John Tabis is the founder and chairman of the Bouqs company, which offers a variety of flowers for a flat rate of $40. John had one assistant, Juan Pablo, who helped him run the company during the pre-seed period. Currently, Juan is the chief floral officer.
Before the company started, John had a working background and an outstanding education. He worked for Disney and attained an MBA from UCLA. Also, Juan Pablo was a flower farmer.
After he recognized how it was to get flowers from online shops, he was inspired to start Bouqs. The struggle and messy of online flower retail made him find a solution. Juan Pablo, who grew up on a flower farm, was willing to offer an item that will care for the farmers.
My partner Juan Pablo and I started Bouqs in November 2012, in West LA, California. We took flowers directly from the farmers, avoiding all the brokers and the middleman. Using this plan, the farmers receive payment for their products, while the company sells the flowers at affordable prices. Also, the company has a way out that is eco-friendly, which makes sure that the flowers are not wasted. The company makes sure that the flowers are only cut off only after a customer makes an order. The flowers are delivered to the clients when they are still fresh. With this, no cash is charged for refrigeration.
Selling flowers online is a hard business since it has many conventional competitors. However, the little secret to the success that is behind our company Bouqs is the corporation between my longtime friend Juan Pablo, an advanced flower farmer, and I. We played in a band together in college where I sang, and my friend played the guitar. Then we became business partners again.
The company concentrates on forming a connection from the farmer to the consumer. Bouqs has its technology right at the farms to avoid the middle layers business. The company works like this; when one places an order, the order is routed to a farm network around the whole world. When the order is received by one of the farmers, he will then cut, prep, pack, and deliver the flowers to the person who ordered the flower. The flowers are only cut after an order is made to ensure they are delivered while still fresh.
To a young John Tabis, one can fail in business, and that’s okay since failure is a part of the journey, which often happens. You just have to stand strong and get used to the problem. Learn from it instead of giving it a chance to drag you down. With that, you will make a way to prosperity. Some failures I have come across are: being rejected on “Shark Tank,” almost getting bankrupt like two times, and being rejected by more than 100 vice counselors in the early days of the company.
Also, the company has once failed to deliver flowers on mother’s day to almost 1,000 women. Every time I had a failure, I thought that the company would not make it, but I learned that one should digest new tricks from the mistake over time.
Currently, I am the chairman of the Bouqs company. To add to that, I am a coveted speaker on brand startups and plans, and I act as a mentor to early-stage startups at the blue-chip accelerators TechStar and Amplify. In addition, I’m a member of the board in the National Association of women business owners in LA, and I am the host of the “Give’m the Biz” podcast.
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