From our founder

In late 2019, I was shopping for client gifts in preparation for holiday. As you could probably guess, my #1 love language is receiving gifts. It’s important to me that my gifts are thoughtful, unique, and on time. Throughout the years, like many of us, I’ve become much more conscious about how I spend my money. So, on top of the qualities I just mentioned, I also try to find client gifts that give back. But…I’m also a marathon-running business owner with little kids. Time is tight.

After hours of searching online, I found a couple of products I thought could make good client gifts. Unfortunately, when the gifts arrived, it was clear they weren’t up to my quality standards. So, I did what any busy American would do, I gave into Amazon. It felt like defeat.

For weeks, the thought that other business owners, team leads, HR professionals, and client relationship managers might have a similar issue kept coming to mind. Don’t we all want unique, high-quality, thoughtful gifts for clients and employees? And the movement to be more conscious consumers was growing. Was there something here? I started to put together a very basic business plan.

A few months later, in March 2020, we all know what happened. The world, my business included, came to a sudden halt. I found myself with a team of highly talented people who had nothing to do. In the oddest conference call of all time, I asked my team of experiential marketing professionals if anyone wanted to split off and start a new mission-first marketplace. Half the team was immediately on board. It was a weird time, for sure.

At that point, we didn’t even have a name, and our overall concept was a little hazy. We were starting from complete scratch. We came up with a name which we felt told our consumers just about everything we stand for and why they should purchase from us in a just a couple of words: beCAUSE minded. We narrowed the scope from a marketplace, to gifts, to luxury branded corporate gift boxes. And then, we ran with it.

We spent a few months selecting products, building the website, and launching our social media channels. Then, in November 2020, we officially opened. We had no idea what to expect, but we knew we had many friends and family who were ready to support the new business. It felt good to have money coming in, even though it wasn’t covering our internal expenses.

We spent most of the next year planning for holiday. We knew people would be shopping for unique holiday gifts for employees and clients. So, we blogged, posted, pinned, and networked. It worked.

In October of 2021, we got a call from a client asking for information about bulk orders. Now, when someone asks about bulk orders, they could be interested in purchasing 6 gift boxes or 600. I didn’t get my hopes up. But as I spoke to this customer, she told me who she worked with and explained they wanted to purchase gifts for all their employees. Coolly, I asked how many employees they had. Her answer? 2,000!!! I went to my logistics manager, asking if we could even pull this off, and I loved her response, “Of course!”

That 2021 holiday season was a complete blur. The order took over 3 storage units, plus my entire house. When I say my entire house, I mean this in the most literal way possible. I broke down my desk and my guest bed to make room for floor-to-ceiling shelves to hold the products. For weeks, our family didn’t have access to the microwave or the TV. With boxes stacked on one side, the hallway was about 2 feet wide. It was wild. But, it proved that we could do big business, and filled our sails with hope for the future of beCAUSE minded.

Not every year has resulted in those kinds of wins, but securing that order in our first calendar year of business made us confident we picked the right lane. There are individuals who care deeply about how their dollars can be used to fund world change. And some of those people are in control of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of budgets for corporate gifts. With their support, we are able to accomplish our mission: funding world change through high-quality, meaningful corporate gifts.

We offer heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported beCAUSE minded along the way. Whether you ordered one box or one hundred, you are helping change the world with your choice. Thank you.