We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Danielle Del Sordo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Danielle , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the decision of whether to donate a percentage of sales to an organization or cause – we’d love to hear the backstory of how you thought through this.

Pirani was founded on making a difference and giving back. Our story begins with volunteering our time and advocating for our oceans back when we launched our brand in Lauderdale by the Sea, FL. We worked with many non-profits who helped spread our mission and it’s exciting to see how our growth increases our support to them throughout the years. We joined One Percent For the Planet in 2021 which allowed us to track our donations each year and holds companies accountable to donate 1% of all SALES to their approved non-profit partners. As we grow, one struggle that I have is to streamline our partners. Have less partners, but create a bigger impact by having only 3-5 vs. too many. Our most recent partner is Mountain True and we are so excited as they are our first partner dedicated to protecting the mountains rivers and streams (all streams lead to the sea!). Our first partner in the mountains and we really love the work that they do. They remind us of the mountain version of Surfrider Foundation.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

The best way to describe Pirani is like the iconic red party cup and your favorite insulated tumbler had a baby! But where it all began…

Stepping outside of our comfort zones was never a challenge for us. We are designers with a passion to make a difference. In 2013, we quit our Corporate America careers in Industrial Design (Brandegee) and Costume Design (Danielle) to travel the world. We lived out of a backpack for 18 months looking for inspiration to start up an eco-friendly company together. Ideas ranged from sustainable swimwear to a healthy food truck, and the list can go on. Fast forward many years and Pirani Life was born!

Most of our sports took place in the ocean, and we were lucky enough to live one block from it. As South Florida native water babies living an active outdoor lifestyle, we grew tired of seeing litter scattered across our beautiful beaches. One of the biggest offenders was always that iconic red party cup. This fueled Brandegee to design the first vacuum insulated version of it. After countless 3D-printed prototypes created in our home studio (a.k.a. the living room), he was determined to create the last party cup you will ever need and help put a stop to the billions of single-use plastic cups that are tossed every year.

Pirani’s mission is to empower everyday heroes in safeguarding our planet through raising eco-awareness and creating sustainable solutions. The biggest sense of accomplishment is when people tell us that through our messaging and brand, we made them think twice about using single-use items.

Features and Benefits that set our tumblers apart from others is their skinny-wall triple insulation, stackable for the best cabinet organization, interchangeable lids. We are less bulky and our goal is to make convenience less wasteful.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Brandegee and I used our savings to kickstart Pirani as well as running a Kickstarter campaign in 2018. The Kickstarter helped fund our first round of inventory, but we did not consider leaving room for marketing and all the other operating costs involved in running a business. We used our lifesavings to keep the company running, but we also still both worked full time the first two years of business. In 2020 Brandegee created a company selling products related to COVID that was successful and helped get us through that time and continue to build Pirani / survive. That company no longer exists.

While we had a successful Kickstarter, Pirani was really more like a hobby until our first round of tradeshows in 2021 when we turned into a real business. One thing they don’t teach small business owners of a product based business is that as your business grows, you will need more capital to afford more inventory, staff, equipment, space, etc. So in 2023 we took out our first business loans and have been growing ever since!

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

We have NEVER missed payroll and we have NEVER had any near death moments, but we have turned Brandegee’s salary off for the past 1.5 months. But to rewind, we didn’t start taking a salary until 5 years into the business, so it is still new to us to manage cash flow with a growing team and growing business. They often say that small business owners should not expect to pay themselves for the first 3-5 years, and that was spot on for us. Should cashflow ever go down, we will always let it affect our salaries as founders before our teams livelihood.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pirani.life
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pirani_life/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/piranilife/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pirani-life
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ9fXOiUuPkG6MwlhsuXr8g
• Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@piranilife