Nick Brown
Managing Partner, Imaginary. On 1 show, 1 appearance. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
Nick Brown is Managing Partner at Imaginary, an early-stage venture firm focused on retail and technology. He previously served as a Partner at 14W Venture Partners.
1shows
1appearances
14statements
4resolved
3supported
0contradicted
75%fully supported
Everything Nick Brown said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Brown: The era of building DTC brands purely on paid ads is over
“I think we are in probably the end of the bubble of brands or direct-to-consumer businesses that are purely building their businesses off paid channels. And by paid channels, I mean mainly Facebook and mainly a little bit of Google. I think that era is done. T…”
Brown: Imaginary expects 10x venture returns from disciplined physical product investments
“For us, our view is that if we're thoughtful about how these companies are capitalized, if we're thoughtful about the state at which we enter into the businesses, and if we're thoughtful about how we're valuing these companies, That based off the growth trajec…”
Brown: DTC brands lacking profitable unit economics will fail to raise capital
“Well, I think you're going to have a moment in time when a lot of these businesses need to show that they have the unit economics that allow them to be profitable, and I think if they're not able to show that, they're going to have a hard time continuing to gr…”
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: Hot pre-launch startups often skip Series A and go straight to Series B
“Companies that are founded by exciting entrepreneurs in intriguing spaces are able to raise A meaningful amount of cash before they launch, and then if they take off, you know, they often almost skip the traditional series A and go straight to a larger series …”
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: E-commerce shifted from liquidation to DTC models around 2009
“I think that the wave of e-commerce that had happened prior, which was the whole liquidation era of Guild Group and Rulala and Outlook was beginning to pass. Those companies were still very much present. But I think the tides started to change in that moment, …”
Brown: Online customer acquisition costs for DTC brands will continue to rise
“I think we're finding that tax are going up. That's not going to change. The price of online acquisition is going up. That's not going to change.”
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: Sub-$100M venture funds are deliberately moving earlier to seed stage
“Well, we've actually gone, and I think a lot of funds of our size, call it kind of sub a hundred million dollar funds, have made a very deliberate choice to move earlier.”
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…”
Brown: Legacy retailers will increasingly acquire DTC brands through mid-market M&A
“I think you'll probably see more mid-market M&A. I think, you know, we're already seeing a lot of companies being acquisitive in the sort of food and beverage space, certainly in the beauty category. I think we'll probably see that across the board where you h…”
Brown: Consumer habit of starting product searches on Amazon will not change
“We're definitely seeing a world that's dominated by Amazon. I think that's for sure. We're definitely seeing a consumer funnel of, I start on Amazon for just about every purchase that I make, and I don't think that's going to change.”
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Nick's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 20VCLEDGER | Managing Partner, Imaginary | 1 | 14 | 75% 3/4 | full record on 20VC → |