Laura Weiss C3 Alum
Founder, Go Box
Portland, OR

Below is recap of a conversation between Laura Weiss and Greg Lotakis.

Tells us a little on what you’ve been doing since graduating from BGI?

I can’t believe it’s been six years since graduation from BGI. I feel like a lot has happened since then. My husband and I quit our jobs and moved to Mexico for a year after graduation before returning back to Portland, where we currently live. I hired on with Aramark when we returned and in the Spring of 2009 the job ended  I spent some time tinkering with ideas of what to do next, and then I had the idea for GO Box in the Spring of 2010. That first year was focused on prototyping and tweaking the business model for what GO Box is today. In July 2011, GO Box was officially launched.

I didn’t go to BGI with the idea of starting my own business, but the idea was compelling and I decided to go for it. I’ve learned that you need to be as flexible as possible with a new business. I find that I need to pay attention to the details while also always  considering the big picture.

What/Who has supported you through the evolution of GO Box and how have you managed it all?

GO Box would simply not be possible without the BGI community. I’ve had a tremendous amount of help and support from a number of BGI alum and students here in Portland. I’ve been blessed to be able to call on the talent in our community, for marketing and strategy support, for proforma work and quickbooks help, and even just working through the general operation of an unusual business like GO Box.

I would not have been able to start GO Box without the education from BGI, especially since I don’t have a business background. .  Learning some of the basic business aspects were instrumental – what is a proforma, finance and accounting, marketing, and operations, just to name a few.  As you can imagine the learning continues trying to grow a business.

Recently, it seems GO Box has been getting considerable press – what has been the catalyst for this?

I think GO Box has gotten a lot of good press because it’s a new solution to a problem that affects all of us in our daily lives. We all want the convenience of take out food but a lot of people have told me how much they hate having to use a disposable container.  We worked with Pickathon last year to make it a waste-free event, and that gave GO Box a lot of attention. Since then, we have partnered with the Timbers to offer GO Box at Timbers games, and we were fortunate to have recently won a BEST Award from the city of Portland. The application opportunity came up for the BEST Awards and it seemed like a great fit for what GO Box is trying to achieve. Ultimately, the catalyst continues to be communicating the intent of what I am trying to achieve and getting out there and doing it.

GO Box Now has over 700 subscribers and we’ve eliminated the use of more than 5000 disposable containers since launching last July.

So where do things go from here and how do you keep your life balanced with all the work ahead?

From here it’s figuring out how to scale and continue to refine the model to make it financially sustainable. An example is realizing that the one-time subscription fee I started with is not financially feasible so now I’m working on changing the pricing model to an annual fee. It’s tricky when you’re working with a brand new business model with nothing to use as a benchmark.

Not to say that there are no similar businesses. I recently read an interview with the CEO of Zipcar in the Oregonian, and found some useful parallels in the business models of GO Box and Zipcar and was able to appreciate some of the points he was making. I feel I am also ready for a true business mentor. I am at that stage with GO Box that I feel it would really help me as I look to grow the business and make it financially sustainable.

As for balance, I am a true believer in work-life balance. While I may be thinking GO Box almost all of the time (ask my husband) I try to talk about it only part of the time. Most importantly I make sure that I always make time to walk the dogs, take a hike, and spend time with friends are just as important as helping people enjoy our food carts without the waste!