We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caren Martineau. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caren below.
Caren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?
As a well-employed freelance art-director in NYC with a roster of clients that included global brands from the entertainment and fashion industries life was crazy good and a bit out of control. A recruiter calls with an opportunity out of state. No thanks, I reply. A month or so passes. She calls again and once again, I politely decline. By the third call, the situation had radically changed. My biggest client declared bankruptcy before paying their post-production bill. Suddenly, I was 80k in debt, panicked, looking for an attorney. So I took the interview, accepted the offer and moved to Florida.
A new visionary management team from top retail and entertainment brands had big plans for Home Shopping Network. Better yet, they entrusted me to visualize and beautify what had been labeled “junk for jerks” by their predecessors. OMG, this was going to be my very own Lou Dorfsman moment! And it was, for a short year. Without warning, HSN changed hands in a hostile takeover. Mass firings followed. Finding a similar opportunity to what I had as the Director of Brand Development was highly unlikely, so I put my ideas down in a business plan.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I’m a creative professional, an early adopter who didn’t follow a straight career path as I’ve always been attracted to what’s not yet wholly formed. Navigating the unknown can be exhilarating and tremendously rewarding. But at any moment, the unpredictable can deliver a devastating, soul-crushing blow. Having experienced both the highs and lows, overcoming adversity became my superpower.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Oh gosh- I love this question because it illustrates how language changes over time. It wasn’t until my late 40s that I saw how my self-doubt manifested into a crippling shame. Took me awhile to shift my perspective, reframe what I considered a negative into a positive.
My story began with an incredible opportunity to become the master of my own making. The allure was so blinding that I threw caution to the wind. Ultimately, that one decision led to a sequence of decisions which eventually broke me. It took a while to recover, but when I got back up, I was different, wiser, clear-eyed and confident in my own skin. Here’s the short version—
So shortly after losing the job that I thought would be a career maker, I wrote a business plan for a catalog based off of everything I had learned from HSN’s customer shopping preferences. Six months later, I flew back to NY for a pitch meeting with a venture capitalist. He complimented the plan but said I wasn’t asking for enough money. “After you fix the numbers, I’ll introduce you to someone who might be interested in funding this.” A few months later, I presented the idea to the founders of a start-up. When the presentation was over, they applauded. Walking out, the CEO said they wanted to fast-track the deal and suggested I retain a qualified attorney asap.
It didn’t take long for a deal memo to arrive. With my soon-to-be partners pushing for closure and a big-shot NYC law firm on the case, I had no reason to believe things were going to go terribly wrong in less than a year.
The organization was a category disruptor. With forty catalog titles occuping an entire building minutes from the Lincoln Tunnel and a state-of-the-art warehouse in Memphis, this well-financed start-up had three experienced entrepreneurs at the helm. The CEO was a dead ringer for Mark Cuban. He had an encouraging leadership style, easy smile, and most importantly, was always available. In contrast, his two partners preferred to stay in the C-suite, behind the scenes. I joined the organization as they were preparing for a public offering. At the time, I was unaware they were touting my brand (their newest acquisition) to investors as the next Victoria Secret.
As division president, part of my compensation package included options. If the master brand did well, so would I. Within 24 hours of the public offering, rumors started to fly. I stayed in my own lane for the intense pressure to drop ahead of schedule kept me laser focused. Though in hindsight, the clues and warning signs were always right there. The prospectus portrayed the organization as some kind of all-for-one kumbaya community as opposed to the hierarchical, dog-eat-dog culture I encountered.
It didn’t take long for resources and financing to dry up. After repeated requests to meet with the CEO, I finally get my 10 minutes. He’s prepared. To avoid litigation, the company agrees to return all rights to my brand along with the merchandise sitting in the Memphis warehouse. And although my options are now worthless, he offered a 6-month severance package to help me get reestablished. I left the office thinking how can this be— not again!
The initial response to the catalog was good, not great. No problem, the CEO said, give it time, I believe in it. And he did, but it would take nearly another year to find out exactly what he meant. In the interim, we parted on good terms.
Immediately, I began shopping my brand to other catalog companies while I set up shop in my house. The merchandise filled the garage and most of my basement leaving just enough room for a desk and fulfillment station. I hired a dedicated data wonk. Customers had no clue what was going on behind the curtain because together we spent 12-14hrs a day pretending to be bigger than we actually were.
Everyone in the catalog business was feeling the pinch of rising paper and postage costs. In order to get an offer of financing, I needed proof of concept, a demonstration of ROI. Using my severance and some of my kid’s college savings to print and mail another catalog, it was a risky Hail Mary.
Ten months later Mr. CEO returned with a new partner and offer to fund an e-commerce version of the catalog. Investors were gobbling up e-commerce properties in anticipation of an online marketplace that had yet to be developed. Given I couldn’t afford to keep the print catalog going, I took the deal.
Details surrounding the following twelve months have all the elements of best-selling page turner: power, money, insider stock deals, payoffs, and a shocking betrayal. Just as I was about to be ousted from my own company, the stock market crashed. A week later I learn that my investors were backing out, no more checks were forthcoming. This left me no choice but to close the business a few weeks shy of our scheduled beta launch.
It took me nearly two years to reconcile vendor debts, ward off lawsuits, and deal with the crippling embarrassment of having delegated my destiny to those who had a different end game. For sure it was a steep five-year learning curve that challenged my integrity and commitment (that which doesn’t kill you…). When I finally felt whole again, I began mentoring young entrepreneurs and advising not-for-profit organizations. Seeing how my experience helped others avoid similar pitfalls, gave me the confidence to try again by designing, patenting and creating a market for the Play Safe Thong. Another ten years passed before the desire to do it again consumed me. That’s when I founded the first death literacy content brand, Bevival. As a noble idea, Bevival is a messenger of change tasked with delivering a purposeful message. It is how I’d like to be remembered.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Fast-tracking creativity is very dangerous, especially when money is driving the process. One has to learn what it takes to have skin in the game, especially when mining uncharted territory. What I mean by this is that any new idea, product, or change in consumer behavior requires perseverance. You may have authored something incredibly beneficial and revolutionary but if the customer doesn’t exist yet, you’ll need a handful of patient champions to help get you across the finish line.
Obviously, there are a lot of known and unknown factors that lead to success. Here are my top five lessons:
(1) Anticipate and rise above disappointment. First to market doesn’t guarantee advantage or bragging rights. No matter how talented or brilliant you are, it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Toughen up. Keep the vision alive as long as practicality will allow. Ignore the naysayers.
(2) Listen very carefully to ‘the why’ behind every rejection. Rather than dismiss it out of hand, flip the dynamic- it’s possible to turn cynics into advocates.
(3) Be prepared, you’re gonna need a long runway. There’s no such thing as an overnight success. It always takes longer than you think.
(4) Know who you are and stay honest. Trust your gut. If it doesn’t feel right, it’s not where you should spend your energy.
(5) Embrace every part of the journey. It sounds trite, but 20-30 years from now, you’ll look back to discover how the experience influenced your life.
Contact Info:
- Website: bevival.com
- Instagram: /bevival.inspires
- Facebook: /bevival
- Linkedin: /carenmartineau
Image Credits
Headshot: Donna Bassin