Jane Park, Founder of Tokki
Name: Jane Park
Founder: Tokki
Who is Jane Park?
Jane Park is a consumer tech entrepreneur with proven experience founding and scaling companies. Prior to founding Tokki in 2019 (a reusable, sustainably crafted gift bag/QR code duo that allows the gifter to add photos or video for a personalized virtual card experience), Ms. Park founded the online-first beauty brand, Julep in 2007 which she exited to a beauty roll-up alongside two other cosmetic brands in a deal worth $120 million funded by Warburg Pincus. While growing Julep, Ms. Park raised more than $50 million for the cosmetic company from high-profile investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Madrona Venture Group and Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. Prior to Julep, Ms. Park was also a leader in the Consumer Innovation group at Starbucks and in the Consumer Goods practice group at the Boston Consulting Group.
In less than three sentences tell us about your company and what you do.
Created by serial entrepreneur Jane Park, (who raised $50M for her 2007 startup beauty brand, Julep, from investors like Jay-Z’s Roc Nation + went on to sell it for $120M), Tokki is revolutionizing the gift wrap category – making gifting more meaningful and sustainable (Jane was shocked when she learned the U.S. gift wrap industry contributes to 2.3 MILLION POUNDS of annual landfill waste!!) Tokki enables users to gift more memorably by attaching videos and photos using a unique QR code that’s paired with gift bags made out of recycled water bottles. Tokki Eco-Gifting Sets (QR card + gift bag) are designed to be reused over and over -- hence its name, Tokki, which means 'rabbit' in Korean, symbolizing gifts hopping from one person to the next-- thus reducing waste with each gift given.
What does BEING a FoundHer mean to you?
As a serial entrepreneur, Jane's business philosophy is to uplift and inspire women.
Her leadership recognitions include:
Geekwire Startup CEO of the Year
Goldman Sachs’ “Most Intriguing Entrepreneur of the Year”
Elle Magazine’s “Women in Tech”
Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40 Under 40 All Stars”
In November 2021, she became the first Korean-American woman to take a company public as CEO on the NYSE, leading a special-purpose acquisition company called Athena Consumer.
Jane is paving the way for other women entrepreneurs - "I just want other women entrepreneurs to not feel alone if they’re feeling like it’s a struggle. I see you! You are not alone."
At what point did you make your company a full time gig? How did you know the time was right?
I really didn’t expect to start another company, but one Christmas, I was cleaning up and felt so guilty about all the trash we created when we opened our presents. I did a quick search to see what was recyclable, and I was shocked to find that most giftwrap can’t be recycled if it’s too sparkly, thin, color saturated, adorned or coated. In fact, every year, Americans use enough single-use gift wrap to go around the Earth nine times. I remembered that my grandmother used to give us important gifts wrapped in reusable squares of silk, and that’s where the idea for Tokki was born. Tokkis are made to be reused over and over, and updating the idea, I incorporated a QR card so gift givers could create a personalized message with a photo or video. Tokki means rabbit in Korean, and my hope is that every Tokki hops from friend to friend, sparking joy along the way.
Did you raise capital? What was the process and avenue you chose to take?
Capital can be the most frustrating part of growing a company for all entrepreneurs, but institutional financing basically doesn’t exist for women entrepreneurs. Only 2% of venture capital goes to women-run startups—think about that. It’s not even statistically a 2% chance for any given woman entrepreneur, it’s saying that her total eligible pool is just 2% and she’s got to win her way into that. I don’t say this to be discouraging—I just want other women entrepreneurs to not feel alone if they’re feeling like it’s a struggle. I see you! You are not alone.
My view on raising capital is that getting capital wherever you can get it, in whatever check size, whatever structure, is a win. I’ve raised over $50 million in my career, I was one of the lottery-winning few. And I’ve raised it in chunks from hundreds to tens of millions. Up rounds, flat rounds, down rounds. I think the most important thing to keep in mind as a woman raising capital is that it’s probably not about you. It’s about whether angels feel flush with cash. It’s about what idea made the investor money last time or lost them money last time. Term sheets can disappear because a VC gets divorced or has a death in the family, and the timing isn’t right for them. Get your ego out of the way, and do everything you can to raise the money you need to build your idea. Get creative!
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