Spotify and chill, “Things will get weird”, and an ex-lawyer who invented cookware with removable handle
Hi friends 👋,
How are you all holdin’ up? First things first:
In this weekly newsletter, I’ll be spotlighting innovative DTC founders, and surfacing interesting consumer brands & trends. Share your feedback in the comments!
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At a glance
🙅♀️ New terms alert: Spotify and Chill. Searches for "chill" and "instrumental" playlists were up on Spotify, as two-in-five consumers reported listening to more music than usual to manage their stress. But also, The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” saw more than a 135% spike in streams in recent weeks.
☕ Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson summed up our situation well: “We have all been in our homes for six weeks, we have got a little stir-crazy.” As the weather gets nicer and states start to reopen the economy, people will likely be eager to go out, and companies like Starbucks are just as eager in reopening their stores.
💀 Legacy, debt-ridden retailers accelerate their death spiral into the abyss that’s Chapter 11. J.Crew just filed for bankruptcy. Who’s next? Hint: Quite a few more.
🏬 “Things will get weird”, declared Morning Brew, as they predict the future, “As hybridization accelerates, a store could be a showroom, a delivery warehouse, a restaurant, and a pop-up market all in one.” We are already seeing that happening, with shuttered storefronts getting repurposed into local fulfillment centers for e-commerce.
Spotlight
Our main story today is about Kate Swanson, the founder of Ensembl, which makes nesting cookware with removable handles for easy storage. You’ll hear:
Why she created a nesting cookware system
How she created a differentiated product in an extremely crowded marketplace
Kate, take us from here.
Aha! moment
I had been practicing law for 5 years at that point; we moved around quite a bit and had to move a lot of our cookware to storage; at the same time, I was planning my wedding and building a registry.
I found beautifully designed pieces but realized they were meant to be seen but not used; on the other hand, there were these generic kitchen wares that, while built for everyday use, were ugly and bulky.
Neither option worked for me, and I was frustrated.
That’s when I thought: why isn’t there well designed, functional cookware that can fit into small cabinets?
Biggest Challenge
Making a hardware product that doesn’t exist in the market is difficult. Plus, I’m not an engineer and have a small budget.
I faced a ton of obstacles in prototyping and manufacturing.
People asked me, "Why don't you just use an existing design to prove out the concept that people want to buy DTC cookware?"
But it's not something I wanted to do. I wanted to create a differentiated product that provides value. So I kept going. I'm stubborn and knew I’d be part of the status quo if I had used an existing design.
One takeaway from my story
You have to really believe in the solution you are building; so strongly, that even on the worst day, you can pull through.
If you don't believe in your solution or vision, you should stop and re-evaluate.
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We’ll delve deeper into Kate’s story on Instagram Live this Thursday 12:30pm ET. Join us by visiting our Insta pages @storey.line or @getensembl!
Brand Hunt
New brands that look interesting:
Eat: Discover Japan through snacks; argan oil organic nut butter; always fresh, sometimes normal; cereals for grownups
Drink: Flash-frozen smoothie kits; non-alcoholic craft beer; coffee concentrate; botanic spirits for the modern drinker
At StoreyLine, our mission is to empower creative and daring DTC brands to tell their powerful stories and empower consumers to discover products & brands that matter to them both online and in real life.