Growing a Successful Subscription Business while Staying True to Values • The company has experienced significant growth without relying on external funding. • The company remains customer-oriented and true to its values. • The company prioritizes employee well-being. • The business model of the company is unique for its industry. • The speaker emphasizes the importance of capitalism incorporating care for employees, the environment, and customers. • Shareholder value has often overshadowed other important aspects in capitalism.
Kurt Nikish
You’ve been able to grow this company without outside money, built it into like multi hundred million dollar business. You are able to focus on your customers. You’re able to like stay core to your values and not erode those. You’re able to take care of your employees and you’re doing this as kind of like an internet subscription business, which is a little bit wild. It feels very old school for something that’s very, very new and modern and of today. Yeah.
Mike Salguero
You know, it’s funny that that’s considered old school. I think capitalism obviously has been around for a long time. And my belief is that capitalism really needs to embrace, if that’s called old school, the idea of taking care of your employees and taking care of the environment and the world and taking Care of your customers. You know, I think that the incentives around capitalism have caused people to really focus on shareholder value to the detriment of everything else. And thatCapitalism and the Need to Embrace Employee Care and Environmental Responsibility • Capitalism needs to embrace the idea of taking care of employees, the environment, and customers. • Focus on shareholder value has caused a detriment to everything else in capitalism. • Millennials and younger generations prioritize brands that align with their values when making purchases.
Mike Salguero
You know, it’s funny that that’s considered old school. I think capitalism obviously has been around for a long time. And my belief is that capitalism really needs to embrace, if that’s called old school, the idea of taking care of your employees and taking care of the environment and the world and taking Care of your customers. You know, I think that the incentives around capitalism have caused people to really focus on shareholder value to the detriment of everything else. And that I believe is what will cause capitalism to fail. And I think that I’m a, I was born in 1981, so I’m the oldest millennial. And if I think about the millennial population and then the generations behind millennials, people care way more about the brands that they’re consuming and what those brands stand For. So gone largely are the days that people are going to church on the weekends. And what’s here to stay is, hey, if I take my dollar out of my pocketbook or my Apple Pay, I want that dollar to be spent in a way that aligns with my values. AndThe Changing Landscape of Venture Capital • Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists may need to adjust their investment strategies based on changing consumer preferences. • The traditional approach to venture capital, focused on continuous fundraising and valuation increases, is being challenged. • Some investors are prioritizing the sustainability and profitability of companies over short-term valuation gains. • The recession has led to a shift in mindset towards focusing on free cash flow and profit. • Resilience and adaptability are crucial for companies in the current challenging business environment. • The era of easily accessible free money has come to an end.
Mike Salguero
Take a lot of lessons here.
Kurt Nikish
Venture capitalists too, right? They may think about how they invest differently in companies going forward just based on these consumer preferences. Yeah.
Mike Salguero
One of the challenges with venture capital is the way in which their funds work. So you raise a fund and usually it’s like a 10-year fund and then they’re raising another fund off of the first couple of years of the first fund. And so they’re set up in a way that they want another round to happen and they want you to keep raising money so you can get a step up in valuation. There are some people who are thinking about that differently, where it’s not like, look how great our fund is doing, but they’re talking about how sustainable the company is or how, And really with this recession happening, it’s a really great time because these, these step up rounds aren’t happening. So really it does become about like free cash flow and about profit. And there is a mentality shift happening right now in venture capital. And I just hope that continues to move because gone are the days of really cheap free money. And here to stay are companies that need to be resilient because it’s pretty tough out there. Mike, thanks so much for sharing your story. Thank you for have me. That’s
