Goodstock & Co. is committed to creating good products, connecting good people, and celebrating good causes through their online self-service merch store.

Recently, we asked founders Emily Parcell and Josh Grossfeld to share a bit about the company and their goals for the accelerator program.  

Tell us more about why you started your company and its mission. 

We were working to solve merchandise problems for our customers at another company. Through that process, a lot of trial and error, and a couple of years, we came to the current iteration of the company. Our mission at Goodstock & Co. is first and foremost to democratize the use of merchandise as a fundraising and organizing strategy for Democratic campaigns and progressive causes. We’ve worked really hard to crack the code to create an affordable service and range of products that allows campaigns and organizations with any level of budget to tap into the power of connecting your supporters with your brand. 

Where are your founders from? Where is the company based now? 

Josh: Grew up in Arizona, moved to the DC area in 2002.

Emily: Born and raised in southeast Iowa, have been living in the Des Moines metro for the past six years.  

ALL: Goodstock & Co operates out of Washington, DC and Des Moines, IA, but our fulfilment warehouse is strategically located in Des Moines, IA to minimize shipping times throughout the country.

What are the features you’re most excited about at the moment? 

Potential clients find us when they’re looking for a seamless, easy-to-use and affordable merch store that integrates with ActBlue. Our platform can also be used to solve most, if not all, of the internal distribution challenges large-scale campaigns and organizations face. Think of the old yard sign relay or running GOTV packets across the state. Usually you’re renting moving trucks and spending valuable volunteer or staff time driving all over the place. Our platform can handle all the distribution of those materials – and anything else that needs to be moved from one location to another – so your team can spend their time and energy talking to voters and managing volunteers. We’re really excited to bring this solution to our clients.

What has been the most challenging part of being a founder? 

The shift from a service business to a tech/product business has been an exciting challenge. We really were forced to step back and look at all the steps in the process and supply chain and figure out which steps could be automated vs. which steps needed to maintain a human/customer service- focused touch.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? 

Emily: Beaune, Burgundy (France). It’s the last big trip I took before the pandemic. I’ve spent the really stressful parts of the past year-and-a-half imagining myself back in the poppy fields and wineries of Burgundy.   

Josh: Madrid. I lived there for a summer in college and would love to take my family back there with me to experience the amazing food, people, and culture.

What is your favorite hobby that you’ve started in the last year?

Emily: Bird watching. It makes me feel 1000 years old, but the bird feeders in my backyard are magically multiplying and we have cardinals, woodpeckers, bluejays, hummingbirds, house finches, orioles and all the robins. I just saw a goldfinch this week for the first time. Also the squirrels. So many squirrels.   

Josh: Chess. I got the new wifi connected SquareOff chess board, so I can play chess with my dad in Arizona in real time. It was a very nice way to stay connected during the pandemic when we couldn’t see each other in person.