It’s a challenge every fashionista faces daily, in cluttered drawers and cramped cabinets: the struggle to contain unruly nail polish. Now, thanks to longtime friends and Wentworth classmates Stephanie Nannariello, BIND ’14, and Deborah Massaro, BARC ’14, a new product may soon make this worry a thing of the past.
This startup story began in Rockland County, N.Y., where Nannariello and Massaro grew up, friends since first grade. In high school, they found themselves in a technology class that required a capstone project. Stumped for ideas, they combined their admitted affinity for nail polish (and the out-of-control stash each possessed) with Nannariello’s longtime love of castles into a PVC-tubing organizer for the cosmetic.
The duo took their creations to the dorms at Wentworth, where the towers soon became an object of envy for their new roommates. “It started out as a fun project,” Massaro says. “But people really liked it.”
Roommates weren’t the only admirers. Massaro and Nannariello pitched their idea to judges at Accelerate, Wentworth’s innovation and entrepreneurship center, where the product was a big hit. The experience was a key turning point in their venture—which they dubbed Simply Stored—and in the budding entrepreneurs’ careers.
Stephanie Nannariello, BIND ’14 (L) and Deborah Massara, BARC ’14.
“I thought, ‘Are we really making a business here?’” Massaro remembers. Accelerate advisers helped them fine-tune their pitch and refine their design. The castle eventually evolved into an oversize nail-polish bottle shaped canister that rotates to give access to the various polishes inside, and is translucent to display the range of colors now at your fingertips.
“I don’t think anything would have come from it if Accelerate didn’t exist,” Nannariello explains. “They really loved the idea and thought it would be a great idea to push to market. Without them, it would’ve just been a fun hobby.”
Through Accelerate, the team was awarded initial funding to get the new business off the ground. More important, Accelerate put the pair in touch with experts in such areas as provisional patents and market research. For two students who hadn’t had much business coursework, the connections were invaluable.
“Just being part of the program has made us aware of the realities of business,” says Nannariello. “It’s not a walk in the park. You have to be passionate about it.”
Now, they’re hoping that passion is contagious. They entered their design into a state-of-the-art 3D modeling program, and produced a model that will eventually be used to create rubber molds for more affordable manufacturing. They’ve even received some feedback pointing them toward a retail use for the product, as a cosmetics display at boutiques, pharmacies or department stores. But without a history of sales, most merchandisers are hesitant to give them much backing. So they’re taking their project to Kickstarter, the popular online crowdsourcing platform, with a goal of raising $90,000 to cover tooling and a first run of Simply Stored towers.
“If we are successful in the campaign, that would be awesome, because it would show the interest is real,” says Massaro. “If not, maybe we’ll try and find an investor and sell them on our own.”
The team has had a lot to think about over the past few months—besides Simply Stored, they both graduated and are contemplating careers.
“I would love to continue it until it got to the shelves,” Massaro adds. “I don’t know if that will ever happen.”
Either way, they’re proud they’ve created an elegant solution to a common problem.
“I just love that we’ve found something that improves the daily ritual,” says Nannariello. “Something that makes life easier.”
-Sean J. Kerrigan
