Anderson student creates ‘glitter bomb’ website startup

Ben Follansbee spent the last three weeks stuffing glitter into envelopes and sending them to hundreds of people across the country.

Follansbee, a master’s of business administration student at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, is the founder of SparkleSlap.com, a startup website that supplies customers with glitter bombs that are sent to unsuspecting recipients.

Follansbee said the idea came to him three weeks ago, when he found a website that let people order an envelope stuffed full of glitter to be anonymously sent to someone in the mail.

When the recipient opened the envelope, the glitter would spill out and cause a mess.

The business, called ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com, received such a surge in traffic that the website quickly shut down.

“We went to the checkout page, but (the owner) wasn’t taking orders anymore,” Follansbee said. “Apparently, he’d gotten so many orders that he had to shut down that same day.”

However, interested by the idea of “revenge glitter,” Follansbee and his girlfriend Ellyn Gray, a UCLA alumna, decided they would start up their own glitter business instead.

“We stayed up all night getting the website together, and it was up and functional by 6 a.m.,” Follansbee said.

The new company, called SparkleSlap.com, took its first orders that same day.

Less than three weeks later, SparkleSlap.com has received nearly 200 orders and has shipped to 20 different states, turning Follansbee into a pioneer of what he calls the “GaaS” – Glitter as a Service – industry.

“It was a definite copycat off of (ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com),” Follansbee said. “But we’re trying to find creative new ways of addressing the market.”

Follansbee and Gray carry out the majority of SparkleSlap.com’s operations.

“I do most of the legwork right now, filling glitter orders inside my house,” Follansbee said. “You can find glitter in pretty much every crevice in my house right now.”

Some people send glitter envelopes, or “bombs,” to enemies, and others send them to family and friends, Gray said. All orders are sent anonymously, but customers can add an optional customized message to their recipient inside the envelope.

“We’ve gotten some orders that are spiteful, but some are funny and cute, and we have ones that have inside jokes in them,” Gray said. “It’s fun to be a part of that.”

Individual glitter bombs cost $7.95 but can also be ordered in bulk. The glitter-filled envelopes resemble generic Hallmark cards, with a greeting card inside that is positioned to cause “maximum sparkle slippage” when opened, according to Sparkle Slap’s website.

As the company grows, Follansbee says he and Gray may shift their focus to a less prank-oriented glitter service, including options for less messy glitter bombs.

“I was expecting a bit more contention from people who think it’s too vengeful,” Follansbee said. “But I think that I really want to transfer the business into doing it for people’s friends.”

Maggie Ronan, a friend of Follansbee who recently joined the company as a marketing manager, said the group is experimenting to see what kind of glitter products people are interested in.

“This is kind of an adventure for all of us,” Ronan said. “I think we’re encouraging people to use it in a friendly manner.”

Though he says the popularity of SparkleSlap.com has taken him by surprise, Follansbee, who studied economics as an undergraduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is no stranger to the world of entrepreneurship. Before starting business school, he started his own consulting firm.

“I worked with a lot of startups through the firm, which exposed me to that mindset – the sense of pride and ownership you have when you’re running your own company,” Follansbee said.

Follansbee said he receives emails from satisfied clients on a daily basis, as well as amusing stories about their victims – including a recipient who accidentally spilled her glitter bomb all over her dog.

“We find that glitter is just this amazing thing that can be messy but fun, can look good but be annoying,” Follansbee said. “The great thing is it doesn’t ruin anything – it’s like this magic elixir.”

Follansbee plans for the website to expand its marketing presence, offer a variety of different glitter products and hire more employees in the future. He said that he plans to eventually pass the torch onto someone else so the website can continue to run.

“This has become more than a full-time job in addition to my classes,” Follansbee said. “This is probably going to be a six-month project, but in those six months, I’m very dedicated to putting a lot of effort in.”

Even though the creator of ShipYourEnemiesGlitter.com sold the website after being overwhelmed by the number of orders he received, Ronan said she thinks SparkleSlap.com will prosper.

“They couldn’t handle the quantity of business that they got,” Ronan said. “(Follansbee) is an extremely competent, business-savvy guy – I’m not worried about that happening at all.”

Follansbee said he also enjoys the personal benefits of having glitter on hand at all times.

“I sent a couple glitter bombs – just to create some buzz – to some of my friends who have maybe pranked me in the past,” Follansbee said. “People know not to get on my bad side now, because I have the power of glitter behind me.”