Msnbc your business is sponsored by American Express. Dont do business without it. Your business is sponsored by American Express. Dont do business without it. Hi there, everyone. Im j. J. Ramberg. Welcome to your business, the show dedicated to helping your growing business. There are all kinds of Ways Companies can expand from local to becoming a national brand. One of those ways is through partnerships. We headed to chicago to find how food related companies joined together to help them both grow. Start in new england. We are here in chicago, as well, with plans to move to new york city and d. C. baltimore. A man of action. Hes cofounder of 4yearold boston based lean box. A data driven vending machine for fresh food. Thank you for your purchase. He has big dreams, dreams that expand beyond boston. Our goal is to have lean box in every city in the United States and to change the way the American Work force eats. We have great ambitions to scale the company past two cities. Nancy sharp is the founder and owner of foot for thought, a multimillion dollar midwest catering company. Recently, they formed a partnership called lean box great links, the first step toward making lean box a national brand. Its always nerveracking, letting your brand into the hands of someone else. I cant think of anyone else i could trust more than here in chicago. We are going hit a home run here and go to the next market and the next. Reporter they are building relationships marrying carriers to the lean Box Technology system. The way it is done in chicago will have to be replicated in every city. Its a partnership. Reporter the goal, provide midsized offices, the companies too small for a cafeteria, but big enough to need Quality Fresh meals delivered. We want stuff in that fridge you would eat like something from trader joes or whole foods. They developed their own custom made refrigerators. Its a technology that coordinates inventory, tracks supply and demand, collects payment and controls waste. Our technology is really a technology ecosystem. What someone sees in their office is our tip of the sphere. After years of development and trial and error, they produced a workable system. The first plateau was 25 machines. That was one driver, two routes. Then the next plateau was another driver. Its up to 50 sites. Today, a year and a half after installing the first 25 machines, they have nearly 1,000 clients and ready take on the country. But how . Theres no road map, no playbook. We really wanted to test out the ability to go to a new market where we had no connections and start from the ground up, knowing everything we knew from the first two years. Then he got a call from nancy sharp, looking to expand into office food services. The lean box motto caught her eye. She called up, i like what you are doing and we have been following you. As a startup owner, that gives me the warm fuzzies. They said, this is a market we want to get into. I knew we were kindred souls. I said i wish i was 40 years younger. I would do it all over again and with them. The energy and excitement around building something. Their chemistry was key to opening up the dialogue. Establishing an Effective Partnership requires more than the warm fuzzies. Lean box is just the thing nancy was looking for. Because of the changes in the workplace, we were asked over and over again to keep fresh food there. How do you keep it refrigerated . All the details lean box brought to us. Its taking a strong Business Model that existed, being able to jump on to a strong foundation. That was the Perfect Match that helped us in the market in a big way. Reporter he was working for nancy back then. He says everyone quickly recognized the possibility for rapid growth. Today, hes the manager for the lean box relationship. If we were starting from ground zero, it may have taken much longer. After eight months, thanks to nancys understanding of the chicago market and blue ribbon client list, lean box stations are being introduced across chicago. This morning, i tried the breakfast burrito. Yesterday afternoon, the turkey sandwich. He is the president of the horton group, a chicago brokerage firm. They installed a lean box in their office break room. As an employer, having something here in our office encourages people to stay here and congregate. For us, it allowed a lot of employees who never left their desk for lunch to come to a common area. He was like many hr managers. On top of all her other duties, she is in charge of creating a welcoming corporate environment. It is something we have taken great pride in. Lean box zeroed into people like michelle. We focus on that office manager, the hr manager who is given this broad responsibility of developing a food program. Our product is focused on how to make that persons life easier. With a prototype relationship with a well established service. Lean box has the beginnings of the national playbook. You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. I like this fire and grill as fast as possible. This week, starbucks closed 8,000 Stores Across the country for a few hours to conduct antibias training. Its on the heels with a manager called police on two africanamerican men waiting for a friend. Bias or unbias is an issue in the country. We should take a look at how that is showing up in our countries. We have a consultant on this issue for businesses of all sizes. So good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. Good to be here. I want to talk to you about this because it is a complicated topic. Absolutely. I believe, as i have been reading the feedback from starbucks employees, good and bad, how do you get the conversation started in your company . I think there is no question that we need to be having these conversations. How do you do it so its not just another train k exercise that goes in one ear and out the other. You need to understand what the firm is talking about. Its important to start the conversation with the leadership so its a top down approach and the leadership can adopt the language of the training you use with the associates. Lets take this a step back. In our audience, we have xe companies that are one person and companies that are thousands of people. On the smaller side, not a problem in my company. Why do i have to worry about this . Do you . You do. Starbucks had somebody that represented them to the world or all of their employees represent them to the world. They have to be on the same page with how you are thinking about culture, how you are thinking about race and women. Pick an ism. You want to be sure people are clear about your values and express them to the customer. Whether you have one person employed by you or a thousand, you need to be insync with that person. Before you hire somebody, have a conversation about how you want customers treated and dont assume. I dare say that woman has probably exercised something similar before she put out those two men. So, im the leader of a company. Say i have 50 people working for me. Do i need to go get a formal training program, or is this something i can do more informally in my company . If its the latter, you risk doing something wrong that is offensive when you are trying to be inclusive. Thats why i suggest, its selfserving, but get someone to help you and make certain that you are delivering the message all the time, consistently. Its like feedback. No one wants to give foodback, but its critical. If you hear someone say something, pull them aside and speak to them about what they said that you dont appreciate. I remember many years ago, there was a training that went on and guys in the back heckling. What the manager did at the close of the training was, can i speak to you after this is over . While he didnt embarrass them, everyone knew when he spoke to them, it with was going to be about the heckling from training. It has to happen. The tone comes from the person that is the leader. What happens during diversity training . What happens that truly does change behavior or change awareness . I think one of the most important things that happens is, you start to show people the history of racism. You start to show people how privilege sets in and how everybody has some level of privilege. Get them to stop and think about what they are doing. If you can get people to hit the pause button in their daily life and examine the decisions they are making and the things they say, you can make progress. So, it really is creating this awareness about what happened to people, what happened to africanamericans from the moment they got here and how they have experienced racism and continue to experience racism on the daily aggressions, macro aggressions, certainly what happened to donte robinson. That was macro. Little things happen to people where they are not waited on in stores. Where people look around them and say, who is next . Those kind of things. That is what you want to disrupt with employees so your brand is protected. So, it is the first step to understand there are two kinds, conscious bites and unconscious. We need to attack both. If we want our companies to succeed as well as our humanity to succeed, we need to think about this. I know this is a show about business, but reverse that and say humanity. Then the business follows. Thank you for all the work you do. It is important there are people out there like you who are thinking about this and talking to people and getting it out there. Im so happy you stopped by to talk to us. Thanks so much. On and off the runway, model turned ak dress, Brooklyn Decker does not shy away from leading with her fashion sense. Now, she is using technology to help other women be efficient and sustainable putting together their outfit of the day. Shes a model and actress. Wife to tennis player, andy roddic and the mother of two. For Brooklyn Decker, there are not enough hours in the day. Productivity. Anything that gives me time to do the things i want to do, i am a fan of. When it comes to shopping, priority is efficiency. I shop 99 online. I hate trying things on. I just want it in my house. When her friend, Whitney Casey told her about an idea that uses online receipts to create a digital inventory of your closet, she got it. Its categorized. When you think about the processes grow through, the wardrobe is antiquated. You cannot bring your closet with you. It seemed like a project tr the duo. I think it took females to create it. When it came to the name, whitney looked back to her form erica rear. She was working with dan rather. He has a formality to him and he would say, oh, arent you dressed in your finery today. Dan always talks about finery. I feel like thats perfect. Wearing your best. Your sundays best. It just stuck. Finery was born. But, like with so many companies, the product they launched turned out to be not exactly what users wanted. We thought the aha moment would come. Once we have the wardrobe, they said now what . Style us. Tell what you say to buy. Tell us what to get rid of. We had to find ways to do that. We are using a lot of machine learning, technology to basically give women ideas on how to wear their stuff. This quick loop of feedback and development is something she says she was used to from acting. I think, when you are acting, you have to deal with rejection really well and tough be able to pivot quickly. Your users will give you feedback right away. Our users are incredibly vocal, sending emails, we have a chat function, they are chatting with us. Nothing is precious other than the users. Its about user trust. Little technology is applied to the points of women. Very little. To make headway in that space and say we are building something that is going to give you your time back. That, to me, was huge. To really invest in something and build on something could change the way women are interacting their stuff. Finery is free as they try to build up users. Their goal is to have the Company Become every womans perfect fashion accessory. If you look at the entire Business Model, we want to own the space. Closing the retail loop. If you start, you want to see what you have and get smart recommendations and fill your wardrobe gaps. When women of thinking about getting dressed or ready for the date night, finery is the first place they go. We are in the middle of our Second Season of our podcast, been there, built that. This week, im talking to jessica heron, founder and ceo of stella and dot brands. She is interesting to listen to. She talks about why she is running her second business differently than the first. And she tells me what a taxi driver told her in her early 20s, which changes the way she views risk. I hope you get a chance to listen to it. If you do, give us feedback. We love, love hearing from you. Listen to it now for free. Its been there, built that. You can check it out wherever you get your podcasts. I am here with this weeks designer paris gordon. So good to see you. You brought your model, kelly powers. You look beautiful. These are your designs. What is the name of your company . Style and grace, pg by paris gordon. Is this selffunded . Selffunded. Is this the first time you pitch to potential investors . This is the first time. How do you feel . Great. The first with one is the cofounder and ceo of zola, an online wedding company. Matt is the founder and president of commercial fleet financing, based in dallas. Lets see what they think. Hi. Im paris gordon, introducing you to every girls best friend. Ill hand you this so i dont strip. I want to show you the inside, the patented apparel line with shape wear built inside. We smooth, lift, support you with a bra and it saul stays in place with this silicone lace hem. They are made with rayon on the outside and spandex on the inside to comfortably support you. We dress 1880yearolds. I think we are really on to something right now and looking for 300,000 in funding. I am going to trade with you, matt. I need two numbers from 110. What do you think of the product and the second is, what do you think of the pitch . Im going to start with shan. This feels like something that your audience is looking for, right . You talk to brides all day long. So, lets see what you think, product, then pitch. For the product, i scored it with an eight. Shape wear is the secret weapon for every woman, the world over. I think the product that you just showed is one that feels very high quality. I think, as a potential business and the potential to be a huge business, its got a lot of potential there. The one question i would want answered is more details around the traction in the business so far as well as how is this defensible beyond the patent. The pitch, quickly, what were the three pounlts missing . The pitch i would have loved to hear what is the Global Market opportunity as well as hear a bit more about how you think you are going market, and grow your business over the coming year. But overall, i loved it. Fantastic. Matt, what did you think . For somebody whos never sworn spanx before, this is interesting for me. Turn it around. I gave it an 8 on the product. My wife loves this type of product line. And kelly looks fantastic in it, and you do as well, paris. So i think the product is a winner. What could chef done better on the pitch . The pitch, i want to hear the problem that your product addresses. And i missed that. That was like almost three quarters in before i began to hear the problem that your product is addressing. I didnt hear the price point. I was unsure, are you high end, low end, middle . So i would challenge you to do both of those, tell me what the problem is thats being solved. You two hit upon the two things that everyone says you have to think about in an elevator pitch, problem, solution and traction. Those are the things that pique peoples interest. You guys did a great job. Fantastic product. Thanks for sharing it with us. Good luck with everything going forward. To all of you female entrepreneurs, listen up, we have a great opportunity. If you have an amazing business but you need help getting the word out, heres what weve got for you. Sheknows media, the leading womens lifestyle media company. We have teamed up with sheknows to give you the chance to share your product or your service in front of more than 2,000 influencers and bloggers at their annual blogher creator summit this august in new york city. That means you get to be in front of all these people who could write about you. Send us your pitch or your video of your oneminute elevator pitch, send it to yourbusiness msnbc. Com. When we come back, what you should be looking for when youre checking out a business you may want to guy. The most dangerous mindset any Business Owner could have. The line between work and life hasnt just blurred. Its gone. Thats why you need someone behind you. Not just a card. An entire support system. Whether visiting the airport lounge to catch up on whats really important. Or even using those hardearned points to squeeze in a Little Family time. No one has your back like American Express. So no matter where youre going. Were right there with you. The powerful backing of American Express. Dont do business without it. Dont live life without it. We have this email from lindsay. She writes, where can i find a company to buy, and how do i evaluate if its a good company . So i think the key to finding a Great Company to buy is to understand how the customers view it. If its a consumer facing company or other business partners, you want to understand their passion for this company because passionate customers or partners is a huge driving factor in success. In addition to that you really want to understand the total Addressable Market and opportunities for this business. Is it global . Is it local . And can it serve many different areas as opposed to just one narrow area . That will really determine how much youre willing to pay or how much you would want to invest in the company. Those are two crucial points, Addressable Market and customer passion. We have the top two tips you need to know to help your business grow. Matt, before we start, i just want to mention, you have a new book out. I do. The name of it is. You need more money. You need nothing more than to market than book than that title. Its a personal story. My brotherinlaw passed at a very early age, and was unfinancially prepared. A wakeup call to get their money right. Really personal advice and