Category Archive

Many people in the LGBT community know that with no other alternative, they’ve been forced to wear ill-fitting ready-to-wear garments constructed to fit the manufacturers definition of an average customer. Every person has a unique body. With that in mind, Kipper Clothiers founders Erin Berg and Kyle Moshrefi began producing their own custom suits and shirts. While the tailoring of their bespoke three-piece suits was perfect, they didn’t have the experience to scale to their business as orders took off. That’s when they turned to BusinessAdvising.org. The mentoring program helped Erin and Kyle connect with a mentor who helped their company restructure its marketing plan and gain new clients. She also taught them how to throw amazing events!

“It’s always a good idea to support and sustain small women artisan’s enterprises, because the people behind these businesses tend to be the backbone of their families, their children, their communities.” That’s the ethos of Casablanca Market, a company sells handmade home goods and accessories from around the Mediterranean — almost all made by women manufacturers. Katia Essyad of Casablanca market came to BusinessAdvising.org when her business started to grow, and she needed new support in the areas of marketing, finance, and human resources. We paired her with three advisors, and her business has only continued to thrive.

Over its 10 years in business, GAMA-GO has become popular for its well-designed, cartoon-inspired clothing and products. With a dozen employees working out of the company’s location in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood, GAMA-GO had strong sales but never had made a profit and continued to grapple with cash-flow challenges, leaving owners and employees alike in a vulnerable position. After doing some research, Co-Founder Greg Long learned of our services to build capacity for small businesses. He and his team moved directly to working one-on-one with an advisor who “helped us drill down on the hard numbers, review projections, pricing and product shipments.” Greg notes, “Our volunteer advisor provided us with reliable, verifiable and high-level advice. After working with us for just nine months, GAMA-GO – for the first time in its history – ended the year profitably. Since then they’ve seen 15% job growth.

Petit Collage’s eco-friendly, vintage-inspired room décor and accessories have captured the hearts of parents everywhere, as well as the attention of tastemakers such as Martha Stewart and the New York Times. Owner and designer Lorena Siminovich had been building Petit Collage steadily for five years when she realized the business was experiencing growing pains. The San Francisco-based company’s increasing popularity required a sustainable strategy and Lorena reached out to us for support. Kicking off with a strategy roundtable, a crew of our volunteer advisors identified key issues for Petit Collage to address in managing its growth. Following that initial session, four volunteers devoted one-on-one time to the business. From developing a granular budget to analyzing operational structure, to setting up HR systems for proper compliance, our advisors spent 40 hours supporting Lorena and her team. Lorena Siminovich and Ben Singer have been working together for a year now. Lorena initially started working with … Read More