Philip Krim
Founder & Managing Partner, Montauk Ventures. On 2 shows, 2 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderexecutiveinvestoroperator@pkrim ↗LinkedIn ↗montaukclimate.com ↗
Philip Krim is best known as the co-founder and former CEO of direct-to-consumer mattress company Casper, which he launched in 2014 and led through an NYSE IPO. He now runs Montauk Ventures and Montauk Climate, investing in early-stage startups and incubation across technology, infrastructure, and the electron economy.
2shows
2appearances
34statements
9resolved
5supported
1contradicted
56%fully supported
2said about them ↓ Everything Philip Krim said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Krim: Casper financed the Sleepopolis acquisition but had no editorial control
“They wanted to buy this site, and we talked to them about financing that acquisition so that they could operate it, and they had complete, independent editorial control, and they ran their business. We were just a financing partner for them.”
Casper Will Scale Physical Retail to Over 200 Stores by 2021
“We now have 20 locations throughout the U.S. And Canada, and they've been doing so well that we're now committed to scaling that to over 200 stores in the next three years.”
Philip Krim Predicts Casper Will Become a Global Brand Like Nike
“I believe Casper will become a truly global brand, a brand that you generously echoed in the same vein as Nike or Under Armour. These are brands that have really been catalysts To changes in the consumer mindset and landscape, and I think Casper will do that o…”
Krim: Mattress makers renamed identical beds across stores to block comparison shopping
“Right, and that was one way that you couldn't price shop it. So it very well could be that Macy's is selling ABC mattress, and Sleepy's is selling XYZ mattress. Those could be the same mattress for all intents and purposes, but you would never know that becaus…”
Krim: Mattress businesses do not need repeat purchase frequency to make money
“You can make a lot of money selling mattresses. You don't need frequency.”
Krim: Casper was the first company to brand the unboxing experience
“To my knowledge, we were the first to ever brand the unboxing experience, and so we put the stripes on the box on the exterior, and we put a tray on the interior.”
Krim: The killer app for Calm and Headspace is sleep, not meditation
“The folks like Calm and Headspace have gone on to build great businesses, and I think the killer application for those businesses is not meditation. I think it's sleep”
Krim: Casper sued review sites over undisclosed advertiser payments, not negative reviews
“There are some companies and some sites out there, especially at the time when we were litigating against this, that did not represent themselves as being paid by these advertisers, and they represented themselves as independent and unbiased, and that just was…”
Krim: Casper faced post-WeWork public market backlash against unprofitable startups
“We were the first, I think, visible high profile company to go public post WeWork, which meant there was a ton of negative sentiment around companies that were investing capital into their business and around, you know, these, the startup And side of things.”
Facebook and Google Are a Very Small Part of Casper's Marketing
“We were never overly reliant on just Facebook or just Google. In fact, those two channels specifically are a very small part of our mix because we knew the economics were going to get very tough.”
Krim: Strategic corporate investors often have non-financial motives unlike VCs
“A lot of times, strategic are investing for reasons that are not financially motivated, unlike a VC who usually you know what their motivation is. So understanding what the motivation is, and then what they're looking to solve with the investment, I think is r…”
Krim: Oligopolistic Control and Legacy Brands Protected High Mattress Margins
“For the last several decades, it's been a very tightly controlled industry, and when things are an oligopoly or a duopoly or a monopoly, that's when you're able to really protect pricing, protect margins, and you see it in other industries. You see it in the r…”
Krim: Selling services to small businesses is exceptionally hard due to stakes
“Selling to small businesses is really challenging. These are businesses which I appreciated. Like, every dollar matters. These are businesses that are family businesses where, you know, if something doesn't work, you know, they're making less money personally,…”
Krim: Average household shops for a mattress every two to three years
“The average household's in market every two to three years, because the average household has two to three mattresses.”
Krim: Amazon banned Casper's account for buying hundreds of backup airbeds
“Amazon canceled our account because they thought we were reselling them, which we weren't, but we were buying hundreds of these arrow beds just to help people sleep.”
Krim: Dismissing the rapid influx of copycat mattress startups was a mistake
“It did, and it was way bigger of an onslaught of competition than, I think, certainly I could have ever imagined, and I think this is one of the things, looking back, that, you know, was a mistake on my part. I was kind of dismissive of competition in the earl…”
Krim: DTC mattress boom made online shopping more confusing than physical retail
“You know, I think the proliferation of mattress startups certainly got very competitive very quickly, and immediately buying a mattress online became even more overwhelming and confusing than buying a mattress offline.”
Krim: Multiple mattress brands are produced in shared contract factories
“In the mattress industry, a lot of manufacturing is done at contract manufacturers who will make foam or products for anyone in the industry. So it's not abnormal to see multiple brands being produced on the floor of any mattress factory.”
Krim: Casper's 2020 IPO was driven by internal ambition, not VC pressure
“You know, we actually really didn't feel pressure from investors... It was really, I think, more self-imposed pressure to get public than anything.”
Casper Markets With Physical Stores Grow Faster Than Online-Only Markets
“They continue to build awareness about our products and our brand and the markets where we have stores are actually growing faster than the markets where we don't have stores.”
Krim: Founders should start executive searches the moment they consider hiring
“My advice to any founder when they're talking about executive level hires is as soon as you have the inkling that you might want to look for that, I would kick off the search and try to get out there as soon as possible. When they find the right hire, they wis…”
Krim: Negative cash conversion cycle makes e-commerce capital-efficient to launch
“And then the nice thing about the model which was, It's true also for Casper when we started it is just a, it's a negative cash conversion, which is a fancy way of saying customers give you the money to buy the goods before you have to put the money out. So it…”
Krim: Early mattress giants drove online searches but lacked e-commerce
“Mattresses, I realized, like, they had big margins. It's also an industry that was very slow to embrace the internet. They were doing a lot of direct response advertising, you know, Tempur-Pedic, Sleep Number back then were growing their businesses through dir…”
The other half of the tape: Philip Krim's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 2 times in 2 episodes across the shows. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Harry Stebbings 2
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
20VC 2
2019 1 mention in 1 episode
2018 1 mention in 1 episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Philip's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Founder & Managing Partner, Montauk Ventures | 1 | 24 | 57% 4/7 | full record on How I Built This → |
| 20VCLEDGER | Founder & Managing Partner, Montauk Ventures | 1 | 10 | 50% 1/2 | full record on 20VC → |