Women Led Directory
/
Business Genre
Completing the Puzzle
Completing the Puzzle is a sustainable, hassle-free, and fun way to rent puzzles! Sign up and select your puzzle preferences, get a puzzle in the mail, complete it, send it back, and get another one. Endless puzzles, and endless fun!
Business Website Address
Founder(s), CEO and/or President
Alania Cater, Brian Thomas
Founder Story
During the quarantine of 2020, we were supposed to go on a ski trip to Park City for my birthday. When that was cancelled, Brian (my co-founder and fiancee) got me a puzzle of Park City instead. When we were done with the puzzle and putting it away in a closet with all of the other puzzles we had, and had only done once, a lightbulb went off. Why wasn't there a way to rent puzzles so that you could always have new puzzles without the wastefulness of buying something you would only do once? We brainstormed how we could provide puzzles as a rental service. We spent all day going through the different challenges and went to sleep, dreaming of what could become of this idea. With my background in product management and Brian's in marketing and development, we both woke up the next day, realizing we could make this puzzle rental service a reality.
Together we worked all day and launched the first version to friends and family the following day. It was a hit! A few friends signed up and then a few more. Once someone we didn't know purchased a subscription, we knew we were on to something... BIG.
We started by repurposing our own puzzles, friends' puzzles and puzzles purchased off Facebook marketplace. We were doing puzzles everyday to ensure these secondhand puzzles had every piece before we sent them to our members. We even recruited our family members to help solve puzzles. Deep down, we knew secondhand puzzles wouldn't scale, and we had to find a solution.
Not every puzzle manufacturer liked our idea of reusing puzzles (sharing isn't for everyone!). After some initial rejections, we found hope with two large, top brands that believed in our mission and us. We placed a large order that arrived at our home and it was chaos! We underestimated the amount of work needed to organize these puzzles.
We turned our spare bedroom into a puzzle warehouse. Working endless nights, we relaunched our service and the response was amazing.
Even the brands who rejected us in the beginning couldn’t believe the wonderful response and customer appreciation we received.
Fast forward to today, and we have shipped our puzzles to thousands of amazing customers across the country.
Puzzling is for everyone and we believe quality puzzles should be available, sustainable and affordable. It’s time to unplug from the tv, computer, and our phones, spend time with our loved ones, and puzzle together.
Together we worked all day and launched the first version to friends and family the following day. It was a hit! A few friends signed up and then a few more. Once someone we didn't know purchased a subscription, we knew we were on to something... BIG.
We started by repurposing our own puzzles, friends' puzzles and puzzles purchased off Facebook marketplace. We were doing puzzles everyday to ensure these secondhand puzzles had every piece before we sent them to our members. We even recruited our family members to help solve puzzles. Deep down, we knew secondhand puzzles wouldn't scale, and we had to find a solution.
Not every puzzle manufacturer liked our idea of reusing puzzles (sharing isn't for everyone!). After some initial rejections, we found hope with two large, top brands that believed in our mission and us. We placed a large order that arrived at our home and it was chaos! We underestimated the amount of work needed to organize these puzzles.
We turned our spare bedroom into a puzzle warehouse. Working endless nights, we relaunched our service and the response was amazing.
Even the brands who rejected us in the beginning couldn’t believe the wonderful response and customer appreciation we received.
Fast forward to today, and we have shipped our puzzles to thousands of amazing customers across the country.
Puzzling is for everyone and we believe quality puzzles should be available, sustainable and affordable. It’s time to unplug from the tv, computer, and our phones, spend time with our loved ones, and puzzle together.