“With Ascend being a nonprofit, it trained me to be very creative with the resources that I had,” Laurell states. “That’s why nonprofits are actually a great platform. They’re not often necessarily seen as that, but I think they really are because you have to get very creative and resourceful with what you have.”
Tiny Organics evolved from the Finnish baby box concept. In 1938, expectant moms in Finland received baby boxes from the government. It started as a way to support impoverished families and counteract high infant mortality. The box served as a make-shift bassinet and was filled with various baby products and food. In 2018, the cofounders started mapping out a strategy and were able to serve as entrepreneurs in residence at Human Ventures for over a year.
“So we had pre-seed funding from the startup studio, and then we raised our seed round when we had developed the product,” she shares. “The pre-seed funding gave us the runway to develop and perfect the product with these founding families. So we went from 100 founding families to 25 power testers and really tested different versions of the meals with them. We delivered food to their homes for months [to make sure it worked and the kids liked it].
Build out your networks before you need them. Start developing relationships with potential investors from the beginning. That concept also applies to team members you want to onboard. This way, it’s easier once everything else is in place.