Eloise Bune is the founder of Gracious Eloise, a social software company whose patent-pending QuillTech™ handwriting replication software will power new forms of social expression for individuals and businesses.

Eloise talks about the Gracious Eloise, how the idea for a software company came to her as a then owner of an interior design firm, the pain and agony of the (angel) fund raising process, and her highest-highs and lowest-lows as an entrepreneur. She also gives some great advice how you can avoid some of that pain.

Sean:  So we’re here with Eloise Bune of Gracious Eloise. Tell us a little bit about you.  And what  is Gracious Eloise?

Eloise:  Gracious Eloise is an idea that I came up with about two and a half years ago. As I was writing my wedding thank you notes I realized that there just had to be a better way to write these notes. And I really wanted to do it in my handwriting online. And as I looked online to try to find some handwriting replication software, I realized what was out there wasn’t very strong. So, I set out to write a really great piece of software.  So, what Gracious Eloise does is it’s a technology company  that allows — with a technology call QuillTech — which allows people to fill out a handwriting sample and we run it through our software and it looks exactly like your handwriting when online or when printed.  And so, that hasn’t been done.  It really mimics all the nuances of your handwriting. So with that, it has a couple of different applications. So the first one is going to be the corporate market that we go after. So there’s the luxury market, for instance, writes thank you notes after every purchase. So instead of, you know, employees sitting down and writing these notes, they’re going to use our technology to be able to do that.

Sean: So is this a Neiman Marcus or Bergdorf Goodman…

Eloise:  It’s a high-end…

Sean: …high-end retail?

Eloise: …High-end retail.

Sean: Got it.

Eloise: Absolutely.

Sean: Got it.

Eloise: So…

Sean: And there’s multiple applications?

Eloise: So, yeah, there’s multiple applications. The luxury market is what we’re going to tap first, just  because that’s where my contacts lie. But obviously the bridal market is enormous.  That’s a, you know, a 55 billion dollar market in this country. So I think the plan is to go for that next.

Sean: Yep. So you’re  in the process now, you’ve developed the software. You’ve raised some angel money and are in the process of raising more.

Eloise: Yep.

Sean: How’s that going?

Eloise: It’s good. It’s been a rough year. Fundraising has not been easy, but I have raised 65 thousand, five hundred dollars to date.  I’m looking to get to 250 thousand. I think I’m going to do that in the next two weeks. I hope to close on that money.

Sean: This is the second tranche. You raised a half a million previously, right?

Eloise: I did. I raised a half a million two years ago. That allowed me to build the software and spend some money on branding. I don’t recommend spending money on branding — completely waste of money.  And just don’t rent an office space until you have your product ready, 100 percent — wasted some money there, too.  But, anyway, lessons learned.

Sean: Was there any big surprises along the way in terms of, you know,  raising the money or building the product?

Eloise: Things just take longer than you expect them to.  You know, you set a timeline, you have a bunch of money, you think is it’s going to last you X amount of time. Things go, you know,  off track, so you’ve  really got to bootstrap it.

Sean: I think the rule of thumb is “twice as much, three times as long?”

Eloise: Yeah.

Sean: Wait… “twice as…” I don’t know. One way or the other, yeah, it always takes longer.

Eloise: … takes longer.

Sean: It’s always more expensive than you thought it was going to be.

Eloise: Yeah. So my only advice would be just  ”bootstrap it, bootstrap it, bootstrap it.”

Sean: So you’ve been at it for two years?

Eloise: Two years full-time.

Sean: So there’s lots of highs and lows in those  two years.

Eloise: Yeah.

Sean:  What’s the lowest low, and we’ll end with the highest high so that you come out of here on a high note. Lowest low?…

Eloise: Lowest low is… Oh. I don’t know if I’ve had a really low, low.

Sean: Ohhh (giggles)…

Eloise: This past six months of fundraising has been brutal. I’ve had so many doors closed in my face, and I never, you know I had a product, so I just never anticipated it to take so long. So, you know, “No. No. No.”  day in and day out is just brutal on your self esteem.

Sean: Yeah.

Eloise: So that for me has just been an amazing learning experience, extremely humbling.  So that to me has been low.

Sean: So it wasn’t like a big thud, I guess, an event that was a low, low. It was more like collective…

Eloise: … the collective…

Sean: …just collective grind of it, you know, right?

Eloise: The grind. Just everyday waking up and knowing you’ve got to get out there and ask people for money, and just finding the strength  within you to keep going at it, keep going at it.

Sean: Yeah.

Eloise: That, for me, personally,  is the hardest part.

Sean: And your best day in the last two years. Your highest high or absolute best day.

Eloise: When a very, very  large client said that they wanted to come on and start using Gracious Eloise. I can’t reveal the name here today, but an enormously famous brand.

Sean: Validates the product…[inaudible], right?

Eloise: Validates the product, yeah.

Sean: So if you had an audience, which you do, of a bunch of other people like you, what would the, I don’t know, the one piece of advice that you  learned over the past  two years that you would want someone not to have to relearn?

Eloise: First of all, I think if you have a good idea, I think, you know, test your friends, test the market, make sure that, you know, it resonates well with people, and if it does, then go for it. You know, really, don’t quit your job, don’t quit your day-job.

Sean: (laughs)

Eloise: That would be one thing:  I quit my day-job too early.

Sean: Yeah.

Eloise: But go for it. Really, really go for it. What was the second part of your question?

Sean: Just, you know,  the one piece of advice that you would give, which I think was…that’s a good one. You know, if you’ve got an idea, go for it and maybe test it out at nights and weekends before you, before you start to…

Eloise: Yeah, I would definitely recommend that. Test it out before you really commit to it full-time.

Sean: And your background, you’re not … Well I would say you’re not the typical entrepreneur, but maybe there isn’t a typical entrepreneur, but you’re not from the startup space, you’re not necessarily from the technology space.

Eloise: No.

Sean: What is your background?

Eloise: My background is…I was an interior designer. I had a firm here in the city, and that went extremely well. But, I had, you know, no prior experience in technology whatsoever, and all about interior design, and I had my Master’s [degree] in fine art.

Sean: Yep.

Eloise: So that’s what I know about. I know paintings. I know furniture. I do not know technology, but I…

Sean: …So would you have or, you know, assuming you were still in the interior design business, would you use this product to….?

Eloise: Absolutely.

Sean: … to [inaudible] your customers?

Eloise: Absolutely.

Sean: So you’re selling the dog food and eating it, too?

Eloise: Exactly. Exactly.

Sean: That’s great. Well always, good luck and thank you for being here today.

Eloise: Thank you for having me.

Sean: See. That was easy.

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