A humbling year of launching, learning and adapting for what’s ahead.
We are humbled, amazed, and slightly fatigued (if we’re being honest) as we reflect on year one of Dorai Home. Last summer we came together to create our first ‘in-house’ brand, more of an experimental project, amid the chaos of running 2 agencies.
As the vision for Dorai Home became palpable, so did our passion for creating a meaningful company. At times this year felt like an accelerated degree in manufacturing, fulfillment, marketing, customer service, and fundraising. It’s forced us to work through financial challenges, tested our health, and ultimately empowered us with the resilience to build a lasting company that strives to improve your life by enhancing your home, naturally.
In learning from the highs and lows you’ll see a few changes as Dorai evolves for the better. We’re introducing an affiliate program for industry professionals and eco-chic influencers. We’re developing new packaging that eliminates waste, while protecting items better. Finally, you can expect pricing changes to our current products over the next few months. This is based on reviewing the data for the actual cost to both create and get Dorai into customer’s homes, versus early estimates used for our Kickstarter campaign. With these changes we’re also offering FREE SHIPPING in the US (and hopefully better International Shipping soon).
If you’d like to take advantage of the current prices, please place your order before June 30, 2019. Thank you for your support through the good and bad as we learn together in this journey.
Stay dry and grounded,
Year 1 Snapshot
The Good:
- Raising $70k and successfully delivering upon our Bath Stone Kickstarter
- Getting an offer from Bed, Bath & Beyond (that we declined as it wasn't right for us)
- Creating an innovative Dish Rack & Pad solution that demonstrates our design capabilities
- Hitting our second Kickstarter campaign goal in 2 days, seeing 5-star reviews from happy customers
- Last but not least, we got engaged!
The Bad:
- Delayed shipping and the surrounding fulfillment nightmare
- Hard lessons in underpricing and unanticipated costs
- Revamping messaging to help customers better understand the product
- Packaging deficiencies requiring extra materials
- All accompanied by a little dose of insomnia ;)
What’s Next:
- New packaging that’s even more eco-friendly and less wasteful
- Pricing changes based on actual cost versus estimated
- Listening to customer feedback and launching 2+ new products to meet your needs
- Fulfilling our Dish Rack & Pad for Kickstarter Backers
- Dorai pop-up events!
