What: Gamesake, a combination board game/keepsake
Who: Callie and Pam Weiant, co-founders of Jocapa Products
LLC
Where: Boulder, Colorado
When: Started in 2003
Playing games is an important part of every childhood--but for
sisters Callie and Pam Weiant, the homemade game their mother
created for them as children inspired them to become
entrepreneurs.
The game had been popular in the Weiant family for years, and
the sisters always thought it would make a great keepsake for other
families as well. In 2003, they finally decided to go for it with a
loosely based imitation called Gamesake. Players write their
favorite memories on playing cards and then use them to move around
the traditional board-game structure. Players add new memories year
after year, and a keepsake is made. Says Callie, "We want
people to create memories in a fun way."
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Callie, 36, a former lawyer, and Pam, 35, a marine scientist,
didn't know much about creating and marketing a game, so the
biggest challenge, says Callie, "[was] that every day we were
doing something new." They used savings and seed money from
family to cover the $60,000 in startup costs--most of which went to
manufacturing.
Their first version, Wedding Gamesake, debuted at the 2004 Toy
Fair in New York City. Positive feedback from retailers followed,
and the pair has since launched birthday and Christmas versions.
Sold online (www.gamesake.com) and via independent
toy and gift stores, Gamesake also won the 2004 Seal of Approval
from The National Parenting Center.
The real coup for the Weiants, though, has been the consumer
reaction. "[It really feels like] we're getting families
to spend more time together," says Callie. With requests for
new Gamesake versions for events like graduations, these
entrepreneurs hope to build on their projected 2005 sales of
$200,000.
-Nichole L. Torres
Bucks Stop Here
What: Secondhand clothing store where everything is
$1
Who: Jackie and Wayne Bell of Reruns
Where: San Francisco
When: Started in 2003
When siblings Jackie Bell, 48, and Wayne Bell, 46, realized
high-quality items were no longer readily available to stock their
industrial salvage yard, they knew it was time to change gears. So
they stuck with the concept of one person's junk being
another's treasure and opened up a secondhand clothing
store.
The Bells placed an ad in the local Classified Flea
Market newspaper seeking clothes for 25 cents per item. Their
first response was from the family of a woman who had hoped to open
her own thrift store and amassed 10,000 pieces of clothing before
passing away. The Bells were able to completely stock Reruns for
the grand opening in San Francisco with that purchase, but they now
buy most of their inventory from a nonprofit organization.
Despite initial plans to offer every clothing item at just $1
each, Jackie admits she yielded to the temptation to raise prices
at first: "Once I saw all the great clothes, I took my eyes
off the larger picture." When six months went by and the
partners saw sluggish sales, they returned to the original plan.
The day signs went up advertising their new buck pricing, they had
their highest one-day sales to date.
Regardless of the stigma second-hand clothing may carry,
everything is in good condition, color coordinated and neatly hung
at Reruns. "Customers say we should raise prices," says
Jackie. "They believe they're taking advantage of
us."
In 2004, the Bells moved Reruns to a 4,500-square-foot location
nine blocks away, and they now project 2005 sales of $200,000 to
$250,000. Jackie hopes to open more stores with the same concept,
saying, "Just bring on the people!"
-April Y. Pennington
To the Teeth
What: Online destination that provides customers with
information on the major discount dental networks and their
discount dental plans in the country
Who: Josh Babyak and George Michaelides of DentalPlans.com
Inc.
Where: Dania Beach, Florida
When: Started in 1999
How Much: Less than $1,000
It was during the dotcom crash that Josh Babyak, 34, and his
stepfather's good friend George Michaelides, 52, decided to
start DentalPlans.com. Each of their former businesses--Babyak had
two gourmet takeout restaurants; Michaelides had a dental-practice
management company with about six dental offices--had fallen into
the wrong hands, leaving them with huge losses. All they had was
Michaelides' website name, DentalPlans.com, and about
$1,000.
Due to limited capital, the partners worked other jobs during
startup. Babyak used his own paycheck to pay his younger brother
Paul to build the website. After work, the three held conference
calls, sent e-mails and called dental networks to develop
partnerships. A performance-based marketing model--DentalPlans.com
places banner ads on other sites in the program, paying commissions
on all traffic driven to its site that results in sales--was
perfect for the limited-capital startup.
After years of educating dental companies about their model,
DentalPlans.com now has more than 18,000 online affiliates
(including companies like Kmart.com, chambers of commerce, teachers
associations and more) and represents approximately 30 of the
largest dental plans in the country, including those provided by
Aetna and General Electric Co. DentalPlans.com, which expects sales
to exceed $10 million by the end of this year, has grown to be the
most trafficked dental site on the internet.
-Esther Nguonly and Sara Wilson