Zella Life’s Growth with the Brink SBDC

Remy Meraz, the co-founder of Zella Life, first joined the Brink Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of San Diego in March 2021. Zella Life is an online coaching platform that aims to bridge the diversity gap in personal and professional development by equipping its clients with coaches of color that understand their needs.

Meraz originally came to the Brink SBDC in the midst of a business pivot into a new venture with new partners. She sought expertise and support to gain clarity on the customer journey, customer acquisition strategy, re-branding, and legal assistance.

Meraz’s goals with the Brink SBDC included launching her business, acquiring customers and securing angel investment. 

Meraz received one-on-one consulting with one of the Brink SBDC’s advisors on market research, validation, financial modeling, branding and marketing activities. 

“Working with the advisors offered fresh perspectives and insights to tackle problems where I had knowledge blindspots resulting in increased awareness and confidence as a founder,” states Meraz.

Because she was pivoting, Meraz’s advisor recommended Meraz to enroll in the Brink SBDC’s Lean Essentials Sprint eight-week course to assist with developing her minimal viable product (MVP) and validating the customer.

In Spring 2021, Meraz joined the course and was able to create revenue models and projections, a pitch deck, and define its MVP/product offering.

“Participating in the Brink's Lean Essential Sprint provided the framework to take an idea out of my head, create a living blueprint to execute against, and turn it into a revenue-generating business in less than a year,” says Meraz.

With an MVP established, they rebranded to Zella Life and launched the new business in September of 2021, acquiring their first paying customers shortly after.

Meraz shared the good news with the Brink SBDC, “we launched Zella Life which yielded 100 site visits, 20 bookings, and two paid customers within our first two weeks via word of mouth marketing. The Brink SBDC was instrumental in helping us get to this point!”

Meraz continued receiving consulting for marketing strategy and has been acquiring more customers. In June 2022, they secured their first enterprise client, Biogen.

In July 2022, Zella Life was selected as a recipient of the Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund, receiving $100 thousand in non-dilutive funding, hands-on programming and support from Google, and more. Meraz was identified as one of 50 founders chosen for this opportunity with her company recognized as one of the high-potential startups from LatinX entrepreneurs based in the U.S. 

Zella Life is on a continued trajectory upward with the full support of the Brink SBDC.

More About Zella Life

Make workplace diversity your superpower with Zella Life, an on-demand coaching platform for individuals and corporate teams that are changing the future of work for professionals of color.