Jeremy Horowitz'

I’ve built a DTC brand to $50M. If I had to restart my entire journey from square 1 and hire a dream team to scale a brand to 8-figures... This is exactly how I’d do it: If your revenue is under $1M, As the founder, you are responsible for driving the business to success, but you need a team that supports you. I’d start by hiring a strategic paid social expert on a fractional basis to coach you on finding success in the channel. This will set up a foundation for your business since you’d be learning the skills needed to grow in your primary marketing channel instead of hiring it out. Then, with that knowledge, run the business yourself - you’ll be acting as the head of growth until you reach $1M. You need a system to support you in this role, so you should hire on: - A paid search marketer to run Google ads (under $1k/mo) - A CRM marketer to execute email strategies on a fractional basis for about $2k or less per month - A graphic designer for landing pages, emails, and ads, plus an offshore designer to iterate on those designs and save on operating expenses - A video editor for UGC ads that convert well for paid social Once you hit seven figures and start aiming for that $10M mark, You’ll have a bunch of new responsibilities that’ll eat up a lot of your time, like - finance, - supply chain, - and operations At that point, you can’t be the head of growth if you want to scale up. You won’t have the bandwidth. Instead, you’ll need to bring on a fractional head of growth who can manage things the way you used to—leading the marketing strategy and having freelancers report directly to them. You don’t need to make a ton of new hires to move from $1M to $10M. You might just need to adjust hours for your freelancers up to account for the size of the business. This is where SO MANY founders get stuck because they think, “I’m growing, so I need to expand and hire full-time staff.” But moving from $1M to $10M simply follows the same strategies you used to go from $0 to $1M. Only when you’re looking to scale from $10M to $50M+ should you start exploring new marketing channels. You might want to invest in affiliate marketing or SEO. You’ll also have enough work to potentially convert these roles to full time: - Head of growth, - Paid social media buyer, - and your CRM marketer Stop trying to over-complicate the hiring process when you go to scale. The few fractional workers who prove their value and competency from the beginning can be converted to full time at a later date (if they're open to it), and that should be only AFTER your business exceeds $10M. Anything before that, focus on the few roles that’ll drive results to grow you to that mark.

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We had a team even before we closed our $3.5M seed round. So, what does it take to build a founding team? Passion and Expertise When building our founding team, we prioritised individuals who show the following tenets: 1. Desire for exponential growth: We sought people eager to learn what it takes to grow exponentially. 2. Willingness to take risks: Our ideal candidates were those ready to take a risk with a startup, fully aware of the 50% chance of success. 3. Adaptability: We needed team members who understood that we would keep changing courses until we hit the sweet spot with our customers. 4. Belief in vision: It was crucial that they truly believed in the founders' passion and vision. 5. Execution skills: Super fast execution skills were a must. 6. Flexibility: They needed to be unemotional about the features they built, ready to pivot quickly. 7. Availability: We didn't care where they worked from, as long as they were available anytime, mirroring how Srivatsan and I operate. 8. Hiring the best: For us, hiring the best meant they displayed the grit to stay the course. The 'best' were those who embodied all these tenets, not necessarily those with the highest educational pedigree or past accolades. Our first hire, Prabakaran, a talented front-end developer, exemplified these qualities. He became the foundation of our team. As we grew, we continued to seek individuals who shared this level of passion and expertise. Our team continues to grow and thrive, driven by these principles from the very beginning. What aspects of our team-building process would you like me to share?

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Most DTC founders second-guess their decisions because they don’t know how those decisions will impact their cash position. “If I double down on this campaign, will I be able to buy inventory next month?” “Can I afford to hire someone to help me with website design?” Very reasonable questions, but the answers are hard to find when you rely on spreadsheets and have 100 other things to do. Using Viable, founders can easily forecast cash flow and understand what investments they can make without risking the business. #cashflow #dtc #ecommerce

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Hello, I'm Anthony and I'm looking for a A+ killer Head of Growth for Equip Foods! Here are some wild stats on Equip: 🚀 Mid 8-figures in revenue, bootstrapped, and highly profitable (no VC BS) ✌️Only 2 FTE at the moment (no micromanaging or endless meetings) ❗️Only currently focusing on one marketing channel (affiliate/influencer) 🛍️ Industry best CR, LTV, and subscription #s (clear product market fit) 🥤Real food supplement products that are clean, transparent, and of the highest-quality that people absolutely love (actually doing something important in CPG) Perfect role for anyone who gives a damn about health, wants to get their hands dirty and build out a growth process, have huge amounts of agency and autonomy, and keen to make a dent every day when they show up to work. Here's a link to why we exist: https://lnkd.in/gGb-qCA4 Here's a link to the job description and app: https://lnkd.in/gxwE7xk7 (TIP: DO NOT APPLY IF YOU ARE PLANT-BASED) Please tag anyone you think could be a good fit! (P.S. I've been a tad quiet here. Are you interested in anything else about this business? Should I share more on LinkedIn?)

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I was a top donor to Mark Zuckerberg’s piggy bank for 4 years. On Wiza's 5th birthday everything changed. 9/10 SaaS founders will say facebook ads are a waste of money, and they’re right. But the truth is, we didn’t stop spending on Facebook. In fact, we are spending 4x more. The only difference is, now I am also contributing to my own piggy bank. But how did we get here? This path wasn’t clear from the beginning; I was HYPER skeptical But looking back on the last 6 months, I connected the dots. Here’s the 3 things we did to; • Increase SQL’s by 620% • Decrease our CAC payback by 30% • Increase our conversion rate of free-trial signups by 22% Focused on creative more than tactics We decided to obsess about our ad creative. For months I would scroll through Foreplay.co every morning and every night. This triggered an impactful chain reaction. We had more ad ideas then we could execute on, backed by performance metrics. We went from testing 3-5 new ads a month to 10-20 new ads a week. (Throwing sh*t at the wall is where the froth is - but we didn’t have ideas) “Optimized” our Mobile Funnel 99% of the Facebook ad inventory is on mobile … you can’t really use our product on mobile and you still can’t. The simple fix wasn’t to build a mobile app - no one does real prospecting from their iPhone. We simply communicated and managed expectations through the signup flow. We also added a specific email to our welcome series for those who signed up on mobile. And most importantly… Hired a captain to steer the ship. 6 months ago Michael Kilcullen joined our team as a VP of marketing. Looking back on past failures many of them come back to focus and attention. We used to sling, spray and pray. Now with someone at the helm we are getting better every day - not simply making mistakes but learning from them and turning the learnings into action. That’s about it, we turned our Zuck Tax into an investment with a healthy payback. I hope you can do the same.

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This is the future of creator <> brand partnerships Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) announced he was joining Ridge as their Chief Creator Partner and an equity investor and Board Member. A big move for him and a monster move from Ridge. If don’t you know Marques, he’s massive on tech YouTube, one of the OGs of the space and a mover of culture. Seemingly, he could build any brand he wanted from scratch. So why partner with Ridge? Focus. We live in an era where most creators want to grow a huge audience and then build their own brands from scratch. And while there are a few massive examples (Prime, Happy Dad, Feastables, Chamberlain Coffee), it is much harder than it looks. Attempting this is often a major distraction away from what’s compounding best already, content. By joining up with Ridge, MKBHD unlocks unlimited production capacity, a world class marketing machine, and the brand scaffolding that’s strong but flexible. It’s like handing him a rocket that’s already built and asking him to fly it. To me, this is just the start of these joint venture style creator partnerships. Rather than build something completely from scratch, creators will come in help put their fingerprints on existing players. I think this is a great deal on both sides, what do you think? If you run a brand and make to make better short-form videos that convert into sales, I built a free course/community for you and your marketing team. Here’s an invite: https://lnkd.in/ezW4FAvq #youtube #creator #marketing #influencer #brand

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⭐ Start Up Reality Check - Getting to Product Market Fit ⭐ Clay’s Path to Product-Market Fit — A 7-Year 'Overnight Success' Clay co-founder and CEO Kareem Amin sits down with First Round Partner Todd Jackson for a behind-the-scenes look at how he grappled with narrowing Clay’s scope and tactics for landing on the right ICP. In the earliest days of building, the founder is the company. Their fingerprints are pressed across every nook and cranny of the business — each decision, hire and product feature. Most early-stage investors will tell you (us included) that the strength of the founding team is the single most important factor in whether a business sinks or swims early on. While some might tout that it’s the tangible stats here that matter most (like the founder’s previous experiences), Clay co-founder Kareem Amin believes that it goes many layers deeper. “Your personality plays a major role in your success because building a company exaggerates all of your traits. You’re influencing how things get done — for better or for worse. So you need to be able to clearly see what is going on in the organization and how your personality is being amplified through this process,” Amin say Read the Rest of the Article Here https://shorturl.at/Nm9vT 😀 👈 #startups #tech

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Today was a big win for consumer health, with Flo Health Inc.'s valuation at $1 billion. We're hearing talk about the market becoming frothy again, but I’d argue—without seeing the detailed financials—that this valuation could be entirely warranted. Flo has built an impressive business, with 5 million paid subscribers and 70 million monthly active users. At $60 per year for users to access the product, this business has hundreds of millions in revenue and plenty of room to grow. It's increasingly clear to me that innovators focused on healthcare have been wildly underestimating consumer business models for years, believing that patients would only opt for solutions covered by their health plans and prescribed or recommended by their doctors. That thesis needs updating, particularly given high deductible plans and soaring co-pays. Innovators building solutions that users genuinely love will win - even in healthcare. These businesses also have the potential to move into B2B channels, which is far easier to do when you have an engaged, loyal user base. I expect we’ll see many more consumer health businesses “pop” in the years to come, further proving that consumers are ready and willing to pay for such solutions. We're watching closely at Cherish Kudos to the team at Flo for this impressive milestone. Lainie Muller Charlotte Yeh Aashima Gupta Avanlee Christine Esther Dyson Alexandra Drane Jessica Kamada Vin Gupta, MD MPA Asheesh Saksena Paul Crnkovich Josh Kampel Steve Chazin Lee Wagner #agingwithattitude #independentliving #consumerdrivencare

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There are few things more paramount for the growth of your DTC brand than financial responsibility. If you aren't focused on cashflow and financing early on, your business may end before it even begins. Tonight at 6:00PM EST, I'll be joining Daphne Che and Jason Fleming, two industry experts in financing and capital solutions, to discuss how DTC brands can properly manage their cash to the point of achieving high-growth, while avoiding the ever-so-common crash. We'll be live right here on LinkedIn — I'm really excited to get this panel started and shed some light on a topic that, in my opinion, is not discussed enough. Let me know if you'll be there 🤝 https://lnkd.in/giXwiCYH 

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Where are you stalling out your fundraising process? 1) The constant rejection? 2) Feedback that you need to be a better storyteller? 3) The "Ick" about asking for warm intros? 4) The neverending work on the deck? 5) Your fundraising has gone on for 6 months and isn't working? 6) You had a handshake deal with a VC for a term sheet...and then they ghosted you? I can help you cut out the noise, deal with the rejection and keep moving towards a positive result. Imagine what it will feel like after your last investor has wired...and you've got money to grow your team and crush your milestones? Book time with me if you want to close your round by September. https://lnkd.in/eKTy99bS

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I wish more DTC brands knew about it: package protection. Here's what I mean: ➝ Customer orders a pack of BRĒZ ➝ Package arrives, one of the cans is dented ➝ The other cans are fine, it's just one in a pack ➝ Customer submits a request to get a replacement ➝ SavedBy, for example, sends a full package replacement This is a win-win for everyone involved: More money in the merchant's pockets, because it's a full-price reorder (not a reimbursement or profit-draining reorder). More product in the customers' hands (who doesn't love getting more than what they paid for?). Finally, as a result, customers have more affinity for the product and the brand because of: 1. Increased exposure to the product (volume) 2. Experience with the easiness of claims (no hassle) Again, this might be one of the most underrated brand loyalty hacks (especially because it's free). Something to consider if you're on the fence about adding package protection.

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Negotiating "Valley of Death" to Scale. -- As the founder of Bizblip, I've spent the past three years bootstrapping my business while searching for product-market fit. It's been a challenging journey, filled with countless iterations and adjustments. Now that I believe I've found that elusive fit, I'm facing a new set of challenges: landing sales commitments for software products that I'm still scrambling to build and finance. This phase is often referred to as the startup "valley of death" - a critical period where cash flow is tight, and the pressure to deliver is high. However, if I successfully navigate this phase and start bringing in significant revenue, I'll need to shift my focus quickly to scaling the business. This transition from startup to scale-up is a crucial moment that requires careful planning and execution. One of the first considerations when scaling is team building. As orders increase, you'll need to hire and onboard new team members rapidly. This process isn't just about filling positions; it's about finding individuals who align with your company culture and can contribute to your long-term vision. Infrastructure is another key area to address. Your systems and processes that worked for a small team may buckle under the pressure of rapid growth. Investing in scalable technology solutions early can save you from costly disruptions down the line. Financial management becomes increasingly complex as you scale. You'll need to balance reinvesting in growth with maintaining healthy cash flow. This might involve seeking additional funding, negotiating better terms with suppliers, or optimizing your pricing strategy. Customer support is often overlooked in the rush to scale, but it's critical for maintaining the quality of your product or service. As your customer base grows, you'll need to implement systems to ensure each client receives the attention they deserve. Marketing and sales strategies may need to evolve as you target larger markets or different customer segments. What worked for your initial customers may not be as effective as you scale. Lastly, don't forget about your company culture. Rapid growth can strain your organization's values and ways of working. Actively nurturing your culture during this period of change is essential for long-term success. Scaling a startup is an exhilarating and challenging phase. By anticipating these key areas and planning accordingly, you can set your business up for sustainable, long-term growth. Remember, scaling isn't just about getting bigger - it's about getting better at what you do while expanding your reach and impact. I hope I can do this well.

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Ep. 007 of The Feedback Loop is here! It's the first half of startup pitches from New York Tech Week, and from an almost-all-AI batch of companies. Joining me on this episode: returning fan-favorite, Jenny Fielding of Everywhere Ventures! For those not familiar, every week, a guest venture investor joins me to give granular and unfiltered feedback to founders on their storytelling and their concept. It's all about helping founders construct a better narrative for their move-forward -- because across fundraising, sales, recruiting, and company-building, it's the core narrative and pitch that can often hold startups back. And Jenny currently holds the tenure jacket as my guest co-host, with this being her 4th time on stage delivering quick insights and context you just can't find anywhere else. Massive shout-out to the founders featured: Matt Shenker building MatterMore, Karl White building Wroom, Trista V. building Nunchi, and Jeremy Da building Acrylic! Relevant links below.

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Today, I'm announcing my campaign: To officially change the name of "aBanDoNeD bRoWse". What is a "browse"? Does anyone say "browse" in their daily life? Not really. Great product marketing uses words that are simple, familiar, & marketable. At Status, we view the shopping funnel like this: 1. Collection click 2. Product click 3. Cart 4. Checkout Which creates 3 simple, familiar, & marketable abandonment flows: • Abandoned clicks • Abandoned carts • Abandoned checkouts ... with bonus points for alliteration. 😎 RIP Abandoned Browses. Hello Abandoned Clicks.

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Over the years I’ve seen the post going around in various forms of how Bessemer Venture Partners keeps a *robust* anti-portfolio on their website. It’s fun, self-aware, humbling, and differentiating. If you haven’t already, go have a look. (As an aside, I’ve been to their offices in Cambridge multiple times back in the day while visiting Kent Bennett, the venerable Felda Hardymon, my dear friend Steve Papa (if Steve was capable of “friendship”), and the young(er) founders of a company called Toast - Bessemer wallpapered their bathrooms with the rejection IRMs of said anti-portfolio). Anyone who has been in the game long enough probably has their own version. Companies they could have invested in, but passed on, only to be made a fool when said company later becomes a decacorn. My personal opinion - and I tend to think one that Bessemer shares - is 1) we all make mistakes, 2) we’re human and at times quite dumb, and 3) hell, at least we had access in the first place. Venture investing is about seeing as many amazing opportunities as you can, even if sometimes that means missing a few…dozen. Either that or I’m totally full of shit and we’re just plain idiots. What do I know. I’ve only been doing this for three years. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ In any case, in the spirit of giving myself a Father’s Day gift of crow, which I plan to eat, here are some of mine: Toast: not sure if Steve P would have let me into his $4M or whatever it was round never mind the Seed or the A, but I feel like I could have convinced them. Steve F and Aman said they were going to fully rebuild a POS after running into integration nightmares with Micros, Aloha, et al, and I thought they were crazy. Old industry incumbents. Entrenched. Insert foot in mouth, and then pull it out and use it to kick my own ass. Klaviyo: TJ Mahoney was a pre-seed investor and he told me about it. Said AB was a stud. I passed without even talking to them. $8M valuation or around there I think. Shopify ecosystem play? Ew. Sigh. I’m a dumbass. Pillpack: mentored TJ a bit early when he was having some team stuff going on at Techstars. The hippie. $4M post or something. Said no. Whoops. Drizly: Nick Rellas kept stonewalling me, the little twerp, but pretty sure I had a small spot. Pat Kinsel would have got me in. Slept on it. Round closed. I’m an idiot. Draftkings: met Jason at a dinner and Ryan Moore told me to hop in at pre-seed - I already had a small play with a competitor. Jason and I became great friends (which we are to this day). Really knocked that one out of the park. Way to go, Phil! Good eye! Anyway, PLENTY more where that came from and I’m sure I’m currently in the process of creating one of the world’s most epic anti-portfolios at Impellent Ventures. But, again, c’est la vie. Better than sitting on the sidelines and wondering what could have been. At least I know what could have been - a gazillion more dollars than I have right now. Ah well. Batter up! *p.s. I’ve had some winners, too ;)

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Excerpt from my new piece that is dropping tomorrow on my recently launched substack. In my new weekly series "Noteworthy things for founders" I will recommend one tool, mention one startup to watch, and link one piece of content that I adore. The startup to watch this week is Synonym co-founded by the magnificient Edward Shenderovich. The series (and more) can be found here: mikemahlkow.com

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59 out of our first 100 customers were fellow Y Combinator companies. 🧡 Post-pivot, the YC network/community, and bookface (YC's internal forum) were mission-critical for us. Critical for so many reasons: 1) These companies bought our product before they should have. Shout out to Gabriel Spencer-Harper for literally buying our product 1-week before it shipped. 2) Allowed us to get initial feedback from people who really cared. 3) Gave us so many customer referrals. 4) Enabled us to show initial traction ahead of a seed-extension round. 5) Basically free CAC. YC has a lot of benefits, but for us, being able to sell into the community has been arguably the biggest.

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So a top influencer posts a bad product review... now at 3.8M views in just 1 day and everyone has an opinion! Some think Marques Brownlee could have been kinder (especially with the title). Others think the startup (Humane) deserved it. I think... that with over $200M in funding and over 200 staff, perhaps they could have held off sending out the devices for review (Marques was not the only huge influencer they sent devices out to). What are your thoughts? Should we celebrate #founders and #innovation even if it's released when not market-ready? Any other examples where products haven't been ready yet (some say iPhone in 2007)... What do you think? https://lnkd.in/ew2g-ser #tech #entrepreneurs #entrepreneurship #founder #humane #mkbhd #startups

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Good marketing? Just lie. • Huge lead volume growth • Recurring revenue growth • Hiring like mad These all make for compelling stories on social. With the likes, comments & reach to boot. Let's look at Forbes 30 under 30. For every $1 a member of Forbes 30 Under 30 raised from VCs, they committed around $2 worth of scams and frauds. Just because there's reach or noteireity doesn't mean a business isn't dodge. Be mindful that you don't know what's happening behind the scenes in a business. From founders embezzling to promises on tech that doesn't exist. I've seen a lot of 'creative' storytelling. Marketing messages founded on half-truths don't make for a sustainable business. It can be tempting as a CEO to want to do this. Especially if you're seeing a competitor grow who has similar features and you just can't wrap your head around how and why they've managed to get that level of traction. It's practically impossible to tell from a company's marketing engine if the innards are credible. Some companies are incredible, but you haven't heard of them. Some of the ones doing great marketing have a sub-par offer in the market. Focus on building something of value, don't give in for short term hacks. It's rarely worth it. Marketing amplifies value - it rarely creates it.

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