Today we launch our pre-seed round
It’s a special day for Parachute Coffee.
On one memorable day in February 2016, however, it wasn’t.
Bootstrapping a business on a credit card is the biggest challenge that I’ve faced in my entire life. I fumbled my phone from my pocket. It was the conversation that all founders dread the most. Carrying the debt of the company, and feeling overwhelmed by the pressure, I dialed Jake and Yehia’s numbers.
“Jake, Yehia. We’re going to pivot in our business model. If it doesn’t work — we’re folding.”
Jake chimed in. “If we jump, we’re jumping together”. And after we all aligned on all-or-nothing …
We jumped.
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Bootstrapping forces you to be scrappy in the way that you deploy resources, and focus all of your efforts on achieving product-market fit. With a small sample size of users, we could test, iterate, and deploy. In 2017, with each subscription sold, and each experience with our product, we moved closer and closer to achieving bullseye product market fit.
But it was never simple. Our first humble shipment of 25 airdrops was a near miss. A dead car battery, a borrowed car, and a lot of gut checks. Crisis averted.
By 2018, in 1+ years, Parachute Coffee has successfully shipped 8,000 airdrops, and sold 1,250 subscriptions, with a team of 3 and zero marketing investment.
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How did we achieve this? After a lot of trial and error, we landed on pure product market fit. We source the highest quality seasonal coffee, sourced and roasted by our master roaster. We roast, hand-pack, and ship each airdrop to our customers doors within 24 hours of it being roasted, using a hub and spoke model. We provide them full control to personalize their subscription, at their fingertips. And then we wrap it all up in the Parachute Coffee experience, by filling their kitchens with delicious smell of freshly roasted coffee. We elevate the home brewing experience with storytelling, beautiful design, and personalized communications.
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Subscription direct to consumer innovation is happening in every corner of CPG in 2018, from shampoo subscriptions, to meal kits, and all the way to razors.
Coffee is our corner. Since 2005, ‘hipster’ coffee spend per capita has increased 6 times in North America. And as of 2017, 67% of adults in North America drink ‘hipster coffee’, and 41% drink it on daily basis.
We’re digital natives in an ancient retail coffee space, and we’re on a mission to claim our space, and bring ‘hipster coffee’ home. Where it’s needed most.
We’ve named the next phase: takeoff. In January 2018, we’ve continued to build on our aptitudes, identify and invest in gaps, and we will now turn our attention to investing heavily in customer acquisition and retention, building a world-class end-to-end digital customer experience, and opening the doors to the community that we’ve built to the coffee lovers already looking for us.
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To finance our take-off, we’re opening a pre-seed round of $250K.
And we’re privileged to have the round led by Tarek Rouchdy, a true champion of our mission. And joined by Tim Mayer, an e-commerce veteran and early advisor to our team.
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In 2016, when I called Jake and Yehia, we had no idea where we were going. We jumped together, and built the parachute on the way down.
Today, we know exactly where we’re going. The parachute has been packed, and we’re taking off.
We’d love for you to join us.
Happy brewing,
Michael Potters, CEO
