Jacqueline Loganathan and Jennifer Huynh are the co-founders of Hone, which makes DIY home project kits that include everything you need to complete a project - the tools, materials, and the easiest instructions you'll ever read. Think of them like the Hello Fresh of DIY home projects!
What drew you to entrepreneurship?
Jacqueline: My parents are entrepreneurs. Seeing how hard they worked my whole life actually made me not want to be an entrepreneur, ha! But I explored entrepreneurship at an early age without even realizing it. In elementary school, I sold pens my friends asked me about, and at Western, I started the dance team Hip Hop Western, which is still a club on campus today! Since then, I've started multiple businesses, including a marketing consultancy, a men's styling business, and a digital media company called Pressed News that was eventually sold to Daily Hive. Today, I'm the co-founder of Hone, where I hope to bring all of my entrepreneurial learnings and experience. Looking back, I think what drew me to entrepreneurship was the opportunity to authentically share my talents, ideas, and creativity. It's being able to do what I'm good at and passionate about and also watch that thing grow. How exciting!
Jennifer: What draws me to entrepreneurship is a mix of enjoying being in the space of playing with ideas and being creative and getting to wear many hats when working. I’ve worked corporate for 10 years and have always itched to run with my own ideas and learn through trial and error. My parents, aunts, uncles, and grandparents are all entrepreneurs. Looking back now, I’ve always been creative and entrepreneurial growing up. But if you asked me all the way up until I graduated university, I would never have thought I’d want to be an entrepreneur and resisted that side since I studied math and business and thought I wanted a more structured career path.
What problem are you solving, and what is your unique approach?
Two million Canadians move into new homes each year, many of whom have aspirations of doing some amount of DIY to make their home their own.
But many people, especially women, did not develop handy skills growing up. So they'll either save countless inspirational videos and pictures on social feeds and never get started, or they'll search for instructions online and explore dozens of blog posts and YouTube videos before getting to the right ones. If they make it to the store to buy tools and materials, they'll need to go back a handful more times because, essentially, they don't know what they don't know.
Hone is simplifying the DIY process from start to finish by providing the instructions, tools, and materials you need to complete a home project. Everything comes in a box sent to your door. Our projects will range from cabinet organizers to picture gallery walls to making your own headboard.
We are on a mission to help people hone new skills while bringing their home decor visions to life.
How did you come across this problem and why did it appeal to you?
As recent homeowners, we take pride in our home decor. We've renovated and purchased nice furnishings, but we also have a passion for DIY projects because of the customization element. Unfortunately, neither of us developed handy skills growing up, and we've often waited for our dads or partners to help with simple tasks like hanging up pictures. Still, that hasn't stopped us from saving countless inspo pictures to our Pinterest boards, promising ourselves that we'll start that DIY project someday. When we first got together to explore this problem, we realized that we weren't alone. We also realized that the male-dominated home improvement industry hasn't changed much in several decades. In an attempt to simplify the DIY process for ourselves, we set out to solve the problem for a generation of women and beyond.
What are you hoping to accomplish for your start-up at the Western Accelerator?
Since what we're doing is relatively new, there's no roadmap or clear example to follow. We've made some educated guesses on product strategy but what we're hoping to accomplish at the Western Accelerator is confidence in our product-market-fit. So far, we've received guidance on how to approach customer interviews and research; and we're hoping to end the program in December with an announcement of our newest product launch!
What is the biggest lesson you've learned so far during your time at the Wester Accelerator?
So many! The ones that stand out:
- Don't be afraid of competitors. Learn from them.
- If you only have 3 minutes to pitch, focus on the problem, solution, and financials.
- Founders are a different breed of human. Being around other founders every day of the accelerator is energizing and reminds us that we should lean into our strengths and challenges because most people won't take action on their ideas. The fact that we're all giving it a shot already puts us so far ahead.