Volusia County, Florida
Founded: 2015
Details helps the world’s best florists with their business operations by combining real-time inventory data control, streamlined proposal creation, and payment collection in one easy-to-use solution. Additionally, we help suppliers forecast demand for future sale and production of flowers.
Flowers & Software
60% increase from 2018 – 2021
186% increase from 2018 – 2021
Tell us a bit about your background. What led you to starting your company?
I started Details Flowers Software nine years ago, and it’s software to help event florists. Before this, I worked for an import company selling boxes of flowers to wholesalers and as a wedding florist creating large-scale events. I noticed that there were always miscommunications between florists and their suppliers. After years of improving my solution, I had an aha moment! This idea would help the entire floral supply chain. I thought about the idea for nearly ten years before deciding to take action. At the time, I couldn’t believe that no one else had identified the same solution to a problem I thought was so obvious.
Today, we help over 800 event florists across the United States, Europe, and South America manage their events, and we’re in 15 different countries. We are growing year after year, and our team is working to help more floral industry entrepreneurs.
Did you always want to be an entrepreneur?
I initially thought I wanted to study law at the University of Florida. While at UF, I was on the speaker’s bureau at UF, where we would bring in VIP speakers to speak to the student body. The whole management and production side of that event fascinated me. I loved orchestrating the behind-the-scenes and started my love for events. I never imagined I’d be running my own business, but here we are!
What value does your business bring to your customers?
We are helping our florists be more profitable in their events and free up time in their workflows. By us helping them get organized, we give them a crystal ball for what the future looks like. It’s compelling information for business owners when they can anticipate what their needs will be before the event. We like to say we’re a florist’s best-kept secret. Many of our customers don’t want to share our tools with their competitors because they don’t want them to have an advantage. So getting a start was tricky! Details Flowers Software is a playbook that they can use to help them be profitable and help them capture more business with our incredible floral-specific tools. Our mission is to make florists more professional, profitable, and organized.
What is your industry like? How do you differentiate your business from your competitors?
We have very few competitors. Most people think the floral industry isn’t big, but it’s a 35 billion dollar-per-year industry with many moving pieces. Our competitors try to service multiple industries like caterers, event planners, farms, or venues. Our focus is on the florists, and our florists appreciate this attention because everything they see in the software is relevant to the floral business. It’s making Details stand out as a floral leader, mainly because our attention is on them.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced while growing your business?
Early on, one of the toughest challenges was believing in my idea when many people told me I didn’t have a good one. No one wants to hear that your idea is flawed, especially me, so gaining confidence and following my intuition was necessary.
In 2019, when Details was gaining traction, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Of course, that was a massive challenge because I had to focus on my health instead of working on my business. I underwent an operation to remove the tumor, and now I’m in good health. As a business owner and young person, you often feel like you’re invincible. But, when your mortality is presented to you in a very unfavorable way, it makes you question a lot. After that experience, I didn’t feel as challenged or intimidated by things. It was one of the best things that ever happened to me.
Where do you hope to see your company in the next three to five years?
I would love to have doubled our customer base in three to five years. We’re beginning to broaden into the European markets, and I hope to see our presence grow over there and make Details the industry standard. Today, our customers have proposed over 1 billion dollars worth of events with our software! These statistics often surprise me and help me pursue more significant industry challenges, like logistics and shipping. Proof that there are no bad ideas.
Do you have a proudest moment so far?
We’ve recently partnered with Stetson University to offer a handful of sales labs starting in January. I’m proud that higher education universities are interested in adopting something I have created. I dropped out of the University of Florida when my father got sick, and for several years I felt terrible about that decision. But I’ve come a long way and no longer feel regretful about that. This past year, the University of Florida’s entrepreneurship program invited me to speak (twice!) to their entrepreneurship class about my business and journey. It has been a full-circle moment for me that brought everything together, and I’m a proud Gator!
What does it mean to be selected as a GrowFL Florida Companies to Watch Honoree?
It means everything. I represent the state of Florida in my industry often at industry events. For the last six years, I’ve been the only female from Florida to lobby for the floral industry on Capitol Hill. There’s simply not enough female representation. Because of this, I’ve had to learn to celebrate my wins and toot my own horn. It’s how we’ve grown the business, and how we’ve gotten recognized.
Is there anyone special you’d like to thank?
I’d like to thank Dr. William Andrews, an international business professor at Stetson University. He helped to get the business pointing in the right direction and believed in my initial concept. He was the first person that heard my idea and stood behind me as the first angel investor I had in the company. I’d also like to thank Kay & OJ Perryman. I did all three of their daughter’s weddings, and they loved my initial MVP in 2010. They loved what I was creating and decided to invest in my idea. Third, the business incubator in Daytona’s manager, Connie Bernal. She was a great mentor and introduced me to people who would later help catapult our actions. I couldn’t have done it without these four wonderful people.
And, of course, my family has supported me through all the challenges I’ve faced. If I had the family that I do, I’d be able to have achieved what I have. They’ve always been in full support of what my heart desired and the ideas I’ve had.
Never give up. If something doesn’t let you sleep at night, you just need to do it. This idea was haunting me for ten years and living in the back of my head. If you have something that you’re constantly thinking about, there’s a reason for that. It’s time to pursue it. Turn your passions into your day job, and everything else will work out.
GrowFL is driven by one goal – to cultivate second-stage growth companies across the state. Second-stage companies are the backbone of Florida’s economy and the definition of economic success and prosperity.
GrowFL, through our diverse programs and services, provides proven methods to help overcome unique challenges facing second-stage companies as they grow.
