Bloomberg Businessweek Farmgirl Flowers CEO on the Challenges of Bootstrapping
Nov 19, 2025
Christina Stembel, the visionary founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers, bootstrapped her startup from her dining room in 2010. In this insightful chat, she dives into the challenges of prioritizing profitability over rapid growth and her courageous decision to reject a buyout offer, opting instead for long-term ownership. Christina sheds light on the difficulties of sourcing U.S.-grown flowers amid labor shortages and tariffs. She also shares her unique approach to integrating farming into her business, ensuring top-notch quality in her beloved burlap-wrapped bouquets.
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Growth Without Profit Is Hollow
- Christina Stembel realized fast growth hid poor profitability despite high revenue and press.
- She learned that being smaller and profitable improved personal and company health.
Hire Slowly To Protect Margins
- Focus on profit margin rather than headcount growth and hire slowly for the right fit.
- Avoid filling roles quickly; a bad hire can be worse than having no hire at all.
Built To Sell, Then Chose To Keep
- Christina built Farmgirl Flowers intending to sell within ten years and worked extreme hours to do so.
- After receiving a bad acquisition offer she shifted to building to keep rather than build to sell.