MakersKit is about bringing creativity back into peoples’ lives. Everyone was creative when they were kids – but life and work happened, and so creativity fell to the wayside. MakersKit is about bringing back that sense of creativity back into your life, by making the whole process of creation easily accessible, to give you the feeling of “anything is possible” simply by getting your hands a little dirty and making something from scratch. They create awesome DIY projects, pair them with the highest quality supplies, create an awesome how-to video, and ship it all to your door – so you can make something awesome, without having to go out to buy supplies. MakersKit is not a craft and hobby company, they’re not even a product company, they prefer to describe themselves as an experience company that uses digital media to inspire creativity. Their content is entertaining and fun to watch, way better than reading IKEA style directions that are hard to follow, and honestly, who reads anymore? To date, they have sold over 250,000 units and have entered into their 5000th retail store. MakersKit has partnered with brands like Tom’s and National Geographic to make collaboration kits. They are on track to sell one million units by the end of the year, and their ultimate goal is to take the place of Michael’s and Jo-Ann Fabrics as the go to place for inspiration, projects, and supplies. MakersKit’s target audience is tech savvy millennials aged 20-35 in major cities, and they monetize through direct sale to customers through their e-commerce store, wholesale to major brands like Urban Outfitters, Macy’s, and West Elm – and they also plan to monetize via their how-to videos on YouTube.
Mike Stone is a serial entrepreneur who also volunteered as a grade school art teacher. Jawn McQuade went to film school while also working as a grade school teacher. Once they met, the duo quickly became the best of friends and within weeks they started their first project together, teaching DIY workshops in San Francisco. The workshops became hugely popular, and so in order to keep up with demand, they created DIY kits that are paired with video tutorials so that anyone, anywhere can create something amazing. That’s how MakersKit was born: the collaboration of two friends passionate about inspiring creativity. Finding the right people to join their team was a challenge though – MakersKit grew rapidly (they launched only a year ago), and keeping up with that growth meant finding the right talent. They tried everything, including recruitment and placement firms, but in the end good old fashioned networking turned out to be the best way to go. MakersKit competes with DarbySmart and Brit+co becuase they are in the DIY space; however, they set themselves apart through their products and awesome video content.
MakersKit has free shipping on all orders over $25 and your choice of a free gift on orders over $75. For StartUp Dope readers, they are giving away their MakersKit DIY e-book which has 102, full color pages of awesome projects you can build at home.