Webb Institute has a vast network of alumni that spans all industries and sectors worldwide. No matter the path, our alumni are a tight-knit community ready to help one another and pave the way for others. In this spotlight, Webbies recognize the importance of sharing different perspectives and tell us how they began their journeys called “life.” Their stories comfort us during difficult times as well as create opportunities for personal growth. We have learned that when we share our experiences and learn from each other, we create ties that last a lifetime.
We are proud to launch this Webb’s Alumni Spotlight series: The Ties that Bind with Wombi Rose ’09,
co-founder of Lovepop. Lovepop creates unique 3D pop-up card designs for every occasion, and is on a mission to create one billion magical moments. Not only is Wombi a great proponent of Webb – always reminiscing how he began his journey as a naval architect in his many interviews, but he also embodies what “connection” means.
Connecting with others brings a sense of belonging, and when you top that off with pursuing your passion and doing things you love, you get a fulfilling and enriched sense of life. Seeing Wombi and his co-founder, John Wise ‘09, find success with Lovepop motivates us all to be passionate in our endeavors and fully engage in the process.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, Lovepop showcases that doing things with “love” brings you and those around you a sense of joy. More than a business, Lovepop is creating jobs and opportunities here in the US and around the globe. They have built a 200+ person design and production organization in central Vietnam with the vision to create a regional hub for design talent there, building capacity and skills, while creating magical moments along the way.
Let’s see how Wombi, John, and Lovepop are forming cultures and bringing communities together.
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As Valentine’s Day draws closer, why do you think “connection” is important especially now in this digital age? Aren’t we all connected even better than before?
I believe that connection with people that we care about is not only one of the most important parts of being human, but also critical for our own sense of purpose, physical, and mental health. Technology has completely changed the entire meaning of connection in our lives. In a sense, our phones have made us able to communicate instantly with anyone anywhere around the planet.
In some ways, this has been positive and created entirely new possibilities for connection. In other ways, our phones have distracted us from being present with each other, and I believe that in our world today it takes a lot of focus to develop and nurture meaningful and close relationships.
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With Lovepop, you’re creating jobs and opportunities and learning from the Vietnamese. Are there cultural differences and nuances? Did everyone get along from the beginning? Were there any cultural awakenings?
We’re very passionate about building a world-class company all across the globe. In particular, our Vietnamese organization operates on a 15-year vision to build a community of design and technology professionals in central Vietnam that will become a regional hub for this type of talent and work. Our team in the US has learned as much from our Vietnamese team, as they have from us.
In particular, the Vietnamese team often leads the company in entrepreneurialism, application of process, and team events and building connection. Of course, there have been many challenges for us to overcome, not the least of which are intense language and time zone barriers to collaboration. We’ve invested in our talent from day one, and made incredible strides in our Vietnamese team both in design and manufacturing skills, as well as collaboration models, management approaches, and communication.
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You are working with John Wise, your best friend from Webb and now business partner; how valuable was Webb in forming these connections?
John is an incredible human, with an incredibly kind heart, strong sense of purpose, strong will, and he’s also really, really smart. Basically, a Webbie. I met John in August 2005 on my first day at Webb, and have admired his approach to friends, fun, work, and life ever since. Our four years together at Webb of learning together, having fun together, and going through all of challenges of the Webb curriculum together built the foundation upon which we were able to make a full commitment to each other as partners building Lovepop. But it’s not just John and I. Over the years, we’ve had incredible Webbies on the team or helping us out: Colin Spillane, Diana Look, my brother Tophi Rose, Lindy Carelli, Jon Ward, Josh Rothman, Kyle Manis, and likely a few others I’ve neglected to mention.
Our class at Webb was very close, and we still get together a few times a year as a family. I think it’s the most special thing about Webb.
Wombi Rose ’09 and John Wise ’09
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From shipbuilding to now building a hugely successful brand of pop-up cards. How do you relate the two?
The very first time John and I saw sliceform kirigami cards, we instantly connected the technique to ship design. When you draw a ship’s line plan, you’re basically taking 3d forms and deconstructing them into a three dimensional grid. That is exactly how we make pop-up cards today. The only difference is that instead of steel or aluminum we use paper, and instead of welding we use glue. In fact, we even use the same design software Rhino 3D that John used to design new patrol boats for the Coast Guard and Navy while working at Metal Shark Boats for Webbies Matt Unger and Chris Allard.
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How did it feel to be on Shark Tank with John? How did you feel when you secured the investment?
Shark Tank was a surreal experience, and truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. When our episode aired, 7.5 million Americans immediately knew our story, and felt like they had experienced it with us. We practiced for a month ahead of time, and knew there would only be one take to make sure we got across the essence of the business. When we finally got Kevin O’Leary to commit to funding Lovepop, it was pure excitement and we ran to give him a hug before getting off stage. The next few days were a complete whirlwind, and I can confidently say that Shark Tank was a major factor in the early growth of Lovepop.
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You have worked at some of the biggest and most prestigious companies such as McKinsey; why do you think you wanted to keep dreaming even bigger?
I really love bringing people together to tackle something that is both a really big idea, but also has an element of fun and magic. It’s so fun to talk about and plan a big project and then sometime later see that idea come to fruition. It’s never exactly how it was planned out, but I love both the journey and the outcome. I think it’s that love of the journey though that really drives me not to settle, and to keep pushing the envelope.
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Listening to how you found Lovepop sounds romantic – you found art and beauty in a faraway place, then shared it with the world. It sounds like a fairy tale. Did Webb lead you to a fairy tale life or did it prepare you for hardship in the world?
When I first encountered Webb it felt like a fairy tale, a dream come true. As I was searching for colleges, my friends and family all encouraged me to find the place I would fall in love with, and when I knew, I would just know the right college for me. To try to spark that “love at first sight” I visited so many schools up and down the East Coast. After visiting Bucknell, Princeton, and Rutgers earlier in the day, I was getting very discouraged. Everything seemed the same. Dorms. Activity clubs. Fancy old buildings. But when I arrived at Webb everything was different. It felt like a community, and the people giving me a tour were students my dad and I happened upon hanging out, not the one highly-trained tour guide student taking 20+ people around campus. I fell in love.
In hindsight, I can’t imagine a better place than Webb for teaching two things I find essential to building a business: (1) an incredible work ethic, and (2) a sense of interconnectedness and how things fit together. These two have served us very well.
The one fairy tale that leaving Webb we took for granted was the incredible sense of community and ease of making friends and building relationships. Those are very special things that Webb offers, and in some ways, makes it too easy in the incredibly formative years in college.
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What is the future of Lovepop?
Lovepop continues to invest in building the consumer destination for cards and gifts that pop. Every product we make helps our customers connect with the people they love and care about, and brings our organization one step closer to achieving our mission of creating one billion magical moments. With recent new investment, we plan to focus on our core direct-to-consumer experience online at Lovepop.com, our Lovepop-owned retail stores, our corporate sales partnerships, and continuing to broaden our product offerings both physical and digital for people who love sending cards.
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What advice do you have for Webb students on life after graduation?
I’m always learning, and the more I learn, the more hesitant I get to give any sort of advice. I think Webbies have been given such an amazing opportunity to become the person they want to be in life with the tools they learn at Webb, and I encourage everyone to make the most of those. I believe that we all reap what we sow, and giving of yourself to others, and taking the steps toward where you want to be consistently, if sometimes slowly, will always somehow work out in the end.
A look inside Lovepop’s work environment:
