Profile: Afloat
Afloat– the one-stop-shop app that makes local gifting meaningful, timely, and convenient, no matter what the occasion
Photos courtesy of Afloat
With Mother’s Day just around the corner, many of us are scrambling to find an easy, thoughtful gift for mom that won’t require us to take a day off of work to hunt something down – or reduce us to something mass-produced and ordered last minute via Amazon. Enter Sarah-Allen Preston, founder of KC start-up afloat. Sarah-Allen has a background in event planning and has spent years helping people bring joyful occasions to life and celebrate their connections to one another at weddings, milestone birthday parties, engagements, and more. But when her infant son spent time inpatient at Children’s Mercy Hospital several years ago following open heart surgery, she realized that there was power in embracing the supportive side of relationships in addition to the celebratory side.
“I’d come home and there would be something on our front porch from someone, and it was never about the thing that was there, but rather, that it was a really thoughtful gesture,” Sarah Allen told me on a recent afternoon. “After we went through it, I was able to step back and appreciate that those were the silver linings during my days. It was really about community and supporting each other, and when I subsequently got divorced, I had the same experience and realized that I had to do something that would further reinforce relationships in a meaningful way.”
From there, afloat was born – an online gifting service that connects users to local businesses and offers flat-rate same-day delivery. Named by a friend of Sarah-Allen’s who was going through cancer treatment and recognized how much those small gifts were keeping her spirits afloat, the name quickly took on even more significance as the world entered a once-in-a-generation global pandemic that threatened to take many small businesses under soon after the app launched.
afloat’s beta was released in March of 2020. Although the timing was perhaps not ideal, it offered initial users a chance to support their favorite Kansas City businesses while also supporting friends and family during one of the most challenging periods in our collective lifetimes. The experiences during those early months gave Sarah-Allen and her team a great opportunity to refine their focus. They partnered with Techstars, a business accelerator and venture capital firm, to more fully build out the app and from there were able to officially launch in dual markets (Kansas City and Dallas) in February 2022.
I was first introduced to afloat during the beta phase using a promo code from a local vendor, and I was blown away by my initial experience. The app interface is clean and quintessentially millennial, with eye-catching colors and a user-friendly shopping cart experience that feels simultaneously accessible and exclusive. My first order (which in full disclosure I gifted to myself) arrived on my doorstep within a couple of hours, neatly wrapped in afloat’s custom packaging. I’ve used afloat several more times in the subsequent months for a convenient way to celebrate my colleagues’ little wins, show my support for friends going through a tough spot, and (in a true demonstration of the sheer convenience of the concept) to order birthday gifts for a party I’d forgotten about (oops). With an array of curated gifts from unique local shops such as Pendleton Jewelry, Grazing KC, Sweet Petites, Lauren Alexandra, and Hiles Two, you are sure to find the perfect gift no matter the recipient.
In talking with Sarah-Allen it’s clear that there are big things in store for afloat’s future. The app’s brick and mortar headquarters at 18th and McGee have exposed brick walls, pops of color, and what Sarah-Allen describes as “lots of girl-power energy,” making it a perfect place to host events now that people are more comfortable gathering in person. afloat is also looking to expand nationally alongside luxury ride share partner Alto, who delivers their gifts in larger markets. Next up on the list are Houston and Nashville, with potentially more cities to come before long. We here in Kansas City are excited to be home to afloat and to watch as its star continues to rise, as it no doubt will.
P.S. We weren’t kidding – if you still need a Mother’s Day gift, Made in KC is live on afloat alongside dozens of other great local destinations! Download the app to start shopping today!
