StarZero All shows Try the podcast clipper →

Aug 23, 2023 · 23m · the-pitch

"Jewelry Industry Digital Transformation Needed: Can Shopify Jewelry Save the Day?"

Madeline Fraser · 9m spoken Josh Muccio · 2m spoken Charles Hudson · 2m spoken Elizabeth Yin · 2m spoken Paige Finn Doherty · 1m spoken Mark Phillips · 1m spoken Neal Bloom · 17s spoken
0:00 / 0:00
▶ Watch on YouTube →

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Madeline Fraser pitches Gemist, a vertical B2B SaaS platform designed to modernize the jewelry industry, to a panel of venture capitalists on The Pitch. Despite investor reservations regarding cap table dilution and previous seed extensions, Fraser secures $150,000 in total commitments from Mark Phillips and Neil Bloom.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Josh holds 13.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Josh as informed peer 5.5 Guest teaching 4.0 Guest disagreement 2.8 Josh pushing back 4.5
05100:0010:0020:001:33–5:35 · Josh as informed peer 3/10 Madeline Fraser Introduces Gemist and Opening Investment Terms Madeline delivers her initial pitch detailing Gemist's vertical SaaS offerings and D2C origins. The investors ask friendly, exploratory questions about LA-based replica manufacturing and her founder background.5:40–11:43 · Josh as informed peer 6/10 Evaluating Gemist's Pricing Structure, Integration, and Market Traction Investors drill into the integration timeline, tech stack, and unit economics. Elizabeth Yin challenges whether a multi-week onboarding cycle creates an overly capital-heavy service burden, prompting Madeline to defend high-touch onboarding as crucial for jewelry industry trust.11:45–15:44 · Josh as informed peer 6/10 Competitive Moats, Valuation Discussion, and ARR Projections Paige presses Madeline on potential competition from incumbent players like Blue Nile, while Elizabeth and Mark scrutinize past valuation caps, historical dilution, and current MRR figures.15:46–19:46 · Josh as informed peer 7/10 Investor Offers, Cap Table Concerns, and Deal Commitments Three investors pass sequentially due to valuation and cap table dilution concerns before Series A. Madeline forcefully counters by highlighting her remaining 50%+ equity and path to early profitability, securing $150k in combined commitments from Mark Phillips and Neil Bloom.1:33–5:35 · Guest teaching 3/10 Madeline Fraser Introduces Gemist and Opening Investment Terms Madeline delivers her initial pitch detailing Gemist's vertical SaaS offerings and D2C origins. The investors ask friendly, exploratory questions about LA-based replica manufacturing and her founder background.5:40–11:43 · Guest teaching 5/10 Evaluating Gemist's Pricing Structure, Integration, and Market Traction Investors drill into the integration timeline, tech stack, and unit economics. Elizabeth Yin challenges whether a multi-week onboarding cycle creates an overly capital-heavy service burden, prompting Madeline to defend high-touch onboarding as crucial for jewelry industry trust.11:45–15:44 · Guest teaching 4/10 Competitive Moats, Valuation Discussion, and ARR Projections Paige presses Madeline on potential competition from incumbent players like Blue Nile, while Elizabeth and Mark scrutinize past valuation caps, historical dilution, and current MRR figures.15:46–19:46 · Guest teaching 4/10 Investor Offers, Cap Table Concerns, and Deal Commitments Three investors pass sequentially due to valuation and cap table dilution concerns before Series A. Madeline forcefully counters by highlighting her remaining 50%+ equity and path to early profitability, securing $150k in combined commitments from Mark Phillips and Neil Bloom.1:33–5:35 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Madeline Fraser Introduces Gemist and Opening Investment Terms Madeline delivers her initial pitch detailing Gemist's vertical SaaS offerings and D2C origins. The investors ask friendly, exploratory questions about LA-based replica manufacturing and her founder background.5:40–11:43 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Evaluating Gemist's Pricing Structure, Integration, and Market Traction Investors drill into the integration timeline, tech stack, and unit economics. Elizabeth Yin challenges whether a multi-week onboarding cycle creates an overly capital-heavy service burden, prompting Madeline to defend high-touch onboarding as crucial for jewelry industry trust.11:45–15:44 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Competitive Moats, Valuation Discussion, and ARR Projections Paige presses Madeline on potential competition from incumbent players like Blue Nile, while Elizabeth and Mark scrutinize past valuation caps, historical dilution, and current MRR figures.15:46–19:46 · Guest disagreement 4/10 Investor Offers, Cap Table Concerns, and Deal Commitments Three investors pass sequentially due to valuation and cap table dilution concerns before Series A. Madeline forcefully counters by highlighting her remaining 50%+ equity and path to early profitability, securing $150k in combined commitments from Mark Phillips and Neil Bloom.1:33–5:35 · Josh pushing back 1/10 Madeline Fraser Introduces Gemist and Opening Investment Terms Madeline delivers her initial pitch detailing Gemist's vertical SaaS offerings and D2C origins. The investors ask friendly, exploratory questions about LA-based replica manufacturing and her founder background.5:40–11:43 · Josh pushing back 5/10 Evaluating Gemist's Pricing Structure, Integration, and Market Traction Investors drill into the integration timeline, tech stack, and unit economics. Elizabeth Yin challenges whether a multi-week onboarding cycle creates an overly capital-heavy service burden, prompting Madeline to defend high-touch onboarding as crucial for jewelry industry trust.11:45–15:44 · Josh pushing back 5/10 Competitive Moats, Valuation Discussion, and ARR Projections Paige presses Madeline on potential competition from incumbent players like Blue Nile, while Elizabeth and Mark scrutinize past valuation caps, historical dilution, and current MRR figures.15:46–19:46 · Josh pushing back 7/10 Investor Offers, Cap Table Concerns, and Deal Commitments Three investors pass sequentially due to valuation and cap table dilution concerns before Series A. Madeline forcefully counters by highlighting her remaining 50%+ equity and path to early profitability, securing $150k in combined commitments from Mark Phillips and Neil Bloom.

speaking balance: gold is Josh, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Josh 40.9% · guest 59.1%0:00 · Josh 40.9% · guest 59.1%3:00 · Josh 0% · guest 100%3:00 · Josh 0% · guest 100%6:00 · Josh 0% · guest 100%6:00 · Josh 0% · guest 100%9:00 · Josh 10% · guest 90%9:00 · Josh 10% · guest 90%12:00 · Josh 23% · guest 77%12:00 · Josh 23% · guest 77%15:00 · Josh 0% · guest 100%15:00 · Josh 0% · guest 100%18:00 · Josh 0.9% · guest 99.1%18:00 · Josh 0.9% · guest 99.1%21:00 · Josh 32.9% · guest 67.1%21:00 · Josh 32.9% · guest 67.1%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 13:16 Madeline rejects Blue Nile as a competitive threat

Madeline directly dismisses the premise that incumbent platforms like Blue Nile will enter her space, criticizing their decade-old clunky tech and arguing that not having a traditional jewelry background is actually her greatest asset.

 Hardest push from Josh ▶ 16:28 Elizabeth Yin passes due to valuation and heavy capitalization

Elizabeth Yin firmly rejects the deal terms, explicitly stating that raising seven million dollars at this early stage of customer acquisition leaves the valuation and capitalization structure too bloated for an investment.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 9:53 Madeline educates investors on jewelry retail buyer psychology

Madeline explains why automated SaaS onboarding is the wrong model for traditional jewelers, citing industry specific dynamics where relationship-driven handshakes and bespoke setups are mandatory to close and retain accounts.

 Josh holds their own ▶ 15:46 Charles Hudson calculates cap table dilution roadblocks

Charles demonstrates veteran venture expertise by doing real-time cap table math, pointing out that previous seed dilution leaves insufficient founder ownership going into the Series A without painful early investor dilution.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicJosh as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementJosh pushing backWhy
Madeline Fraser Introduces Gemist and Opening Investment Terms 3311 Madeline delivers her initial pitch detailing Gemist's vertical SaaS offerings and D2C origins. The investors ask friendly, exploratory questions about LA-based replica manufacturing and her founder background.
Evaluating Gemist's Pricing Structure, Integration, and Market Traction 6535 Investors drill into the integration timeline, tech stack, and unit economics. Elizabeth Yin challenges whether a multi-week onboarding cycle creates an overly capital-heavy service burden, prompting Madeline to defend high-touch onboarding as crucial for jewelry industry trust.
Competitive Moats, Valuation Discussion, and ARR Projections 6435 Paige presses Madeline on potential competition from incumbent players like Blue Nile, while Elizabeth and Mark scrutinize past valuation caps, historical dilution, and current MRR figures.
Investor Offers, Cap Table Concerns, and Deal Commitments 7447 Three investors pass sequentially due to valuation and cap table dilution concerns before Series A. Madeline forcefully counters by highlighting her remaining 50%+ equity and path to early profitability, securing $150k in combined commitments from Mark Phillips and Neil Bloom.

Statements from this episode (18)

Assertion Supported
Fraser: 75% of the $300B jewelry industry remains offline
“In fact, 75% of the three hundred billion dollar global industry is not online.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 2:17
Disclosure
Fraser: Gemist signed four brands for $500K+ ACV in Q1
“And so with zero dollars in marketing spend and me as our sales team, we've been able to sign four large jewelry brands just in Q one of this year at an annual contract value of over 500 K.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 2:43
Disclosure
Fraser: Gemist has a 30-brand waitlist worth over $3M
“And we've built a 30 plus brand waitlist that has Contract value of over three million.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 2:56
Disclosure
Fraser: Gemist has $2M committed led by Entrada Ventures
“So right now it's being led by Entrada Ventures. We have two million committed, and we're kind of looking to fill that last one million in the next few months here as we get this off the ground.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 3:13
Assertion Supported
Fraser: Top jewelry brands represent only 12% of the industry
“That's only about 12% of the entire industry. And so the industry is actually primarily made up of the SMB market.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 5:49
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fraser: Gemist home try-on product has 50% to 70% margins
“No, no, it has margins. It's like a wholesale. So it has at least 50 to 70% margins.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 10:53
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fraser: Online conversion rates on diamond center stones are 0.4%
“I was just talking with Carter Cast, who's the founding CMO of Blue Nile, and he was telling me that, like, conversion rates on diamond center stones are .4%.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 11:22
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fraser: Blue Nile's custom jewelry tech hasn't changed in 10 years
“They already technically have a version and hasn't changed in 10 years.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 13:17
Disclosure
Fraser: Gemist raised a $1M pre-seed and $3M seed round
“We did a pre-seed and a seed round. So we did a million in our pre-seed and three million in our seed.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 13:57
Disclosure
Fraser: Gemist is raising at a $15.5M post-money valuation
“We did convertible note for the pre-seed, I believe six million cap, and then seed round was 3,000,011 and a half post, and this one is 15 and a half post.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 14:11
Disclosure
Fraser: Gemist generates $50K MRR from implementation and licensing fees
“MRR is about 50 K a month just because we haven't, the brands are going live now, right? So I'm dealing with mainly implementation fees and some licensing.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 14:57
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Fraser: Gemist targets $5M to $7M ARR before Series A
“Before Series A, we'd like to be somewhere between five and seven million in ARR.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 15:16
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Fraser still owns over 50% of Gemist
“Well, I still have over 50%.”
Madeline Fraser Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 17:39
What-if
Hudson: Gemist is worth $100K at a $10M post-money valuation
“Clean 10 posts with, like, good founder ownership, I would have put in a hundred K.”
Charles Hudson Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 20:45
Insight
Hudson: Target founder equity entering Series A is now 35% to 40%
“I'd like people to be in the very, very high thirties to low forties going to the A. It's just hard with seed, with everyone doing two seed rounds. I used to, before I would have said 50% going to the A. It just doesn't It doesn't happen that often in our, if …”
Charles Hudson Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 21:06
Insight
Hudson: The winning playbook in vertical SaaS is full-stack
“The money in vertical sass is full stack. Like, that's the playbook. Like, you do it all.”
Charles Hudson Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 22:53
Insight
Yin: Mediocre consumer startups can find success pivoting to B2B
“This is gonna be trite, but if you're building a, if you have a consumer company that's kind of meh, if you pivoted into the B to B version of it, there's probably something interesting there.”
Elizabeth Yin Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 22:58
Assertion Supported
Muccio: Fraser secured $150K in commitments from Phillips and Bloom
“Madeline walked out of the pitch room with a 150,000 in commitments from Mark and Neil.”
Josh Muccio Aug 23, 2023 ▶ 23:27
Made with StarZero

Turn any episode into a week of clips.

This entire site, over 100 episodes transcribed, diarized, checked and made playable, runs on the StarZero media pipeline. Drop in your own episode and the podcast clipper finds the moments worth sharing, cuts them, captions them, and reframes them for every feed.

Try the podcast clipper Learn more