Portland entrepreneur Rachel Bell is taking 15 years' experience in independent publishing and creating an online marketplace designed to make the industry easier for small publishers.
She has tapped several local resources on her way to build her startup Printer's Row, and now she has backing from a big name in Silicon Valley angel investing that she wants to leverage as she raises more money.
In August, Bell finalized a $25,000 investment from Launch.co, the startup education and investment group founded and led by investor Jason Calacanis, who backed hundreds of companies and was an early investor in Uber and Robinhood. He also co-hosts the podcast This Week in Startups.
Printer's Row is a business-to-business marketplace for indie book publishers bringing together service providers, printers and even financing. It’s meant to replace all the emails and spreadsheets that currently dominate the business as publishers get individual bids or printers seek financing for projects.
“It’s for small to medium-sized publishers, like those based here in Portland,” Bell said. “The ones that aren’t the Big 5.”
The target audience are companies that publish fewer than 20 books a year and don’t have the time to meet all their needs. Bell estimates that market size is $50 billion annually in North America and $160 billion annually worldwide.
Bell is a partner at the indie publisher OverCup Press. It focuses on literary nonfiction and gift books, which are those often silly books at retail cash registers and impulse buys, she said. Overcup publishes two to three books a year.
She is also a contractor and consultant for other publishers. Printer's Row is the result of her automating many of the functions she now does manually.
“As a contractor and consultant it helps to see the features we need to offer the market,” she said, adding that she working closely with her clients as she develops Printer's Row.
The tool isn’t built yet, and this Launch.co investment will be used to build the beta. If she is successful with fundraising, the timeline becomes quicker, she said.
Bell was in 2021 cohort of the Portland Incubator Experiment , participated in Founder Gym and has tapped resources from the entrepreneurial group TiE Oregon. Each group helped her craft her pitch and business model.
She participated in the 12-week Founder University program run by Launch.co, which is how she landed in front of Calacanis to pitch.
The tool will be free to use, and Bell plans to generate revenue by taking a cut of any sales that happen within the marketplace.
Bell is pitching Printer's Row to investors locally and outside the area. She said she received valuable feedback from Calacanis that she has incorporated into her pitch.
He advised her to focus on how Printer's Row can help publishers save time and money and the startup's third-party financing. She was able to refine her language around that element, she said.
His last piece of advice was to emphasize that the product is free.
“(Pitching Calacanis) was a culmination of the experience of TiE, PIE, Founder Gym and Founder University, to bring a pitch that was able to resonate with an actual investor,” Bell said.
