Seed for Success | Empowering Women Entreprenuers

Since the beginning of the Seeds For Success contest, Carolyn Kepcher has looked far beyond lending her brand and her image to this program. She views her number one role as providing the best mentorship team possible to the entrepreneurs who have been selected as finalists. Along the way, changes and additions were made as the finalists and their mentors identified their needs. 

Enter Scott Smigler. As President and Founder of Exclusive Concepts and primary internet advisor to Dana Rubinstein of Dapple, Scott has been on the team since day one of the contest, assisting Dana with all aspects of her website. When asked to step in and go well beyond his original commitment by now also advising Karla and Abby in SEO and internet marketing concepts, Scott immediately and graciously agreed. Here is what he had to say:

Recently I have been asked to spend some time with the other grant participants: Karla Duncan of Head2Toe, and Abby Port of the Red Koala Canvas Co.

I will tell you that after only two meetings with each of these individuals I find them both to be dynamic and principled women.

Let me start with Karla. Karla started her company with the principle that the products on the market for special needs children are inadequate because they focus on actual age, versus “developmental” age. The concept is strikingly simple: Teach and relate to children at their level. Karla assembled an expert team and launched a product that has the potential to improve the lives of special needs children throughout the world, and has already established partnerships with important organizations like Easter Seals.

As Karla stated in her blog, the current marketing strategy is simple: Put faith in the product. Now that Karla is armed with a truly fantastic website (created by fellow mentor, EY Studios), she is reaching out to influential bloggers and organizations who have large followings in order to request that they review her product and share their honest feedback with their database. Karla has persued this approach at a lightening-fast pace, and has already created relationships with influential professionals that have the reach to put her on the map. Karla clearly has the expertise, drive, and determination to make a big impact in her field.

Abby, armed with a website by another fellow mentor, Fast Pivot, is making critical strides as well. First, let me talk about the product. Moms and Dads can buy personalized wall art, birth announcements, wonderful words, growth hangers, seasonal door hangers, and birthday door hangers to hang in their children’s rooms – or they can custom design their own art. Red Koala’s products are different than anything I’ve seen on the market. They are not cheesy prints with boring designs and colors… they are beautiful, stimulating pieces of art that help to create a soothing and stimulating environment for young children.

One of the challenges that Abby will have is that her products don’t really fit into an existing category. Abby is not simply creating a better version of a product that consumers already seek out and buy. Rather, she has a unique offering, and the onus is on her to get the word out in a noisy marketplace. This is tough. Regarding the website, I suggested to Abby that she reduce the number of options that new visitors are presented at her homepage, and to be more aggressive about funneling visitors into the gallery to start viewing products. In addition, I suggested that Abby simplify how the internal pages were merchandised in a way that featured products more prominently. We were barely off the phone before Abby started working on all of the changes we discussed, in addition to pursuing numerous other opportunities to get the word out about her product. As I said above, getting the word out will be a challenge, but Abby has already made great progress. She has attended tradeshows in order to make new contacts and to build a mailing database, and is leveraging her personal relationships to build a small army of product evangelists. Finally, we are exploring pay per click marketing in an attempt to reach mothers and fathers who are designing rooms for their young ones. Abby has great talent and she is clearly a very determined and hard-working individual, and I can’t wait to see the results of her hard work.

In closing, I must say that all of these women are remarkable. They have families, children, and even 9 to 5 jobs, yet they pursue their goals with steadfast determination and a positive outlook. Dana, her partner Tamar, Karla, and Abby, all made a decision to turn their dreams and values into action, and they are wonderful role models for their families and for aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere.

Seeds For Success finalist Dana Rubinstein has had the opportunity to work with internet marketing expert Scott Smigler of Exclusive Concepts since the beginning of the finalist phase. As we move closer to the selection of the winner, Scott has closely monitored Dana’s progress as she grows her business, Dapple. Here is Scott’s most recent update:

Integrity and Entrepreneurship

The meaning of the word “integrity” may vary from person to person, but I understand it to mean something very specific: Acting in a way that is consistent with your values.

This can manifest itself in many ways. Individuals who value honesty can make a practice of always being truthful, even when it isn’t easy. Individuals who value time with their family can ensure that they reguarly set aside time to be with their parents, children, siblings and relatives…

… and individuals who say they value entrepreneuship can take a risk and join or start a new business that acts in accordance with everything else they value.

I am pleased to say that through the Yahoo! Seeds for Success program I have had the privilege of working with entrepreneurs who are willing to put themselves out on a limb in order to create businesses that enhance their lives, their family’s lives, and the lives of individuals all around the world who can benefit from their products and services.

I have been assigned as Dapple’s Internet Marketing mentor from the beginning, and I have watched them mature an idea into a product, a product into a brand, and a brand-new business into what now has the potential to become a signifigant company that services parents throughout the world.

Dana and Tamar worked with us to get their new website and web marketing strategy launched very quickly. We built the website on Yahoo! Merchant Solutions so they could transact business online while humanizing their company and showcasing their products in a positive light. We used Search Engine Optimization and Yahoo! Search Marketing to position them well in search engines for their brand and product names. We used social networks to bring hundreds of their supporters together under one roof… and that’s just the start. Simultaneously, Dapple built a number of strategic relationships with important online and offline channels. There’s a lot more great news, but I’ll let Dana and Tamar fill you in when it’s appropriate.

I’m impressed by Dana and Tamar not only because they are smart, dedicated business-women, but because they have remained true to their principles throughout this entire process. There were promises that Dana and Tamar made to their customers before the Yahoo! Seeds for Success program started, and Zeus himself could not have compelled them to renege.