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.
Watch below and subscribe to our newsletter and Youtube channel to get notified about our next event.
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<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Copy of dot.LA Virtual Pitch Showcase: eCommerce</small>
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<strong><a href="https://www.miterro.com/pages/about" target="_blank">Mi Terro</a> </strong>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.<br/>
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<a href="http://www.ettitude.com" target="_blank"><strong>ettitude</strong></a> 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.<br/>
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<strong><a href="https://aptitud.co/password" target="_blank">Aptitud</a> </strong>(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: <a href="http://aptitud.co/" target="_blank">aptitud.co</a>
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Los Angeles has come a long way in the 20 years that Brian Lee has built up startups. Brian co-founded LegalZoom in 2001, ShoeDazzle with Kim Kardashian in 2008, and The Honest Company with Jessica Alba in 2012. Now, Brian is co-founder and managing director of BAM Ventures, an early stage fund and startup studio, based in Los Angeles.
Hear Spencer and Brian, recorded at the Montgomery Summit earlier this year, discuss Los Angeles' evolution as a tech hub. They dig into the exciting state of the current Los Angeles start-up scene, what BAM looks for in founders, thoughts on building brands — and a company Lee regrets he passed on.
<p><span style="background-color: initial;">Want more? Subscribe to Office Hours on </span><a href="https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/zillow-group/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff" target="_blank">Stitcher</a><span style="background-color: initial;">, </span><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/office-hours-with-spencer-rascoff/id1124608295" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a><span style="background-color: initial;">, </span><a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5mXgvbUsaOv7JJQRecBdYw" target="_blank">Spotify</a><span style="background-color: initial;"> </span><a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/263-office-hours-with-sp-28214033/" target="_blank">iHeart Radio</a><span style="background-color: initial;"> or wherever you get your podcasts.</span><br/></p>
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Brands are valuable, regardless of company size. That is well understood.
What is less well understood, especially among startups, is that there are as many ways to think about your brand as there are recipients on the other end of that brand positioning. I want to propose an easy framework for startups and their marketers to consider when building and marketing brands: A company's brand has different meaning to its consumers, to its business partners, and to current and future employees.
<p>First, there is a company's brand in the eyes of the consumer. Let's look at the example of Netflix. The streaming service wants its consumers to think of it as easy to use, full of great shows, and a reasonable value for the price.</p>
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<p>Next, there is the company's brand in the eyes of its business partners. Netflix wants its business partners (e.g., the production companies that create TV shows and films for Netflix) to think of it as a great partner, a creative company, a distribution channel that will pay top dollar for your content and also will market it successfully to its subscribers so it will be enjoyed by many people.</p><p>Finally, Netflix wants its brand as an employer to represent that it's a great place to work, full of mission-oriented and hard-working people, which pays well and creates career development opportunities for its employees.</p>
<p>Of course, there is overlap between these three segments, and the brand positioning therefore can sometimes combine to create an overall brand perception. Still, it's important for marketers to think about each of these three expressions of your brand, and how the combination of them creates a mosaic that people use to form an impression of your company.<br/></p><p>Large companies are able to have separate marketing functions for each of these audiences -- frequently at large companies there is a VP of Brand Marketing (focused on consumers), a VP of Trade Marketing (focused on businesses), and sometimes someone in HR or in recruiting who focuses on employer branding. </p><p>But startups don't have that luxury — the CMO (and frequently the CEO) have to manage all aspects of brand building to the various audiences. </p><p>Once you bifurcate (trifurcate?) your brand-building exercises into these three target markets, you can then create programs for each. </p><p>For example, a company that wants to make its employer brand be more focused on engineering and tech might create a new tech blog where their engineers can write long-form posts to highlight a company's tech cred. Similarly, that company might choose to webcast its hack-week demo days, or post on its social media platforms more information about what it's like to be an engineer at the company. </p><p>A company that wants to make its brand appear more friendly to its business partners might create white papers highlighting case studies of collaboration with its long-time clients. </p><p>The more that marketers realize they are crafting their brand in different ways for different audiences, the more bespoke their tactics can be to address each audience individually. </p><p><em><strong>Spencer Rascoff</strong> is an entrepreneur and company leader who co-founded Zillow, Hotwire and dot.LA, and served as Zillow's CEO for a decade.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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