>> Narrator: Live from the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, it's theCUBE. Covering Magento Imagine 2018. Brought to you by Magento. >> Hey welcome back to theCUBE, our live coverage of Magento Imagine 2018. This is an awesome event, 3,000 attendees. I'm Lisa Martin with John Furrier, we're going to be here all day. We're really stoked to have our next guest Melissa Ben-Ishay who is the Chief Product Officer and President of Baked by Melissa. Cupcakes, I love them. Melissa, your drive and your passion during your keynote was electric. Welcome to theCUBE. >> Thank you, thank you so much for having me. So you have this awesome story that I think is going to inspire many, many, many more people than it probably already has. You were fired from a job about 10 years ago and it was the best thing ever because it led to the genesis of not only Baked by Melissa, but you following your passion and living your dreams. Tell us a little bit about that and how you turned this idea into a business and are using technology to reach hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. >> Sure, so I mean nobody wants to be fired and it definitely sucked when it happened, but I wasn't passionate about the work I was doing and that's ultimately why I was fired. I was not good at the job. And if I wasn't I would have never had the opportunity to start a company like Baked by Melissa and be so passionate about what I do everyday. So, I took that crappy day, I went home, I baked four batches of cupcakes, sent them into work with my best friend's little sister. An owner of a PR firm loved them, put me in touch with her caterer who brought me in for a tasting and I started doing events as Melissa of Baked by Melissa with this high-end caterer in Manhattan less than a week after I was fired from my job and what I've learned is that it's a certain attitude and mindset. It's not rocket science. If you see every challenge as an opportunity and you surround yourself with people who have skills that you don't and you work your butt off, then you can truly do anything. And the Baked by Melissa story, is just the perfect example of that. >> What about the founder's story, you really had to hustle you can tell by the keynote, being a founder myself, I know there's a rollercoaster of emotions. >> Lisa: Sure. >> But you kind of really got to get the nose to the grindstone, hit the pavement. Tell about the key moments in the founding because you really had to hustle it. >> Lisa: Yeah. >> I think that's really the key. >> Sure it is, and I knew that I had the opportunity to do what I love every day, so I was obsessed with cupcakes while I was working in advertising I would eat like two giant cupcakes a day because they were my favorite food. And I baked cupcakes, I baked my tie-dye cupcakes for everyone and anyone, if it was your birthday and I loved you, I baked you tie-dye cupcakes. It was a hobby. So, when I met this caterer for a tasting, I saw it as a great opportunity. One that would allow me to, potentially, do what I love every single day and I knew in my head like I remember like talking to myself, "Melissa, you have the chance to do what you love every day, you need to everything you possibly can to achieve this goal, because you cannot live a life of could have, would have, should have." >> John: What was the >> And that's me today. >> Melissa, what was the moment when you said, "Damn, I could do this, this is a business"? Was it, what was that moment? Talk about that moment. >> So we founded the company about 10 years ago. I'm just starting to feel like "Damn, I can do this." like we are in such a good place right now. We have such an unbelievable team of like-minded, hard-working, passionate people who get stuff done. And we can do anything. And we built this team and this foundation and just wait to see what's next. We're great. >> I love it. >> But it took a long time to really get that confidence. And by surrounding myself with people who love me and support me, they gave me confidence I needed when I didn't have it myself. >> So, 10 years later, nearly, you have 14 stores. You are available on your website, on Amazon, you're enabling people all over, at least the country, for sure to buy these cupcakes. I'm going to place an order later today, because I'm already, I love cupcakes too. >> Melissa: Thank you. >> So, tell us about, from a commerce standpoint, we're at Magento Imagine 2018. You guys have been using Magento for a few years now. How is this enabling you to reach, how did it, we'll say allow you to kind of connect your retail shops in the New York area with the greater country and those of us, you know, on the West Coast that can >> Sure. >> Now buy your products. >> We've really focused on our multi-channel distribution, and I think it's a great opportunity to touch multiple people at different points. Our goal is to keep the messaging very consistent, whether you walk into one of our retail locations and make a purchase over the counter or go to BakedbyMelissa.com and order it for shipping or even just interact with our social media pages. The consistency in messaging and brand is our top most priority. And then, you know, we have, we do, we have an unbelievable product. We have this great brand that I happen to be the face of and I love to represent. So we have this like winning kind of equation for a platform like Magento and just all the opportunity we have today, technologically to reach more people. And that's what's so exciting. As I'm walking around this area and seeing all of these new technologies and solutions and ways to get our messaging to more people, it's just so exciting. And my wheels are spinning, it's like, okay so now how can I use this new ability to do this to achieve our goal of selling 100 million in cupcakes in 2020? >> I mean the big question always is, is like the tech used to be really complicated now it's got to be easier. You don't want to spend your time thinking about what tech you got to buy. Really, I mean, >> Melissa: Sure it's again, >> You've been successful just by killing it on the product side. >> Totally and I thank God I have an unbelievable team of people and like my tech team are the people who oversee, the person who oversees our website is absolutely amazing. She is the definition of get shit done and always learning and I've learned through her at this conference. So, you know, putting people in the positions who are the best people for those roles so they can focus on their strengths and then I can, in turn, focus on my strengths. >> John: Yeah. >> And you know being somewhere like here allows me to think big picture about our technologies and Magento and what we can do more. >> Look, take a minute to talk about how many stores you have, where the locations are, the website, how people get in touch with you, locations. You say you ship around the country, just give a quick plug on what's going on with the site, the locations. >> Sure, well we have 14 retail location. We offer free pick up and free delivery in Manhattan at our store locations. We ship our product nationwide, a big chunk of our business is e-com and we're focusing on growing that business because it is a great opportunity to reach people where we don't have brick and mortar an we're going to continue to expand our retail footprint in the next year and a half. So, we're, it's very exciting. >> How do you ship cupcakes? I always, I just drive back from the store and my kids complain, "Dad, you shouldn't put them in the backseat" you know, "they tilted" or I mean, is there a packaging thing? I mean >> Melissa: Yeah, of course. >> We're very solution oriented and innovative at Baked by Melissa, we actually started started shipping our products in April of 2010, so at the time, we only had two retail locations >> John: Yeah. >> and we were shipping our product nationwide. What we did is we designed a, like a package, that keeps the product perfectly fresh >> John: Nice. >> and perfectly safe in transit and it allows us to get the same quality of product if not even better to people all across the country. >> So talk to us about social media. I was telling you over the weekend, I, when I found out I was going to talk to someone who makes cupcakes, I love cupcakes so much, I was so excited, I tweeted you and then on Instagram probably half an hour later saw some information from you guys. Talk to us, not only about how you're using social media to reach so many more people, but also the Side with Love Project and how that is taking storm in social media. >> So, Side with Love is a very, very special opportunity for us where we were touched by something our President said that wasn't positive and it did not represent who we are as a company and we, you know, kind of saw it as, you know, we needed to do something about it, I guess is the best way to say it, we weren't okay with what was happening and we decided that we wanted to do something to inspire people to do random acts of kindness for people. So we said, you know what, we're going to give away 150 thousand cupcakes, we're going to side with love and we're going to inspire people to send 25 cupcakes for free anywhere in the country to anyone they want completely on us. So, we did that, we partnered with Something Digital whose amazing and they were geniuses and said, "You should probably put a queue on your website so it doesn't crash, we did that, we had 60,000 people in line to purchase these cupcakes and it's who we are, Right? We saw something happening in the world and we responded. And we, we, we made life sweeter for a lot of people. And that's what we do in everything, we saw a challenge and we made it an opportunity to just show people who we are and show them that no matter what's happening in the White House or in the world, you are you, and you're responsible for who you are and you can do whatever you want. >> What's the one thing, or two things that you can talk about as in an entrepreneur journey that surprised you that you were like, "Wow, that really happened, we overcame it." There's always those moments that you have to break through glass or really fight hard or really overcome adversity? >> Yeah, absolutely, so I would say that the biggest thing I've learned is emotional control, and how important it is not to communicate when you're feeling emotional and when you have a crappy day, it's not the end of the world, you're going to wake up the following day and the sun will shine, like God willing, so far, so good. So, I had a lot of moments where I felt like the world was going to end and I was so upset I was in business with my family. Like, it wasn't easy, but I woke up the next day and I always had these conversations with my dad where he kind of enforced how important like pressure makes a diamond a diamond, right? So, having a lot of those experiences definitely gave me the strength that I have today to know that it's never the end of the world. That it's those challenging situations that make you who you are. They make you stronger and I also learned that it's not rocket science. It's a basic attitude towards life that helps you succeed in anything you do. Whether it's business or raising a family or whatever your goals are, be positive, see every challenge as an opportunity. Surround yourself with people who support you. Quality not quantity. The world is your oyster and you can do anything if you're willing to work at it. >> I hear a book deal coming. (laughing) >> So inspiring. So, >> Thank you. >> You mentioned a really big lofty goal. Can you repeat that again with the number? >> Our goal is to sell 100 million cupcakes in 2020. >> In 20, by 2020. So here we are 2018 in April, you're 14 stores. People can buy it through your website, through Amazon, your engaging through social media. You have this huge goal that is around the corner. What are you going to be doing the rest of the year, and this year to be setting the business up to achieve that? >> Well everything that we do, we go back to the is that in line with selling 100 million cupcakes in 2020, and that's kind of how we choose because focus is essential as you grow a company there are so many opportunities. How do you decide to focus on? Is that going to help us >> John: Yeah. >> to get to 100 million cupcakes? We're focusing on growing our e-commerce business and it's growing, and it's very exciting. We're focusing on our multi-channel distribution and making sure the brand is consistent and we're opening additional retail locations. That does affect our e-com. We're going to open in new markets and we're going to reach new people who have never heard of us before, and we're going to get there. >> John: Melissa, I'm so impressed with you. Thanks for coming on, but I want to ask you the brand question because you're the Chief Product Officer, you got to come up with the new ideas and you got to stay fresh >> Melissa: Sure. you know with the brand. You got great loyalty. As you look out, as the trends go by, never fight fashion, right, you're a great mission based company, great values. As you look at the next, you know, trends, what's going on in the cupcake world, I mean, what do you look for? I mean, you must worry, you don't want to be out dated, you don't want to be yesterday's old, long in the tooth, as they say, but you want to be fresh. You got the fresh cupcakes. What's the, what's the trend in the cupcake world? What are you seeing? >> I don't know. How's that for you? I really don't like to focus on trends. We're not a trend and I think we didn't get to where we are by trying to compare ourselves to others, that's who I am, right? And I am Melissa, so I know that it's my job to bring you the most delicious product. We have a variety of flavors that are always changing. Everything is hand-made by people who love the product as much as I do, who I trained. >> John: So you're making the trends. >> Yeah, and you know what, I'm just staying true >> John: You got to come up with the new ideas. >> To who we are. Oh, and I always am, that's what I love to do. That's what got us here in the first place. >> Alright, craziest cupcake you made? >> So we're Kosher Certified and I did make a bacon cupcake and it wasn't good and it didn't have bacon in it, but whatever, (laughter) I guess that was the craziest one. >> Awesome. >> Awesome, well trendsetter, definitely. You're very inspiring. >> Thank you. We want to thank you so much for taking time to stop by and share with us what you're doing and how you're leveraging e-commerce technology to do it. But also this passion and setting trends. Melissa Ben-Ishay we want to thank you for joining us. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> And for John Furrier, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE Live at Magento Imagine 2018. We're in Vegas, stick around John and I will be right back with our next guest after a short break. (tech music)

(upbeat music) >> Narrator: Live from the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas, it's theCUBE, covering Magento Imagine, 2018. Brought to you by Magento. >> Welcome back to theCUBE, I'm Lisa Martin. We've had a really informative day talking all things commerce, open commerce, and digital commerce innovation at Magento Imagine 2018. I'm joined by Amanda Batista, who is the head of content marketing for Magento. Amanda, thanks so much for all your help in coordinating this. We've had a really educational day with your folks, with your customers and partners. >> Yeah, we've had a really great community. It's been wonderful to have theCUBE here, and I'm so thrilled to be able to be here with you closing out the show. >> So this is the eighth Imagine event, There's over 3000 people here. You guys had some great speakers on stage today. I'm always very excited to see female leaders on stage. >> Absolutely. >> We talked about Baked by Melissa, she was our first guest today sharing her story. You've been growing this event year over year. What is it about #LeadingTheCharge, your hashtag and message for this event, that really differentiates this eighth event from the last several? >> Well #LeadingTheCharge is a really exciting message for us because ultimately we're focused on empowering merchants and developers and really allowing them to not worry about the technology component of things. Whatever you can dream, you can do on Magento. So, #LeadingTheCharge for us here today is really about bringing people together, making connections, and really thinking about, How do you use this community? How do you tap into all these resources? How do you see people that you haven't seen in a while? It's kind of our coming out party, our big coming together. You know, #LeadingTheCharge I think means different things for different folks, but I think for us we're really aiming to empower individuals to do the work that they do really well but also come together. So I actually heard a gentleman say that part of Leading the Charge for him is a matter of making connection. It's almost stepping out as a leader and allowing other people to come together. I think #LeadingTheCharge has been a really nice message for us today and I think our speakers have really brought that to life. >> I agree and with the sentiment that we've heard. Magento started reputation-wise, helping retailers to target the online shoppers and the experiences there. We talked with Peter Sheldon today about what you guys are doing in really formalizing how you're helping businesses, B2B organizations. There's so much opportunity that's really being driven by all of us as consumers and we have this expectation that we can get anything, anywhere, anytime. >> That's right. >> And have it delivered day or night. Amazon sets the bar really high. You guys had Amazon on main stage this morning talking about the fact that there's now 100 million Prime subscribers and how half of Amazon's revenue doesn't come from products they sell, this third-party marketplace just kicks open the doors of opportunity- >> Amanda: Right. >> for businesses from small to large alike. >> Yeah, I think it's really exciting, too, because, you know we can't all compete on price. We can't all be Amazon, but I think as we're really encouraging merchants to think about, What are you offering that's special? What are you doing from a content standpoint? Obviously, content is near and dear to me, that's my bread and butter and what I've been doing for a long time, but we really think about, what are we offering people that's value-add? Is it an added catalog, is it a manual? Is it something that helps you do your job better? Is it something that helps you go back to your organization and feel celebrated and feel excited?" I think when it comes to how we're empowering people, we're really focused on, from a content perspective, enabling you to, again, not really worry about the tech component, but think about how you can innovate your business. That's really important to us. >> Well, that's one of the things that Melissa Ben-Ishay, she's product officer at Baked by Melissa Cupcakes and how- >> Amanda: Sweet it is. >> I still want, it is, and I still want a cupcake. >> Amanda: Yes! >> It was very evident when we were talking with her that she gets, because of technology, that makes things simple for folks like herself, it allows her not to just grow the business, to open more stores, to reach hundreds of thousands of people, but to do so in a way that she doesn't have to worry about the technology. >> Amanda: Right, right. >> And that really- >> That's a great example, really, for us. I think when we look at who we're looking to enable, you know, Melissa started a business ten years ago, was let go from her job and said, Let me take a passion and bring it to life with business. They had e-commerce even before they had stores. They had e-commerce before they were up and running. I think using that as a linchpin, as a springboard to really bring her business to life, delivering a hundred cupcakes on foot on the New York City subway. I'm from New York, I ride the subway, I wouldn't want to do it with a hundred cupcakes, frankly, but these are the sort of bootstrap methods that she was enabled to do not worrying about that sort of tech component, right? She's bootstraps, she only had about five founders, five people around her with her business. Really great to hear from her and I don't see any cupcakes anywhere but I'm dying for one. >> Me too! >> Or five. >> We need to get some. One of the things that you mentioned, content, earlier, in being a content marketer, look at media as an example, with Netflix and Spotify and Amazon, and what's happened to traditional media. It's now that the way a service is delivered is as important as the content >> Absolutely. >> and what we've heard a lot from your customers that have been on the program today is they have the opportunity to deliver services in a responsive way, and in a way that's really personalized, which is really key, right? As consumers, we all want to have an experience that's tailored to us, and we've heard that as sort of an enabling capability that Magento is helping. We had a gentleman from Coca-Cola on, talking about the Share a Coke experience and how that started as a program in Australia. >> Amanda: Right. >> With one bottler, then went to Europe, then became something that was focused in store, and then the consumers are going, Hey, Coca-Cola, I can't find a bottle with my name on it. And it became this really big program for them, that they had to figure out, How do we do this in the U.S. with 70 bottlers? They needed technology that would allow them to identify and have this visibility of inventory, which you guys allow them to do, but to enable their customers to have an experience with a personalized bottle of Coca-Cola. >> Right. >> Amazing how the technology opens up doors like that, and allows these businesses, whether it's something as an establishment like Coca-Cola, or a Baked by Melissa, to be able to deliver this relevant, personal experience, at the touch of a button. It's Amazing. >> Well, listen, and it's non-negotiable, right? Think about your own experiences as a consumer. Who are you shopping with? I'm shopping with brands that understand me, that know what I need, that are offering value-add. You know, you might also revolutionize the way that we view our experiences, and we really don't have patience. Like you said, we have digital, everything is very quick, and I think the experience is the differentiator. We're really focused, again, on taking the technology out of your planning equation so that you can focus on what are you offering? What are you delivering? How are you delighting? That's a big, big area of opportunity and I think what you do to delight and engage and if you're using data intelligently, and not just the nitty gritty of data, but also simple things, the way that you welcome people via email, the way you engage on Instagram. There's a number of ways to do things that don't really require a lot of planning, a lot of cost, and so in our content efforts, we're really encouraging merchants to think about that. How do you do things in a sort of home-grown way without spending a lot of time or money? We have to be agile, we have to be quick as marketers, I certainly know that, that's the world I live in, and again, it's non-negotiable. I think as a consumer, if I don't feel that you understand me, if I don't feel that you're paying attention to the things that I'm buying or not buying, I'm going somewhere else. I'm going to go to a place that makes me feel as though I'm going to be fulfilled and delighted. I think delight is such an understated thing, but we're here at the Wynn which does a wonderful job with experience and everywhere you go it's so delightful and wonderful. >> Lisa: It is delightful! >> I came back to the room last night and my computer cord was just rattled up ever so gently, and I thought, That's delightful! You know, I Instagrammed that. That's a perfect example of providing experience that is superior. >> Speaking of experience, we just had the gentleman from the Accent Group on, Mark Teperson. It was so interesting how they've taken this company down in Australia and New Zealand, with multiple, many, many, many brands of footwear. And, you know, the online and the physical world have been merging in retail for a while now, but what they're wanting to do, to click and collect, and to create this in-store experience. It was such an interesting way of thinking about and hearing from a Chief Digital Officer say, We want to be able to enable people, especially mobile first, we're sitting on the couch with these things often, but to enable them to be able to come into my store and have an experience. That word is, we heard that referenced in many different times today, the Accent Group was a great example of that, as well as when we had your V.P. of Strategy on saying, A lot of cases depending on the, whether it's B2B or B2C, it's not mobile too, it's mobile only. It's not just leveraging technology and data and analytics to understand what I want as a consumer, but it's how I want to consume it. So it's what I was saying earlier about we're seeing this level playing field of how services are delivered, equally as important as the content that you're going to deliver to me. >> Yeah, absolutely. Again, non-negotiable, right? This idea of an omni-channel experience bridging the gaps between online and in-store, like you said, we're on the couch. I almost never shop on a computer any more, right? I'm mobile, we're enabled, we have PayPal, we our credit cards saved. I think to keep that momentum going, you want it to be a seamless experience. How many times have you gone online and found that an item is supposed to be available in the store. When you go, it's not there, right? I've even done due diligence as a savvy shopper who works in retail and says, Let me call the store and make sure it's there. There's really no margin for error there, because when we talk about experience, if you do go in store, and if you do take the initiative to make that purchase and take time out of your day, right, we're all busy people. I think mobile and digital has made it easy, especially Amazon Prime revolutionized that. (mimics beeping noise) Two days, it's on your doorstep. I think as we look to see who's sort of mimicking that experience, I think an easy way to do it, is simply put, have your systems connected, ensure that things are integrated, ensure that your inventory visibility is on point. It's a non-negotiable experience, really. >> Well, Amanda, we've had a blast at Magento Imagine 2018. Our first one, looking forward to being back next year. Thank you for putting together a great array of guests. I know we've learned a ton about this. I won't look at online shopping again the same. We want to thank you for helping us have a really enlightened and delightful conversation. >> And likewise, we've loved having theCUBE. You guys have been wonderful. I've learned a great deal and it's been really nice spending this time with you. So thanks for having me, Lisa. >> Absolutely. We hope you've had a delightful experience today with us on theCUBE. We've been live at Magento Imagine 2018. Check out theCUBE.net where you can find all the replays of the segments that we filmed today. You can also find the editorial components on SiliconANGLE.com. I'm Lisa Martin for theCUBE. We'll see you next time. (upbeat music)