CEO and founder Selene Cruz on getting started and fundraising for her company Re:store
Selene Cruz is the CEO and founder of Re:store bringing your favorite online brands into the real world. Re:store recently raised 1.7 million in a pre-seed round lead by Sequoia and South Park Commons and will be launching their first retail store soon in Union Square, San Francisco with more than 60 direct to consumer brands. Prior to Re:store, Selene was the CEO and Founder of DTC brand Archer Brighton and has an undergraduate degree from University of Pennsylvania.
These are the highlights of her AMA on Elpha, where women in tech talk candidly online. You can check out the entirety of the conversation on Elpha.
Q: If you could go back to yourself at the beginning of your fundraising process and give her advice, what would you tell pre-funded self?
Selene: Great question! It would be: nobody cares that you don’t have a co-founder. They ONLY care that you WILL do this. Think big, DO big. Don’t tame your crazy dream, speak it loudly and enjoy the process — regardless of what happens it will be a great story to share one day.
I wake up every morning so excited about our concept, our future impact, and our brands. You can’t fake that and it will keep you going when times are tough. — Selene Cruz
Q: I am curious about your experience applying to FFOH. I haven’t applied because I feel like I need more traction. Do you have any tips/advice as to successfully leverage this opportunity?
Selene: Noooo. Please apply! I don’t know the behind-the-scenes but even before I had a deck/knew entirely I was going to fundraise, I went to their first event. I think you’d find the most success applying, attending their events and getting a vibe on what can be the most helpful next step. I don’t know your industry/traction stage but they do everything from deck advise, connecting you with mentors, and sharing your company with investors. You never know if your current traction is just what is needed so don’t wait to build relationships
Q: How did you decide how much you wanted to raise for your pre-seed round? How do you plan on using the funding?
Selene: Financial models FTW. I looked into how much I needed for operations + hires + get me to my next milestone + extra for pivots. That being said, I’m a believer of raising less (keeps you & your future hires hungry) and doing as much as possible DYI in the early days. Originally I planned to raise $500k but was advice to give myself extra runway so landed at $1M. Then, I closed a bit higher because I wanted to let in strategic investors. I found our original location on Craigslist and visited a ton of spots. Decided on one location that financially/aesthetically made sense and fundraised on that. We did end up changing the location to fit in more brands but that was a good problem to have.
Q: It can be hard to know when to move on and try something new. How did you decide when to shift your focus from Archer Brighton to Re:store?
Selene: I started Archer Brighton when I was in college and it was my first ‘real job’. We got insanely lucky that we were profitable early on and decided to go full-time. I didn’t really have the opportunity to think what I wanted my business to be like or who I wanted to be. It was tough to have a business that was growing but at the same time feeling that my passion/talent was not reaching full potential.
Re:store is everything I care about, I’m good at, and I hope for in the future. My background is in community organizing, I’ve been fascinated by small businesses my entire life, and I really really love operations and helping great people/products reach their full potential. Once I trialed the concept, there was no going back. I wake up every morning so excited about our concept, our future impact, and our brands. You can’t fake that and it will keep you going when times are tough.
Q: One of the articles I read noted you as a solo founder — I’m wondering what were your biggest obstacles that you think you might not have otherwise run into (both with building the company and fundraising) as a solo founder and how you were able to overcome those obstacles?
Selene: Having a co-founder does make fundraising/building a company way easier. You can move a lot faster, make it ‘safer’ for investors, and if you find the right person — have a diverse expertise. It also helps a lot during startup rollercoasters when things don’t always work out and it’s hard to be the only true believer.
I think it helped me a lot that I was solo during my first business. I learned how to hire/manage and felt very confident on what type of potential co-founder I was looking for. I’m still open for this person. My advise? You can’t stop moving. Your progress will attract the best people for your business and for me it happened that it attracted investors first. I will forever be looking for the people needed to turn Re:store into a legendary startup and you probably will too. As your business grows you will make decisions on what to do to help you get there- for me it meant believing I can do this on my own.
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