Honeyfund’s CEO And Co-Founder, Sara Margulis

You’re planning your dream marriage and an even dreamier honeymoon. When you and your partner established out to populate your marriage ceremony registry, you know you now have all the dishes, smaller appliances, and cocktail shakers you need – just after all, you’re both of those adults. What you genuinely require is some time absent jointly to start your life in a memorable manner.

Which is what occurred to Sara Margulis and her fiancé Josh when they made the decision to ask their marriage guests to enable underwrite their honeymoon in lieu of items. They launched their very own company to aid others do the exact, and now, Honeyfund is the most dependable money gifting web-site. The system has allowed 6 million givers to fund much more than $640 million in items for more than a single million partners. I spoke with Sara about shifting occupations from marketing to tech start off-up, the Shark Tank effect, putting out on her own, and balancing family members daily life with working her have business.

Shelley Zalis: You formerly labored as the affiliate director of marketing and advertising at Golden Gate University. How did you make your mind up to make a career change and launch your possess corporation at Honeyfund? What was your lightbulb instant?

Sara Margulis: Honeyfund’s co-founder and I had been engaged to be married and preparing our possess wedding ceremony, and we had this dream of honeymooning somewhere exotic and considerably away like Fiji to get absent from the tension of two complete-time positions. But we didn’t have the funds after paying for our personal wedding. So alternatively of registering completely for standard housewares, we created a makeshift wish listing for the expenditures linked with our Fiji honeymoon – issues like excursions, vacation resort evenings, island hopping flights, and so forth. Our wedding company overcome us with extra than $5,000 in contributions, but extra importantly, they beloved the notion. They asked us to make one thing like it for other couples. That’s how Honeyfund was born.

I experienced just graduated with an MBA in marketing and my co-founder is a software engineer. I had been operating at Golden Gate College on marketing jobs these types of as the university’s new web page, e-mail promoting courses, and a CRM implementation. We took the concept and enthusiasm from our individual marriage ceremony visitors, and all that expert qualifications, and established and launched Honeyfund.com from our sofa.

SZ: How substantially prior expertise, if any, did you have in the startup sector in advance of launching Honeyfund? How did your time on Shark Tank catapult your journey?

SM: We ended up in San Francisco in the early 2000s when the technological know-how startup increase was happening all close to us. We experienced good friends at Twitter when it initially launched, for case in point. Neither of us really had any immediate experience in startups, but we could build and regulate projects. And we the two experienced a dream of being financially unbiased and obtaining a adaptable program so we could be there for our long term young children.

In 2013 we were being living that aspiration: the company was supporting our family members and we had all the adaptability we envisioned. We experienced bought our dream property and we had two healthful youngsters who have been escalating up in an idyllic city in Sonoma County, California.

When Shark Tank termed, we had to make a difficult conclusion – do we develop further than our lifestyle enterprise and enter the planet of a rapid-increasing startup? Getting on investment funds, recognizing exactly how we needed to deploy it, recognizing how to unlock the up coming phase of progress – those were all unfamiliar to us. Setting up one thing is pretty distinct from expanding it.

Nonetheless, we felt it was the correct matter to do for the Honeyfund brand and our member group. So we used for the present and acquired cast. Our episode aired in Oct 2013 and it was a hit! Our web page crashed from all the website traffic. We have been so thrilled to have the awareness on the Honeyfund model. We understood that at the time persons had listened to of Honeyfund they cherished the thought. So our Shark Tank look and the deal with Kevin O’Leary launched us on to the national phase. This drove a whole lot much more targeted visitors and users, but it also introduced us the notoriety to sort large-level partnerships, these as our registry integration with Target.

SZ: What are the strengths and negatives that occur with a career transition and branching out on your have to start a small business?

SM: We have been very blessed that Honeyfund was very well gained and grew alone to the stage that we were being in a position to make a superior residing prior to remaining on Shark Tank. That was phase just one of the transition from operating for anyone else to performing for ourselves. It was what we experienced dreamed of. So we felt we were being having fun with all the rewards of carrying out our have point.

But the business was developing speedier than we were. It desired a lot more from us. We didn’t have ample workers to provide our couples and sustain the web-site. That introduced us into a development stage that was genuinely tough to understand how to deal with – we did not have the encounter there. Ultimately just after a extended and winding road, we break up up and I bought my co-founder out of the organization. So that section of progress arrived with a great deal of strain and problems. And I felt pulled in so quite a few instructions as a mother, wife, and small business proprietor. I stopped getting treatment of myself and burned out. Then Covid hit and I confronted an additional substantial challenge with the enterprise, this time on your own at the helm. I had to acquire a lengthy look in the mirror and ask myself if I experienced what it usually takes to be certain Honeyfund could endure a 90% drop in revenues and a pandemic with no close in sight.

I made the decision to step up and do my best to preserve the firm heading for its associates and staff members. I invested a ton in escalating as a leader, employed a leadership staff to take care of the advancement, and clarified my job in the company. We introduced a crowdfunding campaign to invite our members and reward givers to spend in the company’s up coming stage of development. And we acquired via! But these had been some of the toughest decades of my lifetime. Staying liable for a firm, a crew, and prospects – it’s a large stress at instances.

Nonetheless the opportunity to grow and come to be the leader of a little something extraordinary comes as soon as in a lifetime – so the positive aspects significantly outweigh the cons for me. I see it as a journey and I am at any time-evolving alongside the way.

SZ: In the very last couple several years, there has been an growing pattern of ladies leaving their employment to start out their have businesses in the course of the Excellent Resignation. Based mostly on your working experience, is there a “right” time or are there perfect conditions for a vocation transform?

SM: The pull amongst career and spouse and children is so complicated. In a ton of approaches, a work with a sure number of hours that you can depart and arrive residence is so much more healthy for that household equilibrium and your personal self-care than a begin-up. I would say there is no right time to start out your personal issue if you’re passionate about it just do it. But with this a single caveat: women of all ages with associates and/or kids really should consider prolonged and hard about the total of time and focus they want to be able to give their spouse and children. And then devote what’s remaining to a new venture. All people will inform you that you have to give 200% to a startup but that’s seriously not accurate. And it will lead to burnout so speedy if you are not thorough.

In its place, commence your undertaking with a group that can give their complete focus. If you are keeping the eyesight and plans, you can and must reserve time for self-treatment and your family members. I know this can be so tricky to carry out, but I’m a realist so I crack it down like a basic math difficulty. I glance at how several several hours I have in a 7 days and I try to to start with prioritize my have self-care, then my time with my kids and partner, then my get the job done priorities.

I also think about the seasonality of my business enterprise and my children’s college. Summer months is a great time to be equipped to give a little far more to young children and a tiny much less to the business. But if you are beginning a company (like mine) that has large summertime requires it could be challenging. The key is obtaining very actual with on your own about how a lot of hrs of concentration you are inclined to give to a new venture.

SZ: What information would you give to women seeking to transform their occupation but who truly feel discouraged or unsure of exactly where to start?

SM: I would say start off with a change toward the business or techniques you want to understand and get really fantastic at these while doing work for anyone else with regular do the job several hours, rewards, and spend. Or be a part of a volunteer firm. When you are assured in your expertise and know just how you will take care of your time and emphasis, then established up your new venture inside of these parameters.