Ariel Kaye (Parachute) - Creating the leading brand in bedding and home decor

Our guest today is Ariel Kaye, founder of Parachute. Parachute is a home essentials brand that is designed in Los Angeles and manufactured by expert craftspeople across the globe including Portugal, Turkey and the U.S. In this episode you'll learn how Ariel saw the opportunity to create a brand in bedding, approached an omni-channel strategy, managing her stores and business during COVID.You can follow Ariel on Twitter @arielkayeSome of the questions I ask Ariel:What attracted you to consumer brands?What was the insight that led you to founding Parachute?What was missing from bedding?What was the competitive stack?What the supply chain could look like?What was your approach to brand design?How did you source your product?What was your launch strategy?How did you pick which SKUs to launch with?How did you pick distribution channels?What was your approach to retail and omnichannel?Why did you choose to go direct, creating your own stores?How do did you think about organic growth vs. paid?Approach to customer retention and building a dedicated audience.How did you think about expanding into other categories?How did you have to pivot during COVID?As we come out of COVID, what's on the horizon for Parachute?What was your approach to fundraising?What's one thing you would change about fundraising?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?Don't sweat the small stuffWhat's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Om Podcasten

The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place. Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription. Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch. This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled. For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.