The Powerhouse Ceo Quietly Building Katy Perry S Drinks Empire Know The End Game Before You Start

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

• For beverage brands, successful Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) operations require a core subscription model to make the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to Lifetime Value (LTV) equation viable due to high shipping costs.  Copied to clipboard!
• Early-stage beverage brands should prioritize building deep, intentional community activation over broad, expensive top-of-funnel brand marketing until distribution is established.  Copied to clipboard!
• When building a consumer product, simplify the proposition by directly mirroring existing alcoholic drink categories (e.g., Non-Alcoholic Margarita) rather than using abstract concepts, as consumers seek direct replacements.  Copied to clipboard!

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De Soi Product Introduction

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(00:00:11)

• Key Takeaway: De Soi produces non-alcoholic sparkling aperitifs, including popular flavors like Non-Alcoholic Aperol Spritz and Spicy Margarita.
• Summary: De Soi creates non-alcoholic sparkling aperitifs, which are described as a fancy word for a cocktail. The current lineup includes bestsellers such as Spritz Italiano (Non-Alcoholic Aperol Spritz), Non-Alcoholic Rose, and Spicy Margarita. Scout Brisson joined the company in October 2021, just before the January 2022 launch.

Key Business Milestones

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(00:00:47)

• Key Takeaway: De Soi achieved national placement in Target’s first non-alcoholic set in 2023 after manifesting the goal in a 2021 deck.
• Summary: The company raised a seed funding round from Willow Growth in 2022, primarily focusing on D2C before building retail presence. By the time of the recording, De Soi was in over 7,500 retail doors with a lean team of 11 people. Scout Brisson attributes hitting the Target national launch milestone to successful manifestation efforts.

Scout’s Career Path

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(00:02:14)

• Key Takeaway: A background in neuroscience and pre-med led Scout Brisson to management consulting at McKinsey, where she developed skills in stakeholder management and storytelling.
• Summary: Scout initially pursued an academic path in neuroscience at MIT, intending to get a PhD, but found independent lab research boring. She pivoted to pre-med before taking a gap year where a friend suggested management consulting, which she enjoyed for its team-based, client-facing nature. Her experience at McKinsey included consumer, entertainment, and growth-focused projects before moving into venture and entrepreneurship.

Founding Story and Role

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(00:05:33)

• Key Takeaway: De Soi was co-founded by Katy Perry and Morgan, an award-winning distiller, who sought a partner with a platform to handle category education.
• Summary: Co-founders Katy Perry and Morgan met in 2020 while both pregnant and not drinking, developing early non-alcoholic spirits and ready-to-drink options. Scout Brisson was introduced to them in 2021 when the liquids, brand, and initial supply chain were set up, needing someone to quarterback the launch. She initially joined as General Manager before moving into the CEO role.

Early D2C Missteps

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(00:07:12)

• Key Takeaway: Early spending on non-essential brand marketing, like custom packaging for bottles that were later replaced by cans, was a costly misstep for the D2C engine.
• Summary: The company spent significant, unnecessary money on brand marketing in the early D2C phase before having sufficient distribution to leverage it. For example, $10,000 was spent on branded boxes for bottles that were never used because cans proved a better fit for retail. Sponsoring events, like one celebrity launch activation costing $20,000, was also deemed the wrong investment for early-stage top-of-funnel awareness.

D2C Success Factor

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(00:09:02)

• Key Takeaway: For a beverage business to be successful on D2C, subscription must be the core business to ensure the CAC to LTV equation works against advertising and shipping costs.
• Summary: Targeted activation, such as small pop-ups in key independent shops, was more effective than large event sponsorships in the beginning. Subscription revenue was identified as what fueled growth in the early D2C days. Without subscription, the cost of advertising and shipping makes the margin equation difficult to sustain.

Rapid Retail Expansion Strategy

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(00:09:51)

• Key Takeaway: Initial retail entry began with regional premium accounts like Erewhon and Foxtrot, leveraging early PR awareness from Katy Perry to generate inbound interest from larger buyers like Total Wine and More.
• Summary: The initial retail strategy involved submitting through traditional online portals for regional, natural premium accounts where early adopters shopped. The initial PR push surrounding the launch, amplified by Katy Perry’s platform, created awareness with both trade and consumers. Major accounts, such as Total Wine and More, later reached out via an inbound sales email inbox.

Driving In-Store Sell-Through

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(00:12:00)

• Key Takeaway: Successful sell-through in retail relies on unsexy building blocks like perfect in-store execution and continuously revising packaging for clear messaging hierarchy.
• Summary: Brands risk being discontinued if they secure stocking but lack the funding or awareness to sell through the product. Execution requires ensuring the product is correctly on shelf and the packaging clearly communicates the brand name and product identity first. De Soi has revised its packaging approximately four times to optimize for on-shelf visibility and messaging hierarchy.

Hot Category Challenges

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(00:13:50)

• Key Takeaway: Being early in a hot category like non-alcoholic beverages creates opportunities like dedicated shelf space but also challenges regarding pricing confusion and inconsistent placement.
• Summary: Early entry allowed De Soi to secure favorable terms, such as being part of Target’s first non-alc set, avoiding the fight for existing shelf space. A challenge is that products can be buried in unknown mixer sets if dedicated non-alc sections are not established. Pricing was initially set too high ($25 for a four-pack) based on replacement expectations for alcoholic drinks, requiring later cost engineering.

Beverage Formulation and Co-Packing

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(00:16:06)

• Key Takeaway: The most cost-efficient way to develop beverage formulas is by working directly with a flavor house that supplies natural flavors and often provides access to R&D teams.
• Summary: Flavor houses are recommended for creating beverage formulas as they supply natural flavors and offer R&D support, which is more cost-efficient than hiring external formulators. Scaling from benchtop to production requires finding a co-packer, a process where founders should anticipate ten things going wrong instead of three. Diligence on the first co-packer is crucial, utilizing CPG community resources like Startup CPG or Keychain for directories.

Product Proposition Pivot

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(00:17:46)

• Key Takeaway: De Soi shifted from abstract aperitif names to direct, one-for-one replacements (like Non-Alcoholic Rose and Spicy Margarita) after consumer testing showed a need for clear value propositions.
• Summary: Initial flavors like Golden Hour and Purple Loon were too abstract, leaving consumers unsure of taste or occasion. Consumer testing established thresholds: 80-90% must like the liquid, and 80% must be satisfied if told it was the alcoholic replacement they expected. The portfolio was shifted to easily understood options like Spritz Italiano and Spicy Margarita to facilitate easier purchasing decisions.

Navigating Amazon Resellers

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(00:20:16)

• Key Takeaway: Combating Amazon resellers requires offering a distinct product format (e.g., 12-packs instead of 4-packs) and hiring specialized legal counsel to issue cease and desist letters.
• Summary: Resellers began appearing in 2023, causing De Soi to lose the buy box and advertising spend effectiveness. The solution involved creating a unique format for Amazon that distributors could not easily access, specifically pushing 12-packs online while keeping 4-packs for retail. Self-attempted resolution failed, but hiring a firm like Thorncrest, which recognizes repeat resellers, proved effective.

Amazon Customer Profile

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(00:22:19)

• Key Takeaway: The Amazon customer base is generally more value-oriented and critical than the D2C customer, prioritizing speed and ease of return over direct brand support.
• Summary: Amazon shoppers are more critical regarding price point intersection with premium products, requiring careful margin management to avoid undercutting the core business. Consumers are often more willing to try a new product on Amazon due to its ease of purchase, speed (next-day delivery), and simple return process. The company ultimately views all channels, including Amazon, as important parts of the ecosystem.

Hiring Philosophy

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(00:23:37)

• Key Takeaway: Hiring decisions should prioritize character attributes—sharpness, hunger, proactivity, and a ‘chip on the shoulder’—over experience, validated through case studies using real business problems.
• Summary: Scout prioritizes hiring individuals who are proactive and hungry, often looking for a competitive drive to prove themselves. Hunger is tested by checking if candidates tried the product or researched the competitive landscape before interviews. Real-world case studies, such as asking candidates how they would price a new variety pack, are used to assess their on-the-job thinking process.

Early Team Composition

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(00:25:39)

• Key Takeaway: The first hires should complement the founder’s skill set, such as bringing in an operations/finance expert if the founder excels at marketing, and prioritizing versatile ‘Jack of all trades’ marketers.
• Summary: If a founder is strong in marketing, the first hire should be an operations or finance counterpart. De Soi’s early key hire was a COO, John, a serial beverage executive skilled in navigating complex distribution. Finding a versatile marketer who can handle copywriting, design, and activation brainstorming is highly valuable but difficult to source.

Fundraising Landscape Shift

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(00:27:23)

• Key Takeaway: The fundraising environment shifted dramatically from a 2021 ‘growth at all cost’ mindset to a 2022 focus on profitability, forcing beverage brands to educate investors on category-specific timelines.
• Summary: The VC mindset pivoted from prioritizing growth to demanding a clear path to profitability within two years, which is difficult for capital-intensive categories like beverages. It is crucial to find investors who understand that beverage profitability timelines differ significantly from beauty or supplement brands. Growing efficiently and leanly is essential to ensure the company stays alive long enough to iterate and hit necessary milestones.

Investor Diversity

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(00:29:29)

• Key Takeaway: Maintaining a diverse funding pipeline including angels, family offices, and VCs prevents reliance on a single source whose deployment strategy might halt during macroeconomic uncertainty or category trend shifts.
• Summary: When VCs stop deploying capital due to uncertainty or lack of M&A activity, other sources must be available. Angels are valuable because they often invest earlier, focus more on the founder, and are less driven by short-term trends. Angels often invest based on personal connection to the category, such as understanding the shift toward reduced alcohol consumption.

Final Advice for Founders

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(00:31:25)

• Key Takeaway: Founders must work backward from a clear end-game revenue goal by understanding how potential acquirers or Series A investors evaluate a business, and delay building a full-time team as long as possible.
• Summary: Scout advises being clear on the end goal (e.g., selling to one of five target players at X revenue) and learning how those entities evaluate a business. Founders should actively seek feedback from investors during the fundraising rejection cycle to gain valuable insights. Furthermore, founders should rely on contractors and freelancers until absolutely necessary to avoid the difficulty and time commitment required to disentangle from full-time employees.

Resource Recommendation

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(00:33:44)

• Key Takeaway: Shortwave is a highly recommended email platform that improves upon Superhuman with superior inbox searchability and AI interaction capabilities.
• Summary: Scout is obsessed with the email platform Shortwave, preferring its interface and searchability over Superhuman. The platform offers tools similar to Superhuman but allows users to interact with emails conversationally. A referral link for the tool will be provided in the show notes.