#156 Barberino’s: Italian Luxury Takes on the American Dream

Michele: My name is Michele and I'm from Italy. I would describe myself young. ambitious, hard worker and joyful. I like to work. and at the same time, I like also to have fun 

I’m Josh Muccio and I also like to have fun. This is The Pitch. Where startup founders raise millions and listeners can invest.

Today on the show, Michele is bringing Milan to Miami. By pitching his line of Italian luxury grooming products… for men.

Michele: this is a bit ridiculous no? But I want my brand to be the number one in the world. hearing about the American dream, know, this democratization, even me. I'm not an American citizen, I just have a visa. I can come and play my card. So I said, I want to give it a try and here I am.

The Pitch for Barberino’s is coming up, after this. And whether you’re watching or listening on YouTube, Patreon or your favorite podcast player - thanks so much for subscribing and don’t forget to turn on notifications.

Welcome back to The Pitch for Barberino’s. Let’s meet the investors

Elizabeth Yin with Hustle Fund

You're an A plus founder.

Charles Hudson with Precursor Ventures

I feel like I’m the lone dissenter

Jesse Middleton with Flybridge

I don’t normally like edtech, but I really like you.

and two new investors to the show - Ben Zises with SuperAngel

I’m not seeing anything else super revolutionary here

and Kate McAndrew with Baukunst

For those who can’t see, my jaw is currently on the floor

[clap] Nailed it

Kate: Such a niche skill. 

Jesse: Yep.

Charles: we used to do it and then I think maybe the quality control when we did it wasn't as great. 

Jesse: Welcome. 

Charles: Hey, how are you? Nice to meet you. Charles. 

Jesse: Hey Jesse. Nice to meet you.

Elizabeth: Elizabeth. Nice to meet you.

Kate: Kate.

Ben: Ben. 

Michele: Hey Ben, nice to meet you. Ciao to everyone, my name is Michele, from Barberino. 20 percent of American men earn more than $200,000 per year. Those men drive Ferrari, they wear Armani and they live in penthouses, but they don't have a place where to go to take care about themselves. And more importantly, they don't have a brand which they can identify with when it comes to men's grooming. And this is the reason why Niccolò and I founded Barberinos and grew it to become the leading luxury men's grooming brand in Italy. In 2024, in Italy, with almost 5 million in revenues, more than 100,000 loyal customers and 45 SKU distributed across 120 locations, our mission is very simple. Help every man feel his best, because better men make it for a better world. But Niccolò and I want more. We want our brand to be the number one in the world. So we look at ourselves and we ask, okay, what's next? If you want to be the number one brand in the world, you need to start with the number one country in the world. United States of America. Yes, but how? We searched for the best expert in the country, Eric Malka, who founded the Art of Shaving and sold it to Proctor and Gamble in 2009. With his help, we will make Barberino the premier men's grooming brand in the United States. Early last year, we opened up our first store in New York City at 520 Madison Avenue. We broke even in six months. And we are now at 1.5 million in revenues in less than one year. This means that we are ready to scale. We want to achieve national coverage in main US cities with our flagship stores that will be driving revenues and reputation. But be aware, the stores are not the business. They are the foundation for building up the brand, because they inspire emotion, they create connection, and they foster a real community. From there, our wholesale and D2C channel will scale the business efficiently by delivering our products to all affluent men in America. We are raising 1.5 million dollar and, today, I'm inviting you to join us in shaping the future of luxury men's grooming 

Elizabeth: Cool. So can you talk a little bit about what we see on the table here? 

Michele: Yes. 

Elizabeth: So I guess in terms of the products, it looks like there's a shampoo and -

Michele: Yeah, this is just a selection. We have 45 SKU. 

Elizabeth: Oh wow.

Michele: So we cover shaving, beard care, facial, hair care and also styling. 

Kate: Can you pass them around? I want to smell it. 

Kate: It's really mild. 

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Kate: I kind of, I sort of want to go wash my hair. Yeah. Just to like really get the experience. 

Jesse: Yeah, this one was a little bit sweeter.

Kate: Can I see the packaging? 

Charles: It's got like a little vanilla, almost.

Kate: Uh, no. Just what - you just put back there. 

Jesse: Yeah. 

Charles: This one's nice. Yeah. 

Jesse: I like that one. 

Charles: Yeah. I would wear that. 

Kate: Do you wear cologne? 

Charles: I don't - 

Jesse: I do.

Charles: - but cologne's coming back big time. 

Kate: It is.

Charles: Especially with like - 

Kate: This is lovely. I would actually wear this, definitely. I like a like gender neutral scent. 

Elizabeth: How did you decide to start this company? And maybe actually tell us a little bit about your background. 

Michele: Yes. So I have a background actually in investment banking. So I was working mainly in M&A. And when I was in London, there was places where I could go to take care about grooming routine and beauty. And when I moved back to Italy, I noticed that the market was like, was there from a demand perspective, but there was no offer. So this was like the beginning factor that led us to set up the company. So with Barberino's, we blend high quality cosmetic products covering all aspects for men's beauty routine with bespoken experiences, immersive experiences, like facial treatment, scalp treatment, haircut, hot towel, wet shave, and we deliver that in our own store. So we actually bootstrap that. We open a pilot store. It was successful. We developed products. And then we wholesale the products in the premium department store and specialty retailers in Italy. From there we become the leading brand in the, in Italy. So it was just as simple as that. I don't know whether I answered your question. 

Elizabeth: Generally less, uh, the execution part is less simple. But I, I - you know, it's very impressive, I think when founders don't have a particular background in an industry and yet somehow are able to learn to not only enter the industry, but also really excel in it. And I think that's what I'm curious about, even if you're doing contract manufacturing on formulas, you still have to have influence around the scent and the look and feel and all of that. Is that, is that something that you guys kind of learned how to do as a team? 

Michele: Let's say that my cofounder and I excel in finding the best people for each specific topic, and this is something happened also here in the United States. So when we said, okay, we're going to go and grow this business in the US market, we don't know anything about US. 

Elizabeth: Mm-hmm. 

Michele: And so we said, okay, I want the best in the market to be on my side. And there is only one guy that succeed in this segment. It was Eric Malka. So we actually not only onboarded him, but we onboarded the whole founding team. 

Elizabeth: Uhhuh. 

Michele: So they have already proven skill in developing best in class product, and also in scaling the largest grooming brand in this market.

Ben: It's very impressive. 

Elizabeth: Yeah, it is very impressive. 

Ben: How much did they invest? 

Michele: They invested 300,000 on the Italian company. But then I wanted to make a bold move and I gave him 10 percent shares as a strategic partner, advisory shares in the US company. Because I wanted him to have the skin in the game, and I thought that less than 10 percent wouldn’t move the needle for him. 

Jesse: There have been a number of companies we've looked at over the years, some of which have started in New York, Rent the Runway, Birchbox, others that the category seems to work really well for women, but not for men. And so I'm curious about within this category, do you feel like there's a reason why there are beauty salons, leading beauty care products for both affluent and more mass market? You see an opportunity here many years later that there is not one for men. Like is there something foundationally different about the consumer that you see? 

Michele: Yeah, actually, I, I don't, I don't think there is a problem with the category. I mean, the demand is there. The main proof to that was that the Art of Shaving was owning that, for affluent men across the United States. And what I've seen in the market was that on one side we have pure D2C brand that just start buying businesses and without a really differentiating factor, without IP. And on the other side, on the service side, the market is extremely fragmented with 60 percent of operators being mom and pops. They lack financial and human resources to, to create a brand. And they lack also the sophistication to elevate the experience. Barberino stepped in with really robust omni channel and 360 degrees approach to the category. And, that I think is the right thing to do. 

Jesse: And you said sort of craft and quality were two of the things you mentioned. How do you imagine, as you scale this business, how do you both combine the growth of what you want to do and sort of keeping that craft and quality and high touch. 

Michele: Our strategy, it's very simple. We just want to open flagship store in urban location, where the affluent men are. And in this store, delivering our experiences, immersive experiences, and then at the same time open up store with premium retailers where we can deliver the products and reach the customer for their replenishment needs through online. My cofounder and I are coming from investment banking and strategic consulting. So we have experience with advisory human resources. We already scale this thing in Italy where we have 70 barbers working for us and we are just doing this year at a larger scale.

Ben: Seventy barbers as employees? 

Michele: Yes. 

Ben: And how many locations in Italy? 

Michele: 16 locations. 

Ben: 16 owned locations in Italy. 

Michele: And we're going to plan to have 15 locations here in the United States, flagship. First of all, we want to own New York. 

Ben: Own New York. 

Michele: Yes. 

Michele: We plan to have two, three flagship store in New York, and then we strategically move westward, Houston, Dallas, Chicago, Miami, and then going Las Vegas is very important market for us. And then up to California, eventually. 15 location provide us a scale that allow us to build the next five years a 50 million, revenues business. 30 million will come from, from retail with a balanced mix between service and products. And then the other 20 million will come from wholesale and D2C. 

Ben: What do you think the value of that business would be? 

Michele: Already when we are in the range of 20 to 25 million, we are already the perfect target for luxury conglomerates. And I think the value is going to be in excess of 100 million based on compatible transaction. So already halfway. 

Charles: Can you talk about price point on the products?

Michele: Yeah, it's $35, for cosmetic, 125 for fragrances. 

Charles: What products is your target customer using today? Since they're not using kind of like men's prestige, but like, do you have a sense of what they are using today? 

Michele: There is no, uh, unique brand, someone that even if you go to premium department store, you cannot see a brand that is consistently on the top shelf, on the top shelf. There are people using Harry's, Aqua di Parma, and there's a lot of noise in the market. But men's getting every year more educated on beauty. They are more interested in taking care and spending time on the beauty routine. We deserve that. 

Jesse: I find the scents being interesting that the sort of price point you're talking about is somewhere between a sort of everyday brand or product, but it is below the like high end designer, the Louis Vuitton scents. And so I'm curious, as you think about the affluent, sort of your market and up, is it that these people don't buy the Louis Vuitton scent? Is it a price problem? Is it a brand problem? Is it?

Michele: No, there is no price problem. When we enter here, we wanted to have a price point that was similar to the art of shaving one, just because we are a new brand entering in a new market. We didn't want like to sound arrogant or cheap. We just went for the safe, safe direction on price. but our goal is to elevate the offer, elevate the package And increase the price as well, especially then on fragrances. 

Kate: What's the brand story? 

Michele: The brand story is very nice. We took the name after my great grandfather's story. My great grandfather moved to the United States in 1910. So 115 years ago. He came here to Ellis Island. So we also get back the record. They're printed on the store. And he moved to Boston working on the railways. But at the time they didn't have a Netflix or things to do in the evening, so everybody was doing another job. And, in the house he went to live, he found this wooden box with two drawer, one with the shaving tool and the other one for the money. And so he just learned how to shave and became the barber of the Italian American community over there. 

Jesse: Truly an entrepreneur.

Ben: It's a great story. Is that integrated into like the packaging in any way? Like is his face there or something like that? Just the name. 

Michele: No, we just the - his nickname is Barberino because -

Ben: That was his nickname?

Michele: - he was young. Yeah. And it's like little barber in Italy. 

Ben: Compelling story.

Michele: This is the same, the same passion, the same entrepreneurial spirit of Barberino, we want to bring it back more than one century later. 

Elizabeth: I love that story. I feel like it should be -

Ben: More front and center. Front and center. 

Elizabeth: - more known.

Charles: Infused.

Ben: Lead with that almost. 

Michele: We print out the Ellis island register with the picture of the boat and it is on Madison Avenue. It's like -

Jesse: I've walked by your store. So I will, I will have to go in. I live in New York. So yeah. I mean, I, I certainly think categorically, like I agree with your take. You know the space better than I do, but there is not a single brand that stands out to me. I do have a worry that as much as men do want to take care of ourselves, like we don't have the same affinity to a beauty brand yet. The question will be, is there a big enough audience over the next 10 years that will come into this brand and then stick with it, you know, come back to you, go out of their way to buy it. But I think you certainly have proven something in Italy. For, for me, as a category, we don't really invest in consumer products and packaged goods. As a consumer, I, I will buy this product and probably switch right over to it. So I'm going to do that. But as an investor, it's sort of not an area I would invest in. So I'm out because of that. 

Michele: I see. Thank you. 

Elizabeth: Let me ask you this. What is sort of the funnel for how people end up becoming customers? Is it, they see your store, they go into your store, they love the experience. And then later the retentions on the products. 

Michele: Yeah. This is the main one. 

Elizabeth: Okay. 

Michele: And with the store for us is like kind of a negative cost of acquisition because actually they pay us. 

Elizabeth: Yeah. Right. 

Michele: And then they become customers 

Elizabeth: Your audience. Yeah. 

Michele: 75 percent of our revenues in Italy are generated by recurring customer. And then those client, they can find us in department store, in other cities, to replenish the product or online. With our flagship store, we just want to be in big cities where people aspire to live, but maybe they cannot. So, okay, well, Barberino, I wish I can go there, put a towel on my face And so you get this aspirational momentum that push you also to buy our products. And by the way, we are onboarding on Nordstrom. So ideally we're going to be there in the second quarter of 2025.

Elizabeth: Oh, awesome. So this is actually my working hypothesis on why I think there haven't really been men's brands. I think, you know, a lot of sort of the newer companies are D2C first. It is really hard, I think, to convey an experience when you're just shipping products around. But you have the store and that sounds like that is the aha moment. Typically then the question is, well, stores, are they capital intensive and what does it take to open a store? And this is why it's really hard for companies to scale. How do you think about that? How do you think about scaling over the next few years with your stores. 

Michele: Our store, we expect to have 1000, 1250 square feet store. It cost us, around half a million to build one. And we target to do revenues in excess of 2 million for each store. So starting from year three and with a 30 percent EBITDA margin. This has been working consistently in Italy and is already proven in New York City. 

Elizabeth: And how do, how do you get your customers? Just by location? 

Michele: Let's say that in the location we look for, we have like a perfect combination of offices, residential, and also tourist traffic. And because at the end of the story is a matter of capacity. So we just need to be at capacity every day. There are like 15, 10 to 15 cities in America that are perfect for my urban format and where all my clients live. And these are the city that we are targeting with, for our location. And if you think about us, we are a newly established company, kind of a startup in the United States, but we are backed by a fully fledged organization in Italy that is generating like 5 million almost revenues with positive EBITDA. 

Elizabeth: To open these stores, are you essentially taking out loans or?

Michele: Now, we are raising equity because as a foreign resident and newly established company, we are not bankable. But our retail presence is very bankable, and so we expect to raise debt, by the time we achieve our first year, first annual statement, and first equity raise. So we expect to raise a good mix, two thirds of equity, one third of debt. 

Elizabeth: And how much have you raised so far? All bootstrapped, you said, except for Eric. 

Michele: No, in Italy, we raised 5 million euros. 

Elizabeth: Oh.

Mamma mia. We’ll be right back.

Elizabeth: And how much have you raised so far? All bootstrapped, you said, except for Eric. 

Michele: No, in Italy, we raised 5 million euros. 

Elizabeth: Oh

Michele: We bootstrap, we raise half a million to expand outside Milan, then COVID hit. So we raise a second raise to go through COVID. And then we made a third raise in Italy that served to onboard a brand ambassador, a famous soccer player in Italy, to launch wholesale and to kick off the operation here in the United States. But that was the last raise we, we did in Italy.

Jesse: And the US thing is a new entity not owned by the Italian entity? 

Michele: No, it's a new entity owned 90 percent by the Italian company, 10 percent by strategic brand investment. 

Jesse: Got it. Okay. 

Michele: And we now want to raise in the United States 

Ben: And investors today are getting a piece of everything? Or just the US? 

Michele: I'm making a new business in the US. So fund raising in the US.

Ben: So no, it doesn't include the business in Italy? 

Michele: No. What we believe is that 95 percent of the shareholder value we're gonna generate in the next year will come from the US. I mean, in less than one year, I'm making more than 25 percent of - all the revenues that I'm generating here in US, and for this reason, we want to grow and we want to invest in the US only in the next year. 

Kate: How do the Italian investors feel about that? 

Michele: Feel good. 

Kate: They do. 

Elizabeth: Well, they own 90% of the US entity right now. 

Kate: Oh, they do?

Jesse: For now. They're gonna be diluted down with this round. 

Elizabeth: They're gonna be diluted down, but they still have a good chunk. 

Elizabeth: What sort of valuation are you looking for? Because it's interesting, you know, the investment's not in the parent company. And that's where a lot of the traditional revenue is. This is a relatively new company. How do you think about this? 

Michele: With 1.5 million revenues, we are targeting a 7.5 pre money valuation. 

Kate: So I think what you're doing is wonderful, not least of all because I would like the men in America to look better. 

[laughter]

Kate: I immediately, when I was like, he's Italian, it's going to be good, right? So it's like a bias, like, it's going to be quality, it's going to be good. It's got to smell good. He's Italian, you know? So I think that's positive. The way that you're bridging the Italianness of it with the American immigrant story is also quite genius, I think I do think that it is really interesting to see the rate of Botox amongst men. The fact that you're seeing men buy Korean face masks, sheet masks, right? There is this push into beauty and self care that is happening with American men. I think the idea of these sort of luxury barber salons is fantastic. And I think, you know, men have a lower churn rate than women in the beauty category for sure. So I really love that. And the way that you're talking about economics makes sense to me. I think that for me, one of the reasons that I rarely invest in beauty is because we have a $100 million fund and the way that we think about returns for our fund is we want the opportunity for every company that we invest in to have the opportunity to return our whole fund in order to make the venture math work, which means that we need minimum, kind of billion dollar exit potential, and with beauty, that's rarely the right path to go. And so what you're talking about with building the business up into the tens of millions of revenue and then getting it acquired in the hundreds of millions of revenue, I think that that is achievable. I think that is smart. I think that is how most people exit in beauty. The failure rate is lower, but the upside is also quite capped. So my sense is not a fit for me simply because of the way that exits happen in, in beauty. But I love what you're doing. You are strategic. You are smart. And I would love to see this take off. So big, big fan. And definitely have some intros that I can make to people who are looking for, you know, strong beauty brands. 

Michele: Super. Thank you very much. 

Ben: Congratulations on the business and the progress. I'm struggling here on a few things. Certainly, the market exists. People get haircuts and shaves, for maybe hundreds or thousands of years. They'll continue to do that. So, it's a big market. It's a little concerning not seeing anyone else that you can kind of point to, besides the Art of Shaving, and I'm curious how big they were. What was the exit to Procter and Gamble, a few hundred million?

Michele: Yeah. 

Ben: But I'm not seeing anything else , super revolutionary here. The product, I don't feel too much affinity to men's wellness products. I like to be a champion and proponent for all the brands that I invest in and be an evangelist. And so just generally speaking, I might not be personally the best investor. But it just, it does feel a little bit lacking in something extremely unique. I do like the distribution aspect of using retail to sort of acquire customers without the typical acquisition costs of online marketing. I really love that approach. I'm not quite sure venture capital is the best capital for this business. I think slower and steady growth just funded by the EBITDA, the profit from the Italy business to expand into US might be a better approach. But anyway, those are just some of my general thoughts and feedback. 

Michele: I see. Yep. I see your point. 

Elizabeth: I'm still trying to wrap my head around some of the numbers. So you are doing a lot of revenue now. What percentage is coming from the products and what percentage is coming from stores? 

Michele: In Italy is 80 percent from experiences and services and 20 percent of products. But we are shifting that. So starting from the US venture. So in US we are now like 65/35. And we are targeting to go 60/40 and then 50/50. 

Jesse: When did that store open in the US? 

Michele: February, 2024. 

Jesse: All right. And that was a million dollar revenue?

Michele: Yes. Now we are at 1.5 run rate. 

Charles: At full utilization, what can a store do? At full utilization, what can a store generate?

Michele: At least 2 million. 

Charles: I guess my perspective is, I have done a decent number of things in this category, both men's and women's. And my big takeaway is these businesses tend to trade at two to three times top line revenue at the end of the day. And so for me, the big question isn't how do you get to 50? It's how do you get to two to 300. And then just in doing the math, the only way to really get there is wholesale. Retail becomes 80 to 90 percent of the business and the stores are still important. But at $2 million per store, there's like a, a logistical cap on how big of a contributor those can be. So I think I'm out, but I want to leave the door open to have a another conversation with you. It sounds like there's a lot of passion and thought around the role that the stores play. And we've talked a lot less about the retail side. And in order for this to get to the scale that I think it would require to fit venture, I would need to spend more time with you to get comfortable that there's a plan to scale retail, to basically get to the point where it's 10X. I actually don't know if it's possible, but I think that's what it would take to get to the level where it would make sense for our firm.

Michele: Happy to have a follow up. Yeah. 

Elizabeth: I want to dig more into the capital plan because - I think, sort of the red flag is you raise $5 million for the Italian entity and that's generating about $5 million. Like my worry is that this is very capital intensive. How do you think about the financial plan even beyond this round? Like how much money do you think you need to raise for this company 

Michele: In order to get to 50 million, we believe that we need between 13 to 15 million in funding and we believe we can get up to 4 to 5 million in debt because of the stores. By the time we open up the store and the profit will become bankable and the remaining inequity can be done in either two or three raise. By the time we achieve number of store in excess of 12, we are big enough to generate cash to fuel growth on our own organically. 

Elizabeth: And so you're saying that you think you need roughly 10 million US dollars in equity? 

Michele: Yeah. 

Elizabeth: I see. Okay. Well, I think for me, so, I kind of wear a couple different hats. For HustleFund, we only invest in software, so HustleFund just automatically is out. But I have invested in a variety of categories on a personal level. And I think you're very impressive. I like especially how you have learned all about this industry and just have been able to execute very quickly and find great people. I think my concern is on this capital component. Like I 100 percent believe in your strategy of make the store an experience. It's a profitable experience that allows us to acquire customers where they're paying us to be the customer. I love all of that. But I think at sort of this 10 million plan it feels too much. Because I, I do think actually in this day and age, having other companies who have done it, you can open these stores in a less dilutive way. So, for that reason, I'm out.

Michele: Okay. 

Elizabeth: Thank you. 

Michele: Thank you. 

Charles: Thank you so much. 

Michele: Thank you very much. 

[applause]

Josh: Oh, do you want to tell them about what's outside? 

Michele: Yes, by the way, we put aside our barber corner that we used to bring experiences to department stores. 

Elizabeth: And so actually that may be an interesting idea for, for you,

Jesse: Can you sit back down?

Good thing we didn’t cut this pitch short. We’ll be right back

Welcome back. Michele had something up his sleeve this entire pitch! He shipped in a barber chair and a barber from Italy.

MIchele: we put aside our barber corner that we used to bring experiences to department stores. 

Elizabeth: And so actually that may be an interesting idea for, for you,

Jesse: Can you sit back down?

Elizabeth: Like in a less capital intensive way, can you do a partnership with another luxury brand store and have a Barberino area?

Ben: Like Saks used to have John Allen's in Saks. 

Michele: We did in Italy as well. So this is how we activate the wholesale business. They bring our products to their shelves and we open up either permanent corner or mobile corner, and one of them is outside here. So we bring the experience and we bring the animation in their premises. 

Elizabeth: So that's much more interesting. 

Ben: I think that's a much more compelling proposition. 

Michele: And also, the average time that someone spent on our chair is like 36 minutes. So this means that not only him, but his companion, his family, need to stay at least 36 minutes in the -

Ben: Within the -

Elizabeth: Within the -

Ben: I can tell you -

Kate: - traffic.

Elizabeth: That's much more interesting. 

Michele: So we do, we do two… 

Elizabeth: So I don't know if this is part of your vision or whatnot, but I think I'd be much more interested in continuing the discussion if you kind of thought about a plan that was less capital intensive, had more partnerships like this to create experiences at a lower capital cost for you. 

Michele: This is the, our strategy underpinning the wholesale channel.

Ben: Yeah. But like, you know, do a partnership with Google, Facebook, go into their office, right? Create an experience, 

Charles: But it's a premium brand. You can't do this at Target. No offense to Target. Yeah. There's probably like a lower floor on the places this brand can show up and still command the price point and the mental position that you're meant to. So like a Nordstrom would make sense to me. They're already going to be a retail partner. So I would, I would, I think there's a lot of benefit here. I would just be cautious about putting these places in locations that will undermine the brand positioning. 

Michele: Okay. great. Super. Thank you. And I invite you to see the corner outside. 

[thank yous]

[applause]

Jesse: Come on buddy. Come outta your corner there. 

Josh: Oh, my leg’s going numb. Oh shoot. 

Kate: I really want to -

Elizabeth: Have you tried their beard care. 

Josh: No, but I’ve been using their styling cream all week because -

Jesse: You forgot yours?

Kate: It looks great. You're looking good. 

Josh: Oh, thank you.

Jesse: I - the scent from the one that you had was really nice. I like that. Like I wear, you know a couple different fragrances and I would add that to, to my repertoire. 

Josh: I think that Lisa brought this company on the show for me. 

Jesse: She's trying to tell you something? 

Elizabeth: It's a hint. It's a hint. 

Kate: You know, investing is kind of like voting for what you want to see in the world. So, so is curating these companies.

Jesse: These are all for you apparently. 

Josh: Ben, I cannot believe you said that you are not passionate about men's health. 

Ben: No, it's not men's health. It's just like, beauty. 

Josh: Men's grooming. 

Ben: And I'm not into creams and ointments and fragrances and like. Sure, wear deodorant and shampoo. 

Josh: But Kate wants you to be.

Ben: I don't know. I just, less is more. I don't need -

Kate: I'm just out here doing the work.

Jesse: Kate, as a New Yorker, I took a little bit of offense to your statement. 

Kate: That's fine. As a Californian, I don't care. 

Jesse: That's right. 

Ben: It just, yeah - and I think once we got out of him around the story of Barberino's, there's a lot more there that didn't come out in what we're seeing here that - but, but even still for me personally, I just want to invest in brands that really resonate with me. And I feel like I would be, you know, the best champion for. So sometimes, you know, I'll end up missing great financial investments for that reason. And I'm okay with that.

Kate: I think it's hard to do consumer CPG if, if you don't feel that kind of like tug, especially if they're early, they're not in like major revenue yet. Like you kind of feel - like you have to know it. 

Jesse: It's a bit of a unique opportunity because they have this clean entity that does have history. So you get like the benefit of they know how to sell and market product -

Josh: There's like an authentic product story there.

Jesse: - but you don't have to come in on a $5 million raised across three rounds. But like you get to come in and borrow all of that, but not pay for it, which that's an advantage. The disadvantage is that you are a brand new company. And so, you know, yeah, they've done a million plus in revenue, but who knows if the second location in the US - you know, Madison Avenue is very different than most of the rest of the country, you know? And so it's, it's hard to know if that works. 

Elizabeth: You know, I've had really good success with Milan entrepreneurs. specifically people who come out of consulting, which is surprising, because usually I don't invest in a lot of consultants, but they know how to run businesses. It's clear, actually, there's some things that are shortcoming around the brand and the story, et cetera, but like he, he clearly knows, has thought a lot about the business aspects of this business.

Josh: Yeah. 

Josh: So fun fact, Eric of the Art of Shaving's actually in the peanut gallery up there. 

Kate: Oh my gosh. Very cool. 

Charles: I used your product this morning. 

Ben: That is a great fact. 

Elizabeth: Is that how you got the intro? 

Josh: No, actually super fun fact. If you want to take it back. The very first listener investment on our show dates back to Qleek, a company, Kate, your firm invested in And the first listener investment was, Matteo Terrevazzi is an Italian investor who's now an LP in our fund. And he made the introduction. 

Jesse: That's cool. 

Charles: Cool. 

Kate: That's awesome. 

Josh: Cool. Reset the room.

Kate: Thank you.

After Michele left the room, the VCs all lined up to get a towel on their face.

And a few weeks later, as promised, Jesse Middleton showed up at Barberino’s on Madison Avenue for a fresh cut. 

Michele: Hey guys, it’s Jesse, feeling at his best

Jesse: What’s up. I made it!

Michele: Yeah? And now going to sign a good check?

Jesse: [laughs nervously]

Michele: This is binding

Jesse: We’re gonna work on it

Michele: Ciao

Jesse did not end up writing that check – and there have been no follow up meetings with Elizabeth or Charles. Yet?

But Michele has made some progress on the $1.5 million. As of right now, he has 900k committed …. but he still needs someone to step up and lead the round. We’ll give you an update in the season finale!

No offer to invest in Barberinos is being made to the listening audience on today’s show. But you can join our private investor community on Substack. Where you’ll get access to the deals we’re doing behind the scenes.

So, if you’re an accredited investor, you can apply to join at thepitch.fund

Next week on The Pitch…

Whitman: We make 3D-printed custom bike helmets. It's the most comfortable helmet you'll ever wear. It will give a cyclist a two minute effectively head start on a 60 kilometer race. It has the highest safety ratings possible, independently verified and tested. So God forbid you get in a crash, you get to walk away. I have an advanced prototype as well, which I thought you guys might enjoy.

Paige: Whoa!

Mark: Under lock and key. 

Whitman: Actually you guys are literally the only people that's seen this outside of the company at this point. 

Paige: Wow! 

Whitman: This is the R4 helmet. 

Mark: Come on. 

Whitman: For us, the strategy is win the head and own the rest of the body. 

Paige: Would love to hear more about how you're applying your software learnings to building a hardware company. 

Whitman: Silicon Valley is strewn with great technologies that didn't make it. we move very quickly. A helmet like that typically would take three or four years for the big brands to launch. / The helmet I just showed you, , that's four weeks into development. 

Paige: Your command of the business is really impressive. 

Whitman: It's almost as if I put everything I love into this company. 

[laughter] 

Will: What does a win look like to you here? what are you hoping to build there over time? 

Whitman: A billion, multi billion dollar company. 

Mark: Do you think there's a difference between going big and building a business that endures? what I don't want is for KAV to get to a place where, the business no longer is able to exist when the product is literally saving lives. 

That’s next week! Season 13 is available to watch on YouTube and Patreon, OR listen on your favorite podcast player.

Subscribe to The Pitch right now, and turn on notifications so you don’t miss it. If you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to hit that like button. We’ll see you next Wednesday, in the PITCH ROOM.

This episode was made by me, Josh Muccio, Lisa Muccio, Anna Ladd, Enoch Kim, and Jackie Papanier. With deal sourcing by Peter Liu, John Alvarez, and Phoebe Sun.

Thank you to longtime friend of the show and LP in The Pitch Fund, Matteo Terrevazzi for introducing us to Barberino’s.

Music in this episode is by The Muse Maker, Breakmaster Cylinder, Tarana, Baleen, Booshma Tooshma, Imagined Nostalgia, Cafe Nostro, Desjardins, Peter Jean & The Runaway Queen.

The Pitch is made in partnership with the Vox Media Podcast Network.