Industry Prompts

Week 1

Question #1

My initial preconceived idea about the consumer goods industry was that it was an enormous sector of the market hard to break into. I have created and sold products myself such as earmuff-headphones online but sales were difficult to get. After my on boarding at Detrapel I learned that they were able to sell their product and break into the market by primarily selling B2B (business to business). In fact they are currently closing a deal with Umass for a large (confidential) amount of money.

Week 2

Question #3

DetraPel currently has three consumer-facing products that range from $12.99 to $299.99 retail. These are sold in car dealerships, retail stores, and online.

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Our gross margin varies between 71%-86% (wholesale pricing excluded). For industrial markets, we sell products starting a $280/gallon for the cheapest product, while our most expensive product retails for $3,379.99/gallon. All of the profits are currently going back into the company to fuel its expansion. To encourage large purchases, primarily from businesses, DetraPel offers discounts depending on frequency and sizes of orders.

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Knowing how DetraPel generates a revenue is crucial to being a part of the company. I understand the importance of upselling customer to buy greater qualities and realize the the majority of our revenue comes from B2B sales. Depending on who we decided to target, this could change our marketing strategy.

Week 3

Question #4

The general employee attitude at DetraPel is great. Our small team is mostly Babson-based. Our 20-year-old founder, David Zamarin sold his previous two companies to create DetraPel from scratch for the past 4.5 years. Head of Administration, Geoffrey Greenhouse, leads the day-to-day operations. Parthiv Neotia is the Head of Business Development and Alec Tolivaisa is the Head of Finance.

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The team is entirely made of people under the age of 25 however our combined experience and maturity far exceeds our age. Granted we enjoys socializing and having a good time, we are also unrelenting in our vision of becoming the leader in the chemical coating industry.

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I would love to be apart of a startup like DetraPel because unlike other jobs you see your contribution directly impact the company. This notion keeps me on top of my tasks and motivated to seek out ways I can better the company.

Week 4

Question #7

The general employee attitude at DetraPel is great. Our small team is mostly Babson-based. Our 20-year-old founder, David Zamarin sold his previous two companies to create DetraPel from scratch for the past 4.5 years. Head of Administration, Geoffrey Greenhouse, leads the day-to-day operations. Parthiv Neotia is the Head of Business Development and Alec Tolivaisa is the Head of Finance.

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The team is entirely made of people under the age of 25 however our combined experience and maturity far exceeds our age. Granted we enjoys socializing and having a good time, we are also unrelenting in our vision of becoming the leader in the chemical coating industry.

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I would love to be apart of a startup like DetraPel because unlike other jobs you see your contribution directly impact the company. This notion keeps me on top of my tasks and motivated to seek out ways I can better the company.

Week 5

Question #8

Although I value and respect everyone in the company, David Zamarin, inspires me the most. David is the original founder and creator of DetraPel. His story, background, and work ethic speak for themselves.

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Both of David's parents are immigrants who came to this country in search for better lives. His parents ended up getting divorced when he was just two years old and his dad did well in the financial industry. From there, his mom was forced to work 17-hour shifts to make ends meet while he lived with his grandparents. Because of this, David grew up in the inner-city of Philadelphia where many of his childhood friends are either dead or not doing well.

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A few years later, his mother met a man who is now his stepfather. This man believed in his mother and put her through an education at Drexel University. Growing up watching his mother working hard inspired David to be very independent.

In 6th grade, he asked for a $100 loan from his Dad so that he could buy popular headphones and watches at a wholesale price and resell them. That summer, David made $10,000 selling at flea markets, which he split in half with his Dad.

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During David’s freshman year of high school, he got accepted into a youth entrepreneurship program, where he received amazing mentorship and started his first real business cleaning and repairing shoes for local university sports teams.

After receiving an offer and selling this business, David decided to research a competitor’s product from his previous company. David did not understand why he needed a full body suit, or a respirator mask to apply this liquid repelling spray until he read their safety data sheets which stated the product could cause cancer and birth defects if it made contact with one’s skin.

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Annoyed with the current products on the market, David decided to start researching nanotechnology independently and eventually came up with his own eco-friendly and non-toxic formulation. Since then David has started a few businesses, and sold one, but has mainly focused on DetraPel - a superhydrophobic liquid repellent spray that is applicable to almost any material and can repel any liquid based substance. David has grown this startup into a six-figure company while being a full-time student at Babson College in Wellesley Massachusetts. His background and accomplishments inspire me to create new and eventually run a startup of my own.

Week 6

Question #14

At a startup roles and job descriptions are constantly changing, sometimes everyday. There is no endpoint to my learning while at DetraPel. I want to transition into and larger role on the marketing side of things. I decided to intern at a startup so I could learn more about starting and growing a company at faster rate then through any class or program.