I am very excited to announce the launch of Stork Stack (www.storkstack.com), a subscription membership club for moms and their little ones...And Chicago's newest startup!
Last fall, Liz and I moved back to Chicago and reconnected with our 3rd co-founder, Terri, and her family, including her kids Amelia (6yrs old) and Max (22 months). Terri, a Pilates instructor and former preschool teacher, told us about the challenges of finding great products for her kids. There are a lot of wonderful products out there, but she has very little time to do research, so she relies almost exclusively on word of mouth from friends and family – and even that takes time that she doesn’t really have. Terri’s story is not unique. This is something we hear from a lot of Moms. Liz worked at Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. for a number of years, and between the three of us, a light bulb switched on. Moms want simplicity, but they also want access to the best products. Those things aren't mutually exclusive. Add the belief that everyone loves a nice surprise gift – especially busy parents - and there you have the concept of Stork Stack. We like to think of it as serendipity delivered monthly to a mom's doorstep. We do the research, you get the benefits. No hassle, no fuss, just great products at a good value along with some helpful information and encouragement along the parenting journey. In the end, our goal is to make a mom's life easier so she can focus on the most important part: her little ones.
The parenting community is unique in that it's built on a fundamental spirit of sharing and giving - whether it's ideas, recommendations, advice or hand-me-down clothes. The community is pay-it-forward at its best, which is why we created Stork Stack Gives Back. We developed Stork Stack to connect Moms with great products, but that only seemed to address half of the ecosystem. Every member of our founding team agreed that we needed to create more than just a bottom-line business if we wanted to consider ourselves "successful". Through Stork Stack Gives Back, with every subscription purchased, we donate Stacks to families in need on behalf of our members.
We are very excited to announce that Stork Stack Gives Back is partnering with two outstanding non-profits. Baby Buggy (babybuggy.org) was founded over ten years ago and has donated over 5.5 million items to families in need. We’ve admired them for years, and we’re thrilled to be working with them. We are also partnering with Operation Showers of Appreciation (osoamil.org), whose mission is to provide baby showers for expectant mothers whose families are going through difficult separation periods due to deployment. All parents deserve access to great products, but more importantly, all parents deserve to smile. And that is, quite simply, our mission with Stork Stack Gives Back: we ship smiles.
This company is truly Built in Chicago: The concept was conceived for the Booth SeedCon 2011 Fast Pitch Competition, Doejo created the front-end UI/UX, Mike Jones from Katten provides legal expertise, Mana Ionescu does magic with our social media, and Terri & I are from the Beverly area. We look forward to meeting everyone at the BIC Meetup at 1871 next week!
Terri, Liz, Chris, and Sean
Please visit us at: www.storkstack.com ll www.facebook.com/StorkStack ll www.twitter.com/StorkStack ll www.pinterest.com/StorkStack
