Meet Rising Stars Beth and Stacey - co-founders of HybridHer, an innovative trunk show platform for up and coming designers. You can follow them on: The Website, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Shine - briefly tell us about the company you’ve built and the inspiration behind building it.

First, we empower women who appreciate fashion and style to become entrepreneurs by giving them the tools, technology and access to open their own e-boutique. (We call these women Mavens.)

Second, we empower emerging female designers by providing them with a new, alternative channel to sell and market their products.

Hybrid Her connects the two, empowering women to help women grow businesses they are passionate about.

Bootstrap/or raise money – How are you funding your business? Are you seeking capital?

We have backing from an early stage venture and hope to be profitable later this year! We may raise a growth round after we achieve profitability.

Business Model: How do you generate revenue?

Maven’s pay a very small upfront fee to get access to our platform, our Designers, and the inventory that allows them to open and run their own e-boutique.  Also, Hybrid Her receives a percentage from each sale… it’s that simple.

Saving money: What have you spent money on to realize the return wasn’t worth it?

Deploying resources in a start-up environment is tricky. You have to make calculated bets, push them out to the community, learn from them and iterate quickly.  I wouldn’t say that we’ve regretted any of our expenses because they have all enabled us to learn, grow and create a better product for our community.

The Goods: What platform are you using and would you recommend it?

We’ve created a proprietary, cutting-edge marketplace to support our Mavens and Designers.  This technology allows our Mavens to automate the more detailed aspects of the sales process, to manage inventory, and to market their businesses.

Going big: What are you working on to drive growth?

Right now we are focusing on improving technology to make our platform stronger and more intuitive.  Also, we’ve started some large scale relationships to reach numerous mavens.

Having a co-founder: Any tips or resources that have helped you and your co-founder?

We communicate about everything and try to utilize every resource we have! We are not afraid to rope in investors, family and/or friends when needed.

Staying connected: Which national and local networking organizations, conferences have you found most valuable?

We love working with national non-profits such as Girls On the Run. Not only do we love their mission, but it inspired us to create a program called “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Trunk” that travels to organizations to fundraise and helps us get our name out there!

Challenges: What is holding you back and how can we help you?

We need to reach more Mavens. Social Media has been extremely helpful but spreading the word about your company (and quickly!) is key.