What's Inside an Investor Update?
Outlines Gives us a Peek + Invest
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Watch Luke’s pitch on YouTube or listen to the full episode » Outlines: A Venture-Backed Shower Curtain
What’s so interesting about a shower curtain?
Initially, I thought Outlines was cool… but not of venture ilk until Luke started sharing the numbers for his 1-year old replenishment startup. At first purchase, 75% of people signed up for a subscription replenishment (a replen as Luke calls it).
And, then, we found out that his CAC (customer acquisition cost) was low enough that he was profitable on first purchase.
Luke sounds a little out there when he starts talking about all the products in your home that you need but never loved - things like shower curtains, toilet brushes, dish scrubbers, and fridge filters.
But the more time we spent with Luke, the more convinced we became that Luke might be on to something here.
THEN he sent the investor update below. And we knew that this business, THIS founder, was worth investing in.
Take a look at their Q3 Investor Update. (Shared with permission of course.)
TL;DR
SALES - Revenue grew 57% in Q3 to $161k for the period. This was driven by increased marketing and a growing subscriber base. Roughly 4-out-of-5 new customers subscribe to replenishments at checkout.
MARKETING - Cost of customer acquisition (CAC) increased above forecast this quarter, forcing us to rethink our marketing mix and deploy some new tactics and team changes.
PRODUCT - We’ve pressed ‘go’ on manufacturing The Body Buffer, we’re planning to launch this quarter, pending no manufacturing delays. Toilet Brush and Dish Scrubber are coming early 2024.
CASH - Working capital for future inventory continue to be our biggest challenge. Thanks to the investors who’ve made capital (in either debt or equity) available to us to meet this challenge. We’re $300k from our 2023 fundraising goal.
COMING UP - Outlines on The Pitch Podcast - Nov 1st 7pm EST
ASKS - investor introductions, corporate gifting opportunities
Net Revenue
Sales Mix $ (First Time Revenue vs. Subscription Revenue)
The Body Buffer - Coming this quarter!
Marketing Update
Over the past the quarter we’ve seen our paid CAC on Meta and Google increase steadily. We’re reducing our spend on these platforms and diversifying our marketing tactics more broadly than we have historically. Some key tactics we’re deploying:
Influencer & Creator Partnerships
One of our new MBA Marketing Interns is fully focused on operationalizing how we work with Influencers and Creators. This month we’ve onboarded a new Creator management platform, begun conversations with >100 Influencers, and produced all the tools and cheatsheets they need to make great content for Outlines.
Cross Promotion
In September we ran a cross-promotion with Dropps where they sent a dedicated email to their subscribers. This was super successful for us and drove one of our best sales days of the year. We’re now beginning talks with other likeminded brands who we can run similar cross-promotions with.
PR & Media
One of our investors Beck Bamberger runs BAM communications agency. Beck and her team are providing some PR services for us this quarter to increase our brand visibility and help us launch The Body Buffer to media and press.
In episode 123 (~22:00) you hear Beck raving about the Outlines data room. His investor update is no less fabulous. This is just a portion of it.
There are even more graphs and more strategies outlined to give investors confidence. If you’re a founder, follow Luke’s example. If you’re an investor Outlines is a company worth digging into.
Invest
Outlines is raising $1M at a $6M valuation cap and you can invest via The Pitch Fund or Syndicate!
Extra! Extra!
Coming Up Next
Artificial Intelligence to tell us what is ACTUALLY Recyclable!
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