You started Seacoast Sweets in a dorm room. How did it happen?
Kirstyn Pearl ’10: I never had this idea to build a chocolate empire. When I would go home for Christmas during college break, I remember my grandpa making peppermint patties to give as gifts to neighbors and family, and each year more and more people would ask where to get them. Since my grandfather was retired and headed to Florida to play golf after the holidays, I saw an opportunity to jump in. I just wanted to share his recipe and see what I could do with it.
Professor Jim Pouliopoulos, MBA ’94: I love what Kirstyn said about not really having a plan. A lot of entrepreneurs who don’t succeed with their business are the ones who go in with too rigid a plan. Kirstyn did a lot of prototyping of products and business models in the beginning. She had a pretty well-defined target market and simply focused on serving them well. Her success early in the process opened doors to other segments of the market that generated more revenue and more margin, and allowed her to keep expanding.
What is the mindset of a successful entrepreneur?
KP: Survival mode. Working seven days a week, 24 hours a day to create something from nothing. There’s no time to think, you just do. I love a quote by Randi Zuckerberg [former Facebook executive and sister of its CEO]: “The entrepreneur’s dilemma: Maintaining friendships. Building a great company. Spending time with family. Staying fit. Getting sleep. Pick three.”
JP: The best entrepreneurs understand they need to build a predictable set of processes for running their company. Kirstyn was highly attuned to developing her business model and processes. She spent more time creating her business and the brand, rather than trying to continually perfect her product. With this approach, Kirstyn was able to build a company that could run without her constant presence. That, in turn, allowed her to sell an intact business and move on to the next opportunity.
What kind of resources do you need to start a business?
There's no excuse for not starting a company other than fear.
Kristyn Pearl ’10
JP: I tell my students all the time that we’re living in an age when you don’t need resources to start a business, and Kirstyn is proof of this. All you need is a product or service and a story around it. If you have those two things, you can find out how to sell it online, raise money and sell through distribution. You can go to Fiverr and get a logo designed. In the past, you would have had to hire people and raise money ahead of time. Today you can start small, use digital avenues to market your idea and get financial buy-in.
KP: I totally agree. There’s no excuse for not starting a company other than fear. Social media is a platform for exposure to millions of people. Say it. Post it. Just move forward.
Research shows that women entrepreneurs have more challenges getting funded than men do. What was your secret?
KP: It’s all about the story, and I had a lot to tell: starting a company out of my dorm room, leaving the corporate world to build Seacoast Sweets, using my grandfather’s recipe. Crowdfunding on Kickstarter was a way to share these stories, and it was amazing to get support from people I had never met. There was also a lot of behind-the-scenes pitching with local organizations that specifically support women — mother’s groups, the Boston Business Women Facebook group — where I could talk one-on-one. Small groups of women are a force to be reckoned with.
The first step in selling a product or idea is to build a rapport with someone.
Professor Jim Pouliopoulos, MBA ’94
JP: The first step in selling a product or idea is building a rapport with someone. And the easiest way is in these small networking environments where you might share something in common — golf or a grandparent’s recipe that was handed down. Suddenly it’s not friends and family funding you; in fact, those resources tend to dry up quickly. The people who can connect you to resources, money, clients and potential buyers are beyond your first-degree connections. More often than not, it’s friends of friends.
How did you know it was time to sell?
KP: As the business grew and I worked full time in commercial real estate and got my MBA, 100-hour workweeks were normal for me. I would come home from work, sleep for two hours, then make chocolate. I was tying ribbons on my lunch break. Going back to Randi Zuckerberg’s “you pick three” quote, I found myself not spending enough time on things that were important to me. Still, I never wanted Seacoast Sweets to be a mom and pop shop. Part of the fun was seeing how big I could get it and I knew that selling was the right decision for the brand.
JP: Some business owners identify with the business they’re in rather than thinking of themselves as owning the company. “I’m an electrician” versus “I own an electrical business.” That’s limiting because they never get to the point where someone can run it without them, so they can sell. Kirstyn is certainly a candy maker and remained focused on her story. But she never lost that entrepreneurial mindset of bringing an idea to life and watching it grow.
How did you find a buyer for Seacoast Sweets?
KP: It was actually another fun, strategic challenge. I tapped into the Boston Business Women group and posted on buythisbusiness.com and similar websites. When I finally came across the couple who bought Seacoast Sweets, I felt like they really got the brand and they were willing to keep the story. That was important. Like me, they had never dreamed of owning a chocolate company — and here we are.
KIRSTYN PEARL ’10 was a senior Finance major at Bentley when she launched Seacoast Sweets. It stayed a side venture after graduation, while she built a career as a financial analyst in commercial real estate at CBRE. Pearl left that firm in January 2017 to run the chocolate company full time, and led it to a successful sale in May 2018.
JIM “POULI” POULIOPOULOS, MBA ’94 is a senior lecturer in marketing and director of Bentley’s Professional Sales program. His expertise centers on sales strategy, technology and new product development. He has presented at TEDxBentleyU on using self discovery and life experience to spur personal growth and career satisfaction.