Maria (Markina) Desmarais

Congrats to ParcelBio, K-Scale Labs, Marr Labs (YC W24), FanCave (YC W24), RetailReady, Sonia (YC W24), Crux (YC W24), malibou (YC W24), Reprompt (YC W24), InspectMind AI (YC W24), Yarn (YC W24), CrowdVolt (YC W24), Kater.ai (YC W24), MathGPT, Quivr (YC W24), Dragoneye, renderlet, Fume (YC W24), Forge (YC W24), Taiki (YC W24), Konstructly, Granza Bio (YC W24), Haplotype Labs, TrueClaim (YC W24), CoCrafter (YC W24), Piramidal (YC W24), Junction Bioscience, OddsView, Silogy, Senso, Eris Biotech (YC W24), OpenFoundry (YC W24), GoldenBasis, and the rest of the YC W24 batch on your acceptance! I know you are going to be tempted to use our amazing, US software engineers at fraction.work. You might even be inclined to operate your business in a capital efficient, sustainable manner, stretching your dollars as far as they can go. There is good news. Someone, somewhere, within YC's management has decided that you cannot build a sustainable, profitable, businesses with fractional talent. Therefore, I am going to kindly ask you do not give me a call at 404.343.7747 for access to the best software engineers in the US, at the best prices. I repeat, please do not reach out. In fact, don't even think about sending an email to [email protected] to discuss our absolutely top notch engineering talent. For those not in YC, it is open season here at fraction.work, feel free to give me a call any time!

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Before you launch a CPG brand with any sort of DTC strategy, make sure you do this… I promise it will take you 15 minutes or less. I see brands going straight into product development and selling without checking a crucial detail: Will the economics actually work if launched as a DTC brand? So many founders dive in because they’re excited about their product. But if they don’t understand the full payback period, they risk serious financial setbacks down the road. We created a simple 15-minute tool to help founders calculate if their DTC model is sustainable. Here’s why it’s worth it: - It considers real margins - It factors in customer acquisition costs - It gives you clarity before you commit Instead of risking time, money, and sanity, get a quick gut check. Spend those 15 minutes and see if your numbers add up. Starting strong is better than starting over. Download the free template below (link in the comments👇).

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💡 What’s the best tech stack for my consumer brand? I get this question a lot, especially as we head into BFCM prep and code freezes. 📅 Whether you’re getting organized or just curious about the tech behind your favorite DTC brands, we’ve got you covered. At HSR, we’ve done the heavy lifting and identified the must-have components for an early-stage tech stack that every founder should know before the most critical quarter of the year. 📈 Ready to power up your business for Q4 and unlock the secret tools? 🚀 👇 Dive in here: https://lnkd.in/ga6BQQXS #DTC #TechStack #BFCM #BusinessGrowth #Scalability #Entrepreneurship #ConsumerBrand

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Rent the Runway is having its lunch eaten by Urban Outfitters' Nuuly. Q3 '23 Results: -RTR $21.9M operating LOSS -Nuuly $300k operating PROFIT -RTR 6% revenue drop YoY -Nuuly 86% revenue increase YoY -RTR 132k active subs (down 2% YoY) -Nuuly 198k active subs (up 68% YoY) Why? Rent the Runway has three MAJOR cost centres to its business: 1/ Fairly high acquisition costs I still think RTR is in the process of creating demand, persuading consumers, and driving up GMV. This is proving costly. 2/ Very high R&D costs RTR is building and maintaining a lot of proprietary tech to service its business model as well as investing a lot into their ecommerce experience. This means they basically have the tech costs of a tech business. Case in point: $12M R&D spend in Q3 '23 alone (~18% of revenue) 🤯 3/ Thin margins RTR isn't a fashion brand in itself. Inventory comes mainly via purchasing stock from other brands at a wholesale rate. This leaves them with the R&D costs of a tech business mentioned above, but with the margins of a retail business. Now, let's contrast this to Nuuly: ✅ Lower acquisition costs Urban Outfitters already has a huge audience across its other brands that can be redirected and help drive down the cost of acquisition. 😕 Still relatively high R&D costs Urban has reportedly stumped up around $100M up front. ✅ Much better margins Nuuly doesn't need to source stock via wholesale from other brands. They ARE the brand (or, at least Urban is). Plus, stock can also often be sourced from cost centres in the other brands. E.g. returns at Urban can then become ready-to-use stock on Nuuly. This means MUCH healthier margins. The lesson here for other rental merchants? You HAVE to find a competitive advantage in AT LEAST one, but ideally two or all three of those cost centres: CAC, R&D, and margins. This will give you an excellent foundation for growth and the best chance of succeeding. #ecommerce #rentalcommerce #circulareconomy #sustainability

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❗❗ New investment alert ❗❗Want to learn why we led a $10M Series A into Pear Commerce 🍐 ? Read on! 🎯 - A spot-on product. Everyone who used or was familiar with Pear made it clear that their product solved a need, and did it better than the other options available to them. It is a better approach to a problem they all had. 😤 - A great team. Eric Martell and Alex Wyler are great leaders, repeat founders, and building Pear with real purpose. And they have attracted a great team around them to scale their impact! 📈 - Exciting results. Pear had a great 2023, and 2024 is more of the same. Their growth, and the underlying metrics behind it, speaks for itself! https://lnkd.in/gP_FceJC

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We gathered dozens of operators from the MGMT Boston Operators Club and local founders alongside the 186 Ventures team this October to discuss the evolution of our dear software markets, the status of some predictions for 2024 (all looking good!), and what’s on deck for next year. General Partner Giuseppe Stuto led us through the following predictions for 2025 to share with you all.. ↕ We will see more vertical AI applications manifest themselves within the Enterprise in a similar ways that SaaS moved from horizontal to vertical use cases 🔔 We will see services business models more common and software budget purchasing models less common - SaaS may even be given away for cheap/free as a “way in” ⚖ Capital efficiency, on a relative basis, will almost be required to create enduring & compounding defensible enterprise value. Details like procurement cycle lengths and creativity with non-dilutive financing, like leveraging revenue based financing tools for example, will all matter 💡 Specific to AI, premiums will be placed on applications that can actually get “reasoning” right. All purpose LLMs still have a ways to go and there are multiple approaches with the “jury still out” on how to get context and reasoning right. Infrastructure solutions that use general purpose or customizable knowledge graphs to help application developers get to 100% (enterprise acceptable accuracy) will emerge OR savvy application developers will fill the gaps themselves. We will likely see both, depending upon the specific case! Thank you Giuseppe, Julian, and Sophie for a great discussion and evening!

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How do you find Limited Partners and get them over the line? Find out in this webinar next week!

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Got together with some of the best DTC founders / execs in the NYC area last night! Thanks to Kait Stephens & Sarah Davidson putting together a really nice, intimate dinner. Talked about a lot of topics including Retail expansion, content strategy & process improvement. - Retail expansion has become a key growth lever for many DTC businesses and much of the discussion was around best practices when first starting to expand and how to capture in-store interactions / valuable customer data. - Every single brand founder wants more organic, raw Customer Generated Content to drive brand awareness and increase conversion. - Discussed the transition of early day company building with a few employees to rapidly scaling and putting processes in place to ensure success. Slow down to speed up. The last hour was all about DTC companies banding together for many things, but we'll leave it at "sharing best practices". Justin Allen led that and fired me up along with everyone around the table. I really pick and choose which events I go to having 3 kids under 6 at home, but these smaller and more intimate dinners are at the top of my list.

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Halle Kaplan-Allen and I will be chatting with Ali Hamed tomorrow about sourcing LPs. You can RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/edYZhKrA Ali wrote this excellent tactical piece on networking that is well worth a read for anyone networking their way to capital: https://lnkd.in/eZ_2f_4x This event is presented by Sydecar, a frictionless deal execution platform for venture capitalists. By pioneering a standardized approach to private investing, they enable capital allocators to identify and back entrepreneurs who are changing the world. Their platform reliably handles back-office operations, automating banking, compliance, contracts, tax, and reporting so that customers can focus on making deals and building relationships.

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NYC bars and restaurants are struggling and one of the reasons is legal cannab*s, according to this new report. Bars and restaurants should be able to sell weed, especially at events. These small business owners are relying on the OCM to expedite the events license so they can stop being harmed by legal cannab*s and start being apart of the market. https://lnkd.in/eSbFmtA6

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Thrilled to be featured in ADWEEK’s recent article on the ad tech M&A landscape. The past 18 months have been a whirlwind – high inflation, rising interest rates, and global uncertainty put a damper on liquidity. M&A activity slowed, and fundraising became a challenge. However, I see the current chess moves as a prelude to consolidation. This will unlock cash flow and pave the way for more strategic M&A deals in the near future. Expect to see some “average” deals this year, but the market is resetting for a stronger 2025. Get ready for solid returns and a more dynamic ad tech landscape next year. Thanks to Catherine Perloff! https://lnkd.in/dg7PQ6eU #adtech #investing

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We'll be launching Gravel AI's first insight-led public demo. Every second of the demo contains actionable real insights 👇 1. Ingredient trends Fast growing mainstream actives in face serum in USA in past 6 months: Adenosine +69% Arginine +42% Ceramide np +38% Ingredient opportunities in face serum actives (niche, fast growing demand, slow supply): Arginine pca +530% market adoption, +0% supply Helianthus annuus seed +425% market adoption, +0% supply Prunus persica leaf extract +320% market adoption, +0% supply 2. Contract manufacturers intelligence Select AIRCOS. Discover it's used by Benefit Cosmetics. Select Benefit Cosmetics. Discover other contract manufacturers it uses, including Capsum. Select Capsum. Discover other brands they serve. 3. Ingredient manufacturers intelligence Select the most commercially successful newly launched shampoo in USA in past 6 months: Garnier's Whole Blends Honey Treasures Repairing Shampoo. Detected matching proprietary blend used in the shampoo: Galaxy Surfactants Limited's Sparkle 660. View other brands that use the blend: Pantene Shampoo, Nizoral, SACHAJUAN HAIRCARE . Register to watch the public demo using this link (recording available!): https://lnkd.in/eRJBhfPd #ai #publicdemo #personalcareindustry #industryintelligence #ingredientintelligence

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From fashion collabs to shifting beauty standards, the future of consumer goods is all about reinvention. At HSR, we are spotlighting the biggest moves in health, entertainment, and business. Check out our latest weekly digest: ♡ Women’s Health & Beauty ♡ - Emergency contraception sales spiked more than 930% in some states following the election ♡ Media, Entertainment & Creator ♡ - SKIMS just released a limited edition collaboration with Dolce & Gabbana - Influencer-turned-entrepreneur, Danielle Bernstein’s new women’s fragrance is expected to land in Ulta in 2025 ♡ E-Commerce, Retail & Social ♡ - McKinsey’s eighth annual “The State of Fashion” report is out - from Business of Fashion - Gen Z’s obsession with “swicy” ingredients may signal a growing opportunity in consumer food - Ulta Beauty is cracking down on its return policy ahead of the holiday season ♡ Tech, Business, & Investing ♡ - The $8.5 billion merger between Tapestry and Capri was called off - Athleisure brand, Vuori, reaches a $5.5 billion valuation following its recent $825 million investment You can check out more in this week's HSR ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/g5QncktG

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How do you deliver the modern brand promise - meeting consumers where they are (read social, retail, etc), enabling timely delivery, seamless returns - while protecting the bottom line? Listen to this great conversation led by Rick Watson

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It’s NY Tech week and my new favorite thing is teaching underrepresented founders how to talk back to investors. So many of them ask me for help fundraising, and I get it. I may not always think of myself as an expert, since I’m lucky enough to surround myself with people who are much more experienced at it than I am. But we did do it successfully once, raising more than $3M along the way with little more than a deck, a dream, and an incredible founding team. Of course, we’re all aware that this success puts us in the teeny tiny cohort of startups who raise without a traditional-looking founding team. So what’s the common theme in my advice to non-traditional founders at the early stage? Push back. It’s easy to get intimidated by investors. They’re smart, aggressive, and ask really hard questions. It can be hard to remember that YOU are the expert on your market. They are generalists. Even if they have strong opinions on your market, it’s OK to tell them when you think they’re wrong. In fact, if you have the conviction and confidence (plus evidence to back it up), disagreeing with your prospective investors can even be seen as an advantage. When a VC asks you a question at the pre-seed stage about your path to $100M in ARR, it’s OK to say “dude, we’re a pre-seed company. I know what our path is to get to a million, and we will have a lot to figure out after that.” Now, this only works if you have a track record that can support your confidence. Or if you don’t know the answer, but you DO know HOW you’re going to figure it out, talk about the path from experimentation to scalability. It’s better than making up a bunch of stuff that you’ll probably throw out eventually, and VCs will respect your focus and defense of your precious little time. Plus, they can usually tell if your confidence is lacking in your answer, anyway. This investor market is a tricky one, but never forget that they (investors) need you (founders) just as much as you need them. And hey, if you’re an up and coming female or underrepresented founder, and you need some help (or just a pep talk) I’d love to help. Happy Tech Week everyone!!

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🗽 Founders N' Funders is coming to New York City on July 10th ..... and we have one last spot open for a VC investor to present at our inaugural NYC VC Reverse Pitch Event. So, please share with me who your favorite VCs are in NYC! These are such fun events for everyone, where we turn the tables and have the investors pitch to the founders. This particular event is for Seed and Series A tech startup founders and will provide founders a unique opportunity to see first-hand that not all investors are the same. Investors can have different qualifications they look for in terms of industry, investment amounts, company stages, business models, geography, etc. If you are a tech founder and interested in attending, simply comment with the "🗽 " emoji below and we'll send you a link where you can apply to attend. Capacity is limited and filling up fast, so register asap. Special thanks to Dylan Scott at Techstars for helping organize this event and also to our awesome sponsor partners for making this event possible! 🙌 Carta (Will Buckstaff) Capchase (Ian Garrett) Kintsugi (Ryan Connell / David Lorenzo Lopez) CAVU Securities, LLC (Chris McMillan) Optimist Legal (Omeed Tabiei, Esq.) Forecastr See you in NYC on July 10th!!! #FoundersNFunders #startups #founders

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Increase deal flow

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