This week's virtual pitch showcase featured three emerging ecommerce startups founded in Southern California: Mi Terro, ettitude and Aptitud. FabFitFun Co-CEO and Co-Founder Michael Broukhim joined angel investor Spencer Rascoff for the discussion. dot.LA's Chief Host and Correspondent Kelly O'Grady emceed the event.
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Mi Terro is the world's only biotechnology company that rescues food waste and re-engineers it into sustainable fibers that can be used for fashion, medical, and packaging industries. Through their patent-pending technology, they have created the world's first sustainable apparel line made from excess milk. They are also creating food packaging film made from whey. They are replacing petroleum-based materials with protein-based materials made from food waste. Mi Terro is redefining the circular economy in which everything begins with food waste and ends as recyclable or biodegradable.
ettitude is a female-founded LA-based sustainable lifestyle brand offering home essentials that are soft on your skin and gentle on our planet. Using their proprietary CleanBamboo™ fabrics, ettitude's bedding,sleepwear, and bath range are as soft as silk, as breathable as linen, and at the price of cotton.
Aptitud (meaning "fitness" in Spanish) was created to enhance the home workout experience. Aptitud was founded by Arielle, Audra, and Riley during the COVID-19 pandemic. As workout junkies, we shared a passion for working out together and living a fit lifestyle. Transitioning from gyms and bootcamps to working out at our homes, we experienced the challenge of finding fashion-forward, elite fitness accessories. We have curated and hand-picked the most exclusive, high-quality fitness products to enhance your home workout lifestyle. Aptitud is more than just a fitness retail company, it is a community of women from all walks of life striving for health and wellness. IG & TikTok: aptitud.co
About the Judges
Michael Broukhim, Co-CEO & Co-Founder at FabFitFun
Michael Broukhim, Co-CEO & Co-Founder at FabFitFun
Michael Broukhim is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of FabFitFun, a lifestyle brand that inspires happiness and personal growth through discovery. Backed by Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates and Upfront Ventures, FabFitFun is best known for its seasonal subscription box that delivers a curation of full-size products ranging from beauty and wellness to home and technology.
Prior to FabFitFun, Brouhim was Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Charlie (formerly, Opera New Media), where he directed digital strategies for celebrities, politicians, Fortune 500 companies, startups, and nonprofits. His clients included Samuel L. Jackson, Tumblr, Rudy Giuliani, Rachel Zoe, Pfizer Inc., and the Golden Globe Awards.
Broukhim was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, where he taught undergraduate and graduate courses to film and business students. In 2015, USC recognized Broukhim as a finalist for the Steven J. Sample Teaching Award.
Broukhim is an active angel investor with an emphasis on working with Los Angeles based companies during their earliest stages.
Broukhim graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University, where he served as Editorial Chair of the Harvard Crimson, co-founded the Leadership Institute at Harvard College, and won the Thomas T. Hoopes Prize for his research on ethical consumption. Broukhim continued his education at Stanford Law School earning his J.D. in 2013.
Spencer Rascoff, Co-Founder, Executive Chairman at dot.LA
Spencer Rascoff, Co-Founder, Executive Chairman at dot.LA
Spencer Rascoff is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire and dot.LA, and who served as Zillow's CEO for a decade. He is currently executive chairman of dot.LA and a board member at TripAdvisor. In the fall of 2019 Spencer was a Visiting Executive Professor at Harvard Business School where he co-taught the "Managing Tech Ventures" course. In 2015, Spencer co-wrote and published his first book, the New York Times' Best Seller "Zillow Talk: Rewriting the Rules of Real Estate."
Spencer is the host of "Office Hours," a monthly podcast on dot.LA featuring candid conversations between prominent executives on leadership, diversity and inclusion, and startups.
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Snap’s parental controls.
Courtesy of Watchful.
Snapchat is planning to introduce Family Center, which would allow parents to see who their children are friends with on the app and who they’ve messaged within the last seven days, according to screenshots provided by Watchful, a product intelligence company. Parents would also be able help their kids report abuse or harassment.
The parental controls are still subject to change before finally launching publicly, as the Family Center screenshots—which were first reported by TechCrunch—reflect features that are still under development.
Santa Monica-based Snap and other social media giants have faced mounting criticism for not doing more to protect their younger users—some of whom have been bullied, sold deadly drugs and sexually exploited on their platforms. State attorneys general have urged Snap and Culver City-based TikTok to strengthen their parental controls, with both companies’ apps especially popular among teens.
A Snap spokesperson declined to comment on Friday. Previously, Snap representatives have told dot.LA that the company is developing tools that will provide parents with more insight into how their children are engaging on Snapchat and allow them to report troubling content.
Yet Snap’s approach to parental controls could still give teens some privacy, as parents wouldn’t be able to read the actual content of their kids’ conversations, according to TechCrunch. (The Family Center screenshots seen by dot.LA do not detail whether parents can see those conversations).
In addition, teenage users would first have to accept an invitation from their parents to join the in-app Family Center before those parents can begin monitoring their social media activity, TechCrunch reported.