From boxes mimicking an airline bassinet to Shark Tank, This Woman Can chats with Emma Lovell, the founder of Fly Babee.
You designed Fly Babee (now CoziGo) byourself – can you take us through the process?
The initial prototype of Fly Babee would make you laugh! I asked my hubby to make a box the size of an average airline bassinet. Then I went to Spotlight and Bunnings… the prototype was made up of plumbers tubing, black fabric and double sided sticky tape as I can’t sew to save myself. It was the ugliest thing ever, but it gave me something to photograph so I could start liaising with potential manufacturers. The first manufactured prototype was 80% there the first time. It took a further 18 months to nail the other 20%.
There were plenty of challenges and way too many to mention. The biggest setback was my first production run was a disaster and I was unable to sell them. At the time, I was heartbroken – but what doesn’t break you, makes your stronger!
In 2015, you appeared on Channel Ten’s Shark Tank here in Australia. What was that like and how did you prepare?
It was one of the most overwhelming experiences I’ve ever been through. You get to see around 10 minutes on TV, but we’re in that room being grilled by the sharks for well over an hour. You have to be so prepared. Luckily, I have some TV experience so the cameras didn’t daunt me, I know my product back to front so the spiel didn’t daunt me either. The questions came through thick and fast and it was hard to prepare for that. Also, we were involved in Series 1, so we had no prior episodes to watch and learn from.
It was all so worth it, because the experience gained me a mentor that I would never have imagined in my wildest dreams. To have Janine Allis of Boost Juice believe in my dreams was a massive boost to my confidence.
