Maman: Elisa Marshall

Elisa Marshall was 12 and running an eBay business out of Unionville, Ontario. She had asked for Spice Girl dolls for her birthday, listed a spare on eBay, and watched it go for $85. Her dad helped her work out why: Canada was a test market for the merchandise, so she could buy things that weren’t available in the U.S. anymore. She started buying up everything Spice Girls, from bubblegum to stickers to dollar-store rings she sold for $60 apiece, and checks were arriving in the mail before she was a teenager. After fashion school, she ended up with five jobs at once: fashion PR by day, a cupcake catering company, wedding planning, and interior design. On her second date with her now-husband Ben, a corporate lawyer who grew up in hospitality, she described the café she wanted: warm, homey, a space for events and brand collabs, in a city that was all industrial chic. Maman opened in SoHo in 2014, funded by their savings and money from family and friends, with parents painting walls and visiting friends sanding tables. Within the first week, Grub Street called their chocolate chip cookie the best in town. The lines wrapped around the block. In 2017, an editor from O Magazine tried the cookie and asked if they shipped nationwide. Elisa said yes, even though she had never shipped a cookie in her life, then recruited friends across the country to help figure it out. The cookie landed on Oprah’s Favorite Things list and took Maman national. They bootstrapped the first five locations. In 2020, right after wrapping a roadshow to raise outside money, the world shut down. Maman pushed into shipping, wrote its cookbook at home, and signed 14 leases while landlords were desperate. It has grown from five locations to 65. It’s now on Technomic’s Future 50 list, has a multi-year menu collaboration with Martha Stewart, and has a baby line. Elisa’s longer-term goal is a lifestyle brand that reaches into the home, with a Maison Maman hotel on the wish list. Make sure to check out Maman at: https://mamannyc.com/   Join us live at the Starting Small Summit 2027 on Wednesday, Feb 17, at the Everest-Rohrer Auditorium in Mishawaka, IN. The lineup is Charlie Clifford (TUMI, ROAM), Hap Klopp (The North Face), Shahab and Durana Elmi (Cymbiotika), and Chuck Surack (Sweetwater). Get tickets here: https://startingsmallmedia.org/startingsmallsummit   Check out my new book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4kRKGTX Watch our mini-doc - Starting Small: The Raw Truth Behind Entrepreneurship and the American Dream: https://youtu.be/eHuq93wIxs0?si=eDB-ycngvWNapRLO   Visit Starting Small Media: https://startingsmallmedia.org/ Subscribe to exclusive Starting Small emails: https://startingsmallmedia.org/newsletter-signup Follow Starting Small: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startingsmallpod/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Startingsmallpod/?modal=admin_todo_tour LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/cameronnagle   This episode is brought to you by Ergobaby. Those first weeks with a newborn go by fast, and you don't want to spend them waiting for your baby to grow into their gear. Get yours athttps://ergobaby.com/en-us, and use code ERGOPOD15 to save 15% at checkout.