Another lovely feature in our local Orlando magazine after our big Rollins Venture Pitch win!
By Shantel Hanna
When planning your special wedding day, countless items can accumulate, becoming a small book rather than a simple, short checklist. Things like writing and sending out a guest list, selecting the bride’s dress and groom’s tux, and researching and booking a floral designer are just a few of the things to be considered. For many brides and grooms, flowers can be the most expensive and frustrating items on the checklist.
Selecting the right floral designer for your budget and personal taste can help the wedding run smoothly. Sure, there are floral designers for every customer desiring their “platinum wedding” seen on Pinterest and reality wedding shows. Still, those floral designers come with a platinum cost for their services. Questions like: Is the labor cost included with the purchase of the flowers? Or is the cost calculated by the event? These questions should be asked in the earlier stages of the process.
The reality is that many customers are unaware of how much goes into floral designers’ work until the job is complete and it’s time to write the check. Customers verbalize their wishes to their floral designer. Still, few floral designers have an efficient and effective method to present a client contract before any work is done, explaining the bottom line cost. Unless the customer previously made a flower order, many customers don’t know the right questions to ask in formulating a floral design purchase order. “From the beginning, I wanted to be very transparent with my brides,” CEO of Details Flowers Corrine Heck said. “This creative communication and presentation led to my early success as a flower designer and salesperson.”
After 25-plus years working in various positions in the floral industry, Heck still felt unfulfilled in her career and wanted to do more to improve floral businesses’ efficiency and prune the disconnect with their customers. Heck saw the floral industry’s lack of up-to-date, systematic tools as an opportunity to create a more effective way of doing business. CMO of Details Flowers and graduate of Rollins College, Isabella Johnston, encouraged Heck to enter the Venture Plan Competition led by Rollins College Crummer School of Business.
The Crummer Venture Plan Competition gives Rollins students, alumni, and faculty a platform to develop a viable business plan to take to the marketplace and increase their professional network. This year, Heck competed against 29 other companies at the competition, winning 1st Place for her business plan presentation of DETAILS software. DETAILS software is a comprehensive tool offering floral designers around the world the capability of completing projects in minutes compared to hours.
DETAILS innovative software improves the time to deliver proposals, receive payments, and order flowers. For effective communication and proper planning throughout the four seasons, DETAILS software also operates as a digital platform for global floral designers to connect with growers and wholesalers. DETAILS software is cutting-edge technology for the $31 billion floral industry.
Heck was awarded $25,000 by Rollins and received an additional $25,000 in equity funding from venVelo & South Poplar Ventures, both Orlando-based venture capital firms. She acknowledges her talented and dedicated team, particularly CTO Mike Bethany, lead software developer of DETAILS, for bringing her idea to life.
“I think a lot of people don’t take the risk to do the things that inspire them and their ideas,” Heck said. Heck was introduced to the floral industry at four years old when her family relocated to Apopka to continue their nursery and plant operation, Bill Brown’s Greenhouse, Inc. “Flowers and entrepreneurship have always played a huge role in my upbringing,” Heck said. “It’s a big part of who I am and what drives my passion.”
As seen in i4 Business Magazine, October 2016 Edition: