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October 2023 FirstLook Brands
Highlights from our October box, Founder Pro Tips, and more...
FirstLook
February 18, 2024
Welcome to our 72 new subscribers since our last newsletter. I'll do my best to keep this fun, light, and informative. Glad you're here, and if you find this enjoyable, please forward to a friend 🙏
Dia dhuit! (“Hi” in Gaelic)
Welcome back to another consistently inconsistent newsletter. But before we jump in, I’d like to wish a big happy birthday to my beautiful, smart, and always genuine wife, Michele!
She’s been my silent partner in FirstLook since day one. She supported me when I was broke, helped me pack all 1500+ boxes I’ve shipped to date, is there to listen when I need someone to vent to (which is often), and she’s an excellent proofreader as seen by this newsletter always looking sharp.
FirstLook wouldn’t exist today if it wasn’t for her work and sacrifices. And for that, among so many other reasons, I love her and am forever grateful.
Ok, let’s jump in.
Funding News 🤑
Original CRUMBS, from our recent December boxes, raised $50,000 from a FirstLook angel!
Traditionally a difficult month to fundraise, but our investors are incredible and will happily write checks into great brands no matter the time of the year. Congrats Mia and Jason Bauer!
My 2024 Game Plan
This year I’m taking 1 step back so I can take 5 steps forward. I over extended myself the past two years trying to support founders every way I could. I’m one too, so it felt natural and right. But in the process I burned up a little too much precious social capital.
2024 will be a reset year, and all about cleaning house. I want to work with those who treat our relationship like a two-way street, and prioritize empowering true friends. There are too many leeches in VC, and it’s exhausting. Iykyk.
I plan to lean into FirstLook Ventures more. We’ve been fortunate to have some incredible deals come our way. I’m excited for our future, and hopefully providing some incredible returns for them as things grow.
And lastly, I will also be leaning much harder into growing my other company, Distrobox, which for those new here is similar to FirstLook but we instead send boxes of brands to independent distributors (aka “DSD”).
There are a few other initiatives I will be rolling out this year, but for now that’s all I can share and sound somewhat intelligent.
To wrap things up, here is Drake’s favorite VC scoreboard:
Founder Pro Tip of the Month 💡
Where to put the Team slide in a deck doesn’t really have a settled answer in VC, so I’ll give my two cents.
If you have a great team for what you’re building, put the slide early. Why? Because everything I see after it I’m inclined to take more seriously. Ex: You’re building a new kind of rocketship? Nice. If I know you’re a Tesla rocket scientist first, then the rest of the slides are that much more believable.
If you don’t have an allstar team, then I don’t think it matters as much where the team slide goes. What you should do, however, is include a section on the slide titled “Why Bet On Us?” and give a fierce and emotional answer to the question, and why you’re a formidable founder. That’s what investors are trying to determine with this slide, so just give them the exact answer they want.
Did a friend forward you this and now you want to join?
October Box Brands 🚀
Investors: 45 → Apply Here | Brands: 7 → Apply Here | Intros: 44
Investors Interested in learning more about the brands below, email [email protected]
Brixy
Founded by Kevin Brodwick + Trey Vilcoq | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍San Diego
What made them stand out: I liked Brixy for three reasons. 1st. The branding is great. It’s bright, on-trend packaging resonates with buyers and shoppers. 2nd. The brand is quite sustainable. The bar format means no plastic which we can all agree is horrrrible for us and the planet. 3rd, and the biggest reason, is Kevin and Trey. Kevin previously founded Think, and Trey joined him early. Their efforts scaled the brand to 27,000 doors before being acquired. These two gained a wealth of knowledge on how to scale. Investors sure do love experienced founders, and that’s exactly what you’re getting here.
Drywater
Founded by Bryan Appio | Site + IG | 📍Newport Beach
What made them stand out: This brand was interesting as it’s got a unique delivery system. Their patent pending IsoCel™ Technology is their breakthrough cellular delivery method that combines rapid H₂O absorption with the delivery of vital micronutrients into the body's cells. Bryan is also a industry serial entrepreneur who started a hospitality company when he was 19 and later exited at 26. Safe to say he knows how to build, and has a deep network of connections to move quick.
Healthybud
Founded by Kyle Feigenbaum + Adrien Malka + Dana Ben David | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍Toronto
What made them stand out: To be frank, no one particular thing stood out here. Bare with me though. What healthybud does well is being strong across the board. They’ve consistently achieved 2x YOY revenue growth since inception, their ‘better-for-your-pet’ formulations are award-winning, and they have strong customer engagement and brand loyalty. It’s almost like they’re simply following the sage advice of so many great founders of the past…’build a product people love, take care of your customers and team, and get incrementally better every day.’ Wild, right?!
Hive Brands
Founded by Scott Morris + Katie Tyson + Steven Annese | Site + IG |📍NYC
What made them stand out: I really liked Hive’s mission in delivering better-for-you products to consumers while also giving these very brands a means to reach consumers. Hive was a unique add to FirstLook as they are not a CPG brand but rather a marketplace. If they continue building and can acquire customers at a profitable and scalable rate, they may well achieve what Chewy did for all things pets as a one-stop shop for sustainable living. The tailwinds are there.
JOI
Founded by Hector Gutierrez + Tony Jimenez + Dave Korstad + Izzy Shu | Site + IG + TikTok | 📍Miami
What made them stand out: I really liked this brand because their products make sense. Plant-based products are trending up, but for liquids they can be costly to ship. JOI was wise to make concentrates that save on shipping costs while still delivering a great experience for consumers. I also really liked JOI’s strong multi-channel approach. They cover DTC and food service now, and retail should be an even bigger story for them this year. I’m excited for Hector and team, they’ve got a great product, team, and ability to build out a new category.
Quokka Brew
Founded by Ofek Arush + George Passantino | Site + IG + Video | 📍SF
📸 : @scottamacias
What made them stand out: Ofek and George are scrappy, just how we like it. The company first hit the scene with “jitter-less coffee” RTD’s. Since then they’ve expanded to jitter-less energy drinks. Quokka was interesting to me in two ways. First, they are crushing on college campuses which is a tough game but does create a moat. It’s a big part of their distribution strategy where they’re seeing great velocities across 21 university campuses so far. Probably even more now since I last got the numbers. Second, they interestingly own a lot of trademarked terms related to their products, including “jitter-less”. The campus penetration, and strong portfolio of IP, makes them very unique imo.
WAJU
Founded by Chris Oates | Site + IG | 📍Oakland
What made them stand out: What Chris has created is incredible. He upcycles water from fruits to create WAJU. It’s genius. So much fruit goes to waste, but that ends here. WAJU’s unique process creates a delicious drink with soft notes of the fruit, 50+ hydrating nutrients, no added sugar, and only 5-15 calories per can. I love it! For reference, strawberries are 92% water, lemons and oranges 88%, pineapples 87%, and apples 84%. Given water shortages all over the world, utilizing fruit that would normally be tossed out is smart. Btw, Chris spent a decade leading innovation at PepsiCo so you know he knows the right pilot for this rocketship.
And that's a wrap. The November box is next. Keep on building my friends.