We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Kathryn Decker. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Kathryn below.
Kathryn , appreciate you joining us today. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?
My co-founder Mollie Hughes and I met while completing our EMBA online during the pandemic. We were working on a project and were interested in addressing problems faced by businesses and consumers in the sustainability space. One of the problems that we both faced was how to align our purchasing decisions with our beliefs and values. The amount of time it takes to research and find products you can feel good about supporting is often a barrier to taking action. Mollie also saw her college-aged daughter facing a similar problem and going to great lengths to identify products that were in line with her social values.
We completed our project, but couldn’t shake the idea that had started to form in our minds. Mollie and I continued to communicate after graduation and a few months later Softly was born. Our vision is to make it easy and rewarding for everyone to contribute to a better tomorrow. After going through the standard incorporation steps and reaching out to connections to explore the technical feasibility of the project, Mollie and I formed Softly Incorporated as a Delaware C Corp, primarily using the tools available through Clerky.
In addition to the standard incorporation steps, we needed to develop our business model and find a good product market fit. We proceeded to conduct numerous surveys and interviews to learn more about this problem. What we learned is that people are concerned about a variety of environmental, social and health issues, but they don’t have the time to change their behavior when they are shopping. This leads to feeling of guilt and a tendency to avoid thinking about the impact of their purchasing decisions. Helping shoppers harness the power of their purse to support causes they care is our mission. Small changes in shopping behavior can make a big difference if enough people stand up and take notice of environmental, social, and equity issues, such as a product’s carbon footprint, locally sourced items, women or LGBTQ owned, or fair labor and wage practices.
As a result, we worked with a small group of like-minded engineers and advisors who were instrumental in developing our first product release, Softly – Your Personal Sustainable Shopping Assistant. Softly is a browser extension available on the Chrome Web Store that provides alternative suggestions to users when they are shopping on Amazon. These suggestions, or Softly Swaps!, will be in line with the value preferences that a user selects in the extension options.
We were also accepted into the CleanTech Open accelerator as we were building out our beta release which provided weekly group meetings as well as one on one sessions with mentors which helped us define our business model and quantify our potential ESG impact.
Softly is now a working prototype and can be downloaded for free from the Chrome Web Store! Check out www.getsoftly.com and see how easy and rewarding it can be to purchase with purpose everyday!
Kathryn , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Softly Incorporated is a start-up focused on developing innovative tools that make it easy and rewarding for everyone to contribute to a better tomorrow. We are like the browser extensions Honey or Rakuten, but target the purpose-driven buyer who wants to find products that are safe, healthy, and good for the planet.
We provide online shoppers with the information they need when they need it in a simple and actionable format so that they can purchase products that are in line with with their personal values and beliefs in a way that inspires a more environmentally friendly, socially just and circular future.
Our browser extension launched in August of this year and we will be continuing to expand our platform and product offerings.
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
We keep in touch with clients primarily through email, social media and blog posts. Our focus is on providing information to our users that complements the functionality of the browser extension and helps expand their understanding of sustainability. We are focused on engaging with our users in a way that enables them to feel good about their decisions. One of the themes that permeates discussions we have with online shoppers is that they feel guilty. We want to help them feel good.
Fostering brand loyalty, not only to Softly but also to brands working to address sustainability and circularity, comes through trust. We are fostering trust through transparency and verification of sustainability claims. Working with the brands and certification organizations to bring verified product characteristics to consumers in a format that is easy to take action on is the foundation of our brand and the trail to loyalty.
Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?
My co-founder Mollie Hughes and I met while completing our EMBA online during the pandemic. We were working on a project and were interested in addressing problems faced by businesses and consumers in the sustainability space. One of the problems that we both faced was how to align our purchasing decisions with our beliefs and values. The amount of time it takes to research and find products you can feel good about supporting is often a barrier to taking action. Mollie also saw her college-aged daughter facing a similar problem and going to great lengths to identify products that were in line with her social values.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shoppingsoftly.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shopping_softly/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/getsoftly
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/softly-incorporated/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/ShoppingSoftly
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrnxOHDzHwpBw8Bep8Sfc7Q
- Other: www.getsoftly.com www.getsoftly.com/forbiz Browser Extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/softly-extension/pdknofohadhcogggcgcafblnikmbimei?hl=en&authuser=0 Other Social Media: https://www.pinterest.com/ShoppingSoftly https://www.tiktok.com/@getsoftly https://www.shoppingsoftly.com/blog https://www.tumblr.com/getsoftly https://www.linkedin.com/company/softly-incorporated/ Founder Information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mollie-hughes-28a4b75a/ www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-decker-profile
Image Credits
Softly Incorporated