#StartupsEverywhere profile: Geralyn Breig, Founder and CEO, AnytownUSA
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
An Online Marketplace for Made in the USA Products
Based in Connecticut, AnytownUSA is the country’s first online market devoted exclusively to the sale of American-made goods. By creating a marketplace prioritizing trust over “scale at any cost”, the site is already able to offer more than 10,000 (and growing) certified Made-in-America items from identity-validated sellers. We recently spoke with Geralyn Breig, the founder and CEO of AnytownUSA.com, to learn a little more about the online marketplace, digital tax concerns, and the future of the platform.
Tell us a little about yourself. What is your background?
The most fun I had during my career was when I was creating and executing strategies to grow businesses. I’ve had the privilege of working on great teams with great brands like Godiva, Jell-O, Pepperidge Farm, and Avon, and growing them by $300 million or even $ 3 billion! I came up through the ranks in product marketing roles in U.S.-based businesses, and eventually took operating roles for international businesses.
Tell us more about AnytownUSA. How does the online marketplace work, and why did you decide to create a platform that exclusively sells American-made goods?
Back in 2014, the week that Jay-Z and Solange Knowles had their elevator fight, what was not being covered on the news in the US was 100’s of shoe/clothing factories being burned down in riots in Vietnam. As President of Clarks shoes at the time, I had my fall line go up in smoke. It seemed like a good time to investigate growing manufacturing here at home.
We launched in 2018, and are first-to-market with a genuine retail white space that is highly on trend. We make it easy for customers to find and purchase certified American-made goods, and we work to spotlight the local makers of these goods. This is accomplished on an e-commerce marketplace. Sellers list their products, pricing and shipping terms. We send them the orders, and they fulfill them to the customers while we process the transactions and distribute proceeds and sales taxes.
You’ve made an effort to differentiate AnytownUSA from some of the larger online marketplaces. How does your size allow you to maintain control of what is sold on your platform?
We believe the next great e-commerce marketplace will be trusted, not just huge. Unlike those sites, you have to be invited to sell on our site. It doesn’t take long, but Sellers apply, their identities are validated and their products are certified compliant with FTC rules for labeling Made-in-USA. We curate what is on our site, we prevent fakes, frauds and copycats. A lot of this is automated, but the curation is accomplished by our talented team which has both bricks and clicks experience. Because we only sell Made-in-USA items, we are working with a naturally curated subset of the broader market. And because all of our makers are local to the USA, it is easy to speak to or even visit them.
A huge difference between us and larger platforms is that we jury our sites, so we don’t let people on the site unless we’ve gone through the process of meeting them and talking with them and getting them onboarded. So we don’t have many issues because we review the sellers so carefully.
Can you tell us about some of the issues that you’ve had with digital taxes?
We started our business right as the Supreme Court Wayfair decision on state taxes/the internet came down. We were prepared for it, but it really changed everything. Before that, people did not apply state taxes to e-commerce unless you had a physical presence inside the state. After the decision, the floodgates opened.
Our site is constructed in two halves. The front half is the side the consumer sees when they’re buying, and the back half is our custom coded side. For the front half—the Shopify part—I originally intended to just have an Advanced Shopify plan, which was $299 a month, because I wasn’t planning on collecting sales tax. After the Wayfair decision, I realized that I was going to have to collect sales tax and that pushed us on to the Shopify Plus platform, which is $2000 a month.
So we had a big uptick in our monthly costs, in addition to trying to keep track of every state tax. We had to pay Avalara to manage our tax calculations and distribute the taxes to states, which was also thousands of dollars. These were all new expenses a small business wouldn't have had before the decision.
What makes Connecticut’s startup ecosystem unique?
Connecticut’s startup ecosystem is uniquely challenged, and uniquely well resourced at the same time. This state, sad to say, is very punishing to do business in. I work with over 40 states since we collect sales taxes, and I can say with confidence that Connecticut often feels like a small town speed trap charging you a crazy fee at every turn. On the other hand, so much talent literally resides here in Fairfield County, just 45 miles from NYC. New Haven and Stamford are great pockets of innovation, and bio-tech startups are well supported by the UCONN ecosystem.
What are some of the startup-related policy concerns that you believe should receive more attention from state and federal lawmakers?
It is so hard to start up a business, and small businesses create the most jobs in the economy. Entrepreneurs should be supported at an outsized level when it comes to reduced/de-regulation at an early stage, advantaged tax treatment, and significantly improved access to capital. Everyone wants to give you money once you don’t need it.
What is your goal for AnytownUSA moving forward?
We’d like to get everyone thinking to “shop Made-in-USA first,” before you jump to buy an import. If you keep 67 cents in a community when you shop in a local store filled with imports, then you keep the whole dollar in our communities when you buy from a maker in the USA.
Our team wants to grow our business enough to have an impact on communities coast-to-coast, and to build a business that will employ tons of talented people right here in Connecticut. The state already has strong media jobs via ESPN and NBC, so how great would it be to have a major e-commerce company and grow technology jobs here as well?
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email edward@engine.is.
