The No Money Down Facebook Startup

For women juggling career and life, convenience is key – especially if you enjoy baking like Heavenly Cake Pops entrepreneur Jennifer Cucci.

She turned it into her business, and within eight months she had 4,000 orders for cake pops. Looking to speed up her one-woman manufacturing process, she invented the Easy Roller.

Cucci looked online to purchase a roller but, because cake pops were such a new treat, there was nothing available at the time. “I had to create everything on my own. There was nothing out there to even use as a guide,” she says.

Without a lump sum of savings or customers, she didn’t have the capital to begin production. So, Cucci started taking pre-orders through Facebook – which enabled her to start her business.

She advises other budding entrepreneurs to “try out all types of creative financing. You don’t have to take out a loan to start a business.”

Three years in, she still works on the occasional cake pop order and sells Easy Rollers to customers around the world.

“I didn’t think it would work out or that people would trust it enough to buy them,” Cucci tells PINK. “But they did.”

“Work hard and put in the hours, and just keep learning a little bit every day until you get there.”

Comment: Did you start a business with no money upfront? Tells us about it!

Bonus PINK Link: How one non-baking Hollywood mom jumped ship and became a cupcakery pioneer.

By Amber Paige Lee

“Never give up, for this is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” Harriet Beecher Stowe

Photo credit: Creativa