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Building a Brand without VC Dollars Featuring Sarah Kauss of S’well and Amanda Herson of Founder Collective
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How do you build a successful large consumer brand without raising any VC dollars? Is VC the best fit for consumer brands? This episode features Sarah Kauss of iconic water bottle brand S’well and Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Collective – a founder and investor both talking about when VC is right for consumer brands, and when it isn’t.
Topics:
- How Sarah started her brand S’well and how Amanda become a VC
- Why Sarah didn’t raise VC funding for her company – and how she thinks about that now
- What Sarah had to do since she had no VC dollars (spoiler – she had to get to profitability)
- All the ways in which Sarah had to be scrappy
- How Sarah got into retail accounts early on
- Why Amanda and Founder Collective say that VC can be dangerous and is a “VC is a hell of a drug”
- When VC is a good fit for a consumer brand in the early days
- What needs to change in the ecosystem to change the current investor hesitation around consumer businesses
- Great advice from Sarah and Amanda on other options if VC doesn’t work for your consumer company
- Why picking the right partners is so important – in venture and other areas
Music by Eino Toivanen, kongano.com
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