

She had hoped Moross would incubate Packlane. “I actually sent a cold email to MOO founder Richard Moross,” whose printing company was an inspiration for her. She also began forging strategic relationships.
HAPPY MAIL DESIGNER SHIPPING BOXES FULL
As her February, 2015 launch drew closer, she quit her other work to focus on Packlane full time. That idea soon became an obsession, she says, occupying every hour she didn’t spend at her day job. “It gave me the confidence to try to build something” catering to customers making both recurring and one-off - or short-run, as it’s known in the industry - orders. So when she tried and failed to find customized shipping-box services for her future brand, it seemed she’d hit upon a market need that she could fill.Īt that same time, Brafman noticed an uptick in subscription services like Birchbox and Stitch Fix that mail makeup, clothing and more on a monthly basis - a development that solidified her belief in a growing demand for personalized shipping and mailer boxes.
HAPPY MAIL DESIGNER SHIPPING BOXES PROFESSIONAL
Then, she spent 2 years as an engineer and designer at Berkeley Lab, a national laboratory managed by the University of California at Berkeley.īut feeling unsatisfied with her career direction, she began exploring other professional options, always returning to the idea of entrepreneurship and her passion for graphic design. And though she declined to disclose Packlane’s annual revenue, she said it will exceed $5M in 2017.īrafman - who is just 26 - struck gold because she believed, along with scores of her clients, that customized packaging plays a key role in “creating a brand experience.”īrafman started professional life in 2008 as a freelance web developer and designer, and created websites for various clients until 2013. The company opened in early 2015, but, already, she and her team of 25 employees cater to roughly 11,000 business customers - some of them big names like Google, L’Oreal and Shopify. But it did not, which is how she came to be the founder of Packlane, a Berkeley, Calif., company whose website lets brands of all sizes design and order personalized shipping and mailer boxes, as well as folding cartons. “Everyone has packaging,” she says, and it seemed “so obvious” to her that a customized shipping-box service would already exist.

But when she looked for a vendor who could provide customized shipping boxes for sending out future products, she came up empty-handed - save for a new business idea. So when she reached adulthood, it was only natural that she would launch a venture herself.Īs a designer, she initially considered starting a design business, or perhaps an e-commerce site.

(Credit: Packlane)Īs a Silicon Valley native, entrepreneur Miriam Brafman grew up surrounded - and fascinated - by startup life.
