Morning friends! Not all COVID19 news is bad - the dreaded airline middle seat will be taking a back seat for the time being. Almost all airlines have made middle seats unavailable on their flights for social distancing measures.
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Good Fish 🐟
The latest healthy and sustainable food snack is Goodfish - crispy salmon skins flavored with enticing spice combinations like spicy BBQ and Chili Lime. Considering how much I enjoy salmon skin sushi rolls, I can’t wait to get my hands on a bag.
Goodfish was founded by Douglas Riboud several years ago on the idea that discarded salmon skins could be turned into a heavy savory snack. The result is a snack that contains 7 grams of protein, 2,600 mg of marine collagen, 800 mg of omega-3 fatty acids, no carbs, and only 90 calories.
Goodfish snack bags come in 3 flavors and are available from $2.99 a bag via their website.
Thuma 🛏️
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been spending way more time in my bed than usual. Which has got me thinking, is it time to upgrade my bed frame? If I do, I’ll most likely go with Thuma - a new direct-to-consumer company focused on Japanese simplicity.
Thuma was founded by Reed Kamler and Douglas Shumway in 2016 and hasn’t taken any outside funding since launch. After spending “thousands of hours testing, trashing, improving, and refining” they created the perfect platform bed, designed for today’s “Indoor Enthusiasts”.
The frames start at $695 and range from twin all the way up to California king.
Polène 👜
In the land of direct-to-consumer handbags, it’s hard to differentiate yourself from the pack. There are a dozen options for the “modern women”, and all are around the same price point. Polène manages to rise above its competitors with its chic French design and an entry-level price point of ~$400.
Polène was founded in 2016 by Mathieu, Antoine, and Elsa Mothay - three siblings enamored with d2c fashion (and who’s great grandfather launched Saint James). The brand is named after the family’s Normandy country house.
News I’m Following 👀
🛒 The WSJ sticks it to Amazon over private label woes. What’s Amazon up to this time? Using 3rd party seller data to provides insights on which products Amazon should sell in house.
Amazon has gotten flack for this before. For those unfamiliar, many 3rd party sellers have accused Amazon of copying their products (almost exactly) then pricing them at a much steeper discount.
Of course, Amazon dispels all of these claims, but it almost seems too obvious that this is what they’re doing. To help ease 3rd party stress amazon is launching “its own internal investigation”. Thanks, Jeff.
🔎 Google makes listing products on its shopping service free. In a move branded as making it easier for online brands to get their products in front of potential customers, Google announced earlier this week that listing products on Google Shopping is now free.
Sounds great. But what is Google actually doing here? You guessed it: taking on Amazon and Walmart. They’re very late to the e-commerce game, but given the current crisis, they figured it was time to throw their hat in the ring. What better way to do it then masking it as a salve to online business struggles?
😷 Will mask culture become the new sneaker culture? To help stop the spread of COVID19, masks have become an essential piece of daily attire. They’ve also launched a fashion phenom that only just gaining steam.
As cities make wearing a mask in public a requirement over the next few months, fashionable mask companies are beginning to take traction. StockX shared some surprising statistics from the past month that could point towards face mask fashion statements.
Brands like BAPE and Off-White are among the most popular.
90% of face masks increased in resale price.
80% increased in sales volume.
Overall mask sales increased by 75%.
Overall mask spending increased by 167%.
Jobs 💼
Curology - Consumer Insights Manager, User Acquisition Manager (SF)
Harry’s - Senior Manager of Enterprise Systems (NYC)
Hims & Hers - Lifecycle Marketing Manager (SF)
Chubbies - Senior Ecommerce Product Manager (ATX)
Oura - Head of Content (SF)
Peloton - Data Quality Manager (NYC)
Internships 🎓
Not a ton of consumer-focused internships this week… but there were some other cool opportunities!
Ashoka - Strategic Entrepreneur Relations MBA Intern (Remote)
Sorfam Capital - Portfolio Company MBA Intern (Remote)
CoVenture - VC MBA Intern (NYC)
Shareables 😏
🖼️ Feeling bougie? The MoMA is offering free online art courses you can take at home.
😥 Lee Holloway - The devastating decline of a brilliant young coder at Cloudflare.
⛓️ The latest in crypto dark web crime: Following the money in a massive “sextortion” spam scheme.
🥩 Corona dieters beware: How to choose the perfect steak.
🎞️ Netflix secret codes: How to access hidden films and TV shows on the streaming service.
⚔️ We asked a classics professor how to train like a real-life Roman gladiator.
🎤 The art of the pitch: Publicists for products in the pipeline long before COVID19 struggle to find the right tone.
🧪 For fans of Inception: An MIT lab is building devices to hack your dreams.
👨🎤 Tongue and lips: How the ‘greatest rock and roll band in the world’ got its logo.
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.
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