Rupal Asodaria founded her business, NursElet, in 2015, to address a problem she had faced herself when nursing her children. Just like every mother, Rupal used to hold her shirt with her armpit, neck and chin when she was nursing — until she slowly started developing back pain and neck strain. When there was no solution to solve her problem, she got an the idea for NursElet Nursing Bracelet. After getting positive feedback from several moms, local lactation consultants, and pediatricians, she patented her invention.
Rupal was referred to Pacific Community Ventures through a Bay Area small business support group, The Alliance Group. Rupal was very excited to work with our program and did quite a bit of research before she started. That preparation shone through in our interview, and she came prepared with some specific trouble areas a mentor could help with. Rupal had a strong handle on the aspects of her business related to the NursElet product, but needed help with international distribution, working with medical facilities from a legal context, and positioning her products to government agencies.
With Rupal’s business needs in mind, the Business Advising team paired her with Alex King, Esq. a Small Business & Startup Attorney at Bend Law Group. Alex is a veteran mentor in the program, having had 5 previous successful partnerships! In the 2 week check-in for their partnership, Rupal had already shared information regarding grants with Alex and the pair were working on identifying the process to classify as a certified woman-owned business.
During this time, our team identified an opportunity to highlight the NursElet product in the 2019 East Bay Innovation Awards, which sought the most innovative companies in the East Bay. Though NursElet wasn’t able to take home the award, the business will be mentioned in the San Francisco Business Times’ 2019 East Bay Innovation Awards special insert, which will be released after the awards ceremony on March 28, 2019. Overall, a great way to gain exposure in the East Bay area!
Ultimately, Rupal and Alex were able to make great strides towards NursElet’s goals for mentorship. Alex helped Rupal to better understand what contracts needed to be in place when working with distributors, which led her to get in touch with an expert who shared additional insights. NursElet had international orders after that, sending garments to wholesaler’s locally in Australia and New Zealand who sold the product there. With these successes, NursElet gained confidence in their global outreach. They sell in 30 countries now!
Rupal’s tenacity, dedication to her product, and diligence all contributed to her success, and also to be able to give back to other small businesses. That is something we love to see, and the Business Advising team is grateful to have been a part of this success!
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