Featured ZINOpreneur of the Week: Carl Bryant of Mr. Thoughtful

Carl Bryant, Mr. Thoughtful

Our ZINO Society featured ZINOpreneur Member this week is Carl Bryant, Founder & CEO of Thoughtful People, LLC dba Mr. Thoughtful.com. Carl presented his company at the ZINO Society ZINO Marketplace Investment Forum featuring consumer products and services in November, 2010. We asked him to share the answers to a few questions about his company.

• What is your one-sentence elevator pitch? . . . The One and Only Greeting Card Buying System for Men!
• How did you come up with the idea for your company? . . . Being the target customer, perennially forgetting to buy birthday and anniversary cards and being disappointing to loved ones. 
• The word that best describes your company culture is . . . snarky – like the brand!
• How are you different from your competition? . . . We address a faulty gene in the male DNA which others do not.
• What is the biggest challenge you face? . . . Raising capital in this economy when investors are enamored with mobiletweetingsocialsearchapps.
•  How much money have you raised to date? . . . $57K.
•  If someone gave your company $3 million tomorrow, how would you use the money? . . . After giving back $2.5M of it and being satisfied being 60% oversubscribed, I’d aggressively role out our marketing plan to drive customer acquisition.
• What is the oddest or most unusual thing about your company? . . . Our service intervenes in a guy’s relationship with his loved ones.
• Why will your company be successful? . . . Having identified a high GP liquid existing market with a product our customers need.