Former KC startup Storenvy nabs $1.5 million – interview with CEO

(Left: Storenvy CEO Jon Crawford) It’s been a great winter on the Silicon Prairie for companies receiving funding. Now, with news from last week, we can add a former Prairie-based startup to that list, as well. The social commerce community Storenvy, which got its start in Kansas City in 2008, just secured $1.5 million in…

It’s been a great winter on the Silicon Prairie for companies receiving funding. Now, with news from last week, we can add a former Prairie-based startup to that list, as well. The social commerce community Storenvy, which got its start in Kansas City in 2008, just secured $1.5 million in seed funding.

Their website states, “Storenvy is a social marketplace for discovering awesome stuff from real people,” and it seems that real people are discovering this awesome stuff. According to the January 27th TechCrunch article covering Storenvy’s funding, the social store website now has over 60,000 community shoppers visit more than the 2,800 community-run stores.

The round of funding comes with more than just $1.5 million. Storenvy’s list of investors includes big players Spark Capital and First Round Capital, but also angel investors such as David Cohen, founder of TechStars, John Maloney, president of Tumblr, and David Hauser, co-founder of Grasshopper. These advisors will prove to be great resources for Storenvy to become the premiere location for social e-commerce.

I originally met Storenvy co-founder and CEO Jon Crawford at South by Southwest Interactive 2009. After getting to know Crawford more at Big Omaha last year, I emailed him to ask a few questions about his big announcement.

Silicon Prairie News: In its short life span, Storenvy has experienced quite an evolution, how does it feel to have secured this round of seed funding?

Jon Crawford: It feels great! I’ve obviously always believed in the concepts behind Storenvy, but it’s incredibly validating to have seasoned entrepreneurs like our investors partner with us to achieve our goals. With the right investors, you get a lot more than money (experience, wisdom, network, and more) and I’m already taking full advantage.

We’re working with many of the people behind Tumblr, Twitter, Groupon and more. The potential energy is pretty amazing.

(Photo from storenvy.com/about/team)

TechCrunch notes that you’re looking to build your core team, how will this funding change Storenvy?

Crawford: Until this point, the Storenvy team has been very small and I’ve done all of the programming myself. With only one coder, we haven’t been able to roll out features nearly as fast as we’d like to. Our community has been beating down our door for certain features, plus we have some never-been-done features of the product that we plan to build. This financing round will let us hire a talented team of developers and designers to crank things up to 11 and start rapidly building out features to make our users happy and build a social e-commerce powerhouse.

Storenvy’s round of funding includes some impressive names and list of advisors. How will they aid in Storenvy’s growth?

Crawford: Investors are basically employees that pay you. We email or have coffee and discuss all kinds of stuff – everything from hiring to strategy to which accounting firm to use. It’s like I have a small army of really smart advisors now.

What should we expect for the future of e-commerce and where does Storenvy fit into that future?

Crawford: I certainly can’t read the future, but I can tell you what I’m striving for. Everything’s got to get a lot easier for everyone. Until now, e-commerce has been one of the highest friction things on the web – both buying and selling. E-commerce needs to be accessible, social and free. That’s why we think of ourselves as the “Tumblr of e-commerce.” They’ve done a fantastic job of simplifying, stylizing, and socializing something that had been around for a long time and we’re attempting to do the same.

Storenvy’s roots are from Kansas City and the Silicon Prairie, does this factor in the DNA of the company today?

Crawford: Absolutely. You don’t see a lot of companies out here in Silicon Valley targeting indie businesses or marketing to the long tail. Storenvy is all about these guys. We care about helping small biz and prefer small business over big business every day of the week. I think that comes from our Midwest roots.

Will we see the Storenvy gang at Big Omaha 2011?

Crawford: I sure hope so! You guys still looking for a keynote speaker? 😉

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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