FirstLook's July 2022 Brands

Anyoung Haseyo! ("Hello" in Korean)

Summer may be over, but that's not stopping these July box brands from having their moment.

Before we dive in though, how's everyone feeling about this market? When I sent the last newsletter, I suspected we were going through a false bottom. The first wave of bad news/data points/earnings reports hit, but as that wore off the market did it's best to bounce back, albeit briefly.

Now it feels like we are getting into the thick of things. The long-tail data points which can take months to bubble up are starting to surface. For example, when livestock feed prices shoot up, it can take months to over a year for those now higher meat prices to show up in grocery stores. Cows need time to grow! Over the next 6-12 months, we'll start seeing the long term effects of price hikes and inflation that originated in early 2022.

In this same vein of trying to analyze the market and predict the future, I had a SUPER interesting convo with Johnnie Yu of Listen Ventures who is one of the absolute brightest people I've met since starting FirstLook (and a FirstLook Investor Member). I was complaining to him that I wish brands got more creative with guerilla marketing tactics. Here was his response:

I think Johnnie is spot on, or at least I certainly hope so. And speaking of marketing and creativity, my friend Faheem started this cool company that lets brands give equity shares to their customers and community. Cool, right? If you're a brand and would like to chat with Fahmee, shoot me an email ➜ [email protected]

Founder Pro Tip of the Month 💡

We all know it's important for brands to focus on only a select few social platforms. However, it's still important to still have accounts on every channel! Why? So others can at least tag you in posts.

I have seen too many instances where an investor, founder, or someone influential tries to tag a brand in a tweet...but that brand doesn't have a Twitter account for example. Then that tweet gets traction, but the brand misses out on a ton of top-of-funnel opportunity to drive awareness and traffic to what they're building. They also miss out on getting notifications that "people are talking about you right now on Twitter."

Even if you don't use a particular social platform, still create an account and complete your profile (with your brand's URL). Otherwise, you might be miss out on that one random person who learns about you and totally changes your business.

Did a friend forward you this email, and now you want to join?

July Box Brands 🚀

Investors Shipped to: 34 |‏‏‎‎ Number of Brands: 7‏‏‎ |‏‏‎ Intros Made: 42

Interested in joining? → Brand Signup / Investor Signup

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Baozza!

Founded by Alex Cree & Loren Heinold ‎‏‎|‏‏‎‎‏‏‎ Site + IG + TikTok |‏‏‎ 📍 Los Angeles, CA

What made them stand out: This one is boardline obvious. Bao, an Asian cuisine, coupled with pizza...this is a homerun. Baos are easy to eat, and pizza is the most loved food in the US (and probably the world for that matter). Alex is a strong founder bringing this brand to life, which is also probably why Mark Cuban invested!

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FFUPs

Founded by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ Sam Tichnor ‎‏‎|‏‏‎ Site + IG + TikTok |‏‏‎ 📍 New York, NY

What made them stand out: It's refreshing to see a brand zig when others are zagging. That's what FFUPS is doing. Better-for-you (BFY), health conscious brands are a dime a dozen these days. But what many forget is that when we are simply trying to get our snack out, we often don't really care how healthy our snack is. It's a time for us to indulge, and enjoy ourselves. To take a break from the hamster wheel of achieving perfect health. FFUPS are freakishly addicting, and their assortment of flavors is wild. They're the perfect steed to usher 'puff snacks' into the future.

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Hazel

Founded by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ Steven Cruz & Aubrey Hubbell |‏‏‎ Site + ‎IG | 📍 New York, NY

What made them stand out: Briefs for the elderly with bladder issues, an unsexy industry that's stupid dumb big and ripe for innovation. Bless our hearts for having folks like Aubrey and Steven in this world to innovate in categories like this. On the outside they are a "Luxe, down-there femme care for the ever-evolving woman" brand. Under the hood though, they are really a material sciences company. It takes a lot brains to develop a next-gen, sleek af (but uber-strong), disposable brief that looks and feels like real underwear. Hazel is going places as they disrupt an industry that's seen zero innovation since the 1980's.

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Kara Pure Water

Founded by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ Cody Soodeen, Bill Irvine, Colin Paterson, & Michael Di Giovanni |‏‏ Site + IG + TikTok |‏‏‎ 📍 New York, NY

What made them stand out: A device that pulls water out of the air so I can fill up my cup? And all I need to do is plug it in? TAKE MY MONEY. Seriously, this is so space age I had an investor borderline yell at me for selecting a company that is "fugazzi"/vaporware/not real. I had to send him videos of the actual product in action, like this one and this one. Needless to say he was pleasantly surprised which then I reminded him "this is what FirstLook does, we find these diamonds ya silly goose!" In sum, the team behind Kara Pure have something really special here, and I can't wait for every common space/office/home to have one of their machines.

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NextDay

Founded by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ Leigh Phillips and Solomon Mangham ‎‏‎|‏‏‎ Site +‎‎‏‏‎‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎‎‏‏‎ ‎‎IG‏‏‎ ‎‏‎|‏‏‏‏‎ 📍 Washington, D.C.

What made them stand out: NextDay is very early, but this pain point is a brutal one. Hangovers suck, and consumers will happily open their wallets for products that solve it. Enter NextDay, a well designed drink with the superhero hangover recovery chemical, DHM. I tested NextDay (in the name of science!) and it worked well. I was ready to go for the 1:05p Sunday NFL games versus the usual 4:05p time slot games. The Browns usually play at 1:05p so this is a win in my books.

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The Patch Brand

Founded by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ Gil Brozki ‎‏‎|‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎Site + ‎IG + TikTok ‎‏‎|‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎📍 Los Angeles, CA

What made them stand out: Gil gets it. He was a founding member and the #2 of a LA based CPG incubator where he launched over 15 brands, many for some of the biggest influencers, celebrities and musicians. He spent 5 years flying all over the country developing relationships with every major brick and mortar retailer including Walmart, Target, CVS, Sephora, Publix and more. The company sold in 2020 and about a year later The Patch Brand was born. Now Gil is in a perfect spot to take all his learnings and connections, and inject them into The Patch Brand. Great product + hella talented founder = no-brainer investment.

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Wunderkeks

Founded by‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‏‏‎ Luis Gramajo & Hans Schrei ‎‏‎|‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎‏‏‎Site + ‎IG + TikTok ‎‏‎|‏‏‎ ‎‎‏‏‎‎‏‏‎‏‏‎ ‎📍 Austin, TX

What made them stand out: Anytime a brand can reach multi-millions in revenue via DTC only, I perk up. That's what Wunderkeks did all while being totally bootstrapped! STFU. On top of running an efficient operation, I also really love Hans and Luis. They are an absolute power couple who launched Wunderkeks from their belief that consumer products, specifically food, and beverage, are the new external signifiers, and as such, brands have the power to become symbols of allyship and markers of safe spaces for the next generation of consumers. MORE WUNDERKEKS PLEASE! (read in the same jingle as the old school Ovaltine commercials).

That's a wrap. Hope your fall is off to a great start. August box is next.

If you're a brand, sign up here to jump in our boxes. If you're an investor, sign up here to get a box!

Thanks from the FirstLook Team

Brian, James, and Mahdi

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