As the New Year kicks off, we here at Red Canary are feeling nostalgic about start-ups past. Having profiled and partnered with a number of budding businesses since 2006, it’s interesting to take a look back and see which big ideas grew into big business. Cherry Chula and ChickAdvisor were two of the first companies we profiled over 5 years ago. Both founders had recognized a need for online communities focusing on women’s fashion and beauty, but took different approaches towards filling the void.
Let’s check in and see how they faired the last half-decade (cue those flash back waves from the movies….)
Jump to the bottom of the article for links to the other ‘Where are they now’ posts
Cherry Chula
We met founder Kallee Maglio while she was launching her designer-label trading website back in 2006. Using a part Ebay, part Craiglist functionality, Maglio was focused on building a local audience to increase traffic. Her grass roots approach, which included myspace messaging was getting a strong response when last we spoke.
Read our original profile on Cherry Chula here.
Where are they now?
While we don’t know for sure, it appears as though the business has gone under. The Cherrychula.com domain is now up for grabs on godaddy.com – never a good sign. After a thorough Google investigation, I managed to dig up an old Cherry Chula Myspace account (http://www.myspace.com/66539952) that now seems to be run by incredibly cute baby. I also found an incomplete LinkedIn profile for a Kallee Maglio-fio which may belong to the ex-founder. Maglio-fio is now a student of photography at a creative arts college.
ChickAdvisor
We got the chance to interview ChickAdvisor co-founders Ali and Alex de Bold weeks after their launch back in September of 2006. The style community website idea had been birthed out of Ali de Bold’s need for beauty product advice, overwhelmed with options moving from Winnipeg to Toronto. The newly married couple had big dreams for the website. Other social networks like iVillage were starting to see huge revenues that year. They felt ChickAdvisor’s timing was right on the money. Like Cherry Chula, the de Bold’s also decided to go with a grass roots media plan relying heavily on word of mouth. Positive reviews from Mashable and TechCrunch had just been published sparking online buzz about the new website.
Read our original profile on ChickAdvisor here.
Where are they now?
ChickAdvisor now receives over a million unique visitors per month, making it the largest social shopping site in the country. Its ad space has become a hot commodity for companies looking to target women between the ages of 18-39. Big names like L’Oreal, Dove, Febreeze and Breyer’s Ice Cream have partnered with the site to gain access to its market savvy community. ChickAdvisor’s success has been profiled by major media outlets including Newsworld , GlobalTV, CBC Radio, Slice.ca and The Toronto Star (oh, and Red Canary of course). The de Bold’s kept their office small, head count now at 8 people, but their community of loyal online followers continues to grow daily.
We’re not finished reminiscing just yet!
Check back in with Red Canary to see which companies we catch up with next.
Previous posts
- Where are they now? Part III (Ecobee vs. Bullfrog Power)
- Where are they now? Part II (BlueCat Networks vs. Strangeloop Networks)
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