Assertion Not checkable as stated
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.”
Assertion Supported
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…”
Insight
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.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
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.”
Opinion
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”
Assertion Supported
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…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
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.”
Insight
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…”
Insight
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,…”
Assertion Partly supported
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.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
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.”
Disclosure
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…”
Opinion
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.”
Assertion Supported
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.”
Disclosure
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.”
Insight
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…”
Assertion Partly supported
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…”
Disclosure
Krim: Made zero money from 2013 sale of first mattress startup
“No, I didn't walk away with any money.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Krim: Pre-launch surveys showed consumers only recalled Ikea or Tempur-Pedic mattresses
“You know, even, even at this point in time, you asked most people, and we did this survey work before we started Casper, was what kind of bed do you sleep on? Almost no one could recall it, and if you could recall it was usually either Ikea or Tempur-Pedic”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Krim: Organic YouTube unboxing videos were an early growth catalyst for Casper
“When we started looking at sources of traffic to our website, we started seeing a ton of traffic come from YouTube in our early days, and it ended up that the Casper unboxing experience was something that people love to film on their phone and love to post onl…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Krim: Casper reached its month six sales forecast on day one
“40 mattresses is, like, 30,000 dollars worth of business. I mean, again, that, that was, like, what we were forecasting to do in month Six or seven and we did it in our first day.”
Assertion Supported
Krim: Casper achieved $1 million in sales in 28 days
“We did a million dollars in our first 28 days.”
Assertion Partly supported
Krim: Casper operates with a gross profit margin above fifty percent
“We still have a high margin business, and it's a high margin category so, you know, you look today, we're north of a 50% gross profit margin Business, which is, is good and strong, and that's enough to build a defensible business.”
Disclosure
Krim: Target took a minority stake in Casper for commercial partnership
“And we said, if they want to make an investment and take a, you know, minority position in Casper, and if they want to help us More importantly than the investment, if they want to help us commercially, and the investment will help catalyze that, then great. T…”
