Pivot Now, Thrive Later

Few things will look the same on the other side of this crisis, so don’t hang on to yesterday’s ideas. Here’s how five businesses ditched their original concepts and discovered even greater opportunities.

- By Kenny Herzog and Stephanie Schomer

CHRISTINA STEMBEL, founder/ Farmgirl Flowers

OLD IDEA: Carefully curated products

NEW IDEA: More options at lower cost

WHEN THE PANDEMIC forced Christina Stembel to change her business, she was horrified. Then she was relieved. And now she has a stronger business as a result.

Stembel is the founder of Farmgirl Flowers, a San Francisco–based floral arrangements company. She started it in 2010, when she saw a way to stand out in a crowded market. The internet is full of floral companies, but most of them outsource fulfillment, surrendering control of the quality and design of their bouquets as a way to boost margins. Stembel did the opposite. Her arrangements had a point of view, she offered a small variety of them, and everything would be created in-house— ensuring high quality.

Flower lovers took notice, and a decade later, the bootstrapped operation has grown into a national brand with $32 million in sales and nearly 200 employees. Stembel has seen competitors come and go, but she cherished the control her team had of their product, costly as it may be.

But underneath it all, there’s been a problem. “Last year, we made under 1 percent net margins,” she admits. “To sell $32 million, to work that hard, and not make any profits?” But she hadn’t been willing to give up the thing she thought made Farmgirl Flowers so special.