A Madison company giving businesses a unique way to recognize and celebrate their employees and clients took home a $10,000 grand prize during episode six of “Project Pitch It.”
The mother-daughter team of Jerina Vincent and Natania Julius founded Madison-based JNJ Gifts and More in 2016. The company started out as a shop looking to connect the community to artisans and product makers.
“In 2022, when we lost our store space and moved online, we discovered a new problem. Corporate companies were stuck spending millions on the same three gifts: pens, coasters, and maybe a t-shirt,” said Julius.
Now, the company sells custom business gifts, client appreciation gifts, and gifts to help celebrate milestones like birthdays and anniversaries.
The company’s luxury gift boxes might include gifts like Turkish blankets, candied pecans, and Wisconsin-made candles. The gift boxes are curated by the JNJ Gifts team, which works with more than 200 vendors to source items. Clients are offered three box options to choose from.
Vincent said the company aims to reach $500,000 in revenue this year, and that she would like to hire a SEO expert to drive more traffic to the JNJ Gifts and More website.
Single Serve Merch
Entrepreneur Todd Richheimer and his business, Milwaukee-based Single Serve Merch, won a $5,000 award.
The company hopes to disrupt the promotional products industry with its print-on-demand software-as-a-service platform. Every promotional product is made to order, so no inventory is sitting around on shelves.
“We offer the full vertical platform,” said Richheimer. “We offer the technology to build a store, build products using our catalogue of items that are all print-on-demand, and launch.”
Half of the company’s revenue comes from gift card purchases. Businesses will buy their employees gift cards to go online and pick out branded swag and gear from one of the websites created by Single Serve Merch.
So, an employee at a business like Gruber Law Offices could use a gift card to go pick out the specific t-shirt or bag they like online, branded with the company’s name and logo.
Richheimer said Single Serve Merch has a variety of customers ranging from Walgreens and Google to NIL at Syracuse University. The company will reach $1 million in revenue this year, but most of that money will go right back into software development.
Joy Boost
Jacob Foss, co-founder of Milwaukee-based Joy Boost won a $1,000 award during episode seven.
The idea behind Joy Boost was hatched when Foss and his co-founder were attending a tech conference in New York.
“The whole thing was run through your phone, and we were not able to access any of it because our phones were dead,” said Foss. “We found ourselves under a drinking fountain at the only outlet in the whole building as people with suits and ties literally looked down at us as they walked to the bathroom.”
Joy Boost has created the world’s thinnest, wireless charging sticker. The charger, which is simply stuck to the back of your phone, can last up to 24 hours at a time. The product is single use, but Joy Boost can recycle and re-use most of the chargers.
Foss sees brand partnerships as a possible boost in business because company logos can be integrated into the design of the stickers.
He hopes to use the cash award to help hire the company’s first marketing and sales employee.
BizTimes Milwaukee is a media sponsor of “Project Pitch It.” A replay of episode six will air on WISN-TV 12 on Saturday, June 14 at 4 p.m.
