Updates from Ed Soehnel: 2/1/20-2/14/20 - sudden tectonic shift in the world of investing in consumer product startups

This post includes Basecamp InQb8r Platform Status & Updates from February 1-14, 2020

Feature image: metro area net exodus and gain. This visual and additional content about it is contained in the Visual Dataset.

Platform Updates Summary

A big shift has happened in the world of direct to consumer startups. It started with the WeWork debacle (not a consumer product company, but it was the catalyst), then moved laterally into consumer products through high profile disasters including the Peloton IPO, Walmart’s selling off of the DTC darlings it purchased a few years back, and finally last week, the Casper IPO and the Harry’s FTC knockout.

In a nutshell, investors were throwing money at startups through the last decade at a grow at all costs gamble, and it did not work. Now, we see so many venture funded startups that raised too much money and wasted it on poor management decisions, with little options to grow, become profitable, find a buyer or IPO. The big shift is now suddenly, investors are interested in fundamentals and sound business management.

This reminded me of the exact shift I went through 20 years ago. Back then, I was raising money for a technology startup that had great growth and no profits. It was mid-April, and I was in New York meeting with investors. We had strong interest going into the meetings. It was also the same week that the technology boom on Wall Street came crashing down. Not only did I have some meetings cancel that week, but the following week, no longer was anyone interested in funding us.

That is how fast things can change if you try to ride trends and not focus on fundamentals. If you catch it right, like a few startups have done such as Dollar Shave Club, you are golden, but that takes a lot more luck than skill.

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New Articles

What is the go-to-market retail strategy for a consumer goods company that only has 1-2 products to enter retail, specifically snacking or nutrition snacks?

Basecamp InQb8r Platform

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University Updates

All updates are recorded in the Changelog:

Section 5, Production & Logistics: Supply Chain Risk Management Tool – added this is a new section.
Section 1, Strategy: Risk Analysis – added Inversion.
Section 1, Strategy: Managing decisions and distractions – added link to cognitive bias infographic.
Section 7 Resellers: Research – added reference for obtaining in-store shopper data, if possible, and a new vendor that does this added to the Vendors Dataset.

Knowledgeboard Updates

New submissions:

Trend: Western Retailers Nudge Closer to China’s Retail Models Copied in is a short analysis pulled out from research that gives some indication for where some aspects of U.S. retail is going. For companies in retail or planning to go to retail, think about how you fit in the context of these trends.
5 experiential store concepts (2020)
How CPG startups can compete against store brands