previously subscribed readers to my newsletter STILL saw the same newsletter opt-in form shown above. I thought to myself, ‘Why on Earth would that be helpful to the them?’ It prevented me from offering previously subscribed users to new offers and stifled the opportunity to sell my products.

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Traditionally, the way to solve this pain point was to purchase a fancy marketing automation system and pay potentially 4 figures a month. So, I decided to build a solution that would be more accessible for people like myself. Ideally, what I wanted was to show my first visitor the opt-in form above, and if they signed up, promote my book. It was a choice to consider my viewership by customizing their experience and provide them access to new offerings.


What’s next for Funnel Optimizer?

The next step for Funnel Optimizer is to develop a full payment processing system on my site, FunnelOptimizer.io , So when people sign up they can instantly use it. Im currently operating under a somewhat slower on-boarding approach, and now Im ready to put the power in their hands!

WSL Becomes a BizSpark Network Partner

With the help of Yuriy Porytko and Dave Mann, we invited Amanda Lange to stop by the lab the and explain the benefits of becoming a network a Microsoft’s Bizspark program.

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BizSpark is an international network of entrepreneurial startups and partners.

Simply sign up, get free software; including Developer tools, support, and training to build apps & scale your business, and get help marketing your app.

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BizSpark members receive free one-year Windows Store and Windows Phone developer accounts where you can promote and distribute your apps around the world, offer trial versions to build excitement, track sales and customer feedback.

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It will also help startups gain market traction by offering the opportunity for startups to promote your app on the BizSpark website and gain further visibility through the Featured BizSpark Startup series.

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As we experienced, It’s super easy for startups to become network partners at BizSpark! Signing up startups to BizSpark in the Greater Philadelphia Area will encourage MS to dedicate more resources to startups in our region, including increased sponsorship opportunities!

State Rep. Dan Truitt @ WSL

Our Press Releases are Really Paying Off!

After sending out a couple of press releases, we received a decidedly smaller  percentage of feedback than expected. Unfazed, we followed up with those individuals and organizations that expressed  the most genuine interest.

State Rep. Chris Ross was kind enough to sent a conference call to discuss that growth we’ve seen since launching the coworking space, and now the incubator. He outlined his own insights and gave us a number of leads within the local political sphere that he thought might expand our reach.

Rep. Ross also mentioned that West Chester was Rep. Dan Truitt’s locale and admitted that “we can become pretty territorial over these sorts of things”. Regardless if Rep. Ross was a kindly passing off the torch or an actually frightened by what Dan’s response would be, we were nonetheless grateful for the referral.

Before I could followup with Dan’s Offices, I received an email from his assistant, Matthew. We ping-ponged our differing availability and settled on an acceptable google calendar event, as is customary in this day and age.

Wednesday came around and I rushed to vacuum both floors, scrub the bathroom floor and perform other domestic duties, all the things your supposed to do before a State Rep.visits your incubator. Henry was kind enough to make a pot of coffee before I showed up, so that was covered, but I was concerned that Dan was going to show up before I was able to eradicate all the dog hair that Luna (our WSL mascot) bestowed on us the week before.

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Dan walked in and we rushed the door to shake his hand and welcome him to our space. Thankfully the vacuum was well tucked away by this time. I offered him some coffee and we migrated to the basement, where all the truly serious discussions take place.

We sat down and I tried my best keep quite while Chris and Kevin began to explain our mission statement and intersectional business model. I was able to squeak through some thoughts, but I tried soak it all up and let Chris and Kevin do the talking. It was difficult for me to keep a lid on it. What can I say, passionate elevator speeches are a cornerstone at  incubators, and Walnut St. Labs is no exception.

Chris drew up the three main facets of our business on the white board and explained how collaboration feeds into the intersection of each facet. We reviewed our recent impact on the community and our ultimate goal to create jobs.

Dan Trueit and Keven Color

I could tell the more Dan understood about our community and people-centered model, the more engaged he became. It was cool to see him get excited about the things that we really care about. He shared how the government has moved jobs from state to state to create the appearance of news job, without actually creating new jobs. He also mentioned that our facilities would have help him when he was starting up his business in the 90’s.

We came out of the meeting feeling encouraged that his interest will translate into a longstanding relationship. We’ve gained another perspective from a political leader with enough professional experience and expertise to truly appreciate what were building here. Each person we’ve had the pleasure  of meeting and speaking with has expanded our scope, which has contributed to overall growth, and we’re super grateful for that.

Chris Merkner Reads @WalnutStLabs

After leaving his family to tour the United States this past year, Author and Professor Chris Merkner stopped in the Lab to read “In Lapland” aloud and share his unique perspective of his craft. Despite Chris’ admitted hesitance or skepticism toward his own self-promotion, he mentioned how his mindset has shifted since the completion of his book: The Rise and Fall of the Scandamerican Domestic .

Below are some excerpts from “In Lapan”:
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(pgs. 30-31) “All day Sunday we’re on broadband scrolling over online paint resources. By sunset we have selected a Country Rill from a company in Pennsylvania and had shipped overnight to the house. We pay an ungodly figure to overnighted this paint, but there is no looking back: when it comes to paint, when it comes to everything at this point in our lives, cost is negligible. We charge it. We have no time for savings. All the saving we’ve been doing, all that’s over. For the first time that weekend, we eat dinner without rushing. We have even turned on the television. It’s our last supper.”

(pgs. 35-36) “She is def and she is dumb. She is swiping at the chair rail in long, reckless strokes. She’s made a speckled rill of Green Rill on our old berber. She’s crouching like a catcher, raking along the wall next to the fireplace walls. Paint is flinging and dripping. She strokes  in those long, reckless strokes lavishing the wall above and below the rail. Her Muscles tremble and twitch. Her knees crack. I take a glob in the forehead and come to. The small of her back.
I have lost my breath.
I haven’t really ever seen her like this. She turns and takes my hand, yanks me toward her, kisses me, her tongue firing in my mouth. “C’mon,” she pants. “Get into it.” Those walls that had kept me up at night are done in thirteen minutes. In thirteen minutes I’m on my back panting beside my wife looking. We’re both breathing out of our mouths, leaning against the sofa. It’s a whole mess we have here. However, in the public sense, it is done.
Or, as my wife puts it, “It’s started.”The-Rise-and-Fall-356x535

(pg. 40) “Friday, the brush is frayed and starchy, limpid and stiff at the same time — caked in a sort of translucent lacquer and generally incapable of offering a stroke of Country Rill that does not somehow ruin a previous stroke. My whole rhythm is off. I’m  doing harm. My wife just winces, says things like, “Oh, Guud.” I have covered the kitchen walls three times over. My arms ache, and my hands are blistering badly. I picture my shoulders as the inside of a rotting boat on a destitute beach. I drink water like a dog. I’ve taken to eating M&M’s again. I’m taking down the big bags of megastores that require paid membership.

Buy The Rise and Fall of the Scandamerican Domestic