The Ledger
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Brown: DTC physical product companies are tech-enabled retail, not tech companies
“If you are in the business of making your own product and selling that product online, you are a retail company that is tech enabled. You are not a tech company.”
Brown: Imaginary prefers consumer brands spending over 50% on brand marketing
“We tend to get more excited by businesses that are spending more than half of that spend on more brand-related marketing than paid-related marketing.”
Brown: Physical product brands cannot achieve software-style network effects
“If you are building your own product, It's very, very hard to argue that you're going to have the same kind of network effect that a platform business might have because your growth is going to be contingent on how quickly you can build inventory and how quick…”
Brown: Top consumer brands were once built by merchants, now by marketers
“I think one generation ago, the majority of the transformative businesses in these sectors were built by merchants. I would say today they tend to be built by really strong marketers, really strong brand and creative individuals.”
Brown: Celebrity backing takes a DTC brand from 0 to 2, not 2 to 10
“I mean, it takes you probably from zero to two. It puts you on the map. It gives you an early voice. It helps build a certain amount of traffic as a byproduct of you being someone that's searchable, that people care about, and that the press wants to write abo…”