We recently connected with Rachel Neill and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

As both a mother and entrepreneur, I strive to create and sell products that children will not only love, but products that are made with care, high-quality materials, and safe for little ones. When we dreamed up Figgy we wanted to make sure we sourced the best cushions made from safe and sturdy Certi-PUR US foam, our fabric is Oeko tex certified which means it is free from harmful chemicals. Our independent third-party testing system ensures your kiddos are getting the best- from our family to yours!

Many play couches are manufactured overseas with little to no regulations, we are proud to say our products are crafted and distributed from our factory in South Carolina. That’s the Figgy difference!

Rachel , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As a serial entrepreneur, I’m always brainstorming my next business idea, I always wanted to get into the kid e-commerce space, but wasn’t sure how I would, but during the pandemic it became clear! Like many, I was stuck at home with my kids, struggling to keep them entertained, five little ones, full of energy and eager to play- That’s when I thought of FIggy, a new kind of play couch, one designed for endless builds because of its unique velcro connectors. My co-founder has an engineering background, and together we designed a few models, had our kids test them, and shortly after we launched our business idea on Kickstarter. It was wild, within eight minutes we met our initial fundraising goal and immediately sold out!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was a single teen mom who had to build her life from nothing. I put myself through college and built my first business while building my family. I worked hours and hours to make my life what it is today. I remember having no money, not even for gas when I finally got my first job, I juggled finding and paying for childcare while getting an education. Despite not having many resources, I became resourceful. I attended every free networking event I had; I took extra classes to finish college quicker and relied on student loans to help me cover the cost of child care so that I could attend classes. Business of course has its own unique set of challenges, but my background has helped me lead teams, find quick solutions, and scale operations.

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

I used Kickstarter as my initial platform to launch our product, the Figgy play couch. It was through lots of cold calls that I found our manufacturer in Greenville, South Carolina. A fellow entrepreneur with a mattress company was willing to take our call and help us get started. Without the help of someone like Jay Orders, founder of Engineered Sleep, we might not be here today! He understood what it took for a company like ours to get started and helped us along the way.

I found that you really have to be involved in the manufacturing process and keep a close eye on quality control and costs. You want to find a manufacturer that cares about those things and is willing to build a close relationship with you to produce the best products at the best price. The relationship matters more than anything!

Contact Info:

• Website: figgyplay.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/figgyplay/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/figgyplay1/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-neill-227aa526
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@figgyplay