Karen Danujaya’s life was very different before she started her beverage company Bloom. She worked in commercial real estate and drank five Americanos a day. But when caffeine began to affect her health, she began looking for other ways to boost her energy by adding superfoods to her diet. And the idea for Bloom was born. “The mission of this company is how do we incorporate nutritious, healthy ingredients into recipes that people already love,” Karen says.
Bloom’s first product was a turmeric latte mix, but the company’s product line has since expanded to include other drink mixes, including the Superberry line of probiotic water elixirs. “When I look back at my first products and compare them to what we have today, the change is incredible,” says Karen. Her secret to success is iterating over time. Below, learn how she’s adopted this as both a life and business philosophy.
Starting without a perfect product
Karen’s first sales outlet was to Victoria’s Health, a smoothie bar in Vancouver. While talking with the owner, he mentioned he was having a hard time getting turmeric latte mix locally and realised she could make it herself. In just six weeks, she came up with her first mix and Victoria’s Health became one of Bloom’s first clients.
“We still have a turmeric latte product, but it’s formulated differently, we source our ingredients differently, and we package it differently,” Karen says. Still, it was important to them to get started rather than wait until they had the perfect product.
Prioritize customer feedback
One of the most important things for a founder is to be open to changing direction, especially when that change comes from their customers. According to Cullen, some of Bloom’s most successful products were a direct result of customer feedback. “The more feedback we get, the better we can understand how to build systems into our innovation pipeline that really support what our customers really want,” Cullen says.
Now, her team at Bloom conducts interviews, research and Focus Groups Continuously gather customer feedback to refine your product development. Her biggest advice is not to ask for feedback if you’re not going to take action, as this will erode trust with your customers.
Stay up to date with new ecommerce tools and strategies
For Karen, iteration doesn’t end with product development. “With marketing and e-commerce, it’s never over,” Karen says. When she first started Bloom, Karen taught herself the basics of online advertising. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)She was able to pass on those skills to other employees, who were able to build on them and hone their skills even further.
Karen emphasizes the importance of continually looking at analytics, improving user flows, and discovering new tools. In fact, this was one of the catalysts that led Blume to replatform on Shopify. She switched to Shopify specifically to make the app ecosystem easier to adapt her online store to.
Build self-confidence
Being willing to change product or strategy can be hard when founders have strong beliefs: “You can’t change your company’s core values or mission, but you can change the path you take to get there,” says Cullen.
To cut through the noise, she recommends always returning to the problem you’re trying to solve. “I had to trust myself to iterate, listen and adapt, and Bloom today is the result of that,” she says.
To learn more about Karen’s philosophy of repetition, listen to the full interview. Shopify Master.
