Shane Heath

Fellow CPG founders: Any suggestions on lenders that you have enjoyed working with? Wake Up Water is entirely ecommerce at this time so we don’t have your typical accounts receivable, which makes it more tricky for lenders I’ve spoken to a bunch - there’s all types of models they come up with I’d like to avoid any cash advances where we pay back a percentage of sales (these end up being a crazy high APR) Any suggestions on quality lenders would be greatly appreciated! #funding #lenders #financing

9

4 Comments

Spicy Mustard VS Special sauce. Tech companies often want to create a new category because their products feel unique. However, positioning experts advises against this. "You should almost always anchor your product to an existing category," they say. Pitfalls of creating a new category: 1. No existing demand to tap into. 2. Low product understanding. 3. Mixed buyer profiles. The takeaway: Disrupt an existing category instead. For more, check out Growth Unhinged (https://lnkd.in/evxjWjfv) Subscribe to ‘Siliconnector’ Telegram channel for insights and news from Tech world and Silicon Valley: https://t.me/siliconnector

4

Dutchie...Again? It's time for cannabis businesses to take control of their revenue. Bring your eCommerce, menu, inventory, ordering, and POS systems in-house. Why gamble with your main revenue stream by entrusting it to another company? #420 #TakeControl #CannabisIndustry

6

1 Comment

We are making more money that we ever have DTC. And it hasn’t taken a second of my time. As I shared a couple days ago, we started to implement a few key tools into our DTC strategy and they are proving to be two of the most valuable things we’ve done to date. I posted about the first tool a couple days ago, but the second key piece of our short-stack has been Chargeflow. A true gift from the DTC gods above. For a refresher, it’s essentially an automation process for all chargebacks, and no it’s not too good to be true. It’s quite literally that good, and that simple. Here’s the thing with our DTC strategy- we’re a small team. We have 4 full time employees managing 2000+ retail doors, marketing, ops, sales, etc- so we try to keep things as simple as possible, and not just add a fancy new tool unless its an absolute no brainer. Thus far, they’ve won 100% of the chargebacks we’ve had from sneaky customers trying to claim they "never received product", and it’s working on autopilot. If your team is anything like me/Toto (aka small and mighty lol), and you’re looking for a no-brainer tool to make more money with 0 work required, this might just be a perfect solution. Look- I know there is no rulebook or guide to “how to build a successful business”, but I as always, I will continue to share what’s working/not working on my own journey— because I genuinely believe its how we get better together. One little tool, one honest piece of advice at a time. If you have any questions or want an intro to their team- shoot me a note. If this helps one person, it’s a win in my book. ❤️ #leadership #entrepreneurship #dtc

279

72 Comments

How Liquid Death, Grey Goose and Starbucks flipped their brand positioning to become category leaders: Look at what everyone else is doing.  Then do the opposite. To stand out & succeed you have to be positioned so clearly in the market. Different is how you win. Let me know your thought below...

151

157 Comments

Why is 73.8 a magic number? Apps & websites have to ensure that 73.8% of their users are 21+ in order for alcohol brands to buy ad space. It's a threshold set every year by alcohol industry groups - and it's why brands generally haven't advertised on major platforms like Roblox, Fortnite, and TikTok. Until now! Based on a whole bunch of Gen Z summer birthdays (and more realistically, years-long targeted campaigns to keep users engaged as they age) TikTok just crossed this threshold, and opened advertising to alcohol brands. As TikTok fights to stay in the US, it can't hurt to have more industries solidly on its side, too. Expect to see a whole lot more alcohol advertising on TikTok going forward. Which brands do you think will be best positioned to win on the platform? #digitalmarketing #cpg #tiktok https://lnkd.in/etY5444c

11

Shared some thoughts with Pear VC on how we think about marketing at immi, crazy experiments we've tried since the early days, and some of our marketing processes that have helped us scale. Thanks for being in our corner! https://lnkd.in/gBAkTUzH #brand #marketing

81

6 Comments

PITCH DECK DESIGN FOR STARTUPS AND FUNDS. If you're a founder with a brilliant idea, a startup seeking funds at any-letter-round, or a fund raising capital, you all have one thing in common—you might need a pitch deck, and that deck needs to be designed.

23

At Tenzo, discussions around CPA often focus on Meta spend, but in the last two years, we started taking a broader approach, and it's saved us a TON of money. While using Meta ads is essential, we can't control the price per acquisition. Most brands are at their mercy...But not us! That's why we focus on blended CPA, which gives us the average cost to acquire a customer across all channels. Our sights are always on finding new strategies to keep our CPA going down. One effective strategy we've implemented is affiliate marketing, where we set our CPA by determining affiliate commissions and customer discounts. This method has yielded impressive results, with an average ROI of 6.67x and a CPA of $6.87 - which is lowering our blended CPA by a lot! This summer, we're aiming to scale our program to further lower our blended CPA and increase ROI. Social Snowball ☃️ l has been instrumental in this process, allowing us to turn our top LTV customers into affiliates, efficiently reach out to nano influencers, and seamlessly track and pay our affiliates. How are you working to lower your blended CPA? Comment Below! 👇 Let me know if you have any questions in the comments!

35

2 Comments

Did you know you can opt out from Meta using your content for AI training? You need to submit an objection against it. Highly recommend this for all original creator, brands and creatives. Plus personal profile. Here is how to do it. Instagram main profile - menu - About - privacy policy - first paragraph - right to object. Submit the form I received my confirmation for it. Are you going to opt out? #ai #instagram

3

Launching a startup is a huge accomplishment, but that doesn't mean the work is done; in fact, far from it. Now begins the real test: do people actually want and use your product? The "and" is key because while your go-to-market efforts may drive initial sales, it is your product that keeps the customer paying for and using your solution. Key point: I ignore all vanity metrics because real knowledge > useless metrics every day of the week. Here is a short list of the core areas I focus on when evaluating product success. User Acquisition: - Post initial launch / the first wave of sales efforts (30-60 days), I take a look at the number of users that have signed up or paid for the product. This provides a baseline for gauging initial market interest. - Then, I examine the sales process. Were sales a breeze because the solution solved the problem so well? Were initial sales calls a nightmare because nobody could understand what you built? Likely somewhere in between. - If you're not getting a lot of sign-ups or pre-sales, I typically check on product-problem fit (does it solve the problem well), feature quality, pricing, and brand messaging. Tweaking one or a few of these can materially change acquisition metrics. User Engagement: - So someone signed up, the first win is in the bag. Now the two most critical questions: 1) do they use it? 2) do they get enough value to pay for it once or on a recurring basis? While lead gen and initial sales can initially appear high, it's easy to get deflated when nobody is actually using the solution. This eventually leads to cancellation or a refund request once the customer realizes it. - How much they use it and how you determine the value of their engagement is startup specific. For example, if it's a social media app, then I want them using it all the time, and I don't care if they spend money because I can make money from advertisers as long as they are active. Compare this to a B2B solution focused on finance that only needs to be referenced once a month. - As long as they are using it regularly enough to...(continued on skool) https://lnkd.in/e8XiJQ4w

1

Many seed stage companies funded in 2020/2021 most likely won't make it to Series A these days. Over the last few months I watched two seed stage founders I invested in find buyers for their companies and successfully return cash to investors. In both cases the situations were dire and in both cases their existing lead investors were totally MIA. The reality for most VCs is that their best performing companies typically need their help the *the least* and the struggling ones are where it's essential to step up. For VC's, word travels fast when you aren't there to help. And for founders, working with investors who will be there when the chips are down is more important than ever.

115

8 Comments

At this week's Fancy Food Show, I had the chance to sneak away from the booth and spend an hour with Alison Cayne for her amazing In The Sauce podcast and it was my favorite hour of the week ☺️ There were laughs, there were tears (!) as we talked all things Lentiful and what it takes to launch a CPG brand today. It was a pretty lively conversation that covered lots of ground, including: - Tips for finding your first copacker - How not to lose your shirt spending $250k+ on Facebook ads - The surprising moment I realized we had a very different consumer base than I first imagined - The reasons behind launching into Whole Foods AND Walmart this summer and why I think we'll succeed in both! - Taking performance enhancing drugs to win pitch slam competitions - Bootstrapping tactics and the best $9 I spend each month - Why I think low sodium is the next big megatrend and why the natural food industry is sleeping on it - Why now is the best time to launch a food business (hint: because of generous people like Ali) - And so much more... Hope this helps some fellow early stage entrepreneurs out there!

89

7 Comments

Simple ≠ Easy This is the one thing I’m realizing after talking to multiple DTC experts over the last few weeks. The fundamental problems most businesses face already count on answers.  And they’re usually very simple. Q: How can my brand stand out from the crowd?  → Be authentic. Q: How do I know what my customers need? → Talk to them! And so on…. Except these aren’t always easy. The question of figuring out your brand voice especially, such that it’s authentic AND unique AND it resonates with your customers? I got to chat with Jameela G. to try to answer that question. We discussed the ‘simple’ answers.  Along with frameworks and tactics so it's also a bit easy for you to do it. The full episode releases in just few days – yay! ps.: get ready for some good vibes! One can't just spend a whole hour with Jameela without feeling optimistic about life 🍀 #marketingpodcast #dtcmarketing

19

2 Comments

When a $100 gift card becomes more elusive than a luxury box invite, you know there’s a story worth telling. A very well-known FinTech company sent numerous emails inviting me to participate in a demo in exchange for a $100 DoorDash gift card. Some of my clients use their platform to process my invoices and make payments, so I have a recipient account with them. As a researcher with deep FinTech experience, I was interested to learn more. I scheduled and participated in the demo on March 4th. March 12th, I emailed the person who led the demo asking when and how I would receive the $100 incentive. No response. March 15th, I followed up again. He replied, “My understanding is that our marketing team will send out the gift card as soon as they confirm the details of the call. It can take between 30-45 days from the time of the demo for you to receive your gift card, but I will reach out to them and see if they can send yours sooner.” March 21st, I received an email from a biz dev rep at this company inviting me to join their team at a San Francisco Giants game, with a guest, to hang out in their luxury box suite. The image is a screenshot of my response to the invitation. No response. Another week or so later, I followed up again with the person who led the demo. No response. It’s now been 3 months. ***Turns out, $100 is harder to get than a luxury box invite!*** This is a GREAT reminder: in UX, your word is your bond. Drop the ball, and you might just drop your user's trust. How do you handle follow-ups and incentives in user research? #UX #UXR #userreserrch #UXResearch #Curiositytank #servicedesign

30

6 Comments

Few brands truly have a digital-first culture. One of the 'old-school' brands we can all learn from is Zappos Family of Companies. 👞 Aaron Magness, CMO at Thistle, talks about how his time at Zappos shaped his approach to customer experience and how he collects customer feedback to improve that experience. 😇 Learn... ▶ How Aaron creates the ultimate value for Thistle users 📈 ▶ How to best use and collect customer feedback 🗒 ▶ Aaron’s takeaways from his time at Zappos 👞 Tools combined to deliver value include Survicate, PopSQL, and Segment. Listen to the secrets of success on The Stack Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gYfMPWZJ

13

4 Comments

Even the toughest warriors carry hidden scars. Founders often find themselves battling on two fronts - growing their start-ups on one hand, and dealing with the crumbling personal life on the other. Broken friendships, distant family members, sleepless nights ridden with anxiety, the haunting specter of divorce and an overwhelming sense of solitude. And yet, every morning, they don their armor of strength and resilience, masking the turmoil beneath. This is the unseen, often unspoken price of entrepreneurship. It's not a subject for boardroom discussions, it's a reality that needs to be acknowledged and understood. Next time you meet a founder, remember the unseen battles they fight. Praise their victories, but also commend their courage. Because entrepreneurship isn't just about creating successful businesses, it's about weathering life's toughest storms with unwavering determination. Cherish their tenacity. Empathize with their trials. Because recognition, understanding, and a little more empathy can make their journey just a little bit lighter.

2

Pipedream Raises $13M as It Looks to Build Underground Middle Mile Delivery Network Delivery startup Pipedream Labs has raised $13 million in a funding round led by Starship Ventures, with additional participation from Cortado Ventures, Myelin Ventures, and other investors, as reported by Michael Wolf for The Spoon. The infusion of capital will primarily be directed towards enhancing Pipedream’s “Instant Pickup” service and initiating the construction of an ambitious middle-mile network in an undisclosed city. This innovative network aims to facilitate faster and more cost-effective urban deliveries. Pipedream’s Instant Pickup service deploys its underground delivery technology at grocery stores, restaurants, and retail locations. McCurrach explained that this system allows a restaurant or grocery store to transfer an order to a customer in under 15 seconds. The company has received 100 preorders for the Instant Pickup systems, likely including its pilot project with Wendy’s announced last year. In addition to expanding Instant Pickup, Pipedream Labs plans to select a city for its first large-scale middle-mile network installation. Although McCurrach did not reveal the specific location, he shared a graphic depicting the Phoenix metro area with a diagram of a "small middle mile network." “This year, we will be selecting a city to build our first middle-mile network—a large-scale underground delivery network that makes current deliveries faster and cheaper in a city—and collaborating with local government and city officials to maximize the benefits of our low-cost, fast delivery system for all their citizens. Construction is set to begin this year, with plans to start utilizing the network by next spring,” McCurrach stated. The company is expected to find more immediate traction with its Instant Pickup service, as deploying extremely short-range delivery systems within a confined area is considerably easier than implementing a city-wide installation. The growing demand for curbside pickup and fast food drive-thru innovations presents a timely opportunity for Pipedream Labs to expand its presence in these sectors. Pipedream Labs' push into curbside pickup and drive-thru technology aligns with current trends in grocery and quick service restaurant industries, which are increasingly focusing on enhancing their pickup services and reimagining drive-thru experiences. By advancing its underground delivery technology, Pipedream Labs is poised to transform urban logistics, offering a glimpse into the future of efficient, rapid, and cost-effective delivery solutions. Stay ahead with the latest in food delivery news from the weekly Boolanga Business Bites newsletter, brought to you by Wear Your Brand. Sign up for our LinkedIn newsletter now to receive weekly updates directly to your inbox every Monday.

42

1 Comment