YouSaid · the spoken record

Mike Mauzé

lines on the record: 77
first: 2020-03-02
most recent: 2020-03-02
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“So, one thing about being part of the food industry for so long is that I've seen every diet possible come in and every product that supports every diet. Over time. But I think the one thing that I know now that I wish I would have known 20 years ago was less added sugar in my diet. And I think if consumers just consume less sugar, no matter what protein, whether you're fasting, not fasting, keto, not keto, I think you'll have a healthier lifestyle.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People and trying partnerships to put together. And I think a little bit of what we do at VMG is a little bit what my mom was doing at PBS. And so hopefully she's kind of proud of what we're doing.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I guess there's two things. One is my parents were always involved in community service. And I think in today's world, a lot of people talk about how much they contribute to something that dollar checks that they write and you walk. You know, you go to these different events and they list people based on the dollars they contribute. And my parents didn't have the resources to be major contributors or anything, but they spent a lot of time contributing to organizations in the community. They set a very high bar for all of us to try to test you. So we try to do that. Today, the day we're recording this, it happens to be my mother's birthday. And she passed away about four months ago. So this morning I've been thinking a lot about mom and what I learned from her. And she graduated from community college in southern Missouri. and had me when she was 21 and went back to work in her late 30s in the PR and eventually rose up to be head of community relations and partnerships for the PBS station here in New York City. And she always valued interesting”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, to be fair, we do use that. I was thinking more of my own personal social media on that. We do use that, and we do look at Instagram and we do look at how brands are using social media, who's following it, what's the growth rate of that. That's part of the science of making the decision.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Don't really use it much at all. I have other partners in my shop who I think use it very effectively. I respect people who use social media to help the overall ecosystem. And so when they're recognizing other people or they're providing information that's of value to it, frankly, I've seen the VC world too many people use it for self-promotion. And I just kind of find that to be unnecessary.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I've learned the importance of really understanding the team dynamics. And I might have learned that more from being part of a team. And I think it's really hard for the LPs to dive in and get a sense of is this a team that's really going to stick together through thick and thin? Do they really value each other? And when I've been on the other side of the table trying to assess that, I found that to be a difficult challenge.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One is proprietary sourcing. I sit on a few different investment committees over the years for different institutions, and we would interview private equity shops, and somebody would come in and talk about the proprietary sourcing network. And I would just kind of roll my eyes. I think in today's world, there's really no such thing as proprietary sourcing.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“People on their phones. I just find that when people are out to dinner, that you miss this opportunity to engage in conversation and people get distracted. So whether it be professionally or personally, when people are on their phone when we're out to dinner just drives me crazy”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Over the years, I've dragged my poor wife to biking in Europe, and we've biked up all the Alps, and we decided to do something new. And so we've gotten into long distance open water swimming. Last year, we were down in the Greek islands where we would swim anywhere from six to 7K a day for a week and really love that.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh gosh, there's so many. I guess the favorite story would have to be going back to the perfect bar. And I just touched on it briefly, but it was a brother and sister team. Bill and Lee Keith set up this brand after their father passed away, and they were two of thirteen children that were younger than they were. And they got the whole family involved in building this business. They took the mantle of responsibility for the family from a financial standpoint and really built a small business that they were very proud about. We were able to get involved with the business, help them grow that. And when we exited that business to Mondelez, it was such a win for that entire family who's been on this 12-year journey that we felt very lucky to participate with them.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So the fierce competition, I think, is really coming from all areas. I think we're seeing more firms that are dedicated to the lower middle market consumer space than ever before. We're seeing strategic set of their own investment arms to try to participate. I think we have international buyers coming into the market. So there is a plethora of capital. I think it's incumbent on us to make sure that we're positioning VMG with the entrepreneurs, that we could be their best partner in trying to accomplish what they want to accomplish, which is not only just kind of growing the brand and exiting, but really see that brand become something special that is part of their legacy.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Started to do some work in that area, and I think we're real excited by some of the entrepreneurs that we're seeing. I think they're looking for us because of our experience in building these types of brands to complement some of the skill set that they have.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So as this journey continues, I think we see it not only in the food and beverage and beauty area, but also I think more in the experiential area. I think consumers”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, no, I mean, it's something we give a lot of thought to when we kind of dig into it. Our general thought is that it has to have a higher bar if we're investing outside the United States, no doubt about it. And so I think we have to believe that we can outrun any of those regulatory constraints that get put in place.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, what we try to do is that if it's a Chinese company, we kind of looked at Hillhouse to kind of make many of the key decisions from an operational standpoint and when things are going in out, I think we can be helpful to them as they're looking at the global environment and certain resources that we have in the US going over there. And same over here in the United States when they're investor with us in some of our brands here that we're taking over to China will help make some of the key decisions about the operational needs of the business here in the US. But as it moves over into China, we'll certainly look for them and their expertise in helping us think through that strategy.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, much more US brand going over there. I think there is a sense over there of U.S. quality of the brands and trying to have that kind of Western experience in certain categories.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's remarkable. I think anybody who's traveled over there kind of knows that. But when I was over there originally was trying to take these brands over there and there's really no distribution for the brands there now it's kind of leapfrogged the United States in terms of their distribution with what they're doing online. Lay and the team from Hillhouse were real leaders in investing in that space and real confidence to the leaders of that space in helping build out those brands. And as I said, they've really built the tubes of distribution in China. Now those tubes need brands. And I think the opportunity that Leigh and I saw working together was that we could bring those brands from the United States into those tubes. The other thing that's happened over in China that's made it interesting for us to think about investing over there is the entrepreneurial environment. We're invested in two brands, one's baby food company called Little Freddy. One is a beauty company called Perfect Diary. Both of them are outstanding brands, tremendous growth prospects. I think they're some of the best entrepreneurs.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They are really very much of a thought leader, and so they've been very helpful in making introductions to our brands over there and trying to find the right team to help those brands expand.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, one way we've done it is I went back to my roots and my experience in Asia and we formed a partnership with Hill House Capital where we have invested in certain brands that they've identified over in China and they've invested with certain of our portfolio companies here in the US that we could bring over to China.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“It's something we give a lot of thought to. Our very first sale was with Nestle with a company called Wagon Train, and they notified us and told us that that was an IP issue in China with the Wagon Train name. And we had no idea about that. But it really opened our eyes that entrepreneurs from around the world were looking at US brands and were copying those brands and taking over to the home market. Sometimes they were doing a direct copy, which is counterfeit. But other times they would just make it slightly different. And so it really has made us think about are there certain brands that really do have international opportunities that we should work with and support them as they meet their growth needs.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, it was interesting when I first got into the private equity business 20 years ago, we had to explain what private equity was, what things were priced at, and I go meet with an entrepreneur today, and they've been building a business for the past year, and they can walk through 10 consumer PE firms. They can walk through the multiples that companies traded at. There's just so much more information out there what's going on. And I think the entrepreneurs are in a better position to judge who's going to be the right partner for them.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think it's very much of a team approach, number one, and it's a sense of trying to make the pie bigger. As we kind of mentioned earlier, the transparency was coming to the marketplace right about that time. And our general thought is that we could be helpful to everyone, that we could really differentiate ourselves. But it really required us to think about how are we willing to sacrifice a little bit for ourselves as individuals, as a firm, to really create a larger pie for not only ourselves, but our LPs, but the broader consumer community.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So it was interesting. We used Park Hill Capital. We were very lucky to have them as our placement agent. Dan Prendergast, who passed away this past year, became a very close friend. And they really stuck with us through thick and thin. But it was kind of unique because we would go out and talk to folks and do a week of marketing, and then we'd have a week off our team. And we'd have no capital. We had really nothing to do. But what it really allowed us to do during that time was to think about, well, how do we want to interact with each other? What kind of processes do we want to put in place? How do we want to treat the banking community? How do we want to treat the legal community? So we had so many of those conversations as a team that I really think put the formation of VMG together where if we left our former shop and then raced out and got the capital very quickly and raced to go deploy it, I'm not so sure we would have been as thoughtful about it.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How do you grow the team over time? How do you compensate the team? How do we communicate and be transparent? One of the funny stories about that is at my former firm, they didn't have annual meetings. And so our LPs wanted to have an annual meeting. And I personally had never been to an annual meeting before. I didn't know what it would be. And so Cararell and I were out meeting with some LPs. And we asked one or two of them, could we go sit in the conference room and could you bring us some books, not anything in the consumer space of other LP meeting that you've been to that you thought was thoughtful in the way it outlined? And we literally sat there and looked at a couple of the different books and laid out an outline for our very first LP meeting.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We start off with a $325 million fund, which at the time was the largest first time ever consumer product fund. We raised that fund with no track record in our book. It took us almost two years, start to finish, to kind of go do it, which was a crazy long winding road journey. But those LPs that came in on Fund One have been our partners all the way through. And we've been so fortunate to have a group that we could kind of talk to, bounce ideas off of because our team, we formed VMG, we had really very little experience in private equity in running a private equity firm. And we really needed some of the input from some of our LPs to really be helpful and think through some of the key issues.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I tell you, for sometimes it's been four or five years that we've known the company before they've come into the portfolio.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“How we work with an opportunity. And then as they get to a size where they're going to need capital to build their business, we hope they'll consider VMG.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Out. So usually somebody meets that company really very early. They're oftentimes sub five million dollars and they'll come back to our group on our Monday meeting and they'll talk about companies they met this week and they'll say really interesting entrepreneur, really what they're trying to do. We really need to keep an eye on that. That entrepreneur may be at a trade show where other partners might be at. And so other partners might stop by their booth and spend 15 or 20 minutes just to get to know that person. What we try to do with that entrepreneur too is just find out what their problems are, what their issues are, and see if we could be helpful in some way. Sometimes they're looking for a new marketing person or new salesperson and our talent team could be helpful to them. Our team puts together innovation summits with key retailers in our space, and we might invite those brands to the retailer summit. They're not our portfolio companies, but we're going to be helpful to them. And what we hope over time is that we get to see them see how they think about an opportunity, and they get to see us.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We have an investment team of about 12 folks. We have five partners, including myself. We've been working together. Kara and I have worked together for 20 years. Robin and Wayne for about 11, 12 years together, Dave, 15 years. So we work very closely together. We make decisions as a group on that. We really all want to own the decision. And if it's success, we all bask in the glory of it. And if it's a problem, we all work on trying to solve that problem together that there's no finger pointing. We say we have a what do you think culture? We're constantly saying, well, what do you think about this deal? What do you think about it? What do you think about this part of the deal? Are you comfortable with this entrepreneur? And we're constantly asking ourselves that question. I think we've made good decisions as a team because we talk about the deals many times. I'm always amazed by firms that can have like an investment committee meeting and people are seeing it for the first or second time and they are saying yes or no. It's just not in our DNA on how we think.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I still think we're in the midpoint at best. One is I think we're seeing more people get onto that journey than ever before. And I think that's what really scares CPG, that the people who got on that journey 15 or 20 years ago was one small set. And now I think we're seeing a much larger group of people getting on that journey.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think right now it's just too much of the Wild West. I think valuations are out of line. So I think we'll wait to see that industry settle a little bit more before we'll make a decision whether we'll participate or not.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we've looked at that space, we've looked at the CBD space. My general view of it is that CBD is going to be an ingredient, and I think a lot of brands will have it over time. And if it's effective, you're going to see those traditional brands incorporated. I think CBD in terms of THC is a real unique product and one that's going to take away from the alcohol and spirits place. I think we're seeing that in places like California and Colorado.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“They are entrepreneurs and they're willing to kind of take that chance. And I think one of the things that the leaders of these big CPGs now are seeing is they want that DNA in their organization. They realize that they want those types of people to work with it. And what they're trying to do is to figure out what's the right comp model, what's the right incentive model to keep those people working within a small part of a big CPG company.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Interesting. Things are kind of changing in general. I think big CPG is doing much better with the brands today, in part because I think they changed the way that they've been working with those brands. So 15 years ago, when they would buy a brand, they would basically strip out it from the company and pop it into their system. And the brand would probably go and die. What I think the realizing these days is that these brands are special, these entrepreneurs are special, and these management teams are special. And so they're leaving these brands and these teams together. So if you look at some of our recent sales, whether it be Justin's to Hormel, Foods, Perfect Barda Mondele's, Quest is simply good, you're seeing those companies deciding to leave those brands in place and leave those management teams in place in hopes that they can maintain that special relationship with the consumer and the retailer that they have.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, our goal is to really work with the entrepreneurs to sell to a big strategic. So we've exited 20 plus brands over the past 10 years and all but one has been to the strategic buyers. I think the big strategic CPGs are looking for us and others for their growth in their portfolio. They're not very good at nurturing smaller entrepreneurial brands and really see the acquisition of these brands as a real opportunity for them to generate top line growth.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think it was they saw a niche that others didn't see, which was to have a fresh product in the refrigerated section. Now, it made for a huge challenge for the team because there wasn't a bar section of the refrigerator in the grocery store. So I think they saw an opportunity and then also saw the risk of being able to execute, but put together kind of a strategy to be able to do that.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Diversified business and also be able to launch new products. We recently sold that last year to Mondelez. That was a big win for the family.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I think the idea is that people were eating Amazon using alternative beans would be another healthy way of having another healthy dip. People were going to the refrigerated section of the store. It was an interesting product for that. When you look at kind of wins that we've had along those lines, take one in the same part of the store in the refrigerated section. And it's a company called Perfect Snacks. And it's a wonderful business that was started by a brother and sister team in their early 20s. And it is a refrigerated bar. And they had built this business up into sub $20 million and were looking for a partner to provide capital in there and growth. And what we were able to help them go do is really build out the management team between the brother and sister. So we helped them recruit a new head of ops. We helped them recruit a new CFO. We helped them recruit a new head of sales and really think about the strategy of go to market to expand from being a predominantly Costco business to a much more”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Good example of that would be a brand like Land. We saw it was an alternative hummus business. We needed to rebrand it, come up with a new name, come up with a new packaging, come up with a new supply chain. And it had just too much complexity for us in doing to try to make all those things work right. And it turned out to be a transaction that was not a good one.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So on the icy side, I should say, at times when we have, I think, failed in accomplishing what we want to accomplish, I think we've had too much hubris in what we can do to a brand. So I think when you look at a brand, you see what it is. And I think we have visions of what a brand can be and entrepreneur has visions of what a brand can be. And when we have failed to execute, I think it's because we've tried to do too much, to change it too much, to try to make it something that it is not. So I think that has been a challenge.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So there are different tools that people use. One's a net promoter score that you kind of do an interview. You ask people to take a survey and if they're high on the brand, they could have a high NPS. I think what we try to do is talk to everybody we can in our ecosystem about a brand and about an opportunity and about an entrepreneur. So that would include relationships that we have with retailers, relationships that we have with manufacturers, relationships that we have with bankers, relationships we have with strategics, relationships that we have with managers. And from that whole ecosystem, I think we're able to develop an insight into the brand and into the entrepreneur.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So we do a kind of two ways. One is I think we're proactive in looking at general research data, but we don't like to be too top down in the way we approach things. We really want to listen to the entrepreneurs and kind of tell us on why the consumer is moving that way. One thing we've always been conscious of is making sure that we're not investing in bad brands in great categories. So we don't want to talk ourselves into a category. We want to talk ourselves into a great entrepreneur and a great brand.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Clearly, there have been more dollars that's coming in that's been driving values slightly higher. We also have to move with a speed to conviction faster than I think we had to maybe five to 15 years ago.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Priorities on it. One thing about entrepreneurs is they have a ton of energy and they want to go a million miles in a million different ways. And I think what we can do is help them think about what is the best use of their time and the best use of their resources to build what they want to build.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think the first thing we try to identify is the team that's in place and what they need. Some entrepreneurs are very strong CEOs and want to really run that through. Others go, hey, this business has hit a size where it's kind of outgrowing my skill set and what I care about. So that's really the first conversation with you, the entrepreneur. We have a very strong talent team at VMG, and they work with any specific deal team to help assess that management team and see where those gaps are. So the first thing we try to do is really put that management team in place. And then we look at each phase of the business, the branding, the go-to-market strategy, the manufacturing, et cetera, and see where the strengths are weaknesses are and see where our skill set in terms of our knowledge from previous transactions, as well as the resources that we have both internally and externally could be helpful to that company to execute on that. I think the other thing that we do really well with those entrepreneurs is really sit down and try to set the process.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, we think it's been working for us. It's also the way we work. So it's the honest way. We always encourage these entrepreneurs to go talk to other folks. And if somebody they think is a better partner for them, we really encourage them to go do it. But we hope that we can be a good partner to a real diversity of entrepreneurs”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We talk to him is one we say, go call any of the entrepreneurs that we've worked with in the past and ask if we're a partner. What we try to stress to them that this is a journey. We don't have a specific playbook. We don't have any special answers. But what we're willing to do is to roll the sleeves and understand what makes your brand special and what are those challenges ahead and to help identify the resources to support you in doing that, to make sure that your vision is something that we could execute on. So as we kind of lay that out and we spend time with them, we have real questions to them about their team, where are the gaps in their team, what's their distribution strategy, what's their manufacturing strategy, what's their go-to-market, what's their branding. And through that period of getting to know them, we hope that they get comfortable with us as being that partner, not a partner that knows the answer, but a partner that's willing to kind of discover the answers.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So across the portfolio, I think we've done really well in the low sugar space. So we had a business quest that we were an investor in that recently sold to Simply Good Foods. It's a large public company. We have a very interesting portfolio company called Lily's, which is a low sugar chocolate business that's based out of Boulder that we're very excited about. So that low sugar trend seems to be one that seems to be very prevalent that the other is in the beauty space that we've seen a lot of brands that the consumers are carrying much more about the ingredients in the brands and what they're putting onto their skin. And so we just sold drunk elephant to Shisheto last year that kind of fit on that trend. And in some bum, we just sold to SE Johnson. I think both of those brands, I think, met that trend.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“One is we're really transparent and we bring the entrepreneurs together so they can kind of work together. And I think as they understand the different niches that they're following, I think they understand that they could learn from the other entrepreneurs that are part of the portfolio and that we at VMG to be the best partner we can can learn from other companies that could be in their category or an ancillary type of category. In general, though, I think what we try to do is to go after the best opportunity and not get worried about the portfolio construction from a diversity of different categories. We're very much interested in finding the right brand with the right entrepreneur.”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As you go out and build a portfolio of these companies, I'd imagine there are only so many beverage companies you want to work with at a time, maybe so many fruit nut, and then there's other categories. How do you build a portfolio without having competition within the portfolio companies?”
2020-03-02 · Capital Allocators · Mike Mauzé - Escape Velocity for CPG Brands at VMG Partners (First Meeting, EP.16) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source