Molly and Ted Fienning's company Babiators is a leading brand of children's sunglasses. Babiators was born on a jet tarmac, developed at the kitchen table of the founders, and has now created many jobs and kept thousands of kids' eyes safe from sun. Inspired by military service and informed their entrepreneurial spirit, Ted and Molly explain how they and another couple - their close friends from college - bootstrapped Babiators to big success.
How did you decide to start a company that makes and sells sunglasses for kids?
Ted: I was a Marine Corps F-18 pilot for ten years. One day, when Molly was on the tarmac with the other families waiting for the jets to land, she noticed that the pilots and wives all wore aviator sungalsses, while their children squinted up at the sun without any eye protection. When I landed, she mentioned her observation and suggested we make sunglasses for kids. Off the cuff, I said, "Yeah, we could call them Babiators, like aviators for babies!" And she said, "Write that down. We're going to start a company." We immediately called our best friends from Harvard, Matthew and Carolyn Guard, and we all co-founded Babiators together.
What was it like in the early stages?
Ted: When we first had the idea, I had no free time as a fleet squadron pilot. With the good fortune of having four co-founders, Carolyn and Molly started the day-to-day operations in the summer of 2010, while Matthew kept his position at Bain and I finished my commitment to the Marine Corps.
Molly: Carolyn and I started by cold-calling stores from our kitchen table. We incorporated in October, got the supply chain up in six months, and by May 2011 we were selling at about seventy-five stores. Within nine months we had Nordstrom interested as our first major account, and now we're in about three thousand stores in forty-five countries.
Do you have design experience that influenced your creative contributions to the company?
Ted: All four of us are musicians. Molly sings, Matthew and I met in our a capella group at Harvard, and he and Carolyn met singing in the university choir. I'm not sure how that directly translates to Babiators, but we certainly enjoy creativity, and it forged our relationships. The initial design of both the frames and the packaging was our own. It's evolved over time, and we're conscientious of the changes we make to the brand, but it's ultimately been a combination of what was in our imaginations and what graphic designers and manufacturers were able to translate from that.
Molly: Our design was partly influenced by the military aesthetic, since that was the kernel behind the business, but we wanted it to be more pop-military than authentic. Our logo reflects that, and a silhouette of Ted's jet was on the first few iterations of the packaging design as an homage to his inspiration for the name.
What were some of your successful strategies?
Molly: One of the most important things in the early stage was our marketing survey. We liked the idea and the name, but we wanted to know whether there was a need for children's sunglasses in the market, and if so, what did customers want? We surveyed a few hundred moms with kids in the targeted age range, and we found interesting results that we incorporated into our core values when we launched. Because parents emphasized the need for durability in those surveys, we created Babiators with rubber that can literally bend into a pretzel and return to its original shape. Our lost-and-found guarantee, which makes us the first children's brand to replace against not just breakage but also loss, was also inspired by that survey. This really differentiated us in the market, and it helped us show our customers that we listen and we care about what's important to them. On another note, market research showed that children's retinas are more susceptible to damage than adult retinas, so that health component became part of our core mission as well. Another important aspect of our strategy was our decision to put our entire advertising budget into PR, based on the advice of a founding member of Warby Parker, who is a good friend and was a business mentor when we first launched.
How did the military lifestyle influence your ambition and work?
Molly: By nature, the military requires frequent relocation, so the spouses who want to continue working have traditionally found roles that are needed in any and every town, like nurses, teachers, or real estate agents. Those roles weren't where my interests lay, so I knew I had to do something entrepreneurial if I wanted to do anything at all. Relocation is difficult within a corporate structure, so you have to be your own boss and create your own opportunity as a military spouse. So, for someone who's hungry to build their own business, it fosters or almost mandates the desire the be an entrepreneur, which blended well with my own personality and skills.
Ted: I was grateful to the Marine Corps for the experience they gave me in terms of developing organization, dealing with adversity, and instilling a sense of excitement for the adventure of serving. Molly and I shared a passion for that adventure and excitement, and we wanted to carry that over into our work. Babiators was a natural extension of that desire to find adventure together. Also, despite the obvious hierarchy in the military, you often find yourself away from your chain of command, and it falls on you to take responsibility. You are the one who has to answer for the actions of your team, and that certainly carries over into the world of entrepreneurship.