Kalam Dennis

NYC bars and restaurants are struggling and one of the reasons is legal cannab*s, according to this new report. Bars and restaurants should be able to sell weed, especially at events. These small business owners are relying on the OCM to expedite the events license so they can stop being harmed by legal cannab*s and start being apart of the market. https://lnkd.in/eSbFmtA6

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This article really resonated with me, especially the section below about founders knowing their numbers. What skill set should a founder starting a brand today have?  Drew F.: "Now, more than ever, you have to know your numbers. You have to be able to describe your unit economics, not only certainly to any prospective investor, but also to yourself because the odds that you’re going to get any capital are near zero. If you don’t know your unit economics and cash flow, you won’t have a business. The founder that knows their numbers and how to scale the business in a healthy and efficient way is the founder that will prevail." Scaling a beauty brand has never been easy, but it has gotten increasingly more difficult over the past few years. Capital efficiency and a focus on margins and profitability have also become more important for investors seeking to deploy in the category. True Beauty Ventures Cristina Nuñez Rachel Brown Beauty Independent #beautyinvesting https://lnkd.in/egBiFhPC

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When we asked CPG founders who they wanted at Founderland... Their answer was clear: People who can help them grow their business & achieve their goals. Specifically: - The top retailers - The most founder-friendly investors, and - Other founders they can learn from and share with This conversation that I'm hosting at Founderland is a perfect representation of this group, plus one BIG bonus. We're also including Joel Toledano and ChargeUp.ai which is one of my favorite tech companies that is supporting consumer brands today. They automate the retail deduction and chargeback process for brands, saving them an insane amount of time and money. Such a cool co. Excited to teach, share and connect...and get some deals done, while of course having lots of fun. Joel Toledano Jen Zeszut Kim Coffin Deb Conklin

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Eka Ventures enjoyed co-hosting a roundtable with Erevena on building brands for consumer and B2B companies We where fortunate to hear insights from scale up leaders Roxanne Nejad Iona Carter and Viktoria Tchoudakov. Thank you to Estia Ryan and Flo Bown for organising Key insights included: 1. Trust is the foundation of good brands: Viktoria Tchoudakov mentioned the value of Trustpilot to IWOCA's scale whilst Iona Carter focused on Plum Guide's "Michelin Star" inspired certification for properties 2. Organic is key: “When looking to drive organic growth through content, we focused on three themes: education for the user, demonstrating our values, and humour” – Roxanne 3. Tracking brand awareness is tough and can be expensive - but has a value to investors

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🚀 "We built Unloop Connect to support the founders who are really feeling the pinch," Michael Pignatelli reveals. As I dove deep into the everyday challenges that emerging brands face on Amazon with Michael Pignatelli, CPA, MAcc, Co-Founder of Unloop Accounting, it was clear that the path to simplifying e-commerce finance is more vital than ever. Michael's insights into accounting automation and the strategic use of Unloop Connect are game-changers for any brand looking to navigate the complexities of Amazon's marketplace efficiently. Michael's dedication to making high-quality accounting accessible reflects our mission at ExpertCPG Commerce—to empower brands with the tools and strategies they need to thrive on Amazon without getting bogged down by the details. How has automating mundane tasks changed the way you manage your business? What results have you seen from integrating new technologies? 🎧📺 Listen or Watch the Full Episode here: https://ecpg.us/3Qhk2pN #CPG #ecommerce #Amazon #podcast #UnloopAccounting #businessgrowth #financialmanagement

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We just supported our 4th Sprouts Innovation Set. Here’s what we’ve learned so far: You can definitely game the game here. Retail media is a great way to earn a permanent spot on the Sprouts shelf. There are a couple of options that work nicely. (Both are through Instacart.) Here are the most important tips: 1. Don’t wait to see how it goes, go HAM from day 1. -> Some of the smaller stores will pull you after only 3 weeks. -> The clock is ticking faster than you think. 2. Set up products on IX-One ASAP. -> You won’t show up on Instacart or Sprouts.com without them. -> Whether using retail media or not, you will need these channels. 3. Press hard on competitor search terms. -> If you’re in the innovation set, you’re probably already outside of the box. -> Target brands with similar customer demographics. 4. Leverage electronic coupons and BOGO’s. -> Figure out how many units you need to drive first. -> Leverage coupons and BOGO’s if you need to hit your goals. 5. Make sure you ask Instacart for free spend early. -> You need all the extra horsepower you can muster. -> $300 is a gimme. Do t leave it in the table. Sprouts is a powerful channel. This system works to keep it. Just don’t half-step it. ——— 🔹 We increase velocity in Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Sam's, COSTCO, and lots of other cool retailers. 🔹 We grow brands on Amazon. #cpg #cpggrowth #retailgrowth #retailvelocity #omnichannel #retail #amazonagency #retailmedia #shoppermarketing #instacart

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I noticed an increase in a different kind of advertisement this year, particularly, (and almost exclusively) from the independent businesses across retail and F&B. They weren’t promoting over-priced NYE dinners but advising their customers of their closure for NYE and NYD. When once to close on NYE would have been as acceptable as pineapple on pizza, more and more operators are now choosing to prioritise their teams’ well-being. They are giving their staff the invaluable gift of time. Time to celebrate with loved ones and begin the year with rest, not exhaustion. When once there would be a mad, profit fuelled rush to re-open several short hours later for NYD, some retailers and restaurants are now keeping their doors closed – understanding that human values are more important than squeezing every possible moment for profit. It's inspired me to take that sentiment into 2025, to make time - to prioritise the things that really matter in life. For me, that is self-reliance, social harmony and mindfulness. 2024 was a year of teaching and there were some hard lessons to learn along the way. Yet every moment of learning has brought clarity to what matters most. I hope 2025 will be the year of reward - a time to take the wisdom gained, let it guide us, and invest it in the things that truly give our lives meaning - the people we love, the values we hold dear, and the purpose we cultivate daily. Happy New Year to you and your loved ones.

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NY friends! Please come see me at Tech Day on my panel discussing the future of the NY tech ecosystem and what I hope to bring to it!

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This San Franciscan has landed in the Big Apple for #NYTechWeek! Here’s why it was important to me to be out here this week and I view NYC as a sister city. ((scroll down for 2 events The Council is hosting today!)) 🏭🏥 Reminder: The Council Fund invests at Pre-seed in Software’s Third Act, the transformation of the essential economy. Our investments span healthcare and industrial sectors like manufacturing, logistics, construction. 🐂 I’m eternally bullish on NY & SF and hate how many pit the two cities against each other. The reality is that a lot of capital and talent flow back and forth between the cities. They need each other to thrive! 🗽🌁 Cities like NY & SF attract young and mid-career talent because of their population density, transient nature, beauty, and reputations as cities where someone new on the scene can make a name for themselves. For the areas we invest in, I’m *specifically* excited about NY because of: 🏗️ Closer proximity to industrial hubs which are scattered across the Midwest / Rust Belt 🏛️ Closer proximity to DC where a lot of regulation around VC, startups, healthcare, onshoring initiatives, and industrial sectors takes place 💰 Many of the large financial institutions that are backing hard tech focused funds and major healthcare initiatives are also headquartered here in NYC 🎯 We’ve got several startups here who are hitting it out of the park, like Dirac and Siena. This has further validated my belief in this ecosystem to support young companies! Today we are kicking off with 2 events on Day 1 of #NYTechWeek 👉 AI Demo Day: The Council, Next Wave NYC, Lynx Collective, Flybridge will host 8 founders and 200+ investors and founders for a pitch competition this evening! Luma: https://lnkd.in/gbdYiJMw 🔜 Can still join the waitlist! Small & Big VCs in Hard Tech: The Council joined General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Iron Prairie Ventures, AlleyCorp, House Of Ventures, Steel Atlas for 2 back to back panels on industrial innovation & collaboration across the capital stack Luma: https://lnkd.in/gj6D4-Au ⏰ Event has passed

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Why we invested: Gratsi Wine 🍷💸 We led the seed round of Gratsi back in November of '22. At the time, they had zero distribution and their ecommerce revenue was modest. But we were blown away and ultimately decided to partner with the team for a few key reasons: 1. Metrics and efficiency: the underlying metrics of the business were unlike anything we've seen in the space. Gratsi's ability to acquire and retain customers (online and in retail) is unrivaled. 2. Potential for premium boxed wine: we remain convinced that premium boxed wine will continue to become one of the most important categories in the wine space. The volume, margin, and customer experience implications are massive. 3. Founder vision and execution: Stephen Vlahos has been executing relentlessly against his vision since day 1. As we met and got to know Stephen in the early days, it quickly became obvious to us that he would stop at nothing in his mission to build one of the most important wine companies in the world. It's been an amazing two years for Gratsi since we invested and I'm incredibly proud of what the team has accomplished. But I'm perhaps even more excited for the years to come. This team is truly just getting started. Exciting times ahead for Gratsi and the team! cc: Top Shelf Ventures Noah Slakter Jason Sherman

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TryNow.com Weekly Update ⚡ • Hosted a great dinner for 20+ brand operators in NYC last night with Eli Weiss. Thanks for coming out Jeff Hansen, Alice Kim, Vanessa Alvarez, Katrina Caraboolad, Ian Laya, Loris Spadaccini, Arjan Singh, Timothy W. Schifter, Laurie Mucciolo, Madeline Placik, Kyle Goldman, Nicole (Nico) ✨ S., John Wong, Michael De Santis, Adrian Aidid and many more. • If you've been following along, you know that we made a big shift towards product-led engineering towards the end of Q1. This means that as a company we spend more time describing problems rather than prescribing solutions (shout out to Steve Davis at TryNow for this sound articulation) and empower engineering to fully own the solution. By defining the problem in detail, solutions can more naturally flow out of that work. Shifts like this are by no means immediate, and this week capped off a month of very strong product-led engineering. Keep an eye out for improvements to self-service onboarding, enhancements to TryNow Insights Dashboard, and some impactful improvements to our automated capture process. A few companies that inspired this cultural shift towards product-led engineering are PostHog and Ramp, two very different companies that share a product development velocity that we admire. • Incredible week in NYC with Ian Schneider, Director of GTM at TryNow. At dinner last night, a prospective customer came up to us and shared praise for our sales process. He mentioned that we don't "sell", we don't apply any pressure, and we're the most customer-centric vendor he knows. Now, I know there's a lot of improvements we can and should make to our GTM motion to ensure we're always putting the customer at the center. But we're on our way. Keep it up, Ian 🤜 #TryBeforeYouBuy #TryNewThings #Shopify

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Some thoughts after spending some time with a handful of builders and investors in NYC this past week! 1. New York City is quietly fostering one of the most vibrant and underrated consumer founder communities in the country. This ecosystem is bursting with innovative energy, driven by founders who are deeply embedded in culture and consumer behavior. For those who haven’t tapped in yet, I strongly recommend paying attention—it’s a hotbed of potential that’s primed for growth. 2. Understanding and valuing consumer products demands more than just financial acumen; it requires a deep understanding of culture, trends, and human behavior. Many investors are stepping away, not because the space isn’t viable, but because they lack the nuanced taste and cultural insight necessary to identify and nurture truly impactful consumer products. This gap presents a massive opportunity for those who “get it” to dominate the market with culturally relevant investments. 3. In today’s world, a product or service that lacks a strong community component is missing the mark. Community isn’t just an add-on; it’s the foundation upon which modern consumer brands are built. Doubling down on building and nurturing a community around your product can create a powerful network effect, driving organic growth and fostering long-term loyalty. 4. The next wave of consumer social platforms won’t look like the traditional social networks we’ve become accustomed to. Instead, we’ll see social experiences seamlessly integrated into other aspects of daily life, such as fashion, education, and real-world interactions. This evolution will redefine how we connect, share, and engage, creating new opportunities for innovation at the intersection of technology and everyday life. 5. Simplicity wins — In a world overflowing with options and information, simplicity is the ultimate competitive advantage. Products and services that cut through the noise with straightforward, intuitive designs and clear value propositions will stand out. Complexity might seem impressive, but simplicity is what drives adoption and sustained success in the consumer market.

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Growth-stage DTC brands know that scaling is a financial tug-of-war — every department is pulling for its share of the (budgetary) pie 🥧 In our most recent expert guide, Matt Weiler, founder of Second Star Ventures and interim CEO of Wells Group of New York, shares five tactical tips on strategic cross-functional finance: 1️⃣ Decide between tangible growth and buzz Balance investments in short-term ROI with hard-to-quantify activities. Collaborating across teams to align on needs will help you measure intangible results and focus on net profits per initiative. 2️⃣ Assess your decision risk Evaluate each business decision by mapping out assumptions for probability and measurability. Then consider how easily it can be reversed if it fails, and * only * proceed if the cost of failure is manageable. 3️⃣ Prepare for success just as you plan for failure Whip your ops into shape before you action on strategy. That way, when growth occurs, you can deliver what you promised your customers. For example, a successful product launch can still fail if you don’t have enough stock to meet demand. 4️⃣ Pay back your CAC quickly Tracking your LTV, CAC, and payback periods helps you monitor customer growth at all times. If you can’t pay back your CAC quickly, you can’t drive near-term ROI, making it tougher to increase LTV. 5️⃣ Use Drivepoint for cross-functional strategic finance Drivepoint enables you to easily create and compare financial scenarios, build accurate forecasts in minutes, and sync sales, accounting, and marketing data across all sales channels — for a holistic understanding of your business. Want to learn more? Matt breaks it down here: https://lnkd.in/gXc-f_5x

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Beyonce uses a laundromat🫧? And LVMH was feeling spendy last week 💸. These are my top stories from last week: ♡ Women’s Health & Beauty ♡ • Perelel acquires Loom • Paul Schiraldi appointed as CEO of ILIA Beauty • 4am Skin is officially in Bloomingdale’s • Love x Money Ventures invests in Marlow • Lili Reinhart’s new brand aims to start the conversation about acne • The fertility revolution: How Dandi is transforming patient care ♡ E-Commerce, Retail & Social ♡ • Beyoncé launches Levi’s Reimagine campaign • Luxury fashion’s power sourcer, Gab Waller, is reinventing the job with AI • Off-White sold by LVMH to Bluestar Alliance • Laundromat bars are trending ♡ Tech, Business, & Investing ♡ • Port workers’ strike delayed • Eva, the entertainment booking platform, raises $2M and expands to more cities • LVMH and Formula 1 sign a 10-year global partnership • LVMH invests in non-alcoholic brand French Bloom • Adam Neumann’s new startup is reworking WeWork’s old business model You can read more in this week's issue of ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/gpEiANhM #consumernews #litrendingtopics

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❗❗ New investment alert ❗❗Want to learn why we led a $10M Series A into Pear Commerce 🍐 ? Read on! 🎯 - A spot-on product. Everyone who used or was familiar with Pear made it clear that their product solved a need, and did it better than the other options available to them. It is a better approach to a problem they all had. 😤 - A great team. Eric Martell and Alex Wyler are great leaders, repeat founders, and building Pear with real purpose. And they have attracted a great team around them to scale their impact! 📈 - Exciting results. Pear had a great 2023, and 2024 is more of the same. Their growth, and the underlying metrics behind it, speaks for itself! https://lnkd.in/gP_FceJC

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At Costanoa Ventures, we pride ourselves on identifying and supporting exceptional founders poised to create impactful, lasting change. Hona is a shining example, driven by a trio of extremely talented founders: Manny Griffiths, Joshua Christensen, and Matt McClellan. They each bring unique, differentiated expertise to the table, and Amy Cheetham and I are extremely excited to partner with them. There are approximately 450,000 law firms in the United States, with half of those firms being B2C - think personal injury, mass tort, or immigration law as opposed to BigLaw. One of the reasons we love how Hona is tackling this market is their focus on B2C law firms and product excellence - B2B firms are historically difficult to sell brand new software products into, but B2C firms are completely different buyers. Oftentimes there's just a handful of lawyers and paralegals in a partnership, and any piece of technology they can use to give them an edge would be valuable. 44% of negative Google reviews on law firms directly reference poor communication as the reason for a negative experience, and the number 1 reason for Attorney Bar complaints in the U.S. is "lack of communication". On the lawyer's side, attorneys, paralegals and legal assistants spend an average of 7.4 hours per week on unnecessary updates, redundant communication, and activities that aren't directly contributing towards getting a client's case solved. Manny and the team at Hona are working to change all of that. Hona delivers a tightly-integrated communications platform to help facilitate better communication between law firms and their clients. During legal proceedings, client communications tend to be a large resource-stressor for law firms. Clients will frequently call firms for case updates, legal explanations, or general administrative questions that tend to eat away at firm resources without providing any additional progress toward case resolution. Hona exists to ease that burden - it’s a platform that allows law firms to efficiently communicate with their clients over text, easily build customizable web pages and embed videos, and share information on case status and basic legal process education. This crucial communication processes allow attorneys to focus on their job – moving cases forward, while keeping their clients informed and educated. If you're a lawyer dealing with these problems - don't hesitate to reach out to us or the Hona team! It's a privilege to work with Hona on this journey. The company has been growing at a rapid pace, and they're delivering meaningful technology to help people get through legal proceedings in a much more fluid, transparent, and easy process. Manny, Joshua, and Matt are exceptional founders whose combined skills and dedication to continuous learning position them perfectly to lead Hona to success. They're just getting started, and we can't wait to see what they'll achieve.

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The consumer news, brands, people, places, things that captured my attention last week: 1. Kiehl’s starts selling on Amazon — (from WWD) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 2. Gap raises full year forecast and Zac Posen bets on celebrities to revive the brand — (from WWD & Vogue Business Instagram) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 3. The flat lay is back — (from Glossy) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 4. DTC Briefing: Startups are pursuing a mix of credit and equity amid fractures in funding — (from Modern Retail) https://lnkd.in/gxA2mDWH 5. The fight for influencer marketing dollars heats up with a lawsuit — (from BoF) https://lnkd.in/gtWGAb6A 6. 96% of Ulta’s sales run through their loyalty program — BoF Case study on loyalty — (from BoF) https://lnkd.in/ghZ9Gx-u 7. Abercrombie’s stock surges 24% as they capitalized on “wedding weeks” — (from CNBC) https://lnkd.in/guzQKu8U 8. Golden Goose sells $500 dirty sneakers — they’re raising €100M in an IPO — (from WSJ) https://lnkd.in/gi94ff54 9. L Catterton leads $40M Series A investment for Squared Circles — (from PR Newswire) https://lnkd.in/gdJzvTij

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We gathered dozens of operators from the MGMT Boston Operators Club and local founders alongside the 186 Ventures team this October to discuss the evolution of our dear software markets, the status of some predictions for 2024 (all looking good!), and what’s on deck for next year. General Partner Giuseppe Stuto led us through the following predictions for 2025 to share with you all.. ↕ We will see more vertical AI applications manifest themselves within the Enterprise in a similar ways that SaaS moved from horizontal to vertical use cases 🔔 We will see services business models more common and software budget purchasing models less common - SaaS may even be given away for cheap/free as a “way in” ⚖ Capital efficiency, on a relative basis, will almost be required to create enduring & compounding defensible enterprise value. Details like procurement cycle lengths and creativity with non-dilutive financing, like leveraging revenue based financing tools for example, will all matter 💡 Specific to AI, premiums will be placed on applications that can actually get “reasoning” right. All purpose LLMs still have a ways to go and there are multiple approaches with the “jury still out” on how to get context and reasoning right. Infrastructure solutions that use general purpose or customizable knowledge graphs to help application developers get to 100% (enterprise acceptable accuracy) will emerge OR savvy application developers will fill the gaps themselves. We will likely see both, depending upon the specific case! Thank you Giuseppe, Julian, and Sophie for a great discussion and evening!

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In 2003, Mike Kirban was skating around NYC selling coconut water. 20 years later, that same product is set to hit $500 million in sales. 🥥 This is the Vita Coco story. The product is simple - some may even call it a commodity. But, branding, story telling and the right marketing allowed this Verlinvest portfolio company to win. This story will show that brands are built with patience, hustle and heart. In 2003, co-founders Michael Kirban and Ira Liran met 2 Brazilian women at a bar. Ira ended up falling in love with one of them and moved to Brazil🇧🇷 Later, during one of Mike’s visits, Ira convinced him to partner up to start selling coconut water in the US. Vita Coco was born! They scraped together $75,000 and bought two containers of coconut water; only to realize that they didn’t have FDA clearance to import them. But that didn’t stop them – They re-exported them to the Bahamas and flew there to sell through the product door-to-door. Mike was everywhere—skating through NYC in the morning, doing store demos in the afternoon and then bookkeeping at night. That’s the real founder hustle :) Meanwhile, Zico, a better-funded competitor, was emerging, setting the stage for the "coconut water wars." It’s around this time that Verlinvest realized we wanted to have a share of the coco-war, and ended up investing $2M. At the time, Vita Coco had not even hit $1M in sales yet. The momentum continued. In 2010, the brand raised a $5M celebrity from celebs like Madonna and Matthew McConaughey. Today, this is common - but at that time it was path breaking. Suddenly, they had the megaphone they needed to build massive brand awareness 🫡 Through the years, their distinct branding and marketing strategy allowed them to stand out on shelves across the world. In 2021, Vita Coco went public, raising $172M. Now, they’re on their way to clock $500M in sales :) From no business plan to building one of the biggest global beverage companies, the story of Michael and Ira building brand in a category like coconut water is one that’s always amazed me. In a lot of cases in consumer products, the product isn’t necessarily the moat. Success comes from brand and a relentless hustle - the willingness to roll with the punches. I’ve always said - the best way to start is to start. You will end up figuring out a lot on the way. I love the product. Have you tried Vita Coco? Do you think there is a case to build such a large coconut water brand in India? PS: Thinking of sharing more stories of our global Verlinvest portfolio like this. Thoughts? #business #entrepreneurship #founder

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