How Sending Monthly Boxes To Investors Led to $27M in 70 CPG Brands with Brian Folmer

This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.Hiring agencies is risky — most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-beloved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, social, and more — at preferred rates.https://thehiddengems.com/Whatever your need, just send a request and they’ve got the solution... it’s that easy! – [email protected] month, Brian Folmer reviews about a hundred consumer brands, picks six, and packs their samples into boxes on his garage floor in Cleveland. Two full days of taping. Then the boxes go out to roughly a hundred angels, VCs, and family offices.That's First Look, the investor community Brian launched in June 2020. Since then, 500 companies have gone through the boxes, and members have put $27M into 70 of the brands they met that way.0:00 Intro2:07 What First Look actually is4:25 The bike ride that started the box6:58 Bootstrapping and launching in June 20208:58 A month at First Look: 100 brands, 6 boxes, one garage15:38 What stage fits: pre-seed vs. seed18:25 Talent-led brands and "ludicrous" valuations20:14 The back-of-the-napkin math23:06 Sizing the outcome: base case vs. bull case24:46 Building the investor community (and why 200 is the cap)28:47 Is CPG AI-proof?31:21 First Look vs. First Look Ventures33:41 When your own members take the whole round34:44 Too much money chasing too few deals38:20 Debt vs. equity for emerging brands43:25 The wall of cash and the new millionaires46:51 What founders underestimate about how investors decide47:52 What he's excited to fund: supplements, VMS, peptides50:45 Will AI make incumbents harder to beat?53:16 M&A, PE, and IPOs55:42 The biggest surprise about VC57:00 First advice for a founder with only a vision58:00 Where investor communities fit over the next decade59:11 Books