From DTC to Retail Ready
From DTC to Retail Ready
Listen
show notes
In this episode of Local Marketing School, Emily Steele interviews Umaimah Sharwani, founder of Paro, a food brand specializing in South Asian flavors. Umaimah shares her journey of creating Paro out of homesickness for her mother's cooking and her experience scaling digitally native brands. We cover various aspects of building a food brand, including the importance of being retail-ready, community building through events and social media, and the challenges of entrepreneurship. We also touch on personal branding in CPG, the realities of running a startup, and the importance of having a strong support system!
TUNE IN FOR TOPICS LIKE:
2:35 Umaimah’s career journey and startup experience at brands like Glossier, Jet.com, Fab.com and more
7:02 Going down the path of entrepreneurship and launching a CPG food brand, Paro
10:39 Navigating DTC, e-commerce
12:43 One thing you need to know if you’re launching DTC
14:16 Two things you need to do to get retail ready
16:42 How to know when you’re ready to launch in stores
18:16 Creating a strong brand story and conveying that to your audience
20:57 Ways to keep people engaged with your brand beyond initial touchpoints
23:49 How to ensure your brand exists beyond you
27:22 Advice for fellow entrepreneurs getting started
Listen to this week’s Local Marketing School conversation!
Other episodes you'll enjoy if you enjoyed Umaimah’s episode:
#2: Local PR for CPG Brands & Beyond | Delaney Vetter, PR Strategist and Copywriter
#7: From Local Markets to a National Spotlight | Steven Vigilante, OLIPOP
Don't hesitate to reach out! We'd love to hear from you on Instagram and find out which episodes you're enjoying the most. Your feedback is so important to us! Please take a moment to rate the show and leave a review - it supports our ongoing Local Marketing School journey and helps us develop more content that addresses what you’re hoping to learn more about!
CONNECT
Find Umaimah: LinkedIn
Find Paro: Website | Instagram
Connect with Host Emily: LinkedIn | Instagram
Follow Local Marketing School on Social: Instagram | TikTok
Follow Hummingbirds on Social: Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook
Ready to work with local influencers? Download our free guide!
Curious what type of influencer you should be working with? Take our quiz!
This podcast is produced by Hummingbirds. Learn more about Hummingbirds at hummingbirds.com
read
Emily Steele (00:01)
We are back with another episode of Local Marketing School. Hey, everyone, I'm Emily Steele. I get to be your host today and talk to an amazing guest that was introduced to us by Delaney. She's one of our first podcast episodes. I'm really excited that she's been able to facilitate incredible introductions. She runs an incredible PR agency and has just incredible excitement and focus and execution around PR strategies for CPG brands. So shout out to her.
for these awesome intros. Let's dive into our conversation today. I get to talk to you Umaimah who's the founder of Paro. She's a first gen Pakistani American who was homesick for her Amis cooking and she wanted to share their comfort foods with everyone. So before she launched Paro, she also launched and scaled digitally native brands from pre to a hundred million in revenue, no big deal, right? Like including brands like Glossier, Bravo Sierra, Jet.com and Fab.com.
Now with Paro, her own brand, Umaimah is scaling the next gen packaged food brand with South Asian comfort foods that are flavorful, nourishing, and easy to cook. Right? Triple whammy. Like so exciting. so today we talk about things like her early roles at brands like Glossier, Jet.com, et cetera. Talk about what that looks like to start and scale a brand really focused on DTC and how then like that translates over to being retail ready. It's a really, really helpful perspective for brands, CPG brands specifically, who are doing both or considering one over the other. yeah, great insight from her there. She's talked about community, what that means for Paro, how she uses her story and Paro being her mom and how that influences the experiences that her customers have and people who interact with her brand. We dig into some of the personal brand, like how do you show up? Use your voice, but not fully rely on that the channel to grow. And of course, some of the entrepreneurial advice that goes for everyone that's considering the journey or is in the journey. So I'm excited to bring you this conversation. Let's dig into the show.
Emily Steele (02:23)
All right, we're back, Umaimah, welcome to the show.
Umaimah Sharwani (02:26)
Thank you. Nice to be here. I'm so excited.
Emily Steele (02:27)
I love starting all the podcast episodes, like tell us a little bit about yourself, about your career journey that got you where you are today.
Umaimah Sharwani (02:35)
my gosh, it's such a hard question to answer. I'm always like, where do I start? let me think. Yeah. I, I, I've been in New York for the past 14 years. I went to school in Atlanta, moved to New York, was working in finance, realized really quickly. I didn't love it. At the time, a lot of different startups were sort of launching in this flash sales era of Groupon and Living Social. And there was a company called Fab.com. And so I joined Fab after working in private wealth management. And it was where I discovered sort of my love for ops and supply chain and logistics. And I just sort of kicked off from there. And then I spent some time at Google launching their same day delivery program. I then joined Glossier when it was a pre-launch business as the third employee and was there for four years. And then what did I do? I was at jet.com and then I was at a company called Bravo Sierra, which is men's personal care. So really a lot of different categories. And I would say like that was so intentional because I wanted to, I was constantly sort of like experimenting with myself to be, you know, I haven't worked in a men's personal care brand. Let me try this. Or I haven't done local same day delivery. Let me do set this up for Google. So I was always sort of trying to learn something new and take my skillset in a different category or through a different lens.
Emily Steele (03:43)
Yeah. Do you feel like you got to the point where you're like, feel like I'm really good at this. I want to go learn something new. Or where did you get to the point where you're like, OK, I'm ready for change?
Umaimah Sharwani (04:05)
I think I always say that you should be, you should work somewhere until you stop learning or until you stop, until you feel like you're stagnant in your growth. And for me, that was always sort of the indicator. I also do think that I'm a unique person who sort of craves chaos and excitement and like, you know, I worked at Walmart famously for like seven months through jet.com and it was really hard for me to work in that corporate setting because I was so used to doing things so quickly. So working on a you know, contract for six months before being able to sign it with a vendor was not something that I was used to. And at that time, I think I was too impatient for that sort of structure. And I was in like, let's build this, let's launch this, like very sort of like impatient, but also from like an excited perspective. So yeah, I say like, it was both a combination of I've learned this, let me go learn something new. Or, you know, I want to try a new challenge, and this new opportunity seems incredible. Or it's generally I'll meet someone or I'll hear about a company or an opportunity and I don't want to miss out on it. There's a certain level of career FOMO that you're like, I want to be part of this. And when I met Emily from Glossier, I immediately, I was working at Google at the time and I immediately quit my job and started the next week. Like it was a very quick turnaround because I just was so impressed by the idea. No one had ever done it. And I knew it was going to be such a unique experience that I couldn't get anywhere else.
Emily Steele (05:12)
Yeah. Yeah. As like the third employee there, I mean, when you left, was it much, much bigger? what's that? What was that journey like?
Umaimah Sharwani (05:37)
Yeah, yeah. my gosh. I'm like, how much time do we have? I actually just went back to Glossier because it was the 10 year anniversary. So we did reflecting on the last 10 years up a little panel for the team. And it's honestly like the second I walk into the office, I still feel that excitement and that energy. it's you know, such a beautiful thing and it's really hard to replicate. And I think just being there for the first four years, was, you know, you do feel like you're a certain type, you're in, you're part of a certain type of movement and you're creating change in a way that you're sort of, you're able to see the impact almost immediately. And I think it's a very unique situation. And I know for sure, not all startups have this sort of growth trajectory, not all startups have a sort of community and brand that Glossier did. So it was a very unique experience, but it was just so exciting to work on something and to see it live and then to be able to say like, this is working, let's do more of this or let's try something else. it was, you know, like it felt like the sky like there was no limit, right? Like you could keep reaching higher and higher. And I think that along with like the incredible team that was there, it was just really inspiring every day.
Emily Steele (06:47)
Yeah, yeah. And so then you obviously have all these experiences and you're like, well, it's time for me to do my own thing. So tell us what you're up to now.
Umaimah Sharwani (07:01)
Yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting because I never have worked in food CPG before I had done so much personal care and beauty and skincare. And so for me, it was a really big transition. And I actually was working my last full time job was at a company called Bravo Sierra, and it was men's personal care. But we actually launched a sort of second brand out of Bravo Sierra called Echelon. And it was an energy drink that had 300 milligrams of caffeine, 200 milligrams of L-theanine and it was very very highly caffeinated but we made it in partnership with the US military and either active duty or veterans and we sort of tested the flavors we tested what ingredients they would want to have and we wanted to make something that would you know give them the benefits of caffeine without giving them the jitters and that was my first experience at the food and I really I knew that Bravo Sierra wanted to launch an energy drink so I sort of took that role with this intention of I know I want to do paro eventually. I want to at least be able to produce something in food. I want to learn a little bit more about it. And I will say with Bravo Sierra here, like after that brain had launched, I felt like, okay, I'm ready. I can go on to the next thing. And that's when I sort of left and started working on Paro. And I, you know, I always say this, but I'm obsessed with Pakistani food. I've always loved my mom's food. It's what I crave more than anything. And I saw just such a massive gap in the grocery aisle in terms of people's palates, understanding of what South Asian food really is. And so common is it characterized as something that's super spicy or heavy or like people have Indian food once a month, but it really is so nutritious. It's so protein-based, fiber-based. Like the food that you eat at home, I always say is so different than the food that you eat at an Indian restaurant. And I think that you could say the same as for a lot of other ethnicities in their food profiles. But for me, I wanted to create sort of this pantry staple that people could utilize in their day-to-day lifestyle. you I was so inspired, like when I was growing up, I had a lot of rice-a-roni, I had a lot of hamburger helper. My mom would make that with keema, you know, a Pakistani dish with minced meat. You know, I ate a lot of macaroni cheese. Also, we would add Pakistani meat into it. And so I liked this idea of you know, what is so easy that you can just have to add water to it to bring it to life that does all the hard work and the hard work is the number of spices you need. And I did a ton of surveys and everyone had sort of said like the spices are the barrier to entry. It's so hard to find them. And there are so many that are required in a recipe. So I wanted to sort of remove all of that guesswork and say, we'll do the hard work. We'll bring the grains, the rices, the spice blend, all of it for you. So you really just have to cook it. And yeah, that was sort of the inspiration of Paro.
Emily Steele (09:35)
And was anyone doing this with Pakistani, Pakistani and food?
Umaimah Sharwani (09:56)
I think there were a lot more Indian food flavors in the ready to eat pouches. I think Tasty Bite is huge, Brooklyn Deli now has them, which are delicious. Who else? Maya Kamal, of course. And they have the versions that you can stick in the microwave, have it in 90 seconds. But I just like, and it's an incredible one, those flavors are great, but there's so much more room. There's so much more food that we can be talking about and eating on a daily basis. And so for me, I see it as creating and building this category much bigger than what it is now or what it was.
Emily Steele (10:31)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Did you always know, this was gonna go on retail grocery shelves or is, like, was there a DTC angle at all?
Umaimah Sharwani (10:40)
Yeah, ironically enough, the angle was direct to consumer. So I'd say it's the opposite. Now, now I'm working a lot on figuring out retail and sort of working through those challenges. You know, I sort of concepted and brought this brand to life in 2022, 21, even though it didn't launch until 23. And I would say the direct to consumer landscape was much different than it is now. And so Yeah, the goal was always to be direct to consumer actually. And even the way that I sort of made inventory, I did small batches because I wanted to sort of launch something. If I got feedback and if something was good or bad, then I could be able to rectify it and easily phase it in, which to be fair, I did do that. I had gotten like feedback on both our Masoor Daal and Kitchari. I sort of made some tweaks to it, was able to relaunch it. So I do think that the goal was always direct to consumer and that was the primary focus in 2023.
Emily Steele (11:31)
Okay. Yeah.
Umaimah Sharwani (11:34)
All of last year, even I say the first quarter of this year. And then I sort of just sort of started to understand that retail and those velocity numbers are really, really important. And, know, at the end of the day, if you want to be a pantry staple, you have to be aware of the customers buying their other pantry staples or milk, their eggs or yogurt. And so now we're doing a lot of work to sort of get retail ready, which I will say like,
You know, really recommend for anyone starting a company or looking into food to be retail ready from day zero of, your packaging, your design, your naming convention, the margins, of course, the unit economics. And so now I'm sort of doing the work of what piece by piece, getting those things ready.
Emily Steele (12:02)
Okay. Cause I would say like your background in direct to consumers, probably so helpful to spin up a brand like Paro and be like, okay, like I understand this, but so, okay. Talk a little bit about, so, or do you have any shortcuts for people who have never done DTC and they're launching like a CPG brand? Like anything you've learned before you launched your brand that you're like, my gosh, founders need to know this. If they're doing DTC, like you're talking retail ready, we'll get to that. But like, what's the DTC like? No, all.
Umaimah Sharwani (12:19)
Yeah, that's a good question. Honestly, I would say like really think about the customer journey. Like when you get a package from X, Y, and Z, like what makes it really special and what do you like about it? That's, I will say it was like the number one thing that I learned at all of the brands that I've worked at is you can really connect and create this brand moment with your customer in so many different ways and touch points, whether it's through email, through Instagram, through like the physical box they get, through if they have a gift with purchase, like there are lot of different ways to sort of bring your brand alive through direct-to-consumer. And that's my favorite part about it. It's like, you're not just getting a box of Kitchari, you're sort of getting this brand ethos of Paro and, you know, where it was formed from, who I am, who my mom is. And I think that sort of storytelling is the advantage of being able to be direct-to-consumer. So really lean in heavily on that. You know, like people don't, I think, don't want to go and buy a brand that they don't know anything about. Like I'm never going to buy a Campbell's soup but I will buy Hey Day Cannning. And so I think it's really building that community and brand story to where people can really resonate with you.
Emily Steele (13:51)
Okay, put a bookmark in that. We're gonna come back to that too, the community side of it, because I do think that's such a compelling, that's been more and more of a thing, if you will. It does feel like over the last 10-ish years. Okay, so then you talk about, okay, be retail ready. What are you learning as you're going kind of DTC forward to this retail ready part of the business?
Umaimah Sharwani (13:54)
Yeah. gosh, so many things. I'd say the first, the biggest distinction, which you you can probably tell is our packaging doesn't have an image of the food. And that is something that doesn't matter on direct to consumer. Cause you have so many moments of doing storytelling. Like I have really great brand photography of what the food looks like before it's cooked and after, but it's not on the actual package. So on a grocery shelf, that's the number one, I think like low hanging fruit to really be able to add in some food elements so people know what it looks like. And I think it's important for people to know not only what it looks like, but how you cook it and what the flavor profile is. So I think, again, like adding a bit more descriptors and imagery on the package that, you have four seconds to look at something and decide if you want to buy it or not. So in those four seconds, what is that customer going to see? And what's so interesting when I do a lot of these demos, every single person that walks by always stops to pick up the box because it's so beautiful and the branding is incredible. And they always say, like, this is a beautiful box, but what is it? And that's just the number one question I get at demos. I, you know, I love, I actually love that question because I'm able to a sort of test different messaging that I'm exploring, but also because it just shows how important it is to make that box so descriptive, that package so descriptive as to what it is, what it tastes like, what it looks like, is it healthy or not, what are the nutritional profile, nutritional facts, does it have sugar, does it not? Everything needs to be on that front of box. And so that's the number one thing that I'm working through now. And then I say the second piece is your supply chain, really figuring out your unit economics and knowing how much margin you have to give away to the distributor and the retailer.
Emily Steele (15:41)
So in your like to give advice today be like figure that out before you even launch your product DTC and go retail like get that really clear from the get-go
Umaimah Sharwani (16:10)
Yeah, yeah. And I think for me, like my margins are great for direct to consumer, they made sense, but not as much for retail, but I didn't have a plan for retail, I wanted to really build the community online and then eventually go into retail. So I think it's, I think it's the other aspect actually, like being able to do both and have that flexibility from day one is really important.
Emily Steele (16:23)
So why do you want to go to retail if DTC is like what you envision from the get go?
Umaimah Sharwani (16:44)
Yeah, honestly, because not all food is being bought online, you know, I think a good percentage still is However, if you want something like a pantry staple being added to someone's weekly grocery list That it needs to be where they're buying their other items And when I you know do their demos at fairway I always sort of look at people's baskets to see like what are they buying and it's always you know milk yogurt some sort of veggie eggs that these are pantry staples and if you want to sort of know, position yourself as that you also need to be where they are shopping. That's the first thing. And, you know, just thinking about how, how much how many more people go through grocery stores than they do coming to your website and really building that being able to reach more people, you know, and then I think at the end of the day, it's also that retail is where the opportunity is to really create new messaging and new you know, share more information with folks about this category, about this cuisine, and help them sort of understand the different varieties of South Asian flavors. And so, you know, you can't really do that just online. It has to be done in person.
Emily Steele (17:45)
Cool, my gosh, huge props. Because I think DTC has such a different strategy than retail. I think a lot of brands are trying to do both simultaneously as they get off the ground. And it's such a different mindset for both. So thanks for sharing some of those learnings. To kind of go back to what you were saying about community and people understanding your story and your mom's story and having that connection, how did you think about, mean, that's obviously you can't do anything else because it's so true to you. It's not like you're creating something that has no meaning. So it's like going to be baked into Paro no matter what. like, is that something you're like, I'm going to leverage that more than really anything else because it's so important to the brand experience.
Umaimah Sharwani (18:21)
Yeah, I mean, I think, It was inspired from my mom in the sense of I loved her food, and I really wanted to be able to share it with others. And I, you know, since college would bring back my mom's food to at Lena during college and I would share her food with my friends or she would create little kits for me and I'd bring it back to New York to sort of help me. So it was sort of like already always been done. And that's sort of where I was like, okay, this needs to grow in a more meaningful way because I had friends being like, how can I create this at home or how does your mom do it? I need the recipe. And the truth was that like, I never even knew how my mom did it because it would take her time. There's so many ingredients. And so I was always asking her for sort of the shortcuts. And I say like, just give me everything in a bag and I just wanna be able to dump it in a pot. And then I always just, I think this idea of being able to capture and grasp these recipes that have been, that my mom has learned from her mom and generations and I wanna be able to continue doing that. There's something so beautiful about wanting to preserve that, that relationship, that food, that history. And yeah, so I think that was the real sort of underlying impetus of the brand and storytelling and all of that. And it was that sort of taking it to the next point, which was, you know, this is a very common feeling that a lot of people can relate to, which is having a nourishing meal. And everyone always says like, what's the most nourishing meal you have? And the response is always, you know, like my ex, my, you know, exes, not exes, my ex, like my mom, my dad, my grandmother, like their soup, their, you know, their chicken noodle soup, or they make this delicious oatmeal, they make this delicious XYZ. And it's always this association and feeling that people have a very emotional feeling of home cooked food and how it makes them feel. And so then I wanted to sort of capture that feeling of how you feel when your loved one is cooking for you or when you're cooking for someone else. And there's a sense of pride and love and you want to care, like take care of them is very emotional. And I think that that was also sort of like the brand ethos as I was developing Paro.
Emily Steele (20:37)
Yeah, cool, I love that. And I know like in previous interviews that we were reading before we got online with you today, like you mentioned community to you as anyone who's seen or touched Paro. So what are some strategies you have that keep people engaged beyond that kind of initial touch point?
Umaimah Sharwani (21:01)
Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, I think the word community is, it's such a hard one to define and talk about, it's almost overused now. But yeah, I sort of would describe it as anyone who has passed by Paro and sort of seen it or heard of it or comes across it, you know, like I was in Brooklyn the other day. And someone saw me on the street wearing a Paro hat. And this is such a Brooklyn anecdote, but I don't know if it would happen anywhere else, but someone stopped me in the street and they're like, my gosh, are you Paro? Like a lot of people think I'm Paro too, by the way, which they love. It such an honor, but I was like, yeah, like that's, you know, I am Paro and it turned out like I met her and then we ended up getting coffee and now we're friends. And so it's such a beautiful connection. But for me, community is like, I want to sort of bring alive this feeling of Paro, this feeling of cozy food, nourishing meals, you know, taking 10 minutes at your house to cook something and sit down and really have a proper meal and you know, how can I bring that feeling alive and introduce it to more and more people? And so, you know, over the summer we had done a Paro picnic in Prospect Park and you know, we had done a actually a wing eating contest and we had gone these amazing wings and coated them with Tarka and then had done like had five people, they had their Paro bibs on and we did like a Tarka wing eating contest and it was such a fun way to sort of bring the brand alive with food, but in a way that also included other people. And so I think for me, the way that I think about it is like, yeah, how often can they look at Paro and say, oh I connect with that or I resonate with that feeling that food, that event. And then I think even like the demos I do, right? Like I'm building community there too. I'm sharing the food, I'm getting feedback, I'm introducing them to flavors and ingredients they have never heard of. And you know, and it's really just about bringing them into the world of Paro. And then communities also like every customer online, you know, I'll email them and be like, what, how did you like this? And you know, what would you want to see next? So I'm really intentionally sort of including any person into that conversation. And I'm always like, I'm a sucker for feedback. I'm always like, tell me what you want more. What did you like? What did you not like? And then I think like most recently I've been doing, you know, a lot more community initiatives on Instagram too. And like right now I'm testing sort of this, Instagram content series series with another founder Alyzeh and we're sort of filming a lot of conversations we have as me being first generation her being an immigrant and sort of like how common our experiences are and that's an element of building community too because people can resonate with that and they're like I I see myself in your story I see myself in what you're sharing and building and so I always want to think of community as a way to bring someone into that and make them feel seen or heard.
Emily Steele (23:44)
I think it's so interesting, like just double click on kind of that, like what people might say, like a personal brand strategy, right? But it's more like, how are you connecting with people? you know, do you feel like some, maybe some CPG brand owners, founders are missing that and that could be something that could help them level up is that like, get in front of your potential customers on social and email and like show your face, like have a connection point. How important do think that is?
Umaimah Sharwani (24:03)
Yeah, it's tough, so I can't say that everyone should do it because it's such a personal choice. And I will say that it works until it doesn't. I don't want to always be the reason people buy Paro. I learned a lot about this at Glossier, too. Emily cannot be the only marketing channel. It needs to exist beyond her and who she is. And same with Paro. think it is much harder when it's emotional storytelling when it's about food that you grew up with, when it's about South Asian flavors, you know, it's not like I'm selling a hat, you know, that would be a very different product probably. But I think it's like both product specific too. And I think for me, it's called Paro, which is my mom's name. So it's inherently personal. And I have, you know, I sort of share that story and I want to, but there's a ceiling to that too. You know, I would hope that one day people buy Paro in middle, you know, in Iowa where you are and they're buying it because they love it, they've seen it and it's part of their weekly routine, but they have no idea who I am. Like that is also a really lovely goal to have too. But I do think it helps for sure to sort of, you know, I'm excited to share my experience with others. I try to be really honest and vulnerable to like, hey, this is really hard. Like some months are great, some months are not. You know, it certainly has changed my entire lifestyle. I don't travel as much as I used to. I spend a lot more time at home and visit my parents a lot more. And, you know, it's a sacrifice. And I think that it's important to share both the good and the bad with your community and be really honest. Because I think from the outside, it probably looks really glam and like a very different version of it.
Emily Steele (25:48)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, like no friends. Like I was thinking to myself, I should do like a day in the life of being like an entrepreneur. And then I realized it was me sitting at my computer all day. And I was like, it actually makes it kind of like a funny, like, you might think it's like really cool. Travel a lot, conferences, like, know, freedom of time. And I was like, on paper, sure. But like I'm sitting here in this seat, like all day on my computer. And like, I think there's just like a I don't know, a perception of entrepreneurship that's like truly unreal. Like we get like maybe a little bit of it, but not a lot.
Umaimah Sharwani (26:31)
Absolutely. But yeah. But then on the flip side also, I'm sure we can both say that we're so happy doing what we're doing and it's so exciting. Like I will be, you know, walking down the street and then I'll have like a massive unlock. Like, I should be doing X, Y, and Z. And it's like your brain is always on and thinking about things. And But it's so fun and it's such a privilege to be able to even have this opportunity to build a company like this. And I think I'm so thankful every day that I can even have the option to do something like this.
Emily Steele (27:01)
Yeah, yeah, it really is. It really is like when you wear that perspective of like, my gosh, like what a cool opportunity. Like, thank you. Like, I love it. Yeah, yeah. So I kind of like on that note, do you have any advice for entrepreneurs who are looking into market, like their food products or go into this space? Like besides like being retail ready, which I think was a great piece of advice, like what else should entrepreneurs think through?
Umaimah Sharwani (27:12)
Yeah, I think, I mean, at its core, it's really about just knowing your why. Why are you doing this? Why your product? Why not someone else's? Why you? Why not someone else? Like I've had so many business ideas, but many of them I'm like, this is a great idea, someone should do it, but not me, because it's not my, you know, North Pole. And so I think for most people, it's you know, what are you what are you inspired and excited to do and why you versus anyone else because at the end of the day, starting a company in a business, you know, if you do decide to raise or if you bring on investors or investing in you and your mission and your sort of story. And so that is a really important piece of it. And just be, you know, realistic about the journey. It's really hard. It takes time. I think that's something that I had definitely had to learn.
I was so used to working at these high growth startups that were so well capitalized that saw overnight success immediately and had a lot more capital to sort of test and learn. And then the reality is actually that most businesses don't have that much capital. And so it takes longer. you know, instead of seeing, instead of the numbers that all reach in one year, it might take me three years. And so I think it's really important to set those realistic goals and expectations and still aim high, but also know that the path is not linear. It really is. goes up and down very, very often.
Emily Steele (28:45)
Yeah, brace yourself. I don't know, it's hard to know what you don't know. You hear the things of like, it's a roller coaster, your emotions are high and then they're low. Just throw yourself into it and you get it. But it's hard to explain until you're in that moment.
Umaimah Sharwani (28:53)
Yeah, absolutely. then I'd say like, lastly, it's like really having a positive and amazing support system, you know, I think it's so again, bringing back to community but and community changes, you know, I'd say like the community I had when I was working full time was very different than the community I have now it is more founders, it is more entrepreneurs, it is more people that work for themselves. And it's amazing that I can text someone right away and be like x y and z just happened has this happened to you or, you know, I missed my numbers this month, I'm feeling so down and you really do need to have that support system. And it's a group of people. It's a lot of different people, right? Like one person can't give you everything that you need. And so it's really having, and again, like such a privilege that I have to have to be able to have such a massive and big support group. But I think just knowing who you can call when something is happening that you need help or support on, you know, like really lean into your friends, ask for help, share with them what's going on I've certainly had to do that. Like, this month is crazy. I won't be the best friend or whatever, partner. And just being very transparent about what you're going through and sharing that with your community.
Emily Steele (30:15)
Yeah, I love it. Anything else that's coming up for Paro that you want to share, what's coming down the road?
Umaimah Sharwani (30:21)
A lot for next year. We're going to get retail ready. We're working on some new product launches, testing out a lot more video form content, and yeah, just continuing to build and share the flavor with as many folks as possible and really excited to share it with more.
Emily Steele (30:38)
Thank you so much for being on the podcast today, Umaimah.
Umaimah Sharwani (30:41)
Of course, thank you for having me. So much fun.
