Today is the start of something new for us.
We’ve all (likely) heard of the Entrepreneur in Residence, a role quite common in Venture Capital firms.
Today we’d like to announce our Merchant in Residence program. Much like the role an EIR program plays, this new program is designed to bring in talented entrepreneurs and provide them with the resources and support they need to build great commerce businesses.
Demac’s First Merchant in Residence
I’d like to welcome Sunta Sem as our first Merchant in Residence here at Demac Media. Sunta was a natural fit to kick this new program off. She is experienced in starting eCommerce companies from the ground up, and when I met her, I saw a familiar spark common to all entrepreneurs.
Growing Pela Case for the Future
The first brand that Sunta will be leading the growth for is Pela Case. Jeremy Lang (my co-founder at Pela Case) and I have been working since last year to set up the foundation for the business’ growth. We see great promise in creating products that are better for our planet and the line of iPhone cases we currently sell is simply the start.
Sunta’s role is both simple and very complex. She is to effectively take this brand and grow it to a point where it thrives, standing entirely on its own and have great social and environmental impact in the process. What she’ll do day to day is wide and varied, as any entrepreneur will attest to.
This program is new to us, but we see it as a critical step in continuing to create value in the retail landscape as it keeps changing as rapidly as it has over the last 5 years.
We’ve been fortunate to have a view into many great eCommerce brands over several years. I’ve personally had a seat at the table of many success stories in retail and eCommerce. What I’ve seen and what we’ve learned is invaluable, and deserves further exploration at Demac and for our customers.
Achieving our Big Hairy Audacious Goal with MIR
This concept of a Merchant in Residence (MIR) was originally born at the beginning of 2015 when we sat down to write out our BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal); What did we want our business to look like in 10 years? This MIR program was very much part of that picture.
It now feels like the right time to kick it off.
We have a plan to run experiments that reach far beyond the eCommerce platforms we’ve helped create for our customers.
This new program gives us the opportunity to create and test in all channels both offline and online. We can now test our ideas on ourselves first before bringing them to others.
My commitment to our community is to provide updates on our progress. This isn’t something we’re doing in the shadows; this is in the open. Starting Demac’s Merchant in Residence Program is the first of many more transparent experiments we will share with our community.
The post Announcing Demac’s Merchant in Residence Program appeared first on Demac Media.