Episode Summary:
Samantha Finnegan is the founder of Madebox, a company which provides customers with gift boxes of curated goods from small regional producers, in particular focusing on supporting regions affected by floods, droughts, bush fires and the pandemic. Samantha launched Madebox during covid lockdown, out of a need to support regional producers whose livelihoods relied heavily on the tourism industry. In her conversation with Adam, Samantha discusses how storytelling is a crucial element to the Madebox experience, as well as the various software tools and platforms that Madebox use to deliver their product.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Day One Podcast
00:31 Meet Samantha Finnegan
01:04 Motivation Behind Starting Madebox
01:49 Impact of COVID on Small Businesses
02:00 Samantha's Background in Regional Victoria
03:17 The Importance of Regional Producers
04:05 The Impetus to Start Madebox
04:41 Samantha's Previous Career
06:05 Curated Gift Boxes Concept
07:22 The Element of Discovery in Gift Boxes
08:27 Supporting Small-Batch Producers
09:24 The Gift Box Market Landscape
10:07 Finding and Managing Producers
10:52 Unique Selling Proposition of Madebox
12:43 Utilizing Online Tools for Business
13:34 Stories of Resilient Producers
14:19 Number of Producers and Product Management
15:26 Operations and Inventory Management
16:22 Brand Name Origin: Madebox
18:15 Collaboration with MYOB
19:40 Marketing Strategies for Madebox
22:28 Importance of Networking in Business
24:40 Advice for Founders in the Startup Ecosystem
29:40 Closing Thoughts from Samantha Finnegan
