388 | Leveraging Funding to Expand Your Business with Zeba Parkar, Treleaf

Let's talk money. Money is a necessity in business, but it can also be a pain point, particularly for product-based business owners because our investments, overhead, and risks are generally heightened compared to service-based businesses.

We not only need to make money, but we also need to spend money for future expansion and growth. But where does that money come from? How are people doing this? We get this question a lot when we talk with our students.

Many brands in our industry are self-funded, meaning that they use their own money for start-up costs and then they reinvest those revenues or profits back into the business.

Another option is grants. We talked with Ashley Sutton of Hustle and Hope in episode 374 about how she has utilized grants to grow her business, and grants are funding that we do not need to pay back.

Today, we're gonna talk about leveraging debt and funding as a means to expand your business. I do not want to glorify going into debt for your business, but I do believe and know firsthand that there are responsible ways to leverage debt and essentially use other people's money for strategic growth within your business.

And that's why I asked Zeba Parkar from Treleaf to come back on the podcast. Zeba was on the podcast for episode 320, where we talked about the challenges she was facing in bringing a new product to life.

She does these incredible laser cut trellises and modern plant accessories that she manufactures in-house in her studio and warehouse, and she has a whole team and a lot of equipment.

Since then, she has expanded her business even more, and some of that has been done through funding from outside sources.

Zeba and I catch up on what's been happening in her business since late 2023, since we last talked on the podcast, including how she did 13 trade shows in 2024. We discussed her approach to finding funding for her business and different loan options that she looked at, including Shopify Capital, and lines of credit options.

We also talked about hurdles that she came up against when she started applying for this type of funding and she shared things that she wished she had known before she started applying for different types of funding.

Today’s episode is brought to you by our Proof to Product resource library. It’s where you can get your hands on our free resources to help you start, streamline, and scale your business in your own way and at your own pace.

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MEET ZEBA

I was born in a Aurangabad, India but grew up most of my life in the city of Mumbai which is on the west coast of India.

I am a scientist by training. I did my Bachelors in Polymer Engineering from University Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai. I completed my PhD from University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in Materials Science and Engineering. Materials fascinate me and dreaming up products that make human life better and bring joy is my passion.

I worked as a corporate scientist right out of graduate school where I was introduced to the idea of digital manufacturing. The whole premise of designing your parts on the computer and hitting print and get a physical object in a few hours made my heart skip a beat. This is when I knew I wanted to be part of this maker movement. I started using 3D printing (additive manufacturing) as well as CNC lasers (subtractive manufacturing) to bring my ideas to life. I love nature, and live with hundreds of plants in my house. I started looking for beautiful home accessories and I never found products to help integrate them with my home décor. I started making some plant supports for my personal houseplant collection and that morphed into Treleaf. My inspiration is nature, and greenery all around me.

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Connect with Katie Hunt

Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.

Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct