Fatma Collins and Julie Rogers, co-founders of Ten Little, and their daughters
Opportunity entrepreneurs see a need in the marketplace and try to fill it. They are more likely than others to innovate, quickly grow their companies, and create more jobs.
Fatma Collins, an expert in e-commerce, marketplaces, and using data to improve customer experience, met Julie Rogers, a supply chain and logistics expert, while working at Jet.com. It was an e-commerce site that raised $820 million and was sold to Walmart.
The two bonded when they became pregnant at the same time. They shared their journey and frustrations with finding the right products for their babies. Each would do a ton of research to find the best products for their daughters’ specific stage.
“I found myself constantly researching what the next stage was and what the right size was,” said Collins, co-founder and CEO at Ten Little. She would ask herself, “Do I switch now? Am I too early or too late?”
Shopping for shoes was particularly painful. “When my daughter started to walk, I found a size guide online, measured her feet, and ordered shoes,” said Collins. She couldn’t even get the shoes on her daughter’s feet. Ordering five more pairs of shoes online, she finally found one that fit. Rogers echoed the same frustration and so did other mothers the two spoke with.
Was this a market opportunity? Just because you see an opportunity and develop a good product doesn’t mean you will be a success. Challenges are everywhere.
The duo started researching the market and discovered that two-thirds of kids wear the wrong size shoes, according to BlitzResults. Improperly fitting shoes can cause foot deformities. The kids’ footwear market is projected to grow to $59.2 billion by 2025, according to Grand View Research.
The idea for the company resonated with angel investors and venture capitalists. Ten Little raised $2.6 million in 2019. NextView Ventures led the seed round. Collins is an advisor to some of its portfolio companies. “Some of them invested in Ten Little and introduced me to other founders,” she said. They saw the qualities of a successful founder in Collins. Interestingly, most of the investors are men.
Working in collaboration with pediatricians, the pair created a healthy shoe for little feet that is PETA-approved. This means the shoes are cruelty-free and made without animal products or by-products. That was just the beginning.
Ten Little takes the guesswork out of sizing the shoes by developing a Fit Finder and quizzes that ensure the shoes fit correctly. Based on age-specific development patterns, Ten Little created a predictive data platform to remind parents when to size up and sends a text message to them. Parents can order the next size shoe via the message.
Whether you are socially conscious or want to make room for other stuff, you can donate outgrown shoes to a family in need.
The company sells direct-to-consumer but, before launching in 2020, it developed partnerships with companies, such as Bright Horizons, that have a physical presence and serve the same target market. Bright Horizons provides infant care, pre-kindergarten, and kindergarten services. Two weeks after Ten Little launched, Covid-19 lockdowns began.
“I knew starting a company as a woman, as an immigrant, and as a mom would be hard, but nothing prepared me for the pandemic,” said Collins. Offline partners closed their doors. Through them, Ten Little had planned to distribute the physical Fit Finder.
Like most moms, Collins and Rogers lost childcare for their four-year-old daughters. Managing that was a tremendous challenge. “There were times you could hear my daughter crying outside my door. She would then come in during a meeting,” said Collins. “When it happens to everyone, you get past the awkwardness.”
The Covid-19 crisis caused many startups to freeze. “There was a lot of uncertainty,” said Collins. Ten Little moved full-steam ahead. “We made a conscious decision to hire and create products, expand content, and increase engagement on the site.”
The pair quickly created a printable version of its Fit Finder that parents could download from the website. Online quizzes about kids’ feet also helped determine the toddler’s right shoe size. Pandemic content was added, including hosting online sessions with their two nationally recognized pediatrician advisors. They also enabled customers to talk to each other.
Sales took off: 50%+ month-over-month growth in the first six months. Since launching, Ten Little has hired 4 people. The team has only met once in person—outside and with masks on.
Despite not meeting regularly in person, the team is building a culture of camaraderie and collaboration. As a small group, it’s easy to have good conversations during Zoom meetings. Importantly, Collins has been very clear about Ten Little’s mission and vision: to make parents’ lives easier by helping them make healthy decisions for kids at an early stage of growth. “There’s no question about what we want to accomplish,” said Collins
“As a mom, I’m really good at focusing on getting stuff done while dealing with a million other things,” said Collins. And, focus is what the team did. They launched two seasonal shoes, a collection of stickers for the shoes, a line of socks, a children’s coloring book, and multiple collaborations with other brands.
However, no matter how good a mother is at juggling, it’s important to focus attention on the added burden the pandemic has placed on them: 78% report increased stress levels, according to COPE Study, research by psychiatrists from NYU Langone Health. On February 23, 2022, Ten Little launched a 30-day campaign to Make a Little Space for all moms. Women have had to leave the workforce in formidable numbers with 865,000 in September 2020 alone, four times the number of men and 80% of single parents are moms who have been hardest hit by job loss this past year.
How have you adapted to the “new normal”?
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