Liza Kate Mirelman, co-founder of Postboxed, explains why the business should win the Startup of the Year category of the Guardian Small Business Showcase competition:
Postboxed is an online gift shop with a difference. Not only are all of our items letterbox-friendly, they are also delivered gift-wrapped with customisable gift cards, on dates chosen by the buyers.
Launched in 2015, we founded Postboxed after getting tired of repeatedly travelling to our local delivery office to collect parcels. If you just want to give friends and family a gift, why should it come with the onus of either annoying a neighbour, standing in a queue or even searching your garden? And while we think using drones or robots to deliver parcels is all well and good in the future, we believe that today, there is only one way of ensuring your gift definitely makes it to a recipient’s hallway: make sure it’s a Postboxed gift.
Our first PR campaign was a huge success after we released statistics and information on missed Christmas deliveries and post office closures to the press. We were a small business, with just two employees still working from home, and found ourselves interviewed by some of the top national newspapers, as well as numerous business websites and blogs (without the need for sending out freebies).
We still work from home, but things have changed. We have left our previous jobs and moved into a bigger flat. Luckily, because all our gifts are letterbox-friendly, they are small and don’t take too much room. From one to two orders a day at the beginning, we are now selling at least 10.
All entries which meet the competition criteria are published and our judging panel select a shortlist of the top three for each category. Winners are announced at an awards ceremony in summer 2016.
