HAYVN is a community of passionate and driven entrepreneurs who we are proud to celebrate. In this episode, we get to hear about the exciting business journey of Kara Mac, founder of Kara Mac Shoes, also a recent winner of the HAYVN Hatch.
As a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology with a degree in knitwear technology, Kara quickly worked her way up in the fashion industry. One day after walking to work with shoes in her bag to change into for a later event, only to find a dozen other shoes under her desk for different outfits, her idea came for Kara Mac Shoes, “The World’s First Instantly Convertible Shoes from Heel to Toe.”
After several successful business pitches, Kara quit her job and worked on her shoe company full time.
Key Points discussed:
Challenges in starting a new brand business
Keeping the brand and business sustainable
Understanding the client
Shifting the focus to looking for capital and growing the business
“You have to build your moat so other people can’t steal your work.” –Kara Mac
From the conception of the idea until about a year ago, Kara Mac Shoes has been self-funded and running on revolving cash flow. Kara has been bootstrapping at a global level, sourcing manufacturers and factories, fulfilling the orders herself, hiring interns and freelancers, flying all over the country to get proof of concept, and getting friends and families to help. During this time, she was able to understand her customers, work on and improve the product, and secure the patents.
Now, she’s ready to expand the business, increase capital, expand the customer base, and bring in more sales.
