Two young entrepreneurs successfully funded a new business, called Sunshine Juice Co., soon to be sipped in bottles at a café near you.
Local juice makers Meagan DeLong and Erin Little started small, but they dreamed big.
“I think Erin and I have learned that realism in life doesn’t mean negative," DeLong said. "It means making sure you have a good dose of dreaming, plus the reality that it has to be legit and move in a certain direction.”
And based on their rapid online funding success, it appears that their efforts passed the “legit” test.
The young women, both under 30, launched a Kickstarter page to purchase a cold-pressed juicer and bottles to sell their popular organic juice around Evansville and Newburgh.
They raised nearly $20,000 from their campaign, which is $5,000 more than their original goal.
“As a person, it blows my mind to see that people love us, they see our vision and they want to be a part of that," DeLong said.
Little and DeLong started selling freshly-squeezed juice at a stand at farmers markets and festivals, but they wanted to reach a wider clientele and have juice more conveniently available on store shelves. The duo says they hope to sell their freshly-bottled nectar as soon as this August.
Their ambitions don’t end there. While they plan to start selling at five local eateries, DeLong says they hope to eventually purchase a food truck, or even a stand-alone store.
“We have had other retailers interested in selling, which is great," Erin Little said. "We hope it will be a million places all over Evansville and the universe. ”
But, as they've learned, success happens just one small sip at a time.
