BapronBaby is an online toddler mealtime brand. Its flagship product, the “Bapron,” is a bib-apron hybrid designed for kids who hate traditional bibs and need full coverage for messes and spills. It started out as a product that solved a unique problem. “My tornado child created quite a mess at mealtime, but refused anything that tied around his neck (bowties, bibs, etc.), and it was stressing me out,” relates owner and founder Kelsey Larsen. She designed a solution: something that fit like a traditional shirt and tied in the back around his body. “This would allow him to explore his food on his own terms without me hovering over him and worrying about his white shirt getting stains.”
With a very small budget to start, Larsen worked to grow a following organically. “We utilized free platforms like Instagram and Facebook and spent a lot of Saturdays at local boutique events standing at a booth of Baprons,” she says. She also networked online with brands she looked up to by including their items in BapronBaby posts and sending requests for collaborative giveaways and photoshoots, and sold on Etsy and through the “Handmade at Amazon” platform. “Being able to say we were sold on Amazon lent a great deal of credibility to our operation,” she says. “I believe we were able to sidestep a lot of credibility concerns by selling on Amazon’s platform.”
Larsen credits a statement by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of our product, you’ve launched too late,” for giving her the confidence to promote a less-than-perfect presentation of BabronBaby products while she “worked out the kinks.” For instance, Larsen packaged the Baprons for nearly a year using curling ribbon and printing on cardstock using a $50 inkjet printer in her home.
“By partnering with experts in the mealtime field and never being afraid of being told ‘no,’ we were able to gain authentic support from influencers and other brand owners who have established reputations in the toddler mealtime category. I’m so proud to say that BapronBaby is a 100% debt-free company that is built on authentic values and relationships,” Larsen says.
Photo courtesy of BapronBaby
