Mary ‘Pra’ Pratt, founder of innovative collaboration platform, The Caviar Spoon, has always been entrepreneurial – as many farmer’s daughters often are. Pra, as she is known, rose to early success in the recruitment industry thanks to being taught from a very young age to be driven and resilient. Resilience in business, she says, is something you grow up being acutely aware of, especially being from an agricultural background. You learn pretty quickly that in order for business to survive, for every problem there must be a solution.

There's always a lightbulb moment before the beginning of a new venture. What was that moment for you?

For me, it was seeing the excessive and unnecessary overspending on marketing without much creativity. I could see how many marketers and brands were working in siloes but struggling to stand out. To me, creativity and meaningful campaigns had somehow been swept under the carpet and taken over with bots, booster ads and excessive spending.

My career to date had been within headhunting and recruitment, so success was measured by matching people to brands. I guess my lightbulb moment came when the above experiences became around matching brand to brand to amplify both brands success and exposure in innovative, exciting ways and thus The Caviar Spoon concept was born.

Tell us about your experience before launching your business?

My previous career was within headhunting and recruitment. I have spent hundreds of hours researching and hunting both experienced and emerging talent for brands to grow, working on behaviors instead of purely a CV.  With this experience, I have amplified person to brand to brand to brand. 

What inspired you to launch your business, and what is the end goal?

To help create a level playing field for brands, whether start-up, emerging or megabrand. All brands should have equal coverage, so The Caviar Spoon platform acts as a blank canvas and is not based on how big your marketing spend is.  

My end goal is to truly educate and show brands of all sizes across the globe that joining forces in collaborations is truly a force multiplier. To me, it's probably one of the most exciting experiences any brand can have if done well.

What is your day-to-day role with the company?

You could call me the orchestra conductor! My number one rule in any business is to recruit talent much better than myself, which allows me time to focus on our mission and my vision. I may have created the concept, but one thing is for sure: there would be no platform without the talented team besides me. 

My day-to-day is very hands-on. We may be a technology platform, but my goal is always to humanize the platform and offer our brands an incredible service from education to helping create concepts and ideas to ignite. I'm the connect the dots person!  

What's the biggest lesson you've learnt so far as an entrepreneur?

Never let anyone or anything define you as a person. Business is tough. You may know what is right and what's wrong, but that doesn't always mean you do what's right, so always ground yourself, stop, think and then react. Also, surround yourself with the best. Pick up the phone, send them an email. You would be surprised at how many people will respond.  

Finally, stay humble. You are nothing without your customer or staff loyalty.

Wlans do you have for The Caviar Spoon over the next two years?

We will be launching our Brand Collaboration Academy both online and in-house to educate and motivate marketers and business owners around the magic of successful brand partnerships.

We will also be launching our Brand Collaboration Index reports showing the actual ROI and insights around collaborative marketing across multiple sectors and geographies.

Finally, we will grow our Brand Collaboration Council, consisting of some of the world's best thought leaders in this space.  

What's the single most important decision you made that contributed to your business?

Jumping in the deep cold water and just doing it! We can always look at a concept, mull over an idea or procrastinate. None of these behaviors will achieve anything which will delight you. Simply doing it is the most crucial decision we can all make! 

What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?

• Hyperfocus - You need to have an intense burning desire and work ethic to make any new business work. It's not going to happen, so make a pact to yourself to be consistently and set achievable targets – mine is to reach out to 20 new brands and contacts per day. It sounds a lot, but it's very achievable if you focus and prep.  

• Network - Work out how you can reach the masses. What associations, magazines, networks could you piggyback or collaborate with.  

• Structure and consistency - Your diary should be structured in a way that works for you. For example, if you are super alert in the mornings, then structure anything that requires more attention or detail. 

• Celebrate quick wins along the way. It's a journey so reward yourself!

If you could be in a room with four entrepreneurs, who would they be and why?

Neil Patel - a fountain of knowledge around digital marketing

Tim Ferriss - efficiency (he seems to have way too many holidays, so I'm all ears)

Various tech start-up brains! I'm addicted to the AHA moments along with the experiences and resilience tips learnt along the way.

 What advice would you give to early-stage founders wanting to harness the power of technology to create a positive impact?

Research the best people in the marketplace. Find out who created specific start-up platforms and then target them (especially the CEO). Hit high! 

This is precisely how we found our tech partners HubSpire in New York, and they are now Shareholders!

Everything starts with a cold call!