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- May 2023 FirstLook Brands
May 2023 FirstLook Brands
Highlights From Our May Box, Founder Pro Tips, and more.
FirstLook
September 18, 2023
Welcome to our 174 new subscribers since our last newsletter. I'll try my best to keep this fun, light, and informative. Glad you're here.
안녕 (Annyeong) — ("Hi" in Korean)
Welcome back to another newsletter that seems to never come out on a consistent basis. I like to keep you on your toes. Jk. It’s actually because I’m swamped, which is why I’m keeping an eye out for a CMO Cofounder.
To kick things off, I’m happy to share that a FirstLook intro helped MOSH land a $400,000 check for their $3M round they recently closed. It was great to work with Patrick. He’s a hella strong founder and MOSH is certainly trending “up and to the right,” as they say.
Patrick’s “ROI” for jumping in FirstLook was a 66,777% return. Despite my limited understanding of how numbers work, I’ve been told that’s pretty good. With that, let’s have a fresh look at everyone’s favorite scoreboard:
Expo East is this week! I was heavily peer pressured to join and caved in like VCs switching from crypto to AI. I’ll be at the expo all day Thursday along with the Tydo Pre Party, The Consumer VC Wake Up!, and the Westock Happy Hour. Would love to meet you!
FirstLook Ventures continues to hunt for our next investment. If you’re an investor, Austin, Nate, and myself welcome you to join us. We have a few deals in the pipeline that we are excited about.
Speaking of deals, I’m advising for a friend building an AI powered smart shoe. He’s not the first to attempt this, HOWEVER, he comes from a 3rd generation shoe manufacturing family in India. Never before have I seen such perfect founder-product fit. If you’re an investor interested in this space, email me - [email protected]
And to round things out, my good friend Richard Riccardi has a cool blog y’all should check out!
Founder Pro Tip of the Month 💡
This month’s tip is actually a small collection of tips for life that I’ve come across over the years and adopted. Sharing so you can be your best self!
Sleep on your left side- this is the optimal sleep position for a handful of reasons.
Drink water first thing- right after you wake up, chug a glass of water. The benefits are substantial. I started doing this about a year ago and haven’t looked back.
Stimulate your brain- brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand. It will help fire fresh neurons in your brain for improved brain health. And in this same vein, try to always change your routines up. Put your socks on in a different order, put your belt on in the opposite direction, etc.
Look at nature - I read an interesting study once that hospital patients with rooms facing towards gardens/trees/nature recovered faster. You should probably look at nature as well. Studies have also found that simply looking at and being near water helps our mental health.
Did a friend forward you this email? Come join us!
May Box Brands 🚀
Investors: 40 → Apply Here | Brands: 7 → Apply Here | Intros: 41
Are you an investor interested in a brand below? Email [email protected] for decks.
Companion Candles
Founded by Loren Lewin | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍Chicago
What made them stand out: I liked this brand because pets fall into one of the few categories where consumers act very irrationally. A consumer may be broke as hell, but if something is good for their little pup, they’ll buy it anyway. As people become more educated on what’s good and bad for their pets, I can see a world where Companion Candles flourishes. Plus the candles themselves are beautiful and smell amazing.
Kiramoon
Founded by Lindsey Martin | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍 Austin
What made them stand out: The branding for Kiramoon is so cheeky, I love it. And so do consumers which explains how Lindsey reached 977% YOY revenue growth and confirmed distribution of ~1M units in the next 12 months. She’s literally doubling her business overnight multiple times throughout the year. There’s growth, then there’s Kiramoon growth! Lindsey is a talented founder and I’m excited to see where she takes the brand.
Naturaz
Founded by Mumbi Dunjwa & Vuyo Dunjwa | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍 Philly
What made them stand out: Mumbi and Naturaz are early, but so far things have been trending well. Their first big retailer is TJX, which given where the economy is will be a busy place for shoppers going forward (and big POs for Naturaz). I ultimately wanted to put this brand in the FirstLook boxes because it’s routinely an overlooked category where winners quietly emerge and everyone looks back wondering “How’d we miss this?!” What her products solve is also a very potent pain point for consumers where once they find the solution, they rarely ever switch. If it’s not broke, no need to fix it!
Pedestrian Project
Founded by Kristen Doyle & Matt Jacobs | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍 NYC
What made them stand out: I liked this brand for two primary reasons. First, this is a very sleepy category that hasn’t seen much innovation in over a decade. If you walk the aisles where Pedestrian Project is found it’s very…uninspiring. I also really liked Kristen and Matt’s backgrounds. Kristen is an X-Unilever consumer research and brand development specialist, while Matt is a digital strategist and performance marketing specialist. A solid combo that can navigate this world well.
SOSHE
Founded by Sahar Rohani, Junyi Wu, & Aidan Maddox | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍 LA
What made them stand out: This one was simple. SOSHE’s MoM growth was ridiculous. On top of creating an earth friendly product line, they have a patented refillable design which creates a subscription component. That currently boasts a 95% retention rate. Sheesh! Investors LOVE subscriptions as recurring revenue is KING. I’m proud to share that one of FirstLook’s intros lead to Sahar getting invited to Paris for L’Oréal’s Annual Global Summit to speak on behalf of SOSHE for their Refillable Beauty panel with the Global Head of Sustainability at Sephora and the Global Head of Sustainability at L’Oréal Luxury Division. SOSHE ftw!
Brian’s Side Bar
I think it’s important to note here that FirstLook isn’t a binary platform. Yes, landing checks is always the #1 goal. But a lot of other cool things come from our intros (such as an invite to fly to Paris to speak on stage at L’Oreal’s Annual Global Summit!)
It’s always a shame when I meet a founder who gets too caught up on FirstLook’s funding success rate. They miss seeing the forest through the trees. So much of a startup’s success is catching lucky breaks that open up life changing doors. Investors are notorious for creating lucky breaks for brands. It’s literally their job. But to catch those lucky breaks, you have to put yourself out there. FirstLook puts you out there.
What unfolded for Sahar is another great “low cost, high reward” result of FirstLook.
#stepsoffsoapbox
STEL + MAR
Founded by Justin Dumitrescu & Chris Noll | Site + IG | 📍SF / Toronto
What made them stand out: First and foremost, Justin and Chris are super talented founders. Before launching S+M, Justin acquired a 50 year old CPG business, revamped it, and eventually sold it to PE generating a 3.8x net return for investors. Chris, meanwhile, started Brickworks Cider which grew into the second largest cider brand in Canada, eventually selling to a subsidiary of AB InBev. Safe to say these guys know what they’re doing. Experience aside, S+M is impressive. They have distribution in 32 States and 3,000 doors, unit economics with gross margins exceeding 50%, and a capital efficiency exceeding 3.0x (revenue to capital invested). If you like efficient founders and businesses, S+M has both!
Visitor
Founded by David Gallagher & Rob Jensen | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍Chicago
What made them stand out: I liked Visitor a lot because their positioning makes perfect sense. What Athletic Brewing is to Bud Light, Visitor is to Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) in the NA beer world. And PBR is massive with a legion of followers. As the NA space continues to mature, brands need to pick their lane aka their customer base they relate with. I love the lane Visitor has picked. Rob and David are extremely talented as well - they previously built their own successful marketing and branding agency from the ground up. Visitor is early, but it’s already outselling Athletic Brewing in Foxtrot among other outlets. Above all, Visitor tastes SO GOOD. I’ve officially mixed them into my weekend drinking routine so my hangovers aren’t so rough. It’s worked like a charm, and you should probably do the same.
And that's a wrap. The June box is next. Keep on building my friends.
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