Althea Talk #005: Our 3rd Anniversary!
Dear Steemians,
I remember hearing a particular fear-inducing stat: out of all startups, 92% fail within the first three years. You know what guys, Althea has finally passed that threshold (slap on the back)! Probably none of my teammates read my blog; actually, I take that back, I would be extremely surprised if anyone knew that I even started a blog. Anyways, congrats to all of the Althea Korea & Malaysia team for helping us get to this point, and to all of the wonderful fans that have kept going with us, through thick and thin!
For our beloved customers, please look forward to all of the treats we have prepared for this wonderful anniversary event. Can't really spill the beans on the details, but if you come to our site in July, you are sure to be absolutely flabbergasted!
I still remember April of 2015 (it's really been a wild ride these past few years) where we started off in one room, which included not only our office but also our warehouse, to going to a cozier space with meeting rooms and a fulfillment center that truly is a fulfillment center! Below are some pictures of our new office, right before we officially moved in to our new space. We are working by the way, I just decided to get rid of the stuff that is on the people's display screens.
Curation Commerce
Althea went from a site where we sell everything to a site with less than 1,000 products. Many people have asked me why we went this route. To a lot of people, this would be the opposite of showing growth, but from where I stand, I think it makes a ton of sense. Initially, we would put up a lot of products on our site, spot testing only a sample size of the products. This was a big factor in our management decision. Why were we only sampling a portion of the products we were putting up on our site? What we should be doing is that we should only put up products that our MD's have vigorously tested and really tried! We should be putting up tested and proven products.
This concept of having a curated commerce platform is the way of the future. We are thinking that our customers don't have all day looking for products. They are busy as it is. What our role at Althea should be is to select these products for our beloved customers. We may sometimes make mistakes, but gradually, I expect fantastic recommendations from our team to our customer base.
The Future
As we roll onwards onto our 4th year, for any people on Steemit that have tried our service, please let me know how we can be better in the future, with sprinkles of some compliments if possible. Everyone loves to hear some good, right? For one, I would love to be in a few more markets, like Hong Kong, to cater to people like @mellissaying, but I also know we need to take things one step at a time. Hopefully, there will come a day in the near future, where I can tell @mellissaying "We are in HK"!
Have a great day everyone!
Chris
More about myself & Father Ramblings Series:
Steemit Introductory Post
Father Ramblings #001: Introduction
Startup Blabber Series:
Startup Blabber #001: Communication Within a Team
Startup Blabber #002: Most Important Aspect of a Startup
Startup Blabber #003: There shall always be conflict!
Startup Blabber #004: The Hamptons Five
Startup Blabber #005: The Cap Table
Startup Blabber #006: The Importance of Feedback
Startup Blabber #007: Family
Startup Blabber #008: Taking Care of Your Health
Althea Talk Series:
Althea Talk #001: Introduction
Althea Talk #002: My Journey Into Skincare
Althea Talk #003: Inner Beauty
Althea Talk #004: Spruce Up the Office