Maryland Women-Owned Business series - December
As a small business, I love supporting, recognizing, and connecting with other female entrepreneurs out there in the community. And as a mompreneur myself, I know how hard they work for themselves, their families, and their clients. They are each vital influencers of people all around you. I’d like to give some recognition to a few ladies who work hard every day, in the hopes of making a connection to someone that needs their services. We appreciate you more than you know, and we’re so proud to feature your business. We will be highlighting one business per month for the entire year of 2019!
Introducing the last interview in our Maryland women-owned businesses series……
name: Lauren Shapiro
company/brand: CollapseAndGo
years in business: 1.5 years
where can we find you?: www.collapseandgo.com
1. What is the name of your company, and what product or service do you provide?
My company’s name is CollapseAndGo, the first of it’s kind, patented collapsible baby bottle that also turns into a collapsible sippy cup!
2. What made you choose this type of business, and/or how did you get your idea or concept for the business?
My husband, Matt and I were on vacation with our daughter Lexi, who was 1 at the time. We packed bottles, sippy cups, snack cups, etc. into the diaper bag and towards the end of the day, when it came time to grab a pacifier or change her diaper we found ourselves removing these large, bulky bottles (that were now empty) just to find one small thing. The light bulb went off and we thought wow it would be nice if there was a baby bottle and sippy cup that could collapse to store better not only in our diaper bag, but in our cabinets at home as well! The second we got back home we filed for a patent, hired an engineer and are now towards the last phase of our production. We are currently finalizing our production and plan to be in stores in 2020!
3. What is unique about your business?
We are the first company to ever come out with a collapsible baby bottle and sippy cup for infants and toddlers. We have a patent on our products and are currently working on future products to add to our line. We’re looking forward to spreading the word and getting our products in the hands of children everywhere!
4. In a nutshell, what is your core mission and what are your values?
Our mission with this product is to make parenting easier. There are so many products to choose from for your children that it can be a bit overwhelming. We wanted to create a modern baby bottle, sippy cup conversion that not only provides convenience for parents, but saves them time and money as well.
5. How does your business help the community?
We are looking to build jobs in the community. We already have a warehouse and once we have our products, we will look to bringing people on our team.
6. If you had one piece of advice to someone just starting out, what would it be?
Just go for it! If you have an idea or a passion, then you must work hard to make that dream a reality; if you don’t, someone else will!
7. Do you have a special offer for blog readers that you’d like to share?
Currently we are still finalizing our production, but when we officially launch, your subscribers will be offered a unique code offering all blog readers 15% off their purchase with the code DSPOFF15 :)
