This Week in VC Podcasts

Sep 23 – Sep 29, 2024

4 top clips from 1 episode across 1 show

Clip of the week

Riding Unicorns· Simon MellinOrigin Story

We bought the local milk round for a couple of grand - a bigger public truck with a window we had to wedge shut with cardboard and 100 customers. I quickly found the pitfalls in why it died: no one has cash anymore.

6:34 / 6:58

So we bought the local milk round. You know, we give a couple of grand for a a bigger public truck with a window that we had to wedge shut with cardboard and a 100 customers, and this book that was every page was its customer. And I spent three weeks learning this route of how to deliver milk to these customers and quickly found the pitfalls in why it died. You know, two key areas of, one, I can't get paid. So, you know, no one has cash anymore, and that's completely killed the industry.

6:34 - 6:5825sRead the episode →

Top clips

Riding Unicorns · Simon Mellin

Business Mechanics

There's a lot of subscriptions that are nice to have, but not necessarily what you need. Milk's a great example - you use it all the time. Having this regular repeat order makes a lot of sense.

Clear distinction between need-based vs nice-to-have subscriptions with concrete example. Explains why some subscription businesses work better than others.

19:44 - 20:0420s

Riding Unicorns · Simon Mellin

Business Mechanics

Population density in the US is only about 20% of the UK, so your cost to serve is significantly higher. But the US consumer spends a lot more than the UK consumer, so the unit economics work out very similar.

Reveals counterintuitive business insight with specific data points. Shows how different market conditions can yield similar outcomes through different mechanisms - valuable for anyone scaling internationally.

24:55 - 25:2328s

Riding Unicorns · Simon Mellin

Origin Story

When we started Modern Milkman, we bought modernmilkman.co.uk, but modernmilkman.com was taken. At that point, we didn't think much about it - we were very focused on testing the plan in the UK.

Sets up an intriguing domain story that hints at future US expansion. The casual dismissal of the .com domain creates tension for anyone who knows how valuable domains become.

23:25 - 23:4318s

Riding Unicorns(4)

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This Week in VC Podcasts

Clip of the week

We bought the local milk round for a couple of grand - a bigger public truck with a window we had to wedge shut with cardboard and 100 customers. I quickly found the pitfalls in why it died: no one has cash anymore.

Transcript

Top clips

There's a lot of subscriptions that are nice to have, but not necessarily what you need. Milk's a great example - you use it all the time. Having this regular repeat order makes a lot of sense.

Population density in the US is only about 20% of the UK, so your cost to serve is significantly higher. But the US consumer spends a lot more than the UK consumer, so the unit economics work out very similar.

When we started Modern Milkman, we bought modernmilkman.co.uk, but modernmilkman.com was taken. At that point, we didn't think much about it - we were very focused on testing the plan in the UK.