Brandless

Brandless died because it raised $200M from SoftBank before product-market fit

Shaan argues Brandless had a great premise but raising $200M from SoftBank before achieving product-market fit set billion-dollar expectations that crushed the company.

“They raised a shit ton of money from SoftBank, like $200 million before they really achieved any product market fit. And that sort of like was the death note for the company because it was just a, the expectations when you raise $200 million is you're gonna be, you know, a billion-dollar-plus company, and if you do that too early and you haven't actually proven out your model, you haven't figured it all out, expectations crush the business.”

Steal thisDon't raise mega-rounds before proving the model; oversized funding sets expectations that kill you.

Costco's Kirkland brand sold $39 billion in 2018

Sam frames Brandless as a chance to become the trusted generic brand, citing that Costco's Kirkland Signature did roughly $39 billion in product sales in 2018.

“$39 billion. Kirkland brand sells $39 billion of products. 2018.”