Georgian grad slays Dragons with perfect pitch
Aug. 22, 2018
After watching his fellow Georgian students infuse their water in ways that seemed inefficient, Jesse Hambly designed a water bottle with his younger brother Luke that squeezes in fresh fruit with an easy twist of the lid.
He and Luke launched their company Pressa Inc. in 2015 and worked exclusively on the design. Their youngest brother Mason joined them soon after, making it a family affair.
Armed with the knowledge and experience he gained in Georgian’s Advertising and Marketing Communications and Business – Marketing programs, Jesse established manufacturing connections in China, completed a successful Kickstarter campaign and quickly broke into the retail industry by selling the bottle online at pressabottle.com.
We recently caught up with him about how business is going and what life’s been like since graduation.
Did you always want to start a business? My brothers and I talked about doing a consumer product for a long time and this was the idea we decided to begin with. It seemed the most cost-efficient to get off the ground.
Could you sense early on if Pressa would be a hit? In the first three months, we sold 3,000 bottles. In theory, infused water was a great idea. But after testing a bunch of bottles out, we knew we could take it to the next level. To date, we’ve sold 100,000 units.
Has anything helped fuel your success? In January, we pitched Pressa on CBC’s Dragons’ Den in the hopes of securing a business investment and partnership. We had four different offers — it was incredible and has proven to be great exposure for us in the Canadian market.
What was it like pitching to the Dragons? I thought it would be much more stressful and challenging. We made sure we had a good grasp on all the numbers for our business and I think this really helped.
Which offer did you go with? We accepted Jim Treliving’s offer. Jim has been a successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor for over 40 years. It’s refreshing to have someone with such amazing experience take a look at your business and offer insight.
How has your business grown since? We’re now entering some larger department stores in the U.S., such as Francesca’s, Dillards and Home Depot. These partnerships have taken almost a year to get off the ground and we’re excited they’re finally happening.
We continue to travel to trade shows throughout the U.S. looking for new trading partners but have recently expanded into Switzerland. Europe has also recently banned disposable water bottles so this has opened up a market opportunity for us. We’re seeing great results there so far and are in communications with one of the largest Swiss retailers, Betty Bossi.
Is there a particular market you hope to get into in the future? We like to say that we’re open to working with anyone as long as they fit with our brand and core beliefs. We do the primary part of our business in the U.S. but have been able to expand to areas like Japan and South Korea.
What does a typical day look like for you? It starts off with emails to make sure I have all tasks in motion. We’re currently working with various retailers, preparing orders. We’ve been focusing a lot of our time on the manufacturing and logistics involved in shipping all product to the U.S. Customer service is always peppered in throughout the day. We use a lot of apps that allow us to be in contact with our customers any time we’re awake.
Have you honed the design of the bottle at all? Yes. We built the product from a 3D printed model when we started and quickly learned the limitations that a production mold has versus a 3D printer.
Did you ever imagine you’d be where you are today? We always wanted to push ourselves and move forward with whatever business we chose — so I think I saw myself here. What I think about more is if I’m moving fast enough and in the right direction.
Has Georgian played a role in your success? Georgian taught me a lot of the terminology and general etiquette used within some of the industries that we deal with. I also gained pitching and communication skills. I particularly enjoyed learning about the psychology behind making a sale in the Personal Selling course.
What advice might you give a new Georgian student? Cultivate a strong work ethic while in college. This will prevent you from playing catch up once you enter the workforce. Self-motivation is a skill. And do something a little outside your comfort zone.
Any suggestions for aspiring entrepreneurs? Online sales open up a huge opportunity and reduce the barrier to entry. I wish I had focused harder on things like Facebook marketing and how to relate it all to the digital marketing funnel. It might seem easy to drive traffic to a site and cash in but there’s so much more to it.
What one skill do you think is important for today’s graduate to have? Become a smart digital marketer. You’ll be able to create value for yourself or any employer.
Want to start or grow a business? Visit Georgian’s Henry Bernick Entrepreneurship Centre.