Prediction Open · timeframe Nov 2029
Shufelt: Non-alcoholic beer will account for over 50% of beer consumption
“In my head, I think it's going to be over 50% of beer.”
Disclosure
Shufelt bought his own beer off store shelves to trigger reorders
“There were definitely times where on Sunday, I would roll through a bunch of stores and clear out the shelf to make sure there were reorders the coming week.”
Opinion
Shufelt: Non-alcoholic beer was radioactive for major brewing companies' flagships
“From a branding perspective, it was a totally radioactive category for any major beer company to put their flagship in.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shufelt: Early surveys showed 55% would drink great non-alcoholic beer
“And I found typically with, like, 55% frequency, people would drink a great non-alcoholic beer if it existed.”
Disclosure
Shufelt: Athletic Brewing Avoided Direct Marketing to Recovery Communities
“So I have a huge amount of respect for the recovery world, but I also never wanted to market to those communities because I don't want to tempt anyone into bars who may be vulnerable or susceptible to taste. And we just wanted to lift it up as like a place of …”
Insight
Shufelt: Non-Alcoholic Beer Unlocks New Occasions Instead of Cannibalizing Sales
“Non-alcoholic beer, I was telling them is something that, that people are still going to drink their beer or their cocktail, like one night a week when they go out to dinner or do something fun. But this is a beer. People are going to drink seven nights a week…”
Insight
Shufelt: Low foot-traffic sampling forces faster sales pitch iteration
“If only one or two people is approaching you every 20 or 30 minutes, and you have a bad interaction, or you don't really get your point across, or your pitch falls flat, you learn to iterate really quickly if you don't have many opportunities.”
Disclosure
Rejection from contract brewers forced Athletic to build its own facility
“If no one wants to make this beer for us, I'm gonna eventually find the right person to team up with, and I'm gonna build it ourselves, or we're gonna actually build a brewery.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shufelt: Athletic Brewing Raised Angel Round from 66 Individuals After 120 Meetings
“I ended up doing a 120 investor meetings. 66 individuals supported us in the angel round, and that group of investors has been some of our best ambassadors, our believers.”
Disclosure
Shufelt: Athletic Brewing Angel Round Had a $5M Valuation Toggle Cap
“It was, so it was basically, it had a toggle. If we never got off the ground, I was trying to ensure investors would get their money back, but if it did get off the ground, it would toggle the five million dollars.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Shufelt: Athletic Brewing Secured 300 Retail Commitments in Connecticut
“And over time, I built up 300 commitments in the state of Connecticut.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Athletic Brewing doubled capacity in summer 2019 but outgrew it quickly
“So for that summer of 20 19, we brought in a wave of bigger tanks and doubled our capacity, and we outgrew that three months later, and so we're out of stock again after three months and doubling our capacity”
Disclosure
Athletic Brewing Purchased a San Diego Brewery on March 17, 2020
“We made the biggest financial investment we've ever made on March 17th, twenty-twenty. John and I committed to purchasing a brewery, 3000 miles away in San Diego.”
Assertion Not yet assessed · timeframe Nov 2024
Shufelt: Athletic Brewing is a top 10 US craft brewer by volume
“Yeah, Athletic is top 10 craft brewer's number one biggest non-alcoholic beer breweries.”
Assertion Supported
Shufelt: Non-alcoholic beer exceeds 10% share at certain national retailers
“And there's certain channels and national retailers where non-alcoholic beer is now over 10% of all beer.”
Disclosure
Shufelt: Wall Street finance involved 150 to 200 boozy dinners annually
“In the finance world, especially at that time, it was very common to do three or four work dinners a week, and steakhouses, boozy dinners, and Inevitably, it was probably almost a 150 to 200 work dinners a year.”
Disclosure
Shufelt raised under 10% of target three months into seed fundraising
“And I found myself three months into those meetings and had less than 10% of what I was looking to do raised.”
