from a founder short on cash and overwhelmed with options to a clear path to a preferred future

Startup Exit Strategy

Roadmapping | Workshop Facilitation | 35 Thousand | 6 months

Background
35 Thousand, a sustainable luxury skincare brand designed for frequent corporate travelers, was poised to launch as a travel brand when the pandemic hit. After a delayed launch, growth was steady but slow. With a shrinking runway and competing advice and options coming from every direction, the founder was at a decision point: pivot or wind down.

Challenge
How might 35 Thousand live on while upholding the brand’s values and the founder’s goals?

Result
Two viable acquisition offers to choose from that support growth of the brand and align with the founder’s vision.

My Role
I partnered with the founder to:

  • synthesize the current business dynamics, opportunities, worries, and unknowns

  • clarify what matters most

  • identify potential paths forward

  • craft an acquisition strategy

No Runway. Now What?

After spending more than two decades flying around the world as a corporate executive, founder Misty Reich had everything about travel dialed in — except her skincare. So she developed a suite of highly effective products designed specifically for the practicalities and harsh skin environment of travel.

After investing in scientific research and product development, 35 Thousand’s launch was postponed due to the pandemic. The slow growth of this sustainable skincare-for-travel brand tracked with the slow recovery of the travel industry.

Despite YoY sales growth with minimal ad spend, Misty was running out of money and overwhelmed with advice and options coming from every direction. She sought a thought partner to develop a clear and actionable strategy to keep the brand alive.

“Clearing the Fog"

Through a rapid series of 1:1 conversations, we captured the current business dynamics, opportunities, worries, and unknowns in Mural and a Business Model Canvas.

Getting all of this out of Misty’s head and onto a canvas helped slow the mental swirling.

a Business Model canvas helped us evaluate the current dynamics

I then synthesized and diagrammed clear and prioritized swim lanes to bring clarity to what matters most amidst competing priorities.

diagramming the moving parts to put next actions in the right order

Finding a Way Forward

Grounded in this new clarity, we asked: how might the brand continue to exist?

Misty had been grappling with this question for months. My first thought was to facilitate a team ideation workshop — she hadn’t thought of the right answer yet and getting more brains in a room would get us there.

However, during our workshop prep, I quickly realized that the real challenge was not identifying new possibilities. It was narrowing in on the best option. Instead, I designed a two-part process.

First, I designed and facilitated a 1-hour workshop with Misty to clearly define the known ways forward, identify her decision criteria, and then rank the options against her criteria.

Then, I designed and facilitated a 2-hour virtual workshop for the founder and a team of her closest advisors and collaborators. We used this time to ideate around positioning 35 Thousand for the #1 path forward: acquisition by a values-aligned company.

The workshop produced four clear immediate actions.

Craft a Story

To prep for acquisition, I distilled the business plan, achievements, and metrics into a data-driven story arc. I recruited a designer to maximize visual impact. We collaborated over one week to craft an acquisition pitch deck.

Build a Roadmap

To maintain forward momentum and clarity, I sequenced and assigned owners and dependencies to next actions spanning pitching, decision points, and details of an acquisition handoff.

This roadmap poises the team for due diligence and handoff, avoiding any unnecessary delays.

Result

Misty pitched her dream acquirer. They had expressed interest previously but ultimately declined.

However, engaging her advisors in the strategy workshop led to new connections and ultimately two viable acquisition offers to choose from. Our decision criteria and due diligence roadmap enabled Misty to move quickly and capitalize on this opportunity.