Priyanka Rao has received plenty of coverage for her customisable furniture solution, Evolvex; getting write-ups in publications as diverse as The Thousands, Sydney Morning Herald, and even WIRED. A background in marketing and PR has helped get the pitch right, but she puts her success in getting the word out down to hard work and targeting the right channels.
“Evolvex launched in November 2011 and it’s been sort of steady growth since,” said Rao.
“We have an interesting model and that has helped access a lot of press. It’s now at the point where we are discussing affiliate opportunities overseas; where local manufacturers could use our platform.”
Wondering how to get that article? Rao says she’s used the method of targeting journalists she thinks might be interested.
“With WIRED the writer had written a story about something similar… I emailed the writer and it worked. You can’t spam news desks.”
Evolvex co-founder Priyanka Rao (photo: Evolvex)
Rao says the idea for Evolvex came about while looking for furniture. Beta testing prior to the launch and market research helped shape the product, as did research purchased from groups like IBISworld, focussing particularly on the furniture market. Advisers and mentors have also helped get the business model right.
“If you want an adviser you need to start a conversation and just ask for what you want.”
“I’ve got three advisers I personally refer to; Jack Delosa from The Entourage, Andrew Morello of Yellow Brick Road and Frank Choy, a CFO for hire.”
While initial funding for Evolvex came from Luxmy, Rao plans to launch an investment round soon which will allow her to “renovate” the digital platform. She also says it’s time to start looking at bringing on a tech adviser or potential co-founder.
Until now, Rao has been the only full-timer working on at Evolvex. She says tools like O-Desk and Virtual Coworker have been useful for everything from finding people to do everything from data-entry through to cold-calling.
“It’s really important for entrepreneurs to get used to delegating tasks. With the design of the business, you need to make it so every process can be written down so any new member can pick it up. If you do that, it’s quite easy to scale up online.”