She Started a Business in College, Now It's Worth Millions

0:28Hey, welcome back to Female Founder World. calendar for the grants, accelerators, and incubators that are happening this year. And it is the best way just to get the support that your business deserves. Somebody is going to win this money. Like somebody every month is walking home with tens of thousands of dollars in grant money. And honestly, it may as well be you. It is so hard to get venture money and investor money right now. And some of these founders that you're listening to on the podcast, they started their businesses and they bootstrap them because they were able to get grant money early on.

1:04So hit the link in the show notes, share that link with your friends and get the cash that your business needs in 2023. Okay. So onto the show today, I'm chatting with the founder of a business called Dormify, Amanda Zuckerman. Okay. Let's get into the show. You are now entering Female Founder World with your host, Jasmine Garnsworthy. there. Amanda, welcome to Female Founder World. It is so great to have you on the show. It is great to be here. Thanks for having me. For people who don't know Dormify, tell us what you're building over there. So Dormify is a one-stop shopping destination for college students to outfit their dorm room, their apartment, really whatever space they're living in, whether it's on campus or at home.

1:47And we create our own exclusive line of products that is dedicated to solving small space storage solutions and style for Gen Z and what will be Gen Alpha and whatever happens after that. Very cool. So we both create and curate our line of products and just really aim to make the transition from home to college as easy as possible. And did you get started in 2011? You've been around for a while. We have. So I actually never know how to answer the question of when we got started, but the key dates were 2009. 2009, I started college and that's when I came up with the idea. I was literally standing in Bed Bath & Beyond on 6th Avenue in New York City.

2:31And my mom and I were together shopping for my first dorm room, my first home away from home. And I quickly saw that there wasn't a brand that was creating stylish dorm decor and accessories for college students. And I thought it was a huge hole in the market. So because I was looking for a twin XL bedding that didn't exist, I literally turned to my mom in the store and said, we should design our own line of bedding. And she said, okay, great. Let's do it. Which is not typical of every mother, but her background is actually in creative and advertising. She built and ran a creative agency for over 30 years.

3:11And I grew up in that type of household. My parents ran it together. So very entrepreneurial family. And we set out to turn this idea into a business over many years, but officially launched in 2011. And my junior year, I had a dormified apartment on campus and the rest is history. I love that you mentioned before, you know, you're for Gen Z and you will be for Gen Alpha and you would have launched for millennials, right? Not many, yeah. Not many businesses like have this transition of like who their customer is, you know, so often in the same way that your product is for like a time of life instead of maybe like a certain person.

3:54I think that's so interesting. We call it being in the life moment business, similar to having a baby or even like from graduation, going to college. These are your wedding, obviously. But these are life moment businesses where you get a new sort of audience every single year. And instead of building upon, you know, your existing customer base and either finding something new to sell them or really like growing at LTV, obviously that's an important metric for us, but we get 2 million new freshmen that enter our funnel every single year just by default. So it is definitely interesting and different and provides its own unique challenges, but it's fun.

4:39What is something that is universal across everyone in that life moment versus like specific to Gen Z versus millennial in the way that you're reaching them and speaking to them? I think the key there is that there's something that is a need for these customers. It's not a nice to have. It's a need. So you're not going to college with your bedding from home. You need Twin XL bedding. You need to buy something new. When you're having a baby, obviously, there's a lot of needs. when you're getting married, you need the dress, you need the vendors. So it's really something that is one, like aspirational.

5:16You've been waiting for so long for this moment. And there's not only like product and commerce around this moment, but also a ton of content and advice and tips. So for Dormify, that's why we've always built the brand around not only being a destination destination to shop, but also positioning the brand as a big sister to our customers, because we want to help guide you through this moment in your life. That's not just about what you're buying, but like all of the emotions that surround it. Really interesting. I'd never really heard that term before about being a life moment business, but it, yeah, it really makes sense.

5:51Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's interesting. And actually like one of our investors who invested in our series B went on to invest in another life moment business because they like really got it. So I don't know. It's something that I talk about a lot with investors particularly, but yeah. Interesting. Okay, cool. So what were the first products that you launched with then? Cause you have this idea, you are a college student and yes, you had, you know, the support from your, from your parents, but actually getting a product into the world and at that age is like just a big achievement and a heavy lift.

6:25What were you creating to begin with? So taking one step back before we even had any product, we actually put a blog out there on the internet. And I was a sophomore back in 2010. This is when like all of the OG bloggers were getting started, but it was really all fashion based. There was no college related blogs. There was no her campus, none of that existed. So we put up a blog on WordPress and we just recruited friends of mine to become ambassadors and we called them style advisors. And it quickly turned into a network of their friends and friends of friends of friends. And very quickly, I didn't know many of the people that were our 400 or so brand ambassadors.

7:05And they were writing content for the blog and they were going to be our army to help us launch when we had something to launch. So what started as content, just as really a proof of concept, then gave us some leeway to figure out how to produce product because we didn't have any experience doing that. And the first line of product that we actually brought to market was posters that were printed on demand so that there was no inventory that you needed to invest in. Smart. And we actually created a full alphabet of letters so that you could put your initials on your wall or your school. And each letter was like a work of art in its own regard.

7:47So it was really cool. You can choose your color, your size, and then it was printed to order. And that was like the first thing on our website while we were figuring out how to manufacture textiles overseas. Did you always, so you knew when you were doing the blog that it was going to be a content and then a, you know, consumer product business. You never at one point were like, Hey, let's just build her campus or let's build a media business. Was that ever tempting? It's obviously like been there along the years because there's so much content and it's been a part of our DNA from day one. But we've been so focused on building the one stop shop because that was the true problem that I was trying to solve and felt like the content component was a necessary ingredient in the recipe, but not what this was centered around because that's not like solving a problem, giving a solution to a need.

8:41And that's really the direction that we took, but we thought we could do both. So why not? And you know what, like this is the playbook it's short people aren't creating blogs necessarily anymore before they launch their businesses but they're creating tiktok account and doing youtube and like this content first thing build the community build the audience makes sense particularly if you're bootstrapping like it makes sense like let's get people interested in the topic that you're talking about and then yeah and then they'll build some trust and you've got an audience and you can sell them something yeah it's so funny now like especially when i talk to college students because i talk to them all the time um it would be so much easier to start dormify today than back in 2010.

9:19We're like pre-Pinterest, pre-Instagram. But now that you could just put up an Instagram or a TikTok account overnight, like the opportunities are endless and you just have to work that much faster. So we did have that luxury of time back then to move a little bit slower, but it's crazy what you can do today. I'm always interested talking to people who are building businesses that are like not their demographic, that's not them. And you know, were at one point that college student that needed, needed the bedding, needed the posters, needed that solution, but you're not anymore. How do you stay close to the customer and in touch with the customer, especially when you, you know, they're transitioning, they're different kind of every few years.

10:02Well, I'm getting older. It's the realization. Um, but being connected to our customer is what makes Stormify different. So that's like a major component of my job. Um, while I do get a lot of pushback from my husband on how much time I spend on social media, I do say that it's part of my job. So I have, um, but the ways that I really stay connected are one through our band, our brand ambassadors. Um, we have a Geneva group. So I'm always talking to them to make sure that I stay connected. And even if it's like the most simple question, I can always just post something there and get immediate feedback.

10:41I also during our peak season during the summer, because we're a pretty seasonal business, I always put together like a little tight knit focus group. So maybe they're a group of our ambassadors that are high performers and really connected and engaged with the brand or, you know, friends, little sisters or cousins or anyone that I feel like is really interested in the brand as an incoming freshman. I always have like 10 people on a text thread that I can always text. Um, so that is my personal connection to the audience, but, um, I really rely on the team. So our content manager who runs our social media, she is living and breathing Gen Z trends.

11:21Um, but it's definitely something that I have to keep my hands in and my eyes on. Um, but what's interesting now is I'm kind of in between the age of the parents and the students. So I have more of an appreciation for what the parents need also just by being in the business. for the last several years. But my mom has always been that like parent voice. So she's still, you know, my co-founder and a board member. So combined, we try to, you know, bring the parent and the student perspective in. But ambassadors, really just like friends of the brand that I can trust. And then making sure that the full team is getting customer insights on a regular basis through Slack channels and things like that, just so that it's not all bottled up within a couple of people.

12:11Yeah. You've mentioned ambassadors a few times. I know that that was kind of like a big part of getting traction for Dormify and how you guys got started. What did that ambassador program kind of like look like when you were starting and how was it organized now? It kind of gets a facelift every single year because there's always a shift in what our students want. And they move so quickly and it's very hard to keep up with them. But they're moving faster than culture, I feel like. So what it started like was really anyone who wanted to be a part of the brand was writing articles for the blog and social media wasn't really a big part of the tasks.

12:57But some of the key stages in the evolution were moving into more of a content creator type of program. So a smaller group with content requirements and a lot more products sent to them. And then most recently, we transitioned to let's just open up the floodgates and go for quantity and try to get as many students into the program as possible. What we found then was that a very small portion of that group is going to be engaged and active. So that is actually bringing us to where we are today, where we're splitting the ambassador program into just a general ambassador group, but then a VIP tier will exist with different types of rewards and different metrics and just more access.

13:45But the key here, and it's funny, I had a conversation about this this morning. I think the key here is that anyone can participate. We don't exclude people. So it's very inclusive. But if you are motivated to go above and beyond, you have an opportunity to really soar to the top, get extra recognition, experience, a true resume builder. Um, so that's the direction that we're moving in today. And we've really like moved back and forth with how we're compensating ambassadors to, um, between, you know, commission in the form of dormify dollars or free product or swag. Um, so we're really like trying a few of those different things this year, but, um, cash compensation is not something that we've typically done.

14:35and it's always part of the conversation, but really figuring out ways to not have to do that because we feel that there's other value that we can provide these students who are engaged in the program. So what kind of like behaviors are you trying to get these students to do, the ambassadors? Like they're posting on social? Yeah, it's all brand awareness. We really aligned on that goal this year because last year we were more so measuring towards a revenue goal. And this year it's about brand awareness, making noise, just having them be always talking about Dormify. They have opportunities to drive revenue as well.

15:16Like we want to see who's actually able to do that and we can elevate them into more of an affiliate type of relationship. But for the general student who's going to college or who's in college, we just want them talking. We also want them to be engaged in the form of providing insights like a focus group would, because we really want that product feedback loop to always be in play. So it's content creation. It is, if you're interested in that, it's sharing with your network. It's being a part of partnerships when appropriate. but at the very baseline, it's just providing insights so that we can make sure that we're staying close to the customer.

16:02Are there any like platforms or tools that you use to like organize the ambassadors? We're actually looking at a new platform right now because we don't love the one that we're on. So we're looking at new ones that fit our needs and I can share more when we get to that point, but we're not sure what it's going to be yet. I did hear something great about social ladder this morning. So that's one that we're going to be digging further into, but it's hard. Like we looked at maybe 15 or 20 different platforms last year. We hit a road bump with one that we chose. We had to switch midway through the season last year.

16:39So now we're two in in one year and now we're going to switch again potentially. So it's really like come down to making sure that we're aligned as a full team on what the goal of the program is, what we need to get out of this platform, what we can do outside of the platform. But I mean, there's not anyone that seems to really be leading that industry right now. So interesting. Yeah. Interesting opportunity as well for people who are listening and like thinking of business ideas, like obviously this has not been very well solved from a tech perspective. So maybe there's something that complicated very fast.

17:16Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So you've obviously come a really long way since these early days that we've just spoken about. You've built a really big business. What are some of those milestones along the way that can kind of like help people understand like where you're at now? Milestones. Okay. So there's a few, but first milestone obviously was having Dormify product in my college apartment when I was a junior. And my senior year, I actually had an article in the New York times and they sent a New York times photographer to St. Louis. I went to WashU and they came and shot me in my room. And I was like, what is happening?

17:57How did the, hold on. How did that even come about? Well, we were like, we had launched the business. We had hired PR and, um, we landed a New York times article. Like I honestly, it was in 2012. Um, and they covered the, the launch of the business and they, I don't know they wanted to come out and take a picture of my dormified room so they did I think my roommates were like so confused um but that was definitely a milestone and then um a few other milestones so more of a strategy but also a milestone in our early days we were very grassroots and we try to like retain that grassroots type of strategy today.

18:44But we really got our growth story sort of churning when we started doing shopping parties, like trunk shows at people's homes. And this is something that I feel like if I were to start another business today, I would still do this type of thing. But this is really important to just like develop relationships with our potential customers and get the word out there. But I would pack up a rental car with my friend and co-founder besides my mom, Stephanie, and we would go to all of these houses in the tri-state area. And the student who was graduating high school would bring all their friends and their moms over and we would sit down and do one-on-one consultations and just walk them through the entire process.

19:31and even more um we actually found the people to do the trunk shows by crashing spring break with high schoolers so we would go on their their high school spring break trips and make friends with them and hand out tank tops and stuff and i was like a couple years out of college at the time so it wasn't like creepy or anything um but that's how we started to build relationships so So that was definitely like major milestone, I don't know, like eight years ago or so. And then something that really stands out is starting our relationship with American Eagle back in 2015 and 2016. And they were interested in bringing the home category to Aerie.

20:15And we put a Dormify capsule together for Aerie. And it was actually in their physical Times Square flagship store. And I think at the time we were just like very naive. And it was such an incredible opportunity to have Dormify and Aerie in Times Square. But we continued to build that relationship by having an assortment of product that was always on the American Eagle website. And that ultimately led into a more strategic relationship where they actually led our Series A. back in 2018. So that was a major, you know, planting the seed and more of a business partnership and then going into a more of a strategic partnership.

21:01And they're still great partners to this day and have been really helpful along the way. And then most recently, we led our led. Most recently, we had our series B close in 2021, where we brought in our first institutional capital to the business led by a growth capital or growth equity firm called Clarity. And they've been great partners thus far as well. Awesome. Congratulations. So many exciting moments there. Now that things are a little bit different, you're a much more mature business. Like you said, your series B now, how are you going about finding these customers? I mean, I'm sure a lot of the things that you did in the early days that you mentioned, like you as a CEO in your role can't be out there like hosting, hosting parties, you know, yeah, I'm sure that I'm sure that was like actually way more fun than sitting on podcast talking to me.

22:00But what are you doing now in terms of like finding new customers? How are you reaching those college students? What is actually working in terms of tapping this demographic? So there's a few different things. I think everyone obviously is dealing with all of the changes in the digital marketing world and how to reach customers in new ways because we can't rely on meta in the same way that we have in the past and things are going to continue to change. So we're really focusing on more sustainable ways to acquire our customers. Two major strategies of ours, we've already talked about the ambassadors, but that is one of them.

22:39And always having a group of college students that kind of grow up with us through their high school senior year through graduating. And then kind of in a similar capacity, but very different. We have relationships with over 700 universities. So more of a B2B channel where we are speaking directly to the students through the university channel. So this is a big growth strategy of ours, and we're continuing to partner with different universities in different ways. So anything from setting up a model dorm room that they show on tours for prospective students to participate in orientation. And, you know, on the logistics side, we're working on new and innovative ways that we can be there to actually help students and families have their orders delivered inside their actual room when they arrive.

23:33So that whole last mile delivery logistics story is something that we're exploring in a much bigger way. But both of these channels, the B2B with universities and then the more peer-to-peer channel with ambassadors is a way to not rely on Google and Facebook, Instagram and all of them to reach them, but really like authentically hear from trusted sources, whether it's a friend or your institution. So those are two big ones. And then might be obvious, but like our organic social continues to be really important part of our brand. And Pinterest is actually just working really well for us as well.

24:14I wanted to talk to you about Pinterest. Yeah, we can definitely talk about it. I think at this high level, like on the organic social side, Pinterest and Instagram reels are really doing the most for us. TikTok is great. Like we have a lot of engagement and people love our TikTok, but we're actually seeing Instagram reels sort of exceed TikTok in terms of engagement. So that's super interesting. I wonder why that is. Cause you would think when I think, oh, okay, Gen Z customer. Yeah. TikTok, lean into TikTok. That's going to be a main channel, but I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily think Pinterest was the way to go, but I guess for the category as well, it does make a lot of sense.

24:52Like if you're looking for like aesthetic inspiration, design inspiration, that's the platform. That's really where most people are starting their planning and their shopping journey. So we, we get the most traffic to our site from Pinterest out of all organic social channels, which does make sense just because of the nature of the other platforms. But that's a channel that's like pretty low maintenance, but you can put even just a little bit more into it and probably gain a lot more value from it. But it's something that just doesn't get talked about a lot, but it is very valuable. When I was working at Stylecaster, which is like, I don't know, fashion, pop culture kind of website, one of the biggest traffic drivers for the site, I think it was even more than SEO, like Google SEO was Pinterest.

25:36And we had, that's because we had a graphic designer early on who like really leaned into Pinterest. And so there was a lot of, I think, cause it's like, it really accumulates over time. It's like similar to SEO in terms of like, you need to have like quite a lot of content there over time for it to like perform. And I've always kept that in the back of my head as like, it's such an interesting way to drive traffic to a website that not a lot of people think about. And like not a lot of brands I think are really taking particularly seriously when there are other platforms that seem like sexier.

26:03Yeah. And there is such a long-term strategy there. Like you have to be cognizant of, okay, like this inspiration image did really well and we don't want to, we need to avoid like any broken links that might happen if we take that shoppable inspiration off of our site. And it's just funny how it works sometimes, like an image that does really well. I think one of our top driving pins linked to just a basic white rug. And we were like, why can't it go to the bedding or the headboard or like something more substantial, but it was the top performing pin for such a long time. And it was the algorithm that like caused the link to be the link that it was and you can't change it.

26:46So. Yeah. Yeah. That is interesting. And I think that just like, this is an aside, but Pinterest is one of those platforms that like really take seriously their impact on like mental health and like teen mental health. They're a platform that isn't trying to like get you, it's not like eyeballs at all costs kind of thing. Like they definitely engage with like nonprofits, like half the story. And like, they're very intentional about the way that they are engaging the users, where I think a lot of other platforms are like, can become like a really toxic space. Whereas Pinterest has remained like a pretty positive feel good space.

27:20I never thought about that, but you're so right. It's different when you're scrolling Pinterest to when you're scrolling literally anything else. You're way more like Zen and Addy and it feels actually enjoyable. Yes. Yeah. But I need to spend more time there. It is interesting that like this generation, this younger generation is still continuing to use Pinterest. And sometimes I, I'm still curious, like where did that come from? Because they use VSCO and now like Lemonade is coming or it's here, but like, I don't know. they just kind of stay true to some of these more old school, sad to say old school, platforms, but it feels fresh enough to them.

28:03So I don't know. It's a good learning. How do you feel when like new platforms come out? So like Lemonade, that's out now. Are you guys experimenting? Are you on Be Real? What do you do when these new platforms comes out? Do you jump on them and experiment or do you wait and see? So I feel like we should have jumped on TikTok sooner, but we jumped on like a few months before the pandemic hit. So at least we were ahead of the pandemic. Pretty good. Yeah. And I, it was funny at the time, um, the person who was running social media, I had recently met with Gary V and he was like, post every day, three times a day and just tell them that's what they have to do.