In part one of his NBR View interview, Guy Horrocks discussed the multi-million sale of his mobile marketing startup, Carnival.io, to New York's Sailthru.
It chronicled how Kiwi expatriate entrepreneurs like Facebook chief creative officer Mark D'Arcy, Google manager Craig Nevill-Manning and Peter-Thiel sidekick Jonty Kelt helped him build, then sell, Carnival, and his efforts to 'pay it forward' by advising and backing up-and-coming entrepreneurs.
In part two (scroll down) he talks about his lifestyle in New York (spoiler: there's no cocaine, and lots of fresh-from-the-farm vegetables).
And in part three, Mr Horrocks goes into more detail about one of his latest investments: Maude, a “sex essentials” company that pushes condoms and lube.
The Kiwi in New York says he was impressed by the refreshingly unembarrassed attitude co-founders Dina Epstein and Eva Goicochea bring to their startup.
He says Maude also had the most impressive investment deck he had ever seen – thanks to Ms Epstein being a designer; Ms Goicochea is a Harvard Business School graduate and alumnus of Everlane, an ultra-trendy online clothing retailer.
Maude co-founders Eva Goicochea (left) and Dina Epstein.
The two women epitomise their brand, he says. They’re classy, frank and not embarrassed about selling top-quality sex essentials. A commodity product (condoms) for decades mainly sold in sheepish checkout or pharmacy till transactions could be about to get a high-end makeover — and one that takes advantage of the internet's ability to disrupt b2c (business-to-consumer) commerce.
“If not, I’ll have a great story about two women with 100,000 condoms to get rid of,” Guy says.
So far, that scenario seems unlikely; the media-friendly pair has immediately got good press, including from Vogue.
Chris Keall
Fri, 27 Apr 2018
