Case Study: Maria Jaekal

Why Did You Want To Work With Me?

I wanted to work with Moose because two years ago, I participated in the Baltipreneurs accelerator program.

I went over my pitch with Moose, before Demo Day, and I remember everything that he helped me with. 

My pitch truly changed: my slide deck went from being good to great! 

He thought of changes to make in my slides that I never would have thought of – even small things.

He really helped me to reframe everything I was saying to make it sound more advanced and better appeal to the investors. 

We were very successful in our pitch! Ever since then, I wanted to continue working with you.

What were your biggest concerns about working with me?

A concern I’ve had working with anyone that’s not in fashion is how well they know the fashion industry. Because it is very niche and I am a small business that sells jewelry. 

So the fashion industry is very specific and is all about connections. 

I was hesitant because not a lot of people that I encountered at Loyola knew about the industry. 

Regardless of that, I don’t think it inhibited our ability to work together whatsoever. 

Because he helped me with a lot of the business material, which is what I needed. 

So even though there was hesitation, it didn’t end up mattering at all.

What’s been your favorite part about doing this work?

The accountability/discipline aspect of it. 

We were meeting consistently for the first few weeks of my senior year? Yeah, my senior year – I’d like to think that I’m self disciplined being a business owner. But, I needed to have someone help me set those goals. 

Someone to meet with me and hold me accountable. To say:

• “Complete this. We spoke about this last week. Did you do this?” 

Because if I don’t put myself on that strict routine – that regimen – then I won’t get done everything that I wanted to get done. 

That was one of my favorite parts because it just allowed me to stay on schedule, schedule how I want, and to have someone hold me accountable.

What’s the biggest transformation you’ve gotten?

The biggest transformation, again, it all goes back to the pitch… 

I would say it was learning how to rephrase certain things when I’m writing professionally – Things I would write in the pitch.

Moose helped me to reframe what I was writing to make it more appealing to my target audience.

I’ve never pitched before. 

I had never thought about how to appear to an investor. I had never done anything like that. 

So I was just kind of writing what I thought I should be saying. 

Moose helped me to totally rework and reframe that to the proper way.

What surprised you the most about working with me?

Honestly. I didn’t know you’d be so much fun! 

I only ever knew you in a business setting. 

I heard you speak to the Cohort, two years ago, as a group, and gotten your professional emails at the center of innovation entrepreneurship.

I didn’t expect working with you to be as real and authentic and fun as it was – I thought it would be more strict business meetings.

I work better with people that I can be myself around and that I can relax with. I don’t do well in an environment where everyone’s strictly professional – it’s supposed to be fun!

We’re entrepreneurs and we can learn from each other. 

I think that, honestly. I know that it wasn’t the most business-y answer, but it’s the first thing that came to mind.

It’s like, we’re connected. You know what I’m thinking, what I’m feeling like.

You help me say what I think , what I feel and get that picture even clearer as to what I want to do.

Who Would You Recommend Pitch Coaching to?

I would recommend you to very early on startups. 

Because obviously starting the business can be extraordinarily daunting. And it’s also the kind of thing that it takes a lot of work and there is a lot of struggles that come with it. 

So if you’re not 100% in then it’s not going to be worth it. 

You did a great job of making all the work manageable. 

Because, you know, when you’re first starting a business, you’re always thinking: 

“Start this – but then I have to do that as well – and then I can’t do this without doing that!”

There’s so much! 

But you’re good at breaking it down like, “Well, if you start here then you can do this next time,” while also making it less daunting than it is.

And I remember when I first worked with you, I was four years into my business at the time. I was selling jewelry on the street, so it wasn’t really like I was established for four years.

The year that I first started working with you was the year I first got my LLC, the year I trademarked, and the year after I launched my website. 

So I was definitely still in the early phases of realizing that this could be something bigger than what it is. 

And I remember when I showed you my business plan that I had written in July.

I showed it to you sometime in February or March, and I hadn’t done much about it.

Because it was so much to me! I spent time writing it all out, but I hadn’t acted upon it because it was so daunting!

I didn’t know where to ship my time and ship my priorities. 

And I remember you asked just a few questions like, “Is that okay? Where are we gonna begin? Have you thought about XYZ?” 

And I remember after that, I thought, “Okay, it’s really not that much. After these few questions and you realize that you can start to do this.” 

So I would say early on people or people that are maybe hesitant to start. Because you do a great job of breaking it down to make it less overwhelming.

If you are interested in going through the same transformative coaching process reach out below.