The Retail X Series Podcast

How can a startup with only two full-time employees sell their food product into Costco? This episode features Michelle Razavi, Founder & CEO of Elavi, a startup that specializes in gut-friendly, low-sugar dessert spreads. Michelle will tell us all about her journey getting her product into Costco.

Topics:

• When in Elavi’s growth did Costco appear on their radar
• Why Costco was a fit for Elavi, and how they got in the front door
• How Elavi managed diligence and leaned on advisors for help
• What steps Elavi had to take to be ready to sell into Costco
• What is a Costco roadshow and how Elavi managed it
• Key metrics that Michelle and her co-founder tracked during roadshow days
• How Elavi turned the roadshow into a purchase order
• What launching in stores required – including more financing
• Why doing the research and being prepared is so critical when considering wholesale sales

Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com

Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.

How do you build a successful large consumer brand without raising any VC dollars? Is VC the best fit for consumer brands? This episode features Sarah Kauss of iconic water bottle brand S’well and Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Collective – a founder and investor both talking about when VC is right for consumer brands, and when it isn’t.

Topics:

• How Sarah started her brand S’well and how Amanda become a VC
• Why Sarah didn’t raise VC funding for her company – and how she thinks about that now
• What Sarah had to do since she had no VC dollars (spoiler – she had to get to profitability)
• All the ways in which Sarah had to be scrappy
• How Sarah got into retail accounts early on
• Why Amanda and Founder Collective say that VC can be dangerous and is a “VC is a hell of a drug”
• When VC is a good fit for a consumer brand in the early days
• What needs to change in the ecosystem to change the current investor hesitation around consumer businesses
• Great advice from Sarah and Amanda on other options if VC doesn’t work for your consumer company
• Why picking the right partners is so important – in venture and other areas

Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com

Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.

This episode of the Retail X Series podcast features an in-depth conversation about how to create a great pitch deck, particularly aimed at preseed and seed stage companies. Jenny Fielding, Manager Director of Techstars and General Partner of The Fund, talks about how to build a deck and why the elements of the deck are so important. Jenny has seen thousands upon thousands of decks, both good and bad, and her advice is a must-listen for founders that are about to start their fundraising process.

Topics:
- Why a pitch deck is important
- How conveying your vision and story is more important than educating an investor
- Why flow matters - and how to kick off your deck with your biggest strengths
- How to include your "secret sauce" without giving away confidential info
- Why all decks (B2B, DTC) must have a customer acquisition/go-to-market slide
- Why you shouldn't include an exit slide or estimated valuation in your deck
- How to make your deck look "pretty" without spending a lot (or any) money
- How not to make these common deck mistakes
Note: Jenny mentions some easy/free tools for making a beautiful deck even if you have no design skills. They are: Beautifully, Canva and Keynote.
Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com
Edited by Deven Shah

Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.

This episode of the Retail X Series podcast features an in-depth conversation about offline sales strategies for DTC brands including pop-ups, wholesale and bricks & mortar, with Kirk Keel, Co-founder & Co-CEO of Stantt, a menswear brand. Kirk talks about how Stantt built up their wholesale business to over 400 stores, including specialty stores and Nordstrom, while also running pop-ups and their online channel. For founders who want to crack the wholesale code, this is a can’t-miss episode.

Topics:
- Why and when Stantt started focusing on offline channels for growth
- The pros and cons of pop-ups and how to some locations work better than others
- Testing mall versus urban pop-up experiences and how they’re different
- Networking to get the right contacts at department stores to build a relationship
- Testing wholesale with larger chains like Nordstrom and the keys to making that test successful
- Working with salespeople at wholesale to make your brand a success
- Optimizing time and effort at trade shows to gain more wholesale accounts
- How wholesale has been affected during COVID and how Stantt is working to support wholesale partners
- What the bricks and mortar world and consumer preference might look like in the future
Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com
Edited by Deven Shah

Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.

How do you craft a customer journey for brick and mortar retail? How do you get to know your customer deeply? How do you build a company with the customer at the center? This episode features Louisa Schneider, CEO and Founder of Rowan, who will talk about how Rowan built a focus on the customer, from the earliest days through their retail expansion to over 40 locations.

Topics:

• How Louisa thinks about fundraising for a brick and mortar business
• How the Rowan model evolved based on the need for better branding and customer focus
• How product and service problem areas became opportunities to improve the customer experience
• Why Rowan hired a firm to do customer research and the surprises they found
• What the customer journey looks like
• How the brand reflects the customer experience and how that consistency is maintained across 40+ stores
• Which metrics Rowan uses to track their customer cohorts
• Louisa’s advice to be present during the key foundational activities in your startup

Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com

Learn more at Retail X Series and follow @retailxseries on Twitter and Instagram.
To submit a pitch or to find out more about Sapna Shah, check out Red Giraffe Advisors.