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February 2024 box
Highlights from our February box, Founder Pro Tips, and more...
FirstLook
June 02, 2024
Welcome to our 24 new subscribers since our last newsletter. I'll do my best to keep this fun, light, and informative.
Last Newsletter Correction: Josh Eichel is the founder of WICKED Protein.
Sawubona! (“Hi/Hello” in Zulu)
Welcome back gang. It’s been brought to my attention by the legend, Marc Nathan (a proud FirstLook Advisor), that my email titles are confusing as they appear to be months behind.
To explain why, I do this to make sure the investors getting boxes have adequate time to book calls and potentially invest in brands. I admit I am about a month behind in cadence (I just moved into a new home, past 4 weeks have been crazy) so please bear with me as I play catch up. Nonetheless, expect exciting headlines going forward!
In other news, I am on a very serious hunt for a CMO/Biz Dev partner to join me at FirstLook. As I approach my 4 year anniversary mark, and think about what the next 4 years looks like, adding a partner is critical. I am specifically looking for someone who…
Lives in a big city, hustles, is charismatic, and is great at networking and building relationships.
Brings existing marketing chops, can create content, and is creative.
Loves a ‘front office’ facing role and is hungry to build a legacy.
The vision I have for FirstLook is big and well thought out. By working together we’ll build a massive, healthy cash flowing business that tactically supports brands in a variety of ways. The opportunity is there, I just simply can’t nor do I want to do it alone.
If this is you or someone you know, please read the entire Job Description and then email me at [email protected] And to 🌶️ spice🌶️ things up, if you refer the person I eventually hire, I’ll send you aFirstLook box FO’ FREE!
Next newsletter I’ll unpack all my overall learnings from the past 4 years of building FirstLook. This should be a fun and interesting one as it’s been a roller coaster of an experience, to say the least.
Lastly, if you ever have a topic that you’d like me to unpack in this newsletter, give me a shout. I’ve been blessed to sit at a very unique spot at the intersection of founders and investors. It’s time I unpack what that viewpoint looks like.
To wrap up, here is Daymond John’s favorite VC scoreboard:
Founder Pro Tip of the Month 💡
For every example in VC, there’s always a counter example. This can make it frustrating for founders to pick a lane.
I’ve seen debates on whether decks should be polished, or built haphazardly. Polished pundits claim a well designed deck indicates a strong founder, while haphazard pundits claim a great founder should be focused on building and so a not-so-pretty deck is fine.
IMO the answer here, along with many other ‘this or that’ situations founders find themselves in, is to pick the strategy that catches the most fish. After all, and in this example, raising is a numbers game.
In the case of decks, the majority of investors appreciate a well designed deck as it does indicate an attention to detail a founder (in theory) will put into all facets of their business. Furthermore, it’s much more likely an investor who doesn’t care about deck quality still invests in a founder with a great deck (versus an investor who does care about quality investing in a founder with an ugly deck.
Did a friend forward you this and now you want to join?
February Box Brands 🚀
Investors: 47 → Apply Here | Brands: 7 → Apply Here | Intros: 38
Investors interested in a brand below, please email [email protected]
Biom
Founded by Will Gahagan + Hank Schellenger | 📍NYC / Charleston
How We Met Them: Via an intro from my friend Rana 🙏
One Liner ✍️ — Wipes reimagined.
What made them stand out: There is so much to love here. Hella talented founders? ✅ A beautiful brand and product that people WANT to keep out on their countertops (which further drives adoption)? ✅ Tackling a massive, unsexy, overlooked and top heavy industry that’s seen very little innovation in decades? ✅ Winner winner chicken dinner. We were fortunate to have Biom jump in their fast moving round which gave FirstLook investors an opportunity to invest before it closed a few weeks later. I’m excited to watch Biom blossom into an absolute grand slam.
Bubble Universe
Founded by Jason Tiger + Dr. Li Wei | 📍Miami
Shop Here + Brand Video + Instagram + TikTok + LinkedIn
How We Met Them: Via an intro from my friend Alex 🙏
One Liner ✍️ — Bubble Universe is the world's only edible flying candy, food, and beverage bubbles.
What made them stand out: BU is my Top 5 most favorite startup to go through FirstLook. Brands like this make me wish I had a fund to write checks out of. Maybe some day….😈
So why Bubble Universe? First, Jason comes from this world as his family owned the largest bubbles company in the US (and maybe the world?) where he worked before Private Equity stepped in. Safe to say Jason knows this space and the players like the back of his hand. Next, their products are so cool. Bubbles you can eat right out of the damn air?! GTFO. They have both a kids and pet line of flavors so everyone can have fun. I can confirm my dog Olli is obsessed with the maple bacon flavor. Lastly, Bubble (like Biom’s wipes) is in very overlooked space which **checks notes** is something many investors preach they love investing in. Of which I also agree. All in all, I think BU will become a big winner. If I had the money, I would have sent Jason this meme.
Climate Candy
Founded by Amy Keller + Dr. Sue Smalley + Kevin Wall | 📍LA
How We Met Them: Via Amy applying on our website!
One Liner ✍️ — Climate Candy rescues perfectly imperfect fruits and vegetables from farms and gives them new life as FAVES fruit chews. They turn problems into candy.
What made them stand out: I liked Climate Candy for 3 primary reasons. First, the product tastes great. Nice. Second, they are tapping into some serious tailwinds which includes sustainability and upcycling. Also nice. Lastly and probably most important… Amy comes from sugar as her family started Spangler Candy Company (DumDum lollipops). She knows this industry very well, and has all the deep connections that would take other founders years to build. Great product, strong tailwinds, and a very experienced + plugged in founder seem like a pretty solid recipe to me. Speaking of plugged in, Climate Candy was on a ton of the caddy shirts at the recent PGA Championship!
rdy basics
Founded by Hannah Dittman | 📍SF
How We Met Them: Via an intro from my friend Irene 🙏
One Liner ✍️ — rdy basics is a masstige personal care company creating confidence-boosting routine basics (shampoo/conditioner, face wash, foundation, etc.) for the everyday consumer.
What made them stand out: rdy basics was on the earlier side of brands who jump in, but I was super impressed by Hannah. She’s a seasoned pro who’s worked across operations, PE, and has a strong passion for consumer psychology (she's an INFJ for fellow MBTI nerds). This combo gives me confidence she understands how to grow a brand, but also can build in a way that makes sense through the lens of investors. Overall her deck was extremely data driven which is typically music to investor ears. We’d all be wise to keep an eye on rdy basics going forward.
Sunday Supper
Founded by Richard Klein + Florian Radke | 📍LA
How We Met Them: Via an intro from my friend Kathryn 🙏
One Liner ✍️ — Sunday Supper is disrupting the frozen foods industry with healthy, plant-based Italian food, that has been created by an award-winning chef and tastes just like the real thing.
What made them stand out: I was impressed here by Richard and Florian’s backgrounds. Richard is a multi-time founder having started Surface magazine, FourTwoNine magazine, and dot429, among other companies. Florian is also a serial entrepreneur having previously co-founded Wild Earth (backed by Mark Cuban, Peter Thiel, and Mars Petcare), and Cinnaholic (acquired in 2023 by a private equity firm). Needless to say, this duo knows their stuff. Experience aside, the $22B frozen Italian food industry hasn’t seen much innovation, which Sunday Supper plans to capitalize on. BFY food options are in, and it’s about time someone took on Stouffer’s who owns an absurd market share.
Veso
Founded by Chris Beyer | 📍SF
How We Met Them: Via an intro from the always great, Mr. Nate Rosen
One Liner ✍️ — Veso makes modern and experimental all-natural aperitifs and vermouth
What made them stand out: There’s a lot to love here. First, Chris is a self-taught wine and vermouth maker, and has won awards for his releases. He produces in-house which is important here as it creates authenticity consumers appreciate. Chris can also experiment and collaborate much easier. Second, Veso’s aperitifs can be sold in bars and restaurants without full liquor licenses, whereas Aperol and Campari cannot. This is a big unlock that should drive growth. I also appreciated Chris’s dedication to transparency and BFY ingredients, something legacy brands avoid. In short, I feel (as does Chris) that the world needs a modern take on aperitifs, and Veso is very well positioned to be that very brand.
WYOS
Founded by Jamie Glassman + Wendy Charland | 📍NYC
Shop Here + Instagram + LinkedIn
How We Met Them: Via an intro from my friend Rana 🙏
One Liner ✍️ — WYOS is a first-to-market, solid stick, personal care brand that fills an unmet consumer need for products that provide enhanced performance, convenience and sustainability.
What made them stand out: WYOS stuck out for a few reasons. Jamie and Wendy are absolute seasoned vets. Jamie brings a proven track record of launching and reinvigorating brands at L’Oreal, Merrell, and several startups, while Wendy brings decades of experience running billion dollar brands for L’Oreal and Revlon. Their experiences lend well to building a brand that makes sense. Shipping liquids is costly. WYOS’s solid form factor makes things more affordable to ship while also more convenient for consumers on the move who need to deal with TSA. They key here will be educating consumers on this new form factor, but when that happens, WYOS is perfectly positioned to take off.
Discount Code: use “FirstLook” for 20% off
That's all she wrong folks. March box is next. Keep on building.