With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1501233
54 BCBUSINESS.CA JULY/AUGUST 2023 3 3 UNDER H A R R I S O N G O R D O N + P A I G E S A N D H E R AGE: 26 + 27 Co-founders, CouchHaus LIFE STORY: Can dropshipping be a love language? For Surrey-raised Harrison Gordon and Paige Sandher, it sure seems that way. At 17 years old, Gordon dropped out of school and decided to start some side hustles—a clothing company out of his car, a couple dropshipping businesses he eventually sold, a marketing agency. Then he met Sandher and helped her start a jewellery biz. "We did drop- shipping together," says Gordon, "and we've been in business ever since." They're also engaged to be mar- ried next year, but already have what they call their first baby—CouchHaus, a direct-to-consumer, couch-in-a-box brand founded in 2021 that allows buyers to customize their sofas. "We had gone furniture shopping ourselves and just weren't finding exactly what we wanted," recalls Sandher. "What was out there wasn't customizable and it was expensive. Knowing that we had already worked with manufacturers abroad, we won- dered how we could do this ourselves in a more cost-effective way. With Harrison's entrepreneurial spirit, he was like..." "Let's start a business!" says Gordon, finishing Sandher's sentence. CouchHaus, which allows custom- ized sizing, fabrics and a handful of other features to clients, is run out of the couple's Langley townhouse, which doubles as a showroom. All the products are designed here and produced overseas in Shanghai. Asked about the competition in the online furniture market, Gordon contends that customization is where CouchHaus separates itself. "With most of those, like Article and Sundays, they have what they have and don't budge on it," he says. "We're able to do customizations for people where maybe they have a tight space, or they're looking for something specific or we're able to do made-to- order furniture for them. Traditionally, with made-to-order locally, you're looking at a four-to-six-month turn- around. We're able to flip that within two or three months." BOTTOM LINE : CouchHaus has brought in more than 100 orders and has hit over seven figures in revenue in its over two years in business. –N.C. GET A ONE-YEAR SUBSCRIPTION FOR ONE LOW PRICE! (SIX ISSUES OF THE PRINT AND DIGITAL EDITIONS) There's no easier way to stay smart, informed and ahead of your competition. SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR $14.95/YEAR bcbusiness.ca/special-subscription-offer LIKE US ON BCB_Subscription_2023_1/2.indd 1 BCB_Subscription_2023_1/2.indd 1 2023-05-12 2:41 PM 2023-05-12 2:41 PM