“As we designed and developed the site, we always kept the unofficial mantra in mind of being: fun, flexible and hassle-free.”

Interview by Mike Sullivan of Sully’s Blog

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Dana Ostomel is the founder and CGO (Chief Gifting Officer) at Deposit a Gift, an online cash gift registry site.  Dana has a Bachelor’s degree in communications from U.C.L.A.  She has also studied in Israel and Spain. She is fluent in Spanish and loves to travel, exercise and cook. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, Mark.

Deposit a Gift (DAG) is a unique service that provides the tools to build a unique registry and free custom events site.  You can use the service for any celebration where gifting is involved.  Traditional registries allow you to register for gifts you want today.  DAG allows you to register for what you would like to buy in the future.  The customized personal event website allows you to upload photos and video, and update the online registry.  Users can select individual items or select categories such as “Home Down Payment” which will provide several household items that can be added in one shot.

MO:
Deposit a Gift is a service that I would imagine is embraced by many preparing to get married or have children, allowing couples to use the cash gifts in the way the is most effective for them.  Explain where the idea originated for this.

Dana:
I started the company because I wanted to simplify and modernize gift giving. Little has changed about registries since they were introduced in the early 1900s, but the way we live has changed significantly. People today need flexibility and cash gives them just that. There are no returns, no space constraints. People can spend the money where they want, when they want.

The idea came to me years before I got married, sitting in my tiny apartment with a variety of weddings to attend in the near future, I wondered how anyone could store so many presents-and even if they could, how they had the time to accept, unwrap, return (often), track and use them all. It seemed like a second job.

I let the idea percolate for a couple of years, experienced my own 2008 wedding, and then went for it. My goal was to simplify the registry process, not just for weddings, but for any big gifting event. During our wedding I heard comments from people like “All the good gifts were gone, so we didn’t know what to get you,” or “We saw you like that brand but the bowl was gone already so we got you something else they make.” Deposit a Gift eliminates that, plus gift-givers can contribute to a trip, a home down payment or a new baby’s college fund if that is what the user desires.

Our service is meant to help people get exactly what they want, when they want it, while still being fun and sentimental for guests — a fresh, personal and interactive way to say cash would be the perfect gift. And so Deposit a Gift, the next generation gift registry was born.

MO:
How does the registration of gifts and gift giving actually work?  Are the gift givers buying the actual products registered?  Does the money received need to be applied toward what was specified in the registry?

Dana:
Instead of going to a department store and picking out specific gifts, someone goes to Deposit a Gift and makes a virtual registry of anything they wants, whether it’s for a honeymoon, a college fund, the baby nursery or a down payment. Then guests see what they want and make their “purchase,” just like they would from a regular registry. When users are ready, they can cash-out and buy what they want. We are not a store of any kind so users do not spend their money with us. From the moment they receive a gift it is there’s to do with as they please.

Step by Step:

• Users make gift registries just like people do with a traditional store registry, using a database of images or by clicking on a pre-made list. They can choose anything, from honeymoons to home down payments, from activities for the first year of marriage to memberships that keep them healthy.
• Guests choose a gift to purchase, finding the right price point for their budget. They are not actually buying the present, but it feels more personal than sending a check. The money gets deposited into the recipient’s Deposit a Gift account.
• When users are ready to spend the money, they cash-out in the form of check, VISA gift card or direct deposit.

MO:
As a user of the service, can I track how much I have received as gifts?  Is there an end date when I must withdraw all of my gifted money?

Dana:
Absolutely. We built a Gift Manager into the system so that you always see what gifts you’ve received. We also included a Thank You Note Tracker so that you can keep a record of when you’ve thanked your guests. This chart is exportable so you can merge it with any other documents you may be keeping to manage your event.

With regard to withdrawing your gift money, there is no deadline to adhere to. We tried to create a flexible process while still protecting the security of our users. The only guideline is that all gifts go through a 72 hour security clearance period to detect any fraudulent activity. After that, as long as you have a minimum balance of $200 you can cash-out as often as you need. The personal website belongs to our users for as long as they like, and we encourage them to keep it open for a while to keep guests updated on their news after the event with pictures and video and also because often guests give their gifts after the celebration. This way, no one has to feel rushed or constrained.

MO:
Users can create an event site, such as a personal wedding site, and add their own personal touches including images, text and video in addition to their registry.  The event website alone is a great tool, not to mention the registry.  There is also a feature allowing visitors to RSVP for an event.  It seems to have all the bells and whistles, but are there other features in the works for the site?

Dana:
Thank you! As we designed and developed the site, we always kept the unofficial mantra in mind of being: fun, flexible and hassle-free. It’s our goal to deliver on that experience for our users who are looking to simplify things, get personal with their registry and have a little fun. We always kept the user experience in mind to try to create a truly flexible one-stop-shop that they could customize to their needs. I’m so glad that these features have resonated with you. Currently our focus is not on adding more, but rather on learning from our users (who are thankfully willing to share their feedback) so that we can tweak things and make improvements so that it works as well as it can for their needs.

MO:
The site, DepositaGift.com, went live in December after an 18 month development period.  How did that match up with your plan to launch the site?  Is that how long you expected to put into it or where there some roadblocks along the way?

Dana:
Every entrepreneur has a more aggressive time line that is realistic. It really is the only way to rev up your engine and go as full force as you can. As is pretty typical, development took almost twice as long as planned, but now that we are live and I’ve been able to talk to more people in the same boat, it seems that we were right on target and that the time it took to develop was absolutely normal for a site of our size. Not knowing this was definitely challenging because it was certainly disappointing to not be live when we had hoped, but I just kept my head down and focused on our vision to bring this thing to life. The other major challenge was of course in resourcing and finances. It’s hard to keep these two factors in balance and find the best people for the job. With the exception of one choice, I have been very satisfied with everyone we hired for the job.

MO:
You were previously employed prior to taking on the challenge of starting your own business.  What events lead to your decision to take this on and what risks were involved for you?

Dana:
In November of 2007, two months before my wedding I was downsized. I tried to find some freelance positions but it seemed everyone was looking for permanent employees. I wasn’t ready to go back. At one point I was offered a really good job that I seriously considered taking, but when I remembered it would be another office with beige walls that would require a suit every day, I turned it down. At the same time we lost the apartment we thought we were going to buy.  I had the idea for Deposit a Gift for a while. In fact I acquired the URL for it in January 2006. I talked things over with my husband. We had no debt and no kids, plus the money from the apartment. We made the decision to go for it, live on his salary and for me to launch the business.