Sabina, Chelsea, and Jenny are co founders of box Fox, a premier gifting company on track to do six million dollars in revenue with no outside funding. Their story begins a few years ago in an apartment in Venice, California. They were three girls with full time jobs and a dream to combine new technology with one of the oldest gestures in the book, gift giving. Fast forward three years and they've got a bustling warehouse, an amazing team, and
the same dream. Sabina Surrey, co founder in CSO of box Fox, is originally from the Bay Area, and she earned her bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California. Prior to co founding box Fox, Sabina worked in brand strategy, where she gained a deep understanding of consumer behavior. Her obsession with trend spotting when it comes to new brands and products that enhanced lives shines
at box Fox. At just twenty eight, she wears many hats, running the company's corporate gifting arm, discovering new brand partners, in concepting new ways to constantly better box Foxes online retail experience. Today, we'll hear from Sabina, who walks us through the box Fox journey to a millie. A million in sales, a million in revenue, a million followers, or a million in funding. To amass one million of anything is a major feet and that's
why we're highlighting women who have done just that. You'll hear from women who have made their mark, impacted lives, blade trails, and amassed a millie. So my dream job as a kid, I was actually always thinking that I wanted to be a fashion designer. I was obsessed for trendspotting and kind of following designers and you know, magazines, and I would always clip different pieces of fashion out from magazines and had all these vision boards and inspiration boards
on my wall of my bedroom. So that's kind of what I thought I wanted to do as a kid, and I think that definitely, you know, plays a role in what I do at Boxbox, which is still kind of taking inspiration from the world around me, being inspired by what is going on in culture and bringing that to our company, even though it's kind of
in a different way. So Boxbox originated in November of twenty fourteen. It was really impossible for us, being recent college graduates, to send kind of an elevated care package to a friend who was actually hospitalized and she's you know,
totally fine now. And that was kind of the inspiration for the company was we realized that there was really no service that allowed you to curate something very elevated and meaningful yet still personal, you know, and ultimately utilitarian, So something that wasn't going to just be flowers, but actually have products that our friend would be able to use in kind of her healing journey. And
that was kind of the aha moment of this doesn't exist. We know we can build this in a really beautiful way, in a way that is a really great user experience, and so we kind of pulled our you know, our ideas together and started drafting a business plan around our kitchen table in Venice, and that's kind of where boxbox originated. We launched November seventh, twenty fourteen, just in time for Christmas, and you know, have kind of
been hitting the ground running ever since. So for us writing the business plan, we knew it was going to be important. We knew that that was kind of going to be how we were setting the foundation for the company. So we did a lot of research into what other business plans looked like we always say, you know, the magic of the Internet allowed us to start this business. So any question we had anything that we wanted to find out, we could google, truly, and so with business plans that was no
exception. We googled, We kind of figured out what components there were and kind of had that structure. But from there, you know, we really allowed ourselves to iterate beyond kind of the four walls of what a business plan should be and really tried to make it as creative and kind of big picture as we knew we needed it to be to create this kind of vision for the company. But I think in general there is a lot of kind of limited thinking in terms of how you can start a company. I think you
just have to start somewhere. So for us, business plan felt official, It felt like a good starting point. It felt like a way that we were going to all hold ourselves accountable to something that didn't yet exist. So a business, you know, until you have any tangible assets, it's just an idea. And so the beginning was definitely how do we make ourselves accountable, how do we put this idea to paper, how do we kind of think through some of the consumer side of it and the market and can the
pricing strategy, distribution model, all of that type of stuff. But ultimately, I think a business plan the way I see it as kind of an accountability plan. So you're saying, we're all bought into this, we all believe in it, and here's kind of the ways in which we think it will work. You know, from the beginning, we said our kind of view on funding is if and when we reach a point where that becomes a
necessity for us, we would always be open to it. So we've never necessarily said no, absolutely not, that's never going to be for us.
We actually see it as like a really big kind of testament to what we're doing and something very positive because we've been able to scale organically at a very steady pace that is sustainable for our business and we are profitable, so we're in kind of the lucky position that we don't need kind of to be have this cash injection in order to kind of scale us to where we want to
go. We feel very comfortable with the pace that we're growing at and honestly, we feel like it's been serving our loyal customers well from the beginning, so we've never kind of done something just to make a profit because we are accountable to sort of like a third party, or we've never kind of bought customers to make you know, to just make our numbers, but people that
aren't actually you know, believers and advocates for the brand. So that was kind of from the beginning, we said, we want to do this as authentically and organically as possible because that's the kind of brand that we want to be building and that we were looking for when we first started this company,
and we never want to straight away from that. With that said, you know, we would always be open again if and when we reached kind of a fork in the road and said this is the only way we can go in order to reach more people or kind of do this this initiative that we know is going to benefit our customers in a huge way. That's when we would kind of open up that door. But we've really so far been in the lucky position that that isn't really something that we need to go after.
I think for us, it was several moments we always kind of call them like pinch me moments, or these times where we're like, wow, this you know, this is never what we thought was going to happen. I mean, we always believe this was a huge opportunity, a great idea, something that needed to exist in the world. But of course when you're building something, you never really know exactly how it's going to how it's going to
go. And so for us, probably one very pivotal moment early on was in February of twenty sixteen, so we had been launched for a little over a full year. We actually were featured in tech Crunch, and so for us that was a huge moment because you know, we aren't necessarily your traditional tech company. We don't have a super techy product, and you know, like we're not a staff platform or something like that. We have unconventional backgrounds,
we're all female. So I think having that kind of validation to be like, we have this great concept and it's being recognized by a publication that we all really regard very highly, that was a really cool moment that led
to a ton of other opportunities. Shortly after, we met some really great people, and at the same time, during that time, we were actually doing a pop up store at the Grove shopping Center in Los Angeles, and that was also another kind of moment where we were like, this is such a great way to bring our product to customers kind of test what's working.
We learned so much about kind of our inventory and our product flow and all of these different things from bringing our product offline, and so those two were probably really big moments for us early on that led to a lot of other things. But I think, you know, the best thing and probably the most exciting part about having a business of your own is hopefully those moments are going to kind of keep happening and you're going to keep surprising yourself as to
all the things that you can achieve. When an entrepreneur or a company reaches a certain level of success, everyone wants to know what's the secret sauce and what's in it. So Sabina shares with us what she thinks makes of the differentiating factor for Boxbox. I think it's definitely a collective superpower. Chelsea, my co founder, and Jenny and my other co founder, and I always talk about the fact that the three of us are so similar, but we
are also so different. So I would say similar in terms of kind of our values, our taste, the way that we kind of look at brands and the brands were into the products. Brandto our aesthetic vision is very similar, and I think that's very important. You know, as we build this company. On the flip side, I would say, our kind of skills and what we bring to the table is very different, and so that has translated into our roles really nicely. So Chelsea really brings the creative vision to
the company. She's really responsible for the aesthetics, the photography, and the marketing in general. Jenny is so detail oriented. She's always thinking about kind of the day to day operations and kind of how we hire, how we run the inventory, how we run the actual warehouse, and our fulfillment teams, and our finances and our projection. So she is very much made for that kind of role. And I am very big picture. I'm always thinking one step, you know, one step in the future, if not five
years in the future. And so when you bring those kind of skills together, you have a really nice mix of different of different ways of banking.
And that's allowed us to grow our business in different ways at different times and also allows for a lot of kind of healthy debate because all of our priorities are a little bit different in just the right way to allow for the company to kind of move forward and make some strategic decisions at every juncture when we were first launching, So that that day in November, the night before,
you know, we were so excited. We stayed up all night and we emailed literally everybody we had in our in our like email lists, in our network, our rolodexs, and so literally told every single person pretty much we had ever met, about our company, our concept. We had one photo that we could share and just kind of did a little right up in a
blurb, and that was just literally guerrilla marketing. We were like, we're just gonna tell everyone, We're gonna blast this, and you know, that was a sizable amount of people, because you know, when you combine the networks of three people, you're gonna you're gonna reach a decent amount of folks. So that was kind of one fun tactic that we did at the beginning. We also when we were trying to build our initial product offering, we
did a lot of in person research, which was just really fun. We went to a lot of local boutiques and kind of shopped around at different items and you know, kind of touched and felt items which was the our initial product research. Now it happens in a very different way, but that was really fun and um, you know, we bought a lot of samples. We tested different packs and within the box samples that we were getting, so we were like obsessive about raping packing in a certain way. So that was
that was another kind of unique tactic. We also did beta test our initial site with friends and family to work out any kinks, which I think is always really important because obviously you want to launch something as you know, the minimum viable product, but it still should be obviously functioning and great. And we also hired PR pretty early on, so we had a PR, a
PR freelancer I would say about within the first year of launching. And that kind of went against a lot of the advice we were given because a lot of people said, if you're investing in PR, you're not necessarily investing in the product, and all of you know, you're always going to get a million opinions to which you kind of have to to know what to filter and what to listen to. But I think with the PR piece it really did help us. Because we were a small business, we knew that we needed
to get our name out there. We wanted to be kind of featured in gift guides and bye you know by publications that would give us kind of that credibility. So pr was important for us early on, and I think that really that really moved our business forward. At the beginning, we had to reach out to every single brand we wanted to work with, and we heard a lot of nos. So, you know a lot of people said, we've never really heard of you. We don't want to work with another box
company, even though we aren't subscription. That's kind of where their heads went. You know, we're not sure we're the right fit. We don't really know if we're in line with your customer profile that you're envisioning. So we did hear a lot of nos at the beginning, in addition to you know a good amount of yeses. So that was encouraging. But you know, it was very much like we had to really knock down doors to get the brands that we knew were going to help us build this company and that we
knew we would want to buy as customers. That has changed because we actually get tons of inbound you know, requests from brands now to be considered for our box. So it's or for our platform, which is actually really amazing because it allows it's a testament to kind of what we're building. But I think it really allows us to have our finger on the pulse of so many different awesome brands that we might not have heard of otherwise. We're always very
open to hearing from brands. So you know, we love small brands that are just up and coming. We obviously, you know, the big brands that our customers love. We want to make sure that we're carrying a good array of those. So we say it's like that mix of big and small, which makes us really unique. But it's definitely changed because it's less us kind of seeking out these brands and a lot of the brands coming to us. With that said, we definitely do a fair amount of our own kind
of products seeking. So we'll go to gifting shows, you know, on occasion. We don't go to every single one, but we we do go to gifting shows. We also travel very frequently just in our personal lives, and so we've brought back a lot of brands from travel. Australia is a really big one. I've gone to India a few times and brought things the
suppliers that way. So we definitely feel like the travel component gives us a unique edge and kind of bringing brands that again our customers might not be super familiar with, but we're happy to introduce them too. So a little bit of a different process, you know, But there's nothing like getting a sample and kind of being able to look and feel look at and feel the product, because ultimately that we test every single thing that we put on our site.
I definitely think that there is something in the don't take note for an answer, and so I think that, you know, again, so many people kind of are so focused on reasons why something can't work, and I feel like we live kind of in culture of like we're always very like contrarian and we're trying to like debate whether you know, something should exist, and
we're trying to deconstruct ideas all the time. I mean, how how frequently do kind of go to a dinner with somebody and they have a great idea and they share it with you, and then you know, the dinner table says, well, somebody else has done that, or if if someone else hadn't you know, if how how has someone not thought of that before or
how is that even that unique? And so I think in general, not taking no for an answer and not looking for reasons why something can't work and actually looking for the confirmation of why something will work and kind of having that sense of tenacity and being very resilient is really important. And I think that
that's just for me been the biggest thing. I think. Again, there's everybody goes through challenges and stumbles, and I think always kind of realizing like, Okay, just because I'm in this moment and the world is telling me know or somebody is telling me no, that doesn't mean that I can't move forward, and then I'm not going to kind of find a way through this.
So it's kind of just it's pretty simple. But I definitely think having that kind of attitude and keeping that perspective is really helpful for me as a business owner. Once you experience significant traction and huge growth within your company, the assumption is that you haven't made but there will always be things in business
that we'd rather not have to do. I think entrepreneurship has really been glamorized in the media recently, and I think that it's definitely something that you know, the media loves to cover, which is amazing, but there definitely are aspects that are not as fun. And so I mean, there's a million things I can think of that I don't necessarily want to do in a given week or month, but we have to do one is right now top mind. We're going to have to move warehouses in about a month, which is
actually very exciting because we're growing our current warehouse. But what that means for me is, you know, working an entire weekend helping load up our moving trucks, helping box up inventory, helping unboxed and unpack and set up a new warehouse. So there's a lot of physical labor involved when you have a business with actual products and inventory. Again, you know, not something that we were thinking about when we were writing a business plan from our kitchen table,
but it's just kind of a reality. I think when it is something that you love, even the things that you don't want to do as much, don't feel as bad like you really do. You can find joy in them. You can find kind of the willingness to do them because you know ultimately what that means, again, me having to move for a weekend and
kind of set up this warehouse and do a lot of physical labor. That what that really means is our businesses growing and we're able to provide the service to even more people, and we're going to have that much more of an efficient warehouse with that much more inventory. So again, trying to find the deeper meaning allows you to rise above it. But definitely think that there are things that come with entrepreneurship that aren't as fun as you know everybody might think.
Our growth has been pretty steady, so nothing that kind of ever derailed us or felt unmanageable, which again I would attest to the fact that we don't have any like outside cash injections that force us to scale very quickly outside of what we are necessarily like feels right to us, so very lucky in that sense. But inter growth, I mean, we've always kind of hired
and added people as we've seen a need for them. So we won't necessarily hire somebody until we're sure of what that person's day to day role and how they fit into the overall structure of the company is going to be. So right now, you know, we were actively hiring for fulfillment. We have a really good sales and marketing kind of team, and so those are kind
of the two sides of the business that have experienced the most growth. I think in the next phase of growth, we're probably going to look to expand a little bit on our tech side, a little bit more on our operations, So those are kind of like where we're looking to invest next. But I would say growth has always felt, you know, as much as it's been challenging at times, and sometimes I would say, especially Q four is crazy for us, it can feel a little bit overwhelming, it also has
always kind of felt like we're right where we need to be. I think great leaders one thing is definitely vision, So having kind of a vision and a plan for how things are going to go in the future. I think seeing opportunities where other people don't is really really important. I think a great leader can do that very well. I also think clarity, So another thing with great leaders is that they know how to focus on the task at hand
while still thinking five steps ahead. So it's like, how do you balance kind of this great deal of focus and clarity and productivity with this vision for the future and how you you see things playing out, you know, far far into the future. I also think that great leaders are really bold, and so they are willing to take risks, willing to kind of take a gamble, whether that's with a hire or a partnership or you know, just in any in any facet of business. I think that great leader really do
know how to take a calculated risk. Of course, they need to kind of what the consequences might be and do a little bit of evaluation there before just acting brashly. But having the kind of courage and the boldness to do something a little bit different in a way that it's never been done before. I think that not only helps move the business forward, but it's inspirational to
everybody kind of below them, which is really important for leaders. My most important thing is like having a morning routine, so I think really helps keep me kind of focused and grounded from the beginning of the day. And if I don't get to do my morning routine, I always kind of notice a shift in my day and it's not exactly where I need it to be.
So for me, that's waking up at you know, getting eight hours of sleep, which I know is crazy, but I need that and so I found that, and then I really like to either meditat or journal in the morning, I like to work out, I like to you know, eat kind of a healthy breakfast, and then you know, get into the office.
I don't like to check my email first thing in the morning. I like to wait about an hour because I usually have something more important and kind of need to set myself up in the right headspace instead of reacting to everything. I am kind of being, you know, setting myself up for those conversations that I need to have and the things that I need to answer.
So those are kind of some small ones. And then I think at the office, I'm a big list maker, so I'm really into making lists, kind of setting goals for the week, but also daily tasks and seeing how those tasks fit into the larger goals. So you really again it goes back to the whole vision but clarity ideas, so making sure that the vision is the goal for the week, but the clarity is how how can I get five things done on Monday that are going to help me get to the bigger
goal that I set for this week. So kind of you know, those are probably the big ones. And then also just a general balance is really important. So I am very committed to my personal relationships and whether that's friends or family. I think it's very important to make time for the things that
really feed your soul. And so with that, you know, making time for those people, having those phone calls to catch up with people, you know, grabbing drinks or a happy hour or dinner with somebody you care about every couple of days. I think it's it's really important to kind of maintain your relationships and know that anything you do outside of work that's kind of helping you become a more well rounded person. You're going to bring that great energy
into work and it's going to make everything flow a lot better. Success for me looks like going home at the end of every day and feeling like I gave it my all. So that's kind of for me like a day to day marker of success. I think it's not about achieving everything on my to do list, but it's did I kind of put in the effort that is
just going to propel me forward? And can I be proud of the day that I've lived, Because ultimately every day adds up to your life, you know, So that for me is success kind of on a day to day scale. I would say, if I'm just measuring my own level of success. It really is tied so deeply to my happiness, and so I think that success for me looks like being happy in the role that I'm in and knowing that I'm contributing positively to my community, you know, the world we
live in. That is the only thing that really matters to me on a success standpoint, which is again why I think for us building this type of company that is so gratitude, you powered by gratitude, and really we get to see and witness all these beautiful relationships between people every single day, we really do feel like we're in this very lucky position. And I don't think you can ever say, oh, you know, we're successful, because I
think it's just a constant pursuit of that idea. But I do feel like I am happy with the fact that this is the type of company that we've been able to build, and I'm proud that this is kind of what we're putting in the world. So I feel as successful as I can feel right now, knowing that you know, I'm not at the end of any journey, but I'm just kind of going through it. I'm a Yana Angel,
and thank you for listening to a Millie produced by Mazie Media. If you enjoy this episode, you can subscribe to the podcast so you never miss an episode. Because we have more amazing women lined up to share. You can follow Mazie Media on Instagram and be sure to join me next week for another episode of a Milli