We were lucky to catch up with Roxanne Kaiser recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Roxanne , thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Currently, our biggest challenge to profitability is being in growth mode and scaling. As you mentioned (above), from the outside it looks like PastedNip is EXPLODING (& we are!) which is amazing BUT, that does not mean after 2.5 years we are profitable.

While scaling PastedNip is incredible, at times it can be almost like a double-edged sword. In one moment, we are freakin’ THRILLED we received a huge order, and then in the next moment we’re going ‘uh how are we going to front thousands and thousands of dollars in inventory’. I think people forget that in the retail world, buyers place a huge order and then you sometimes have to wait months for payment. Payment terms are tricky and when you accept a big order, you have to be able to front the capital for the manufacturing, inventory and shipping costs associated with the order.

Most product-focused startups’ goals are to eventually be in a big box store – but there is a reason why sometimes you hear horror stories of startups being in ‘the black’ after accepting a big order.

For example, we recently accepted a very large order from a big box store and had to strategically think through how we would fulfill the order without putting PastedNip into a hole. In this case; we focused on staying lean, cutting costs where needed and honing in on fulfilling a big-opportunity order without essentially bankrupting ourselves.

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

My name is Roxanne Kaiser and I was born and raised in the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia. I had an amazing upbringing, living in a mixed Iranian/German household with 2 parents who were Civil Engineers. When I was younger, I was an extroverted extrovert. I always wanted to hang-out with friends, go to parties, and honestly – do anything but school. My parents, both being civil engineers, were always SO worried about my future…which looking back now is funny because I would’ve been worried too if I was a parent in their shoes.

I ended up going to The Georgia Institute of Technology for college. I attribute many accomplishments with going to this school, as well as to my parents for being very strict growing up. My parents had put a huge emphasis on education and always told me to persevere – no matter what. Georgia Tech was the best decision I made in my life. At the time, I had two passions – I loved cars and I loved Fashion. So although I knew I eventually wanted to be in either the car world or the retail/fashion world, I knew that with a degree from Georgia Tech (GT) I would have the skill set and tools to really do ANYTHING from there.

At GT, I ended up graduating with a B.S. in Supply Chain/Operations with a minor in Entrepreneurship. I spent a summer in Detroit as an intern for Chrysler and although it was a GREAT experience in the automotive industry, it definitely made me realize fashion/retail is where I wanted to be. Upon graduating, I took an amazing job in IT consulting… I actually specifically remember asking my interviewer if he could only put me on retail clients if I got the job (haha, pretty bold if you ask me). He promised he would put me in the retail section – so I accepted the job and as promised, I started my first job as a Supply Chain IT consultant for Top Retailers. My time as a consultant was incredible. I traveled ALL over the world – I was visiting Fortune 500 Retail Headquarters – and above all else, I was learning SO much about the in’s and out’s of successful retail companies.

In January 2020 – there was a night I had this GUT feeling that although consulting had been great, it wasn’t ENOUGH for me. I wanted to do more and had a moment where I thought back to my time at GT.

When I was in school, Alibaba had just launched and I really had no idea what it was. One day I was on the website and ordered a pair of pasties from Alibaba. I NEVER wore bras, did not have any money, needed pasties all the time and the pasties sold on Alibaba were SO cheap. Not knowing it was a wholesale website (which is why they were so cheap… haha) I ordered a one case-pack. Not knowing what a ‘case-pack’ was, I ordered the pasties and when the pasties arrived at my door, I had about 100 pairs and decided there was nothing else to do with them but sell them.

In that moment of thinking back to when I sold pasties, I literally knew immediately that was what I was going to do. I knew I could make a customized, much higher-quality pasty that had intellectual property rights that tied into a brand that stood for women empowerment and women confidence. That night, I went to bed and the name ‘PastedNip’ literally came to mind out of nowhere – because what better name than PastedNip? Pasties are used to cover nipples. When you use our pasties, you are pasting your nips. PastedNip. :)

From that time on – it felt like my true self was UNLEASHED and I was hungrier than ever for what I was meant to do from an entrepreneurial, business, creative, and people-focused standpoint.

PastedNip is different from any other product in the industry. Having a technical background, we have integrated technical specs into the manufacturing of our pasty to ensure the highest quality. We offer a unique hypoallergenic silicone that is a skin safe, hand-crafted medical grade material, and water-proof/sweat-proof. PastedNip has INVISITECH™ which is our nipple hiding technology, with ultra thin material for smooth covering and we have 3 customized inclusive shades that will match all skin tones.

Aside from creating a product women trust, buy and use – I am most proud of the brand I have created and the empowerment I have seen it give women. We consistently get DM’s from girls showing us them ‘going braless’ wearing their pasties in outfits that they would have ‘never felt good wearing before’. Being being able to bring confidence to women to wear what they want is one of the most fulfilling parts of this business.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

I love this question. This one is huge because I think it’s hard to come by these days in general.

I REALLY work hard to always have impeccable customer service. As PastedNip grows, it is key for all of our returning and new customers to feel as if they are being heard and serviced in the best way possible.

I also work to foster a true working relationship with each and every client – where they feel comfortable knowing if for some reason something goes wrong with their order (for instance, UPS lost their order) they know we will 100% take care of them.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner and I met out of college at our first job together. We both went to Georgia Tech (Audrey is an Industrial Engineer) and we both started in IT Consulting at the same company right after college.

One of our first projects together was traveling from Atlanta to Chicago weekly for months to be on-site at our client which was a Fortune 500 Beauty/Makeup company. While we were on this project, we noticed how well we worked together – complimenting each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

When I decided to start PastedNip, Audrey was the first person who came to mind as not only had we become best friends throughout the years after our consulting project together, but we traveled around the world just the two of us, spent months working side by side and had a real understanding of each others core-selves.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pastednip.com
• Instagram: pasted_nip