Farmgirl Flowers CEO on the Challenges of Bootstrapping

Summary

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Bloomberg Businessweek Podcast Summary

Episode Overview

Title: Farmgirl Flowers CEO on the Challenges of Bootstrapping
Date: November 19, 2025
Hosts: Carol Massar & Tim Stenovec
Guest: Christina Stembel, Founder & CEO of Farmgirl Flowers

Main Theme:
This episode dives into the journey of Christina Stembel, who, starting from her San Francisco apartment in 2010, bootstrapped Farmgirl Flowers into a $35 million business. Christina discusses the unique challenges of growing a business without outside funding, lessons learned from rapid expansion, the importance of profit over revenue, the impacts of tariffs and labor shortages, and her perspective on the current consumer landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Growth, Profitability, and the “Too Fast” Trap

• Christina reflects on Farmgirl Flowers’ 15-year journey—from rapid scaling to an intentional slowdown, focusing on profitability over revenue.
  • “It's the first year that we're actually seeing any growth since 2020, but very small couple points, and that's very intentional. We're really focused on the bottom line.” (Christina, 02:50)
• In 2019, the company hit $34M in revenue but only $36,000 in profit—an eye-opener that led her to rethink priorities.
  • “2019, we did 34 million in revenue, and I did 36,000 in profit, and I paid myself $60,000. Like, this is not a success story.” (Christina, 04:13)

2. Lessons Learned After 15 Years

• Christina shares self-awareness and honesty about entrepreneurial ego and the façade of Silicon Valley success.
  • “When I started, I wanted that founder story ... It was like all my ego. I finally realized it was my ego.” (Christina, 04:05)
• The real founder journey is far less glamorous than glossy magazine profiles suggest.
  • “Everything I thought the business world was isn't. Like all these glossy pictures of people that made it ... I'm like, yeah, it was like a fire sale most of the time.” (Christina, 04:35)

3. Building to Sell vs. Building to Keep

• Christina candidly discusses her initial intention to build and sell, and the pivot after an underwhelming acquisition offer.
  • “I built this to sell ... then we got an offer from one of our big competitors ... it was a horrible offer. And so now I'm building to keep, and building to sell. And it's a completely different thing.” (Christina, 05:35–06:00)

4. The Power and Tradeoffs of Bootstrapping

• Christina highlights how not taking outside investment gave her autonomy and long-term strategic flexibility.
  • “I don't go into every board meeting being worried I'm going to be fired right now. Because you're the boss. ... We bought a farm. Nobody, no investors would ever let you buy a farm.” (Christina, 06:09)
• Vertical integration—buying a farm to control more of the supply chain and manage tariff implications.
  • “We bought the farm because we're like, let's do this ... we do think long term, this vertical integration will allow us to keep a couple million dollars more in our pockets every year.” (Christina, 06:44–07:07)

5. The Realities of Flower Sourcing, Tariffs, and Labor

• U.S. flower farming is in decline: not enough supply, sky-high labor costs, and few American workers willing to do the work.
  • “When we started, I only bought American grown flowers. ... We ran out of flowers in 2017 ... Now there's fewer farms than there were in 2017 because labor's so high now with immigration issues.” (Christina, 09:07)
  • "There are not people here that are wanting to be farm workers. Let me just say." (Christina, 09:30)
• Tariffs and trade policy directly affect costs, design choices, and ultimately the consumer.
  • “Tariffs ... actually hurt the consumers more ... we raise prices ... or we have to buy off the shelf instead of making custom things ... we have to make concessions because we don't want to price ourselves out of the market.” (Christina, 08:44)

6. Immigration and the Supply Chain

• Christina is forthright on the role of immigration:
  • "We're not going to bring farming back to this country unless we do something about immigration. There are too many ripple effects going on with why it won't work." (Christina, 09:57)
• Roughly 50% of Farmgirl Flowers' bouquets are made in the U.S., but much of the raw product must come from abroad (especially South America).

7. The American Consumer and a “K-Shaped” Economy

• The demand for bouquets is bifurcated—affluent consumers keep spending, while many cut gifts due to economic pressures.
  • "It's not the company I want to be where I'm only appealing to one type of consumer ... I don't want every bouquet to cost $150 ... so we're looking at something." (Christina, 11:18–11:40)
• Farmgirl is innovating on shipping and operational cost structure to keep bouquets accessible.

8. Products and Seasonality: Wreaths and Thanksgiving

• Christina shares excitement (and constraints) over their popular wreath-making program:
  • "They're high labor. ... We work with small farms on our wreath-making program. So very proud of that and trying to get more for us." (Christina, 12:10–12:20)

9. Outlook and Closing Words

• Christina’s assessment of the business and broader environment is frank but optimistic.
  • "If you had to do a word to describe the outlook, how do you see it right now?" — Host (12:32)
  • “Two words: bleak but hopeful.” (Christina, 12:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Ego and Growth:
  “I finally figured out that, like, everything I thought the business world was isn't ... all these people I wanted to be, that girl bosses that made it ... they don't own their companies anymore.” (Christina, 04:13–05:00)
• On Building Autonomously:
  “Nobody, no investors would ever let you buy a farm. We ... are farming now. That's a long term goal.” (Christina, 06:09–06:20)
• On Structural Challenges:
  “Having production facilities of making bouquets in the United States. We do ... but the flowers are coming from South America.” (Christina, 10:23)
• Candid Market Perspective:
  “Two words: bleak but hopeful.” (Christina, 12:42)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:10] — Christina Stembel joins, reflects on profitability focus in 2025
• [03:49] — 15 years in, key lessons & the pitfalls of fast growth
• [05:35] — Building to sell vs. building to keep
• [06:09] — The autonomy of bootstrapping, buying a farm
• [07:07] — U.S. flower supply chain issues
• [08:44] — Tariffs and their effects on consumers
• [09:57] — Immigration & agricultural labor crisis
• [11:04] — How today’s economic climate affects consumers & Farmgirl’s pricing strategy
• [12:10] — Wreath-making and supply constraints
• [12:42] — “Bleak but hopeful”: Christina’s two-word outlook

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Tone & Language

Christina speaks candidly—with humility, humor, and the unvarnished realism of a founder who’s seen both press hype and practical hardship, often debunking myths about entrepreneurship and growth. The hosts maintain a conversational tone, asking questions rooted in concern for business and consumer realities.

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For listeners interested in startup life, the realities behind “success stories,” or hard-won insights in running and scaling a modern business, this episode offers a trove of actionable lessons and honest perspective from a trailblazing founder who’s still thriving—on her own terms.

Transcript

[Host 1]

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[Host 1]

Bloomberg.

[Sponsor Announcer 1]

Audio Studios Podcasts Radio news.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

You're listening to Bloomberg businessweek with Carol.

[Host 3 (Tim Stankevich)]

Massar and Tim Stanvak on Bloomberg Radio.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

Well, this week was always going to be crucial for the stock market with the behemoth in video due to report earnings. But with results from a slew of major retailers also hitting the next few days have become critical to traders who are looking for a view on the health of the consumer and the economy. Carol we're going to hear from Home Depot, Lowe's, Klarna, Target, Wal Mart and Gap, among others.

[Host 1]

Yeah, the health of the consumer is so important. It's the backbone of the US Economy. We've increasingly talked about the K shape economy and really how it pertains to consumers. That consumers, the wealthier consumer seems to be out there still shopping. Not so much. For those who are feeling the pitch.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

The health of the consumer is something we always focus on with Christina Stembel. She's the founder and CEO of Farm Girl Flowers. She bootstrapped the company starting back in 2010, making bouquets from her San Francisco apartment. The company has grown a lot since then. She's here with us in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio. 15 years.

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah, 15 years it's been A wild ride.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

I mean, we get to check in with you every few months, and it's great. And a big part of your story is how you grew so quickly and you actually acknowledged that you grew too fast and you said, wait, we got to put the brakes on this thing and kind of get smaller. But one thing that I was really surprised to hear from you is that this year is going to be your most profitable year, even if it's not going to be your biggest revenue year.

[Christina Stembel]

Absolutely. It's the first year that we're actually seeing any growth since 2020, but very small couple points, and that's very intentional. We're really focused on the bottom line. You know, we want to make sure all these companies are doing layoffs. I want to make sure we're not that, you know, we're actually. We have, I don't know, 10 or 12 open positions right now, which for a company our size is a lot. So we're just growing at a clip that we can do while maintaining our profit margin.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

How big is the company?

[Christina Stembel]

We're about 35 million, you know, plus a little bit, but yeah. And how many people right under 30?

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

So you have like a third of your positions are open right now, basically. Are you having trouble finding those employees?

[Christina Stembel]

We're just going slow. We're looking for the right people. So we have a lot of applicants, but we're just making sure we're bringing the right people. Yeah, I think I've learned that having the wrong people is actually worse than just not having anyone. So that's a lesson.

[Host 1]

It is a good lesson. So in terms of 15 years, tell us about, like, how you look back at the beginning and where you were and some of the stages you've gone through and then where you are today.

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah, I just sat down and wrote like, you know, 15 lessons in 15 years. You know, I might share em at the end of the year. I was just trying to think about, like, you know, where I'm at now versus, you know, I feel much healthier right now, personally and professionally. And like, why do I feel that way? And I think the biggest lesson that I had written down was that nothing is as it seems like. When I started, I wanted that founder story in Silicon Valley. I started in San Francisco. I wanted to be the COVID of Inc. Or Entrepreneur, one of the big magazines. And, you know, where everybody was like, she did it. Look at that. You know, and it was like all my ego. I finally realized it was my ego. And we grew really, really fast. And that, like, played into my ego. And I felt like that was my entire identity, was that, you know, all the press we were getting with our, you know, fast growth, and yet 2019, we did 34 million in revenue, and I did 36,000 in profit, and I paid myself $60,000. Like, this is not a success story. But the outward, you know, outward world thought I was like, so successful. And I'm like, I'm barely scraping by eating ramen, you know. So I think, you know, really figuring out that, you know, I needed to be smaller like we talked about before, you know, and focusing on profit margin. Being a smaller company doesn't feed your ego anymore. But I finally figured out that, like, everything I thought the business world was isn't like all these sales, all these, like, glossy pictures of people that made it. I'm like, yeah, it was like a fire sale most of the time. And it was like all these people. I wanted to be that girl bosses that made it. I'm like, they don't own their companies anymore. And they're, you know.

[Host 1]

Yeah. And it's interesting cause we've talked a lot, and I'm sure through your head, you went through some journeys about where do I want to go, do I want to keep doing this, do I want to bring in partners, do I want to do whatever? You know what I mean? And I'm just curious, Tim. I think about all the folks that kind of think about that kind of thing. Did you go through some of that?

[Christina Stembel]

Absolutely. I mean, I built this to sell. I wanted to sell it in 10 years. I mean, how many years can you work 100 hours a week and not die? So I wanted to sell it so bad.

[Host 1]

That's harsh.

[Christina Stembel]

But it's the reality, right? Totally. And then we got an offer from one of our big competitors, like this big company. And I thought, yes, we're going to make it. And it was a horrible offer. And so now I'm building to keep, in building to sell. And it's a completely different thing. Like we're making. We're investing in, you know, things for five years from now.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

You're able to build to keep rather than build to sell. Because you built this company yourself and you didn't take on any financing, any funding, which is so strange for a startup that was built in Silicon Valley.

[Christina Stembel]

Absolutely, absolutely. You know, I'm very fortunate. I'm in a CEO group with lots of CEOs that, you know, are constantly telling me how lucky I am, even though I have never felt lucky in this because I don't go into every board meeting being worried I'm going to be fired right now. Because you're the boss. Yeah, I'm the boss. I'm like, you know, we just, you know, we bought a farm. You know, nobody, no investors would ever let you buy a farm. We, you know, are farming now. That's a long term goal.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

Well, I was going to say last time you were on with us, we're going to get to the consumer in a second. But last time you were on with us, we talked about two things that really stuck out. One was the effect of tariffs. Did you buy a farm to offset the effect of tariffs?

[Christina Stembel]

No, absolutely not. What is going to help us?

[Sponsor Announcer 1]

It is.

[Christina Stembel]

I mean, we bought the farm because we're like, let's do this. Because it's hard to get this type of flower at this time of year where we think we can get it where we're at. We also built it because we're like, we're farm real flowers. Like, let's actually like, shouldn't we have a farm, shouldn't we have a farm and do that? You know, But I mean, we're investing in, you know, we do think long term, this vertical integration will allow us to keep a couple million dollars more in our pockets every year.

[Host 1]

Wow.

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah. It's a long.

[Host 1]

You gave us such an education, I think, about where flowers come from and I think there's just this assumption we go by flower. I don't know what, whether we thought they were all in the US and there wasn't right so much of the flowers.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

Where's the, where's the farm?

[Christina Stembel]

Oregon. We bought the farm in Washington, so we have a small farm in Washington. We also put in about 40,000 plants in Oregon last year as well.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

And will you be able to cultivate those flowers yearly? Like every, like throughout the year?

[Christina Stembel]

It takes three years for your first harvest. So again, that's why investors would never let you put the money into it now.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

And the flowers that you produce at those farms on that land only go to you or do you sell them to others?

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah, we'll keep it. You know, right now, the amount that we're growing, we can use that every year. If we decide to keep going, then we can wholesale it. It's another revenue chain for us.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

What percentage of the flowers that are grown there does that satisfy? Of the flowers that you use in.

[Christina Stembel]

A single year, like a couple percent. Okay.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

It's still really. But you would never be able to get to the point because of the global supply chain where you could actually grow all the flowers you would want.

[Christina Stembel]

Never. And we don't want to. It's too much of a risk. You know, I learned through Covid that I definitely need to diversify more than I had. I mean, having our facility that made 92% of our bouquets closed down in one day in 2020.

[Host 1]

I remember you talking. Yeah.

[Christina Stembel]

Taught me that. That wasn't very smart. So definitely making sure we diversify.

[Host 1]

Now talk to us about tariffs in the environment. Like, I just think again, why we love many reasons. We love talking to you, but you really give us an idea of what it's like to run a small business or the made it a bigger business over the years. But stuff coming out of Washington, tariffs. How has that changed? Has it gotten any easier?

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah, no, we change, you know, and it actually hurts the consumers more. I mean, you know, because you raise prices. We raise prices. Or we have to buy off the shelf. Instead of making custom things that are nicer for them, we have to do things like that. We have to make concessions because we. We don't want to price ourselves out of the market.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Christina Stembel]

You know, we have to use different flowers, even though they're not the ones that consumers want. You know, there are things like that.

[Host 1]

I hate when florists do that.

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Like, it's not what we want to do. Right. And also, I think we're the poster child for having tried to do this, like Made in America, grown in America. Like, when we started, I only bought American grown flowers. Right. And we ran out of flowers in 2017. Just ran out. Now there's fewer farms than there were in 2017 because Labor's so high now with immigration issues. I mean, there is. I mean, I just came a couple of weeks ago. I was just down in our fields and we were getting it ready for winter. I couldn't walk for three days after doing one week of work in the fields. Like, there are not people here that are wanting to be farm workers. Let me just say.

[Host 1]

So what would you say to folks who are like, no pushing back on immigration? It makes sense. We have to be doing this. What would you say to folks who are listening or watching right now?

[Christina Stembel]

I think that ship has sailed. Generations ago. There is no way, like, you know, we tried to buy American grown. It wasn't possible. We're not going to bring farming back to this country unless we do something about immigration. There are too many ripple effects going on with why it won't work. Also, having production facilities of making bouquets in the United States. We do. We make about 50% in the United States and 50% outside of the United States.

[Host 1]

Can I ask you where outside?

[Christina Stembel]

South America.

[Host 1]

South America. Okay.

[Christina Stembel]

And most of them are in the United States, but the flowers are coming from South America. We have a few in South America that are making bouquets as well. And, you know, it doesn't work like, you know, I think, you know, Ford Motor Company is a good example of this when they're talking about open jobs or, you know, I talked to a guy that has an engine rebuilding plant in the Midwest that had 40% open positions.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

We just don't have those people.

[Christina Stembel]

You know, we're telling people, go to college so you don't have to work a factory job. Nobody wants to work a factory job.

[Host 1]

You also have an aging population, right?

[Sponsor Announcer 2]

Absolutely.

[Host 1]

So we're not replenishing.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

So we talked about tariffs, we talked about farming. We talked quite a bit about your story to the consumer and the American consumer. How is the consumer in your view?

[Christina Stembel]

The consumer has definitely shifted, I think, just like what you were talking about, you know, people right now, it's a little concerning with the economy where, you know, people are still spending a lot of money, but the people that can't spend a lot of money can't buy.

[Host 1]

Yeah.

[Christina Stembel]

So, you know, I. It's not the company I want to be where I'm only appealing to one type of consumer. So we're really trying to make sure that we're not doing that. But with tariffs and rising prices on everything that, you know, kind of backs you in a corner of. What do you do? You know, I don't want every bouquet to cost $150, because how many people can afford a $150 bouquet to send to the restaurant for their birthday? You know, so we're looking at something.

[Host 1]

And as a consumer, like, I know I definitely cut back. It's like you can't do as much as you would like to.

[Christina Stembel]

Absolutely. And we're in the gifting space, so you just cut gifts out, and we don't want that. So we're looking to try and find ways to get closer to the end consumer so we can cut it in shipping instead of the flower cost and things like that that we can be a little bit creative with. What?

[Host 1]

Oh, I guess we have to go.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

I think we have time for one more from you, Carol.

[Christina Stembel]

Wreaths.

[Host 1]

I don't know if everybody can see the wreath that is on. Probably I'll have to lift it up. How big, like, do you do a.

[Christina Stembel]

Lot of wreaths we wish we could do more. We sell out of them all the time. We're working with a lot of new producers. They're high labor. Really? They're high labor. Yeah. So we are constantly looking at, we work with small farms on our reef making program. So very proud of that and trying to get more for us. But it's like the best way to, you know, come home and feel like it's Thanksgiving. Right.

[Host 1]

I love. I would.

[Christina Stembel]

I have.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

It smells really good.

[Host 1]

It does smell really good. She walked into the studio. If you had to do a word to describe the outlook, how do you see it Right now.

[Sponsor Announcer 3]

You can do.

[Christina Stembel]

Two words, bleak but hopeful. Wow.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

Wow.

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah. Yeah. I think.

[Host 1]

And this is with somebody who's got business going. Job openings.

[Christina Stembel]

Yeah.

[Host 2 (Carol Massar)]

Wow. In terms of the context of last 15 years, apart from COVID where is it? Like what year are we in 10 seconds?

[Christina Stembel]

15.

[Host 1]

Bleak.

[Christina Stembel]

I would just say because of personally how I feel about what's going on. But like we're doing okay. So I'm hopeful that we're going to make some changes.

[Host 1]

And you bought a farm.

[Christina Stembel]

Yes, bought a farm.

[Host 1]

I love that I want to be able to say we bought a farm. Christina Stamble fans, founder and CEO of Pharm Girl Flowers always makes us feel good. Bloomberg Businessweek is brought to you by Evolving Money, a podcast that explores how cryptocurrency is the next logical evolution of the financial system. The program investigates how traditional finance firms are integrating crypto into their operations now that Washington has begun to pass much needed regulations. Follow the podcast, which is sponsored by Coinbase. Wherever you get your audio programs.

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[Host 1]

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