Kindora Founder Sourced Partner From LinkedIn
Two people starting a business instead of one spreads the load of those early day anxieties. But where to find a partner? Sarah Ouellette advertised on LinkedIn and she knew the ad might be working when Barry Hanley was the only applicant who asked the entrepreneur Ouellette more questions than she asked him.
The Canadian’s business idea was Kindora, up and running since last November. It’s a premium baby goods marketplace where people can buy and sell prams, baby baskets, carriers and all the other expensive kit that newborns require these days. You’ve heard of fintech – Kindora sees itself in the ‘famtech’ space i.e. apps and websites aimed at helping parents with childrearing and other family matters.
Ouellette’s (39) career took her from Canada to London, Melbourne, Hong Kong and New York. She moved to Dublin to be with her partner in 2008, and Emmet O'Neill gave her a job on his Lovin Dublin website. That employment ceased last summer as the pandemic decimated the site’s advertising base.
“Ireland was my first move for love rather than work,” says Ouellette. “I had intended to launch Kindora whilst working full time and once
I was made redundant, I saw it as a blessing in disguise that allowed me to focus entirely on the business.”
Barry Hanley, who has invested €33,000 in the venture, spent a decade with Google before working in a business analytics role with Touch Press Inc. He works with other earlystage Irish tech startups, using data to drive improvements in product, commercial and marketing performance.
Part of the Kindora messaging is supporting a circular economy. According to Ouellette: “Kindora is helping parents and reducing waste whilst giving them back time, space and the bonus of giving their wellloved items another life. We only deal in premium brands and in items that are suitable for reuse. Our biggest point of difference is that we screen and clean every item before we send it off to its new home.
“The average new pram requires 16 different materials and is equivalent to making over a thousand disposable coffee cups,” she adds. “Every item bought, sold or rented on Kindora has an amazingly positive impact on the environment.”
The founders didn’t hang about. “From inception in August 2020 to launch in November was a lot of work in a short time, and we’re taking in daily learnings and data to inform the next phase of the business and digital platform. We have a robust digital marketing playbook that we are continuously refining.”
Kindora won’t work without lots of products on display. The website currently receives one or two seller submissions a day, with on average three products offered by each vendor. Kindora also sources from third parties such as retailers offloading demo/floor stock, over stock and open-box items.
Though still at the crawling stage, the infant Kindora is thinking big. The venture plans to pass the hat around for seed funding before the end of the year, on the promise of expanding the baby goods marketplace beyond Ireland. “I anticipate 2022 will be when Barry and I both start earning from the business. The priority is building a solid on and offline experience, expanding into Europe and hiring a great team before we pay ourselves.”