October 10, 2012

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Last year, Vera Lund and Maxine Gomez joined forces to tackle a common issue that all couples face — dealing with life’s intimate moments.

Both Florida-based entrepreneurs decided to leverage their joint expertise to manufacture, distribute and market all-natural, biodegradable, compostable and flushable wipes — what they felt was the perfect solution for personal hygiene needs.

With Vera’s expertise as a licensed esthetician and Maxine’s background as a healthcare professional, they built Swipes, Inc. — a natural and eco friendly personal hygiene wipe intended for adults to use before and after intimate moments.

“With Swipes Lovin Wipes, couples can be assured that they will be fresh and confident for every romantic encounter,” says CEO Vera Lund. ” Because our hygienic wipes are truly septic safe, it’s easy to dispose of them discretely.”

“Mother of invention is necessity,” says Maxine Gomez, Co-Founder and CFO of Swipes, Inc. “The idea was born when we could not find a quality solution for the messy situation that ever couple faces.”

Learn how Vera and Maxine started their company with a single idea and why entrepreneurs should ask more questions.

How We Got Started:

We put together our business plan and forecasted the sales potential for our idea. Then Vera and I secured our idea with an intellectual property (IP) attorney.

Our next step was to enter the market. We researched the top industry manufacturers and traveled to trade shows where we made contacts and located the right partnerships and resources to make our product.  Before we invested in our first manufacturing run, we worked on product development — making a list of criteria we were determined to adhere to.  The research and development (R&D) took the longest, but the quality of the final product we developed was well worth the time and energy we put into it.

Based on our initial business plan, we had a clear idea of where and how we would sell the product.  We sent samples to anyone we could think of — from store managers to magazine beauty editors.  We gave product away to small stores and agreed to sell on consignment at others.

When the product started selling and buyers continued to place orders, the initial giveaway paid for itself and we were able to show sales growth and negotiate better terms when we approached larger stores.

Initially all of our investment went into production so our marketing budget was basically nonexistent.  We bartered our time and skills with event planners, contacted bloggers and magazines, and joined local business organizations.  We built our brand through word of mouth (WOM),  social media, and online activities.

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