Exit Strategy with Moiz Ali

Today’s topics: (1:10) Moiz introduces Chris and discusses what Loot Crate is (“Comic-Con in a box”). (2:58) Loot Crate launched in 2012, by 2016 had $170M in revenue (with 600,000 subscribers) and ranked as the fastest growing e-commerce company by Inc. (6:00) Chris discusses marketing strategy with Facebook vs influencers and the importance of authenticity with influencers. (12:23) Chris discusses the kind of products Loot Crate has and how to get exclusive products and license deals. (14:11) Chris discusses raising money early on and later while the company was more successful. (18:30) After crazy initial growth, Loot Crate started losing money by growing too quickly, spending too much on marketing, and having too many products among other issues. (25:20) Dealing with debt and complexity in cap structure. (30:01) Moiz and Chris give their takes on inventory as a DTC company vs. selling brick and mortar. (34:30) Loot Crate went bankrupt (Chapter 11) and later acquired, Chris describes the process. (40:30) Chris explains what works today for marketing (fundamentals haven’t changed). (44:29) Moiz and Chris talk when to trust and not trust your gut when growing your business. (47:11) Chris lists what he would have done differently.

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Today’s topics: (1:01) Moiz introduces Jesse Horwitz, founder and CEO of DTC contacts brand, Hubble. (03:02) Jesse explains the origins of Hubble. (05:57) Hubble soft launched, collected about 2,000 emails and began shopping the idea to investors. (06:45) Hubble raised $3.5M in May 2016, $3.7M in October and launched in November. (08:20) Jesse explains the process of procuring manufacturing partners. (21:02) Jesse discusses Hubble’s early advertising and where it was deployed. (16:00) Moiz tells the story of how Instacart got into Y Combinator by sending their interviewer a case of beer. (18:35) Hubble has diversified customer acquisition channels, but Facebook is still number one. TV and search are two and three. (21:32) Jesse reflects on how DTC brands are a product of Facebook just like TV content was created by the likes of P&G. (23:12) Hubble uses “pay-per-ticket” to verify prescriptions. An outsourced team of agents race to verify the preseptions. (28:20) Jesse discusses Hubble’s customer service operations. (31:40) Hubble outsources media buying. Jesse discusses how this is helpful and hurtful. (34:10) Jesse discusses the state of Hubble finances. It’s breakeven and still has cash in the bank. (39:10) Jesse gives his opinion on secondaries and taking money off the table. Hubble offers this to employees as well. (41:40) Jesse’s goal is to build a great business and be in control of their own destiny. (43:40) Jesse explains the venture capital cycle and its impact on funding. (49:00) Moiz asks, how should startups prepare for the economic downturn? (57:20) Jesse has been working with Andrew Yang to help with his fundraising efforts.

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(0:57) Moiz introduces Paul Tran, the CEO and founder of Manscaped, founded in 2016. Manscaped sells grooming products (3:25) Paul discusses the ages and gender of Manscaped’s customers (5:40) Paul talks about the lack of options in the pubic grooming space for men. Manscape capitalized on a white-space (9:10) What goes into creating the actual products (the “Lawnmower”). Manscaped sees itself as both a hardware and software company (13:40) All marketing, development, etc. are done inhouse at Manscaped. No agencies are used. They want to be super knowledgeable about all aspects of the business. Has 72 employees. (16:05) Paul reveals the origins of Manscaped’s marketing and branding (22:10) Paul talks about the challenges of scaling outside of Facebook and Google (29:20) Getting the messaging right and the initial growth of Manscaped. (33:40) Which messaging didn’t work initially? (36:18) Paul talks about the importance of running your marketing. (38:00) How to succeed being bootstrapped and the issues with raising venture too early. (44:50) What does Manscaped’s acquisition channel mix look like today? (47:55) Paul explains how roles are organized at Manscaped and the importance of hiring. (53:10) What are failures Manscaped has run into? (57:12) Paul talks about the move into brick and mortar. (58:18) There is a certain amount of seasonality in DTC, Paul explains when they see the biggest bumps. (59:55) Paul discusses using influencer marketing and how to get the most out of it. Paul suggests avoiding micro-influencers since you get limited data from them? (1:03:40) What is your (Paul’s) goal with the business? Paul thinks about creating a multi-generational business instead of one built solely for being acquired.

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Moiz (@moizali) is joined today by Andrew Dudum (@andrewdudum), founder of hims (@wearehims), hers (@wearehers), and Atomic (@joinatomic). Today’s topics: (1:20) Andrew breaks down Atomic (2:25) How does Atomic spin up companies? (5:13) Atomic’s portfolio of innovative companies (8:16) Atomic’s founder resident program (11:50) Him’s road to unicorn status (16:00) How did hims make $1M in their first week? (18:30) Branding agencies that helped hims achieve their signature aesthetic (21:00) Him’s incredibly unique branding strategies & how they execute on the ideas (25:21) The importance of building a brand for the long term success of a startup (28:21) Managing attribution for him’s advertising (31:45) Is him profitable in 2020? (35:19) Regulatory hurdles that challenged him’s initial start (37:25) How is him’s building a moat against competitors? (41:00) Diving into him’s provider network and prescription process (42:22) How is COVID-19 affecting hims? (45:00) Where is the DTC industry heading in the next 5 years?

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