Good morning! For those of you who are my classmates - congrats on being done with your first year! Even though it’s not how we wanted it to end I think we made the most of it.
Today’s newsletter is a little lighter than usual; I’ve decided to “unplug” for the next week before my summer ramps up significantly. But don’t worry, Intangible isn’t going anywhere :)
If you’re returning from last week, thanks! If you’re new, nice to have you! Join the squad and sign up here. Like what you see? Awesome, make it official and click the little ❤️ above to “like” my publication.
Brightland 🌿
I’m a sucker for good olive oil, and my latest muse is Brightland - a direct-to-consumer olive oil company. Brightland was founded by Aishwarya Lyer in 2017. After several years at tech start-ups, Lyer noticed a misalignment in consumer’s olive oil choices.
Most olive oils you could buy at a grocery store were flavorless or rancid. The general olive oil consumer had no idea what good olive oil tasted like.
So, she set about trying to fix that by founding Brightland. The brand has multiple flavors that start at $40 (a bit steep) a bottle. Each bottle is painted white - not only because it looks cool, but also to protect the oil from UV.
Dad Brand 🧢
Due to the Zoom-pocalypse I’ve been wearing way more hats than normal. Besides my favorite UM hat, I’ve picked up a couple more from Dad Brand.
Dad Brand Apparel features an infinite number of “dad” style baseball caps that have pop-culture-relevant graphics such as an avocado or “dilf”.
What’s interesting is that I have no idea who their founder is or how long they’ve been around. Know anything more than I do? I’m all ears.
Blu Dot 🛋️
My furniture window shopping binge did not let up this week. In an effort to upgrade from IKEA but not go crazy and buy pieces from Room & Board, I discovered Blu Dot.
Blu Dot was founded over 20 years ago by college best friends Maurice Blanks and John Christakos. They felt the same pressure I do as a young professional; they wanted quality furniture that didn’t cost an arm and a leg. But instead of Google-ing around like crazy, they set up to build their own.
The result is a furniture company that features modern styles that don’t cost exorbitant amounts.
News I’m Following 👀
🛒 Shopify launches a new app called ‘Shop’ to connect you with small businesses. Shop serves as an e-commerce marketplace where consumers can shop for their favorite brands on Shopify all in one place. It’s also a rebrand of Shopify’s existing app ‘Arrive’, but without any fees.
Just as Google allowed merchants to list products on its marketplace for free last week, Shopify is gunning for Amazon’s e-commerce dominance by providing consumers another marketplace they can buy things on. Will it work? Unclear, but it may sway additional retailers to sign up for Shopify since it’s currently free.
📹 Poshmark launches Posh Stories in a pivot to video. The resale application launched it’s debut video shopping tool earlier this week that is essentially another Instagram Stories. The feature had been in the works for over a year, but given the current COVID19 crisis they rolled it out early.
My question is why would someone use this feature when they already do this on Instagram? Many businesses have their e-commerce hooked up to the de-facto social media platform and are already tagging their stories with shoppable products.
🏘️ Your latest fashion accessory might be your condo. Upscale brands (such as Fendi and Armani) are partnering with developers to brand their luxury housing projects. Fendi collaborated with interior designer Fanny Haim on the beachfront Fendi Chateau Residences in Surfside Florida.
“The people here tend to be very fashion-conscious and show off what they own more so than in other places,” said Michael Tsiros, the head of the marketing department at the Miami Herbert Business School.
-NYT
Jobs 💼
Harry’s Inc - Senior Supply Chain Manager (NYC)
Peloton - Senior Marketing Manager (NYC)
Oura - Head of Lifecycle and Referral Marketing, Senior Product Manager (SF)
Curology - Consumer Insights Manager (SF)
Hims & Hers - Lifecycle Marketing Manager (SF)
Internships 🎓
Take-Two Interactive - D2C Product Manager MBA Intern (SF)
Pairess - Business Strategy MBA Internship (Remote/NYC)
Bitmovin - Biz Ops MBA Internship (SF)
Atom Finance - MBA Intern (NYC)
Shareables 😏
📺 Never Have I Ever: No, not the drinking game - it’s a hilarious new Netflix series.
🎨 For my artsy (or just bored) friends: Check out this coloring book of animals drinking booze.
🚗 A $1,000,000 barn find: Exotic cars get their first wash in over 32 years.
💳 The NYT analyzed the credit card data of 6 million Americans during COVID19.
😂 Yeti Coolers has what we’ve all been waiting for: A stream of streams.
👟 Allbirds (finally) launched a running shoe called the Tree Dashers.
🛏️ Check out Drake’s $400,000 bed made of horsehair and stingray skin.
🦠 The Morning Brew has put together a useful tracker for state reopening timelines.
Hey! I’m Sean, a first-year MBA at the University of Michigan. Know of a new brand I should feature? Holla at me! I’d also love your feedback - feel free to shoot me a note at seansky@umich.edu.
And as always, if you like Intangible share it with your friends and click the little ❤️.