- According to NYT, startup founders throw “business showers” to celebrate their new ventures.
- One founder said she received about $ 10,000 in gifts to help grow her software business.
- The founding coaching company Makelane has a virtual “business shower kit” to throw the parties.
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Startup founders are increasingly throwing “business showers” to mark a life-changing milestone: starting their own business. Some have received thousands of dollars in gifts to help grow their businesses, the New York Times reported.
Baby showers are for mothers-to-be celebrating their newcomers, and guests bring gifts for mom and baby. Some professionals are now using this format to reduce startup costs and generate customer interest, The Times reported.
Caitlin Kelly, founder of Vivid + Co, a digital branding agency, told the Times that she hosted a joint business and baby shower in May. When she found out she was pregnant, she didn’t want the news to affect her startup, which she recently founded, she said.
“I remember when I started telling people I was pregnant, I’ve never been so congratulated in my life,” Kelly told the Times. “I know people came from a place of love and excitement, but to me, starting the company was that to me.”
Kelly said she held a baby shower for family and friends during the day, which turned into a larger work event with investors, customers and employees in the evening.
As the US birth rate has declined – the number of births in the US has steadily declined over the past six years, reaching its lowest level in more than 40 years in 2020 – the number of startups has been booming. New businesses hit a 13-year high with 1.1 million new employer ID applications last September, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis that cited data from the US Census Bureau.
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Makelane, a company that supports women-owned businesses, said business showers can help redefine women’s lives.
“Women are no longer defined solely by their roles as mother and wife,” says Makelane on her website. “It is time to update our traditions to celebrate women’s professional and family milestones.”
The company encourages founders to “create a PayPal or checking account” to receive money from guests and create a gift list for the commercial register.
The company offers a virtual business shower kit called Startup Stork that includes an event planning checklist and invitation templates. The kit also includes an example of a business register with cost items like G Suite and Website Design that guests can contribute to, according to Makelane’s website.
Makelane founder Dulma Altan told The Times that more than 1,300 kits were downloaded in 2021.
Thkisha Sanogo, founder of Mytaask, a project management software startup, told The Times that she used Business Gift Registry, a company that supports black women entrepreneurs, in her 2019 business shower.
Sanogo said she received about $ 10,000 worth of gifts, including tickets to work conferences and a Calendly subscription, according to the Times.
Makelane did not immediately respond to Insider for comment.
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