Andrea Nadosy Bunt, Founder of bobara
Andrea (pronounced “ahn-DRAY-ah”) Nadosy Bunt was an entrepreneur before she got her MBA. Never mind that she has one from Harvard now.
Andrea is the Founder of bobara, a small company based in Northern California that creates stylish everyday bags and lifestyle accessories for working women. bobara’s recently released East End Tote is currently sold at Apple stores, though Andrea will tell you that the company has bigger plans than that.
We spoke to Andrea recently about bobara, what’s it been like to start not one, but two lifestyle accessory companies, and her tips for entrepreneurs getting their MBAs.
How did you get started?
Before business school, along with my best friend from college, I started a company called Meadowmere Lane, producing chic laptop bags for women. But the aesthetic was limited, and too preppy.
I went off to HBS in 2006 and my business partner, Chondita, went to Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2007. While in school, we continued to work on Meadowmere Lane and in 2008, I decided to relaunch with a new aesthetic and a new name, bobara. I wanted a bag that didn’t look like a Tumi or your stereotypical laptop bag. bobara also creates chic, functional accessories (including iPad and Kindle covers).
Tell us more about how you got into Apple Stores…that is great!
At first I was pretty stringent about not going to retail. I wanted to go direct, (sort of like the the Bonobos of laptop bags). I really thought that was the way to go: your margins are better, you have visibility into who your customer is, and you aren’t at the whim of purchase order changes by your vendors.
On the flip side, I design for Apple products, so when the possibility of selling to Apple arose, it wasn’t something that I could ignore. In all honesty, I have had such a positive experience working with Apple, that it has changed my perspective about retail in general. I think that it is foolish to expect all retailers to be like Apple – they are just great to work with- but my experience certainly changed the way I think about direct versus retail.
Did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur when you started business school?
I would say I knew by second year. During my first year I was still exploring, and continuing to run my first fashion bag company. By second year, though, I thought to myself, ‘Why not go ahead with this? I’m young, I’m not married. Now’s the time to try.’
East End Tote for Apple
In both semesters of my second year, I did an independent study on bobara with my favorite HBS marketing professor. I basically did as much as I could to build out the brand and create a roadmap.
I was also lucky to get a fellowship at end of my 1st year – basically a grant to work on my venture during the summer. The fellowship is for entrepreneurs or people going to startups – they’ll match whatever the startup is giving, up to a certain amount. So if you’re starting your own thing, it’s essentially a living stipend. I know that since I graduated [in 2008] HBS has grown its entrepreneurship program a lot and will continue to do so.
[continue to next page: the "best advice" Andrea received at b-school]
Pages: 1 2
