How does the Russian woman earn in the US on a special popcorn and feeds the Google office
'05.07.2018'
Source: Inc.Russia
In her 24, Alisa Basyrova can say: “I was offered 2 million investments, but I refused and started a business without them.” After graduating from MGIMO and working at McKinsey, she founded her own company for the production of healthy lifestyles popcorn Holy Corn - and now delivers it to retail chains in 8 cities, to Google and Bloomberg offices.
Not everything was rosy: technologists, unlike investors, did not believe in the product, home recipes did not adapt to the production line, and self-confident refusal of investments (for the sake of preserving the independence of the company) demanded austerity, says Inc.Russia. Thanks to the belief in the product, the entrepreneur was able to persuade the production workers to develop a recipe without preservatives, the employees - to work for free, and bloggers - not to take money for the advertising of Holy Corn on Instagram. Alisa Basyrova told Inc. how to do business, constantly hearing “Girl, call your boss,” and why the entrepreneur needs meditation.
Alisa Basyrova always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur - even when she studied at MGIMO at the Faculty of International Economic Relations, she launched various projects: she spent quick date evenings, organized tours to New York, planned to open a subscription service for the delivery of healthy snacks. After graduating from university in 2015, she got a job at the consulting company McKinsey & Company - almost all of her classmates dreamed of a career in the Big Three - but after six months she realized that she was not interested in being a hired employee, and the corporation had a tight schedule and A 15-hour workday does not fit her notions of a healthy lifestyle. Thinking about what kind of business to do, Alice formulated criteria for herself: the market is FMCG, the product is healthy, safe, understandable for consumers, affordable and easily scalable. She remembered how, during her internship in Germany, she was surprised to see a pack of popcorn in a health food store, and she thought: bingo!
- If in Russia, popcorn is usually sold in cinemas or in microwave cooking packages, in the West it has long been turned into a finished product from the category of healthy snacks. At that time, the trend for healthy nutrition was very actively developing in Russia, I did not want to let it go and decided to start the production of lightweight popcorn - without chemical additives and low in salt, sugar and butter, ”says Basyrova. - There is a stereotype that popcorn cannot be a healthy product. On the one hand, this is a barrier, on the other - it is of interest to the product: we look like destroyers of legends.
In 2017, Basyrova registered an LLC, wrote a business plan (in the calculations focused on two existing markets: healthy bars and chips), borrowed from relatives and took 1,6 million rubles from her personal savings, left McKinsey and first went to Yekaterinburg on 10- Day course of Buddhist meditation Vipassana: “I had two years dreamed of getting on this course and understood that as soon as business entered the active stage, I would not be able to disconnect from the outside world on 10 days. There was a critical moment: I am 23, the whole world is in front of me, I can go to study, I can build a career in a large company ... Meditation was needed to understand that the decision to do business is conscious. ” The trip gave its fruits - Basyrova not only finally established herself in the intention to open her own business, but also came up with what to call the company: “The name revolved around the word“ corn ”, in English corn. The word holy, “sinless, innocent, sacred,” reflects the pure origin of a product that does not contain chemistry. In addition, in English there is an exclamation of surprise “Holy cow!”, So the name evokes clear associations and is easily remembered. ”
The month went on the search for production, 8 months - to create a formulation, 2,5 of the month - to branding, another month - to laboratory research, to receive the Declaration of Conformity of the Customs Union (to expand in the CIS), protocols of sanitary-epidemiological expertise and technical specifications document. In December, 2017, Alice began marketing the product.
Holy Corn in numbers (source: company data)
- 1,6 million rubles ($ 25300) - initial investment.
- 500 thousand rubles ($ 7900) - the average revenue per month.
- 75 thousand rubles (1200 dollars) - branding costs.
- 15 thousand rubles (240 dollars) - the cost of promotion from bloggers on Instagram.
- 40 thousand rubles ($ 630) - the cost of an experimental purchase of targeted advertising.
- 50 retailers collaborate with Holy Corn.
- 20 thousands of popcorn packs are sold by the company per month.
- $ 1 - the average cost of one pack (20 or 30 g)
Preach a healthy lifestyle - tighten the belt
To fit into the budget, Basyrova was forced to save on everything - to support herself, she even took up career counseling (for 5 thousand rubles per hour she told how to get to work in the “big three”). Cooked popcorn recipes at home in the kitchen - bought corn, coconut oil and cooked in a saucepan. Tasting invited friends.
When there was a question about packaging and branding, she turned to the Serbian creative agency Peter Gregson, which developed the identity for Bite bars, FRESH organic food stores and other healthy lifestyles, but the collaboration did not take place:
“It turned out that it is very expensive (2-3 million rubles), - at the same time, the customer is left with no right to interfere with the design and make edits, and it was important for me to convey my values to people through the packaging.”
Then the businesswoman went to the British Higher School of Design, where she was offered to organize a competition for the development of branding among students and graduates of the school. By offering the 100 prize packs of the future product to all finalists and 75 thousand rubles to the winner, she received 70 applications.
To select the winner, it was necessary to hold focus groups - they also managed to save money: Basyrova invited friends and relatives, posted an announcement in social networks and on the YouDo service, which promised to “have a great time with tasting” (participants did not pay). “It took 2,5 a month to agree, conduct and summarize the results of the competition. It took a lot of time, but this method turned out to be the cheapest and most effective, ”says the entrepreneur.
When it became clear that the company needed employees, Basyrova posted a vacancy on the Grintern internship website and voiced it in a lecture on consulting work, which she read in her native MGIMO. 100 students responded to the offer to work for free for the sake of experience - Alice conducted 20 interviews and chose 4 candidates for the position of online marketer. The team worked remotely, occasionally meeting in coworkings. “When they agreed to work for me, it was an amazing moment, I could not believe it! - admits Basyrova. “Since it was an unpaid internship, I understood that I should interest employees with interesting tasks, so I took them with me to all the meetings, sent them to production, we went on a business trip to Tver for talks with a regional distributor.”
Basyrova also managed to save money on promotion. She relied on Instagram bloggers - she chose 30 micro-influencers who write about a healthy lifestyle, and sent them samples of popcorn. I did not ask them to publish - but all 30 bloggers wrote about Holy Corn. “The secret, probably, is that we wrote very sincere and personal letters to everyone. When this human, rather than commercial, approach is used, it is free to negotiate. We spent 400 rubles on courier delivery, and each parcel cost 500 rubles. " In addition, Basyrova took part in various events - from the healthy lifestyle festival organized by Harper's Bazaar magazine to the MGIMO business conference (other participants there were Nespresso and Procter & Gamble). “From the point of view of advertising, the events are very effective: we did not pay for participation, and the result was acquaintance with celebrities and major brands, mentions in the media. New events come to us on their own - one is followed by another ”.
Girl general director
“At professional exhibitions I often hear in my address:“ My dear child, when will your director come? ”Or“ Are you a good marketing manager, and how can you contact the manager? ”The entrepreneur admits. “When I draw my business card, issues are solved more constructively.”
Fighting the prejudice of Basyrova is no stranger - even at the stage of searching for production she had to overcome the prejudices of technologists. At first, no one wanted to deal with a new product: “they referred to the fact that such start-up entrepreneurs had already come to them who wanted to launch new formats of popcorn, the plant was wasting their time, and as a result the project was closed”. Then they didn’t believe that the product could be made without preservatives, “they suggested using chymose extracts”. “Finding a production partner is more difficult than a life partner. It was not easy for a young girl without experience in this industry to talk to the plant, ”recalls Basyrova. “It took me a lot of persuasiveness and perseverance to interest them.”
Alice, wanting to consult with successful entrepreneurs, told acquaintances about the idea of Holy Corn, asked for help with networking - and approached investors (McKinsey top manager, general director of a major international pharmaceutical company and a graduate of Oxford Business School) who are ready to invest 2 million rubles in the project . Their belief in the product spurred Alice’s confidence so much that she ultimately refused to make investments: “I discussed the 2 of the month with 3 with potential investors for a business plan and their share in the company. And then I thought that since such reputable people are ready to give me, a person without experience, their money, this means that the idea is working. I still maintain relations with them: we have not become co-founders, but I still receive their expertise, advice and answers to my questions. ”
Believe in Basyrova and retailers: the product was not there yet, and she had already agreed on his deliveries to stores. I sent letters with a commercial offer to several networks - the “Garden City” was the first to respond. “I brought a piece of packaging film, a product sample and a label design layout to the meeting. An assortment committee was sitting in front of me, and I told them, they say, look, we will pack this popcorn in such bags and as a result it will look like here in the picture. After the meeting, they made a pre-order. ” Later, the entrepreneur sent a proposal for the supply of popcorn to the Google office - she was sent to her own supplier, and he now buys Holy Corn for Google, Bloomberg and other large companies.
Natural thrill
“My worst and best memories are related to the packaging film,” says the entrepreneur. - When we made an order for printing and went to production in Dzerzhinsk, already at the entrance to the city I realized that we had a mistake in the layout - a slight inconsistency with the technical regulations. I had a choice: print with an error or change the layout. I understood that, most likely, no one would notice this error, but I could not miss it. We wrapped up the layout, paid a fine of 100 thousand rubles and delayed production for a month. But when I saw in the huge workshop a conveyor with three-color canvases of the future film, I saw how 20 people run around it, add colors, check colors - it was so cool! I realized that now everything will happen. " Special packaging flow-pack chosen because the product is convenient for transportation. “I didn’t even expect that demand will quickly appear in the regions,” says Basyrova. - Recently sent a batch of 20 boxes to Kamchatka by train. Order made bodybuilder, owner of a fitness bar. The party went on for a month, but everyone was happy. ”
In May, the company had an office - so far, a small room near the Tretyakovskaya metro station (30 sq.m. per 35 thousand rubles per month), but Basyrova wants to move to Flacon, Artplay or Three-Mountain Manufactory:
“I am sure that the environment influences business development. If we position ourselves as a creative, courageous and ambitious team, then the space around us should be consonant with us. ”
The “brave team” has also grown - now there are 7 permanent employees in Holy Corn, and these are no longer students, but managers with experience in companies of the Procter & Gamble level. “I have moved to a new stage in the development of the company, when I am not interested in part-time employees,” explains the entrepreneur. - We are at the stage of signing contracts with large chains, and this is the highest level of responsibility. We need to involve people with experience in this field. ”
Holy Corn is now working with 50 retailers and is represented in 8 cities across the country, selling 20 thousand packs per month, but due to payment delays it faces high receivables. “I now understand that I got involved in a difficult industry and a complex business model,” says Basyrova. - The invested money does not pay off quickly. We ran the idea, made sure there was a demand, tested various hypotheses of interaction with customers. The next stage is scaling, increasing turnover and sales. ”
Over the summer, Alice plans to increase the production of popcorn to 1 million packs per month. Everything is ready for this - raw materials and packaging film have been purchased, negotiations with large networks are being held with 20, two experienced operations managers have begun work - but there is not enough working capital. Basyrova still does not want to let an investor into the company: “I plan to attract investments at a stage when the company will become a popcorn producer №1 in Russia with a production volume of 1 million packs per month and will already start exporting popcorn to other countries. Then I can sell my stake in the company expensive. ” While the financing problem is planning to solve a loan in the amount of 3 million rubles. During 2018, the company must enter the CIS markets, and at 2019 - foreign markets, primarily in Asia.
- Holy Corn is a story about obsession with the desire to realize your vision, about the opportunity to create a useful product that is accessible and understandable to the maximum number of people. If I understood that the product could be harmful, I would stop production at any stage, not counting the money invested. I am a fanatic and probably an abnormal person, but this is a crazy thrill to see how everything goes according to plan.
