July 2018 Gap Funding: BlistaBloc
Have you ever regretted picking those cute shoes to wear over the comfier ones thinking that this time, “it’ll be okay”? Yes, us too. The dilemma of prioritizing fashion over comfort doesn’t have to be one anymore; Katherine Connors and Jacqueline Quill, co-founders of blistabloc, are making this decision much easier for you.
Connors and Quill met in Professor Frederick Crane’s classroom a year ago while getting their MBA at Northeastern University. The course had students come to class with an idea, which was then molded through customer research and feasibility testing — culminating with a business plan at the end of class. Connors had come to the classroom with a common issue that needed to be solved: her flats and heels were giving her blisters. Connors works in marketing but is an avid runner in her free time, which means she goes from wearing sneakers on the treadmill to professional footwear in the workplace. Quill immediately jumped at the idea as she is also into fitness and found herself getting blisters when out with friends or going to work.
“We had researched what type of materials reduce friction, and we found a material usually used in automobiles” Connors said. She went on to try the material herself by cutting it and inserting it in her most uncomfortable shoes. “The shoes I tried blistabloc in used to hurt my feet after 10 minutes and but now I could walk a mile to class in them,” says Connors. “That’s when we immediately realized we had something here”.
At the beginning of Spring 2018, Connors and Quill were accepted as clients for Scout, Northeastern’s student-led design studio, and shortly after, registered blistabloc as an IDEA venture.
“Our foot was on the gas, we were moving in the right direction” Connors commented “IDEA was on the passenger side telling us that we can go faster and giving us the best directions to get us to the launch phase the fastest way possible.”
In beginning of August, the duo was awarded Gap Funding, and are excited to take blistabloc to the next level. A large portion of the funding will go towards completing a first production run. The other portion of the funding will be used to film and produce two 30-seconds spots to promote their product on social media and drive traffic to their website.
“A grant is extremely helpful” commented Quill “but I think it is as helpful as all the mentorship we have received in the past year”’
On August 30th, the co-founders graduated from Northeastern with an MBA, with Quill chosen to be the student speaker at the Graduation Ceremony. “It all seemed to come together”, Quill continued “We launched our business, we received funding, we got orders, and we graduated.” b.bloc by blistabloc, is $6.99 and available for purchase here.
If you are interested in starting your own venture, please visit this page and sign up for the next New Venture Orientation.
IDEA Gap Funding is a non-equity educational grant available to ventures in the GO stage of IDEA’s process. Applicants may apply on a bi-monthly basis where their business plans are reviewed by IDEA’s student Investment Committee upon being selected to pitch plans to IDEA’s Advisory Board. Applicants may receive up to $10,000 in funding.
