HAVE A Laugh
January is a busy month for sports, which includes football playoffs and the NBA and NHL seasons. Stars from each of these leagues have cultivated a global fan base and become celebrities, but this is nothing new. Thousands of years ago, many gladiators reached untold levels of fame, too. For the most part, gladiators were not born into nor did they receive much wealth. In most cases, they were originally slaves who became so indebted they had to sell their bodies. Many slaves were chosen and sent to gladiatorial schools, where they trained to become the best, too. For their fights, the Colosseum in Rome was built almost 2,000 years ago and could seat up to 75,000 people. For comparison, the largest U.S. stadiums hold a little over 100,000 people. Back then, there were no Jumbotrons or screens to see from far away. Tens of thousands of people would happily watch gladiator fights with nothing but eyes. Gladiators: The Original Celebrity Athletes?
The story of gladiators prove athletes are and always have been influential.
Go Brandless!
It’s Back and Better Than Ever
Brandless is thriving again, nevertheless. When Brandless shut down, they cited their struggle with fierce competition and business model inviability in the direct-to-consumer market. Part of the problem was that Brandless simply wasn’t sustainable in the way Sharkey and Leffler originally hoped.
Companies like Warby Parker have built a powerful customer following for creating direct-to-consumer products that slash prices by cutting out the middleman. Now, Brandless is doing the same thing for small, everyday purchases.
When you buy peanut butter, you’re not just buying the product — you’re also buying the brand attached to it, along with its costs of distributing and warehousing, plus retail space. By eliminating what co-founder and CEO Tina Sharkey calls a “brand tax,” she realized Brandless could significantly cut down the costs for small products that people bought every day.
That’s when Utah-based digital marketing exec Ryan Treft entered the picture. He’s the new CEO, and his vision has, thus far, helped make the consumer’s “quality to price valued product” daydream a reality. "It's not about racing other brands to the
bottom of being the cheapest, because that's where people compromise on the quality, the ingredients," Treft said. His new leadership promises to uphold Brandless’ previous commitments to keep all its products free from 400 potentially harmful ingredients, including parabens, sulfates, and synthetic dyes. For a new “brand” that attracted a lot of attention back when it was in its early stages, Brandless is certainly back to the top with its newer product lines in personal care. They’ve received great reviews and attention across platforms. Congrats for fighting your way back, Brandless!
When Sharkey and veteran entrepreneur Ido Leffler came up with the concept of Brandless, it immediately caught fire. They raised over $16 million in November 2016, and at launch, received over $50 million in venture capital from New Enterprise Associates, Google Ventures, and others. However, their business model didn’t sustain itself forever — Sharkey stepped down as CEO in May 2019 after friction between her and lead investor SoftBank Vision Fund. By February 2020, Brandless had shut down and laid off 90% of its workforce, leaving only a few to manage open orders.
CraigHansonCPA.com
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