The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Why The Current VC Financing Mechanism For Consumer Brands Is Broken, Why The Infrastructure To Power Emerging Brands Is Broken and What The Re-Platforming of Retail Means For The Next Decade in Consumer with Adam Pritzker, Chairman & CEO @ Assemble

Mar 15, 2019

In this discussion, Adam Pritzker, Chairman & CEO of Assembled Brands and co-founder of General Assembly, delves into the intricate dynamics of financing consumer brands. He highlights the broken VC mechanisms and the need for tailored solutions for emerging brands. Adam shares his optimism about the retail landscape's evolution and the rise of niche markets. He also sheds light on Instagram's pivotal role in modern commerce, the challenges of customer acquisition, and the importance of adaptive marketing strategies for sustainable growth.

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ANECDOTE

Kate's Financing

Assembled Brands co-founded Kate, which grew quickly and needed capital, but traditional financing wouldn't fund the direct-to-consumer inventory.
Assembled Brands used data to understand Kate's consumer relationship and financed it, showing their unique approach.

ANECDOTE

Grand Voyage and Kid Made Modern

Robert Lund, founder of Grand Voyage, struggled with inventory shortages due to high demand. Assembled Brands provided a line of credit to solve this.
Brian Richards, founder of Kid Made Modern, consolidated his financing through Assembled Brands, resulting in 400% DTC growth.

INSIGHT

Replatforming of Retail

Retail is being replatformed, making it easier to start brands and organize the value chain, but disrupting traditional financing.
This disruption creates a gap that Assembled Brands is filling by offering capital and data-driven insights.

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Adam Pritzker is the Chairman & CEO @ Assembled Brands, a holding company providing working capital and financial services to emerging brands. In October 2018, they raised $100m in development capital from the prestigious Oaktree Capital Management. As for Adam, he is also a co-founder of General Assembly where during his tenure, prior to its acquisition by Addecco Group, he served as Chief Creative Officer, Chief Product Officer, and Chairman. For his entrepreneurial endeavors, Adam was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Vanity Fair’s The Next Establishment, Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30, and Business Insider’s Silicon Alley 100.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Adam made his way into the world of startups with the co-founding of General Assembly and how that led to his founding Assembled Brands and financing the future of brands?

2.) Why is Adam optimistic about the current state of the consumer brand and retail environment? How does Adam respond to Alex Taussig @ Lightspeed's suggestion of the "re-platforming of retail"? How does Adam approach the changing demographic of consumer spend? What does this mean for both the brands and the channels they use to acquire customers? Does Adam believe we are in a consumer bubble today?

3.) How does Adam think about the lack of free and open distribution today for consumer companies? Are the traditional channels now too expensive to acquire customers on? How does Adam advise consumer founders on the saturation rate of marketing channels? How can they foresee the ceiling ahead of time?

4.) Adam has previously stated that Instagram is the new QVC, what did he mean by that? What type of consumer brand is Instagram best suited for? Why does Adam believe that in many cases the venture financing method is suboptimal and wrong for these scaling brands? What can founders who have taken VC funds and now seen it was potentially a mistake do?

5.) Why does Adam believe that the "infrastructure to power emerging brands is broken"? How can the current stack and infrastructure for brands be improved? What metrics should consumer founders really hone in on today? What sort of metrics suggests a brand is VC backable vs is not VC backable? How does Adam think about the ability of the consumer brand space to provide venture returns at scale?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Adam’s Fave Book: (1.) The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. (2.) The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at It

Adam's Most Recent Investment: Felix Gray

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