On episode 2 of the Entrepreneurship@DU Podcast, we chat with Calli Garcia and Zak Mbereko, the co-founders of Kairos Customs. Kairos creates personalized artwork for shoes, enabling customers to wear their hearts on their "sole."
Transcript
Kevin Douglas (00:07):
Today on the entrepreneurship at DU podcast,
Zak Mbereko (00:11):
We were both pretty passionate about art and we are starting to really dive into an unbeaten path.
Kevin Douglas (00:17):
Some people say, we're your heart on your sleeve. At Cairo's customs, wear your heart on your soul.
Calli Garcia (00:24):
Me personally, as an artist, I understand the person more by seeing them talking to 'em than I can understand what they really want in the artwork itself,
Kevin Douglas (00:32):
Learn how two friends met, entered their shared love of art into a small business. I'm Kevin Douglas and this is the Entrepreneurship DU Podcast. Welcome to the Entrepreneurship at DU podcast. Here we have the co-founders of Cairos, a startup that does custom shoe paint services. Will you guys introduce yourselves?
Calli Garcia (01:03):
I'm Callie Garcia, I'm majoring in marketing and I'm a senior this year.
Zak Mbereko (01:07):
And I am Isaac Gza. Depending on if you've heard my name at Roll Caller or not. I am a business management major here and I'm a junior.
Kevin Douglas (01:15):
Awesome. So could you guys tell me a little bit about how you met, how you connected with each other and how that eventually turned into this startup?
Zak Mbereko (01:25):
Yeah, for sure. So we actually met courtesy of the entrepreneurship llc. We kind of got everything started because of the, what's it technically call? I guess it's like the Lean startup. It was where they give us $20 and you have 10 weeks to start a business and basically make as much money as you possibly can out of that $20. And she worked on a clothing brand of sorts and I worked on shoe restoration for my idea and at the end of it we kind of came together because we were both pretty passionate about art and found a pretty good way to integrate both of the businesses that we had started. And out of it came Kairos about a year and a half later.
Calli Garcia (02:07):
We were on separate groups actually for that project and he happened to be sitting in the common room with us and throwing out ideas for our group. And so we just was like, Hey, let's do this afterwards.
Kevin Douglas (02:18):
Yeah. Is this the first time you've tried starting your own business? Have you even done a lemonade stand as a kid or mowing lawns in the neighborhood?
Calli Garcia (02:29):
I sold snacks out of my locker in middle school I would bring in Reese Rice crispy bars and stuff because my grandpa had a Sam's Club card, so I would just go and buy those packs and stuff and just sell 'em out of my locker for fun. But for sure, this is the first big one I've done
Zak Mbereko (02:46):
For me. I had a pretty similar road. I used to actually make a bunch of rice crispy treats at home and I grew up in Aspen, so I was pretty close to a lot of people that were doing hiking and just a bunch of sports and being outside all the time. So I would go sit in front of the bus stop by my house and just sell as many as I could out to any of the hikers or anything like that. I would also non dis , probably under the radar, get a bunch of checks mix or what's the snack with the m and ms and the nuts Trail mix. Trail mix, that's it. And I would just repackage that and sell that out. trying to make a quick buck. I also used to do lacrosse stringing for people. I actually still do that a little bit here and there and duct tape wallets. That made me a pretty nice chunk of change when I was a little kid. Trying to think. I remember the first thing I ever did trying to make Bunny was I begged my parents to pay me for taking out the trash. Yeah, I mean, I've always had a bit of an entrepreneurial mind, always trying to make a quick buck for sure.
Kevin Douglas (03:49):
Maybe you were too young to remember, but what inspired that? Did you hear your other friends were getting an allowance and you were like, I'm not getting this, I should be getting paid for these services.
Zak Mbereko (03:59):
Exactly. Yeah, that was one of the big things. I also grew up in a family of business owners. My parents owned a painting contracting business in Aspen that did pretty well for a number of years. My grandpa owned a lot of real estate in Seattle a long time ago. So I grew up kind of in that environment personally. And that I think was, I don't really know if I was really inspired at a young age. I don't think it really occurred to me, but I just am pretty blessed to have grown up in that situation where I kind of picked up a lot of those traits.
Kevin Douglas (04:33):
I can see how that would just rub off on you. Yeah. So in terms of this venture specifically, what is it that you offer? What sets you apart from competitors that you would have in this field?
Calli Garcia (04:45):
I would say for sure is the effort we put into communicating with the customers. Cause most of the other businesses I've seen this, especially on TikTok, they just get orders from people and they design it and send it out for us. We make sure to meet with the customer, get to know them. For me personally as an artist, I understand the person more by seeing them talking to 'em. Besides just getting questions, what do you dislike? What's your favorite color? To see them talk about their passions and stuff than I can understand what they really want in the artwork itself.
Zak Mbereko (05:16):
Exactly. That's a huge part of what we like to do. I mean, especially in our first couple pairs of shoes, immediately what we would want to do is hop on a Zoom or hop on a FaceTime if we couldn't meet that person and make sure that we get that personality because that's something that we feel is so important about our business is that, I mean, kind of a tagline that we really just came up with a little off the cuff was like where your heart on your soul as a part as opposed to your sleeve, which I think is a pretty common slogan, if you will. And we really want to just bring that personality. We want to make the shoes a part of that person because we understand that shoe wear and clothing and everything is already a huge part of who people are.
(05:56): That's how they represent themselves. So we want to accentuate that. And then another thing that I think is now starting to separate us is the mass. Something that a lot of people in this industry do is one-off shoes. You do one pair for one person, and we just got done with our biggest order ever, which was 23 pairs for the gymnastics team, which in technical term for artwork, you don't see that. You don't see the same exact piece of art replicated by hand or by airbrush over and over and over again. You would just get something screen printed. So a huge thing that separates us is that we can do that and we are starting to really dive into what we're seeing is something that is an unbeaten path.
Kevin Douglas (06:42):
So you guys are, it seems like you share a lot of the responsibilities. What is it about your dynamic and the skills you're bringing to the table that make you guys a good team?
Zak Mbereko (06:53):
So that's something that we're actually just kind of learning. I mean, we're very new to having an official business and we're just learning about all of the things that we're really good at, what we're not good at, and being able to compliment that. Personally I can say I might be a little bit more of the organized in terms of talking to people and making sure that we have communication with you or communication with a lot of our customers. I would like to say that I'm also decently good at art, so I get a little bit of the design work and the painting done, but I think that primarily comes down to Callie where she has just an unbelievable talent for being able to put down, as we said, what people's thoughts, all their emotions, all of that character, that personality into the shoes. She has an uncanny ability to do that.
Calli Garcia (07:44):
I would say at the beginning when we first did this, not even as an official business Zach was definitely doing all of the networking and I was just doing the hand painting and stuff. But for sure right now, I think it's really funny because he's the entrepreneur major and I'm the marketing major, but he's doing all of the marketing and networking and I'm just trying to focus on how to organize the business itself so that we can work more efficiently. But for sure, I think that we are, because it's just the two of us work just picking up wherever we can for the other person.
Zak Mbereko (08:17):
Exactly. And that's been a huge thing for us. As I said, we're just learning all of this. It is, I mean, it's scary at times. I'm not going to lie because we have no clue what we're doing really in terms of an official business, but we're picking up a lot of skills, which we're super proud of, and being able to compliment that for each other.
Kevin Douglas (08:35):
That's one thing I hear a lot from the entrepreneurs I talk to is almost everyone is building the plane as they're flying it. Exactly. And there's no better way to learn than just putting yourself in it in the action. What are some significant obstacles you've found? Because one other thread with all the people I talk to and any entrepreneur you talk to is before you find that success, it's a lot of failure, it's a lot of learning the lessons, the hard way and immediately. What are some of those moments for you guys with this business?
Calli Garcia (09:08):
For me in particular, it's not really associated to the business itself, but it does affect the business, is trying to balance my personal life, my social life, while working with classes and stuff as well as the business. It's a lot to take on all at once....
