There are few things more satisfying than a rocket ship launch — hearing the rumbling of the shuttle, watching the engines burst with flame and feeling the reverberations as the rockets strains against gravity before finally bursting into the stratosphere. More than those sensations, though, a viewer might find themselves awestruck at the fact that a team of creative, ambitious, intelligent people can make something that seemed impossible less than a century ago into a reality today.
But it’s not just NASA that gets that rocket ship feeling — there’s a reason they call releasing a new product or service a “launch.” For the designers, marketers, salespeople and managers, sending their work out into the world can capture the same emotion.
Though it may not be rocket science, the teams at these companies are doing something incredible in their own field: Birdy Grey transforms the bridal market, Metagenics brings transparency to the supplement industry, HopSkipDrive increases access to schools, FIGS sells and donates affordable hospital scrubs, and NINJIO makes cybersecurity easier to understand through short educational videos. Built In LA sat down with employees from these organizations to learn more about their rocket ship moments.
The best part? All five companies are hiring now.
Birdy Grey is a woman-founded direct-to-consumer bridal startup. They offer affordable bridesmaid dresses and generally strive to make the wedding planning process more fun for the bride and bridesmaids involved.
In your opinion, what unique element of Birdy Grey’s culture or service makes it a rocketship that will ultimately blitz all its competition?
It’s really all about the people at Birdy Grey. We’re driven and hard-working, yes, but we’re also incredibly respectful of what each person brings to the table. At the same time, we’re given the freedom to explore and think outside the box — which is valuable at a startup. “This is how we’ve always done it” is never an excuse to turn down a new idea at Birdy Grey. While we’re hyper-focused on our expertise and vertical, that freedom allows us to be nimble and creative so we can pivot within an ever-changing landscape.
Because of this, Birdy Grey has been able to transform a very traditional bridal industry to better align and serve today’s customers. This includes everything from pricing and introducing new style, color and fabric options to the way we present our brand and connect with our customers at every touchpoint in their wedding journey.
This is how we’ve always done it’ is never an excuse to turn down a new idea at Birdy Grey.”
What’s the biggest rocket ship-fueling project that you’re currently working on, and what do you enjoy most about it?
We are working on transitioning our digital marketing program to a multi-touch attribution model. This stemmed from understanding that each marketing channel plays a different role in the customer journey and we need to properly credit each channel’s role in driving that final conversion. This has required many meticulous updates as well as technical changes and input from the developer and analytics team. While it might not be a shiny project on the outside, once we have gathered enough data and insights from the updates, it will completely change the way we evaluate our marketing program’s performance and how we optimize and allocate our budget.
In your opinion, what unique element of your NINJIO’s culture or product/service makes it a rocketship that will ultimately blitz all its competition?
NINJIO’s approach breaks the old mold of corporate training for cybersecurity awareness. We have developed an approach that uses real world cyber attacks as the basis for training, which is delivered monthly in four-minute episodes and reinforced throughout the month with related updates. The episodes are written, animated and performed by Hollywood professionals to add a dramatic effect that keeps employees engaged and learning about security risks and avoidance. As we continue to advance our unique product, we envision impacting the global business community in ways that prove employees can enjoy corporate training while learning, changing behavior and developing a safe cybersecurity culture for their businesses.
The beauty of the NINJIO approach is its relevance to how adults consume and learn content.”
What’s the biggest rocket ship-fueling project that you’re currently working on, and what do you enjoy most about it?
The beauty of the NINJIO approach is its relevance to how adults consume and learn content — in ways that actually change behavior and reduce risk for companies. We are in the process of adding technology and related analytics to this approach that will identify the emotional triggers that can make some employees susceptible to falling prey to bad-actor hacking techniques. In addition, we plan on linking that behavior to specific training which will adapt to ongoing employee behavior changes. All this while company leaders can see the results and progress for individuals and their companies. These capabilities will assist in defining the effectiveness of the culture change companies are seeking, and will definitely add fuel to what we’re working on at NINJIO!
Metagenics provides vitamins, minerals and health supplements to patients and practitioners. They prioritize transparency — something this industry often lacks — to ensure that customers have complete access to ingredients and testing information to make informed choices.
In your opinion, what unique element of Metagenics’ culture or product makes it a rocketship that will ultimately blitz all its competition?
We care about the health and wellness of every Metagenics customer — and we realize that providing an individual with minerals, vitamins and health supplements is just the start. At Metagenics, we enable healthcare providers with the tools and resources to have deeper health-related conversations with patients. Not all vitamins, minerals and supplements are created equal, so the TrueQuality promise at Metagenics gives individuals access to the testing information for every product we deliver. Each bottle and package of our supplements has a batch number that, when entered in our online system, provides the quality information for that specific product. On the digital product side, we’re pursuing innovative, customer-centric approaches to connecting patients to the right healthcare practitioners, using data to connect products to patients and building an amazing global e-commerce experience. We’re a dynamic group that loves to have fun and takes health seriously.
The opportunity to change patient lives through functional healthcare, technology and eCommerce is what makes product management at Metagenics so rewarding.”
What’s the biggest rocket ship-fueling project that you’re currently working on, and what do you enjoy most about it?
Metagenics has an incredible foundation in the health and wellness space. The biggest rocket ship-fueling project that I’m currently working on is bringing all Metagenics eCommerce under one umbrella. We’re a global company, but over the years each major geography evolved in unique ways. While this localized customer experience is great, it’s difficult to scale globally. To own the global customer eCommerce experience, we’re building a headless e-commerce platform that we can change, enhance and iterate as needed. This is an incredible opportunity to understand how to optimize the direct-to-consumer model within various geographic contexts. Additionally, we’re building an enhanced portal for healthcare providers while maintaining compliance with data laws and regulations in every geography. The opportunity to change patient lives through functional healthcare, technology and eCommerce, all on a global scale, is what makes working in product management at Metagenics so rewarding.
FIGS is a direct-to-consumer healthcare apparel and lifestyle brand, selling core scrubs in a variety of colors and fits. They have also donated scrubs to healthcare professionals around the world.
In your opinion, what unique element of your FIGS’ culture or product/service makes it a rocketship that will ultimately blitz all its competition?
There’s a willingness to try anything once and do things differently. We aren’t set in doing things the way they’ve always been done. People are encouraged to share new ideas at all levels.
That was by far the coolest part of the project — the chance to truly have an impact that lasts long term.”
What’s the coolest project you’ve worked on recently, and what did you enjoy most about it?
I recently had the opportunity to go to Kenya for 10 days as part of a medical service trip FIGS hosted, alongside a non-profit and several healthcare professionals. We were there to serve this community in rural Kenya and break ground on a new operating theater and ICU. That was by far the coolest part of the project — the chance to truly have an impact that lasts long term.
HopSkipDrive provides transportation for children to get them to school and after-school activities such as sports and music lessons. Parents can view the rides as they happen and get alerts about the child’s position to ensure their safety.
In your opinion, what unique element of your HopSkipDrive’s culture or product makes it a rocketship that will ultimately blitz all its competition?
HopSkipDrive’s mission is everything — it fuels the culture and keeps us laser-focused on improving our products and services. It’s our not-so-secret sauce that binds our team together and keeps us going.
A ride from HopSkipDrive can be the key factor that allows a child to show up to school alongside her peers.”
What’s the biggest rocket ship-fueling project that you’re currently working on, and what do you enjoy most about it?
We’ve been doing a lot of work recently to expand our services into new markets. I find this incredibly exciting because it means that more kids will get access to opportunity. Think about that — a ride from HopSkipDrive can be the key factor that allows a child to show up to school alongside her peers. It can be the key factor that allows a child to get to his piano lesson or soccer practice. Access is everything for a child — we can help make that happen for hundreds of thousands of kids across the country.
