Experiences from the Spin Master Innovation Fund Program – Anne Forkutza

When I first applied for the Spin Master Innovation Fund, I thought I had my eye on the prize: the $50,000 funding.  However, after my two days at the launch pad workshops, I soon came to realize that the priceless information I received while talking to the execs at Spin Master was the real prize.

My two days during the launch pad workshops completely blew away any expectation I had for the weekend.  I had expected all of us to be huddled in a board room all day, sifting through Power Point presentations on “How to be an Entrepreneur” (yawn).

What we got instead, were back-to-back, one-on-one sessions with the best of the best at Spin Master.  To have these execs open their doors and dedicate a full day into meeting with us budding entrepreneurs was absolutely incredible.  Essentially someone had given me a key to this golden kingdom and said “Here is access to all the top execs of a very successful company.  They will answer any questions you have about running a business, and help you succeed in anyway they can.  Go.”

You really cannot put a price on that.

Since attending the workshop, Domo Tea has already started putting some of the wisdom that was imparted on me into play: based on the feedback about our label, we’ve completely changed our packaging to display a clearer positioning statement.  Our new label clearly communicates that our tea is made up of ground down tea leaves – something that our customers were confused about before (“It doesn’t look like a tea?”).  We’ve also started gathering stats on tea trends that work in our favour to help us get into stores.  Furthermore, we’ve started streamlining our production process and negotiating better co-packing arrangements based on Spin Master operations advice.

Since Spin, we’ve gotten into 2 more cafes and 3 more Save-on-Food locations.  The money has helped us tremendously in terms of lowering our productions costs (we can now do larger runs and buy our ingredients in bulk, increasing our margins).  All and all everything has been positive, and I am so thankful to have experienced truly a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Anne Forkutza, Co-Founder, Domo Enterprises Inc.