By Steve Seepersaud
Christie Zwahlen, MA ’09, and Anthony Naglieri ’06, MPA ’11, are used to the questions and occasional confusion around their product Petal.
I don't get it. Is this a garbage can? Is it a freezer?
Turns out, Petal is both. When people see it in action, they understand. Petal is a garbage can that eliminates the problem of a partially filled rubbish container smelling up part of your house. Plug in Petal and it freezes the contents of your garbage can. The smell is gone and bacteria are killed. This can be useful for kitchens, compost piles or nurseries.
"When my husband [David Taffet] and I first saw this, we felt this could be something," Zwahlen said. "There's nothing like this out on the market, and it solves a persistent problem. We felt we could build a really cool brand and effective company around it."
Zwahlen and Taffet acquired the rights for Petal from two aerospace engineers in Toronto
who invented the product. When Zwahlen was looking for the right person to market
Petal, she turned to Naglieri, a Binghamton friend with whom she worked to help launch
the University's Center for Civic Engagement (CCE).
"I spent a year working directly with Christie, and that was enough for me to know that if she came to me with something, I'd pay attention to it," Naglieri said. "I thought joining a startup during a pandemic sounded crazy at first but, as I learned more, I was more interested."
Because their work with the nascent CCE had no road map, they were fine with Petal not having one either. Just as they were ready to roll out the space-age garbage cans last spring, COVID-19 spread across the world and forced the business to pause.
"With people staying home, there is higher demand for refrigerators and freezers, so the supply chains have been squeezed," Naglieri said. "The [COVID-19] vaccine, which needs refrigeration, is a bigger priority for us all as a society. Stopping our production to free up supply chain space for the vaccine was a no-brainer."
Fortunately, Petal was well-funded and could afford to pause. The partners feel they can pick up where they left off once the pandemic subsides. Social media ― where people can post videos of themselves using the product ― will be key to their promotional effort. People are more likely to buy something when they see friends or family using it. Even better, organic influencer marketing doesn't cost anything.
In the meantime, they've shifted to a venture where they help budding businesses across a variety of industries; JukeStrat is a boutique consulting group focused on venture building, social justice and impact consulting, communications and media strategy, and branding.
Zwahlen and Naglieri credit their Binghamton education for creating a mindset that enables them to quickly respond to a shifting marketplace.
"Binghamton has always emphasized experiential education, and provided opportunities to actually do the work as opposed to just learning concepts," Zwahlen said. "We couldn't have asked for a better professional development opportunity than what we had in CCE. We developed the infrastructure for a center that earned national awards and it was a very empowering experience."
"Binghamton is an environment that constantly inspires you to work harder," Naglieri said. "As I look back at my time there, I remember it as being a place that made it easy to expand your skill set to meet changing environments. You develop a tougher edge and that has definitely helped me in the business world."