Procter & Gamble

From a dining room table to a $100M Procter & Gamble exit in 2.5 years

Shaan sets up the episode: Moiz Ali built Native Deodorant as a one-man show from his brother's dining room table, raising almost no money because investors laughed him out of the room, then sold it to P&G for $100M just 2.5 years later.

“He was doing the packaging, he was doing the sales, the marketing, the customer service as a one-man show for a very, very long time. And over 2.5 years, he built this company raising very, very little money, mostly because investors were kind of just laughing him out of the room like, okay, you're starting a deodorant company? Like, what is that? And so he sold it 2.5 years later to Procter Gamble for $100 million.”

Sell the sizzle: an online-only brand's value is the channels the acquirer can unlock

Native sold only deodorant, only on its own site, only in the US. Moiz pitched acquirers on the upside they could add — selling into Target, expanding the product line, going to Canada — turning a narrow business into a story of unrealized distribution.

“And so one of the things that we sell is like the sizzle, right? We're like, look, if you, uh, you know how to sell in, you know, P&G, do you know how to sell into Target? If so, imagine how Native would do at Target. Do you know how to make other products with the word Native on them? Help us do that and we can make this a bigger business. Do you know how to sell in Canada? Great. This is going to be a bigger business.”

Steal thisPitch acquirers on the channels and SKUs THEY can unlock that you deliberately left untouched — sell the upside, not just the trailing numbers.

Native didn't own its own trademark until 5 days before the P&G sale

A trademark Native didn't own nearly sank the deal — P&G refused to buy until Native owned its mark. Moiz negotiated the purchase of his own trademark while negotiating the acquisition, closing on it November 3rd and selling the company November 8th.

“We simply didn't own our trademark. Yeah. Until 5 days before we sold the business. So we bought our trademark on like, we sold the business on like November 8th. On November 3rd, we purchased the trademark and that was the one thing that we still had to do in order to sell the business. Like P&G was like, we will not buy this business until you own your own trademark.”

Steal thisLock down your trademark early — an unowned mark can stall or kill an acquisition at the finish line.

Sell the sizzle: 'imagine how Native would do at Target'

Native sold only deodorant, only online, only in the US. Moiz pitched acquirers on the upside they could unlock, retail distribution at Target, new Native-branded products, expansion into Canada.

“one of the things that we sell is like the sizzle, right? We're like, look, if you, uh, you know how to sell in, you know, P&G, do you know how to sell into Target? If so, imagine how Native would do at Target. Do you know how to make other products with the word Native on them? Help us do that and we can make this a bigger business. Do you know how to sell in Canada? Great. This is gonna be a bigger business. So we sell that sizzle.”

Steal thisSell acquirers the upside only they can unlock, distribution, line extensions, new geographies, not just your current numbers.

Native didn't own its own trademark until 5 days before the P&G sale

A trademark Native didn't own delayed the entire sale; P&G refused to buy until Native owned its mark. They bought it on Nov 3rd and closed the deal on Nov 8th, negotiating with the owner down to the wire.

“we had a trademark issue until we sold the business. This was a serious part, like, that delayed the transaction with everybody and that I think made it harder for us to sell the business. We simply didn't own our trademark. Yeah. Uh, until 5 days before we sold the business. So we bought our trademark on, like, we sold the business on, like, November 8th. On November 3rd, we purchased the trademark, and that was the one thing that we still had to do in order to sell the business.”

Steal thisLock down your trademark and core IP early; an unowned mark can stall or sink an acquisition at the finish line.

The Native deodorant smell test: run a mile, sniff each other's armpits

Ali and his brother started Native by buying deodorants off Etsy, applying them under each armpit, running a mile, then sniffing each other's pits to find which one worked. Native was later sold to Procter & Gamble in a 9-figure deal.

“So we put some of the deodorant that we bought from Etsy under each of our armpits. We go run a mile and then we sniff each other's armpit to see, is this deodorant actually good? Highly scientific. It's totally unscientific, but also very effective.”

Steal thisValidate a physical product with the crudest possible real-world test before building any brand around it.