May 25, 2025
Maya grew up baking Arabic sweets with her grandmother — basbousa, ma’amoul, and pistachio baklava that friends swore were “better than anything you can buy.” After years in a corporate job, she decided to turn her passion into a business. But like most first-time founders, she quickly discovered: the idea is the easy part — the execution is where it gets hard.
Step 1: Prove Something Small
Maya started by asking her family if they’d buy her sweets. The answers were vague: “Depends on the price.” “We usually just buy from the bakery.” Everyone smiled politely, but no one pulled out their wallet.
So she baked just five boxes and tested in the real world. Two sold through Instagram DMs. One went to her aunt. Two were left on neighbors’ porches with a handwritten placard:
“Homemade Arabic sweets. If you like it, find me on Instagram @MayaSweets.”
One box went untouched in the rain. Another neighbor messaged her on IG to order more. That single response mattered. She made another five, and another. Each round taught her something — sturdier packaging, clearer labels, better photos.
Building in Public: Instead of keeping it quiet, Maya started sharing every step on Instagram. A story of her grandmother’s recipe. A photo of the first five boxes. Even a video of the collapsed package with the caption: “Lesson learned — sturdier boxes next time!” People didn’t just see her product; they saw her journey.
Lesson: Small, imperfect tests + honest storytelling can create both data and an audience.
Step 2: Plug Into an Incubator
With early traction, Maya applied to the DMZ (Toronto). Rejected the first time — “too food-based, not tech enough.” She posted about that rejection too, turning it into content: “Not the right fit yet — back to work on the online side!”
When she reapplied with her online ordering system and proof of steady sales, she got in. The DMZ mentors pushed her to pilot a subscription “Sweets Box.” She shared each milestone publicly: “6 subscribers → 12 → 35.” Each post pulled in new curious followers, some of whom became paying customers.
Lesson: Sharing the ups and downs creates a brand as much as the product itself.
Step 3: Stretch Your Money Before Raising
Packaging kept breaking. She posted photos of failed deliveries alongside polls: “Would you prefer eco-friendly boxes even if they cost a bit more?” Customers voted, and she adjusted.
Behind the scenes, she logged everything in a Google Doc: recipes, packaging trials, delivery tweaks. That “iteration diary” made applying for an IRAP grant smoother, and she later realized her packaging experiments even qualified for SR&ED credits.
Lesson: Document privately for grants. Document publicly for trust. Both are valuable.
Step 4: When You’ve Got Traction, Talk Money
At 120 subscribers, Maya pitched a local food entrepreneur. Instead of hiding the messy parts, she leaned into them: “We tested 5, then 30, now 120 boxes. We’ve had boxes collapse, deliveries missed, and refunds issued — but each time we fixed it and grew.”
She also showed her social media following — proof of community, not just customers. Her Instagram wasn’t huge, but it was real: people were engaging, sharing, and asking when the next Eid specials would drop.
That combination of traction + audience got her first angel check.
Lesson: Investors don’t just buy numbers. They buy into a founder’s ability to build momentum — and community.
Step 5: Go Where It Fits
Maya kept production in Montreal (lower costs, access to packaging suppliers) but marketed heavily in Toronto, where bigger Middle Eastern communities and corporate offices fueled demand. She tested each city the same way she tested her sweets: one small step, then another, then share the lessons online.
Her IG stories became her storefront. Customers weren’t just buying sweets — they were buying into Maya’s identity as a founder openly learning in public.
Lesson: Building in public turns customers into early believers, and mistakes into marketing.
The Takeaway
Maya’s journey wasn’t clean. Family shrugged, neighbors ignored free samples, boxes collapsed, incubators said no. But by starting with five boxes at a time, sharing the wins and failures openly on social media, and treating each step as a story, she built both traction and trust.
If you’re starting something of your own, remember: sell a few, learn, share, repeat. Building in public isn’t just marketing — it’s how you craft the story people want to follow (and support).
Would you like me to make the social media angle more concrete — e.g. show sample Instagram posts/captions Maya might have used (like mock posts with her packaging fail, recipe story, first subscriber milestone)?
