Soapthing big is coming..

Founder update

Bob, Sorry for being so quiet. Small team, lots going on, dog ate my homework. You know the drill. 

I’d like to start by saying how delighted I am that everyone thinks we are just creating a new bar of soap, and wondering why we are so excited about a new bar of soap (our marketing strategy is working).

‘We are pH balanced, we are sustainable, we are different because’…. we sound like a recruitment agency pitch… we are not a recruitment firm, but we are a recruitment firm. Don’t worry, all will be revealed in good time, Bobsters. 

Good things come to those who wait as my old man used to tell me (constantly). Well I am impatient and I want the good thing now!

Luckily for me, Will and Beta are in charge of operations and product development, otherwise I would have already revealed our top secret product being developed out of a garage in Dulwich, London. When I say garage I mean an old ammunition factory. And when I say old ammunition factory I mean a top secret design studio that’s full of cool 3D printers and clever men wearing birkenstocks, socks, rolled up trousers, long hair, and glasses (yes, I too think of shaggy from scooby doo when I read this back). 

Well, to clarify, we are kinda like a recruitment firm in that we are indeed creating a new soap but we will be different to other soap sellers because… Unlike other soap manufacturers we aren’t just here to make a quick buck (although we will need to make some money to pay for Max’s moustache trims and bob cuts).

For us, this is different. We are here to revolutionise the soap industry and our first mission is to make every man smile when he washes his bits and bobs. So to go alongside our bob bar (the name of our soap), we are also creating the thingymabob (our product name), which is a top secret product that will hold and dispense our bob bar (the soap). 

Are you with me still? Good, read on. 

Over the coming weeks we will be releasing some images and videos to bring to life the thingymabob (we won’t blur them out this time), but for now, Will has warned me that if I share anything ahead of time then I will be on the naughty step (like any naughty school child, I want to find out what the naughty step is like, so don’t worry, I’ll share things well ahead of time. That’s what the title of the boss of bob allows me to do. Right @Will? :)

Anyywhooo, what have we been up to you ask? Well in summary our key focus is money, money, moneyyy, moneeyyyyyyy (are you singing money, money, moneyyy, moneeyyyyy too?);

1. Preparing to launch the next round of our investment. We are looking to secure £300,000 of investment between October and December, to manufacture our product and soap, secure stock, and launch our product to market via a wonderful kickstarter campaign (check out some of the cool products on Kickstarter here, if you haven’t heard of it before). 
2. Preparing for our Dubai investor roadshow. To raise our next investment and to build momentum we are heading to Dubai. We have lots of investor meetings lined up and I aim to secure £150,000 of investment handshakes. 

And there's you thinking I was swanning off for a holiday (wish me luck, and if I don’t secure it, then this may be one of my last founder updates, as Will will probably sack me). 

3. Our design agency partner, Beta, is just incredible. Our wish is their command and boy oh boy, or man oh man, are they working hard to meet our prototype deadline, so I can take it out to Dubai (if they miss the deadline you will find me on a beach somewhere in Dubai looking for a new job). 

4. We have soap formulation on the go. Yeehaaa. Will finally got a reply from across the pond. A invitation to the soap factory in Germany was received.

All hands to the soapy deck this week in getting the prototype in hand, soap delivered, and prototype packaging in place, ready to take to Dubai in t-minus 2 weeks.

‘I’m fine.’

Mike Brennan

Co-founder

Highlight

Raising money is no easy task and so it’s important to pat ourselves on the back each time we hit a new milestone. We achieved our first funding milestone! The fancy title is pre-seed (a), but for all you non savvy investors, simply, we raised our first £65,000 needed to get us up and running, and to design and build our first product prototype. 

Thank you to our first investors, from the UK to Dubai, for believing in us as founders, the Bob product, and the opportunity ahead. Hopefully we can look back on this email and smile when we sell for gazillions. Until then, we have some work to do. 

Shout out to all the Bob team, our investors, and more importantly, you, our early Bobiebers as we celebrate our first milestone (Remember Bieber, fans were called Beliebers, we borrowed that phrase from them).

One thing that will always be true in business when growing with external investment. Once you secure your first investment milestone, grab a quick pint, a packet of bacon frazzles, do a quick cheers, and then get straight back to fundraising the next day. 

Just finishing the last bacon frazzel and gulp of guinness.

Cheers to raising the next £300k of investment Bob. 

The Problem with raising investment is..

The problem with raising investment is, it is hard! 

From forming an idea, to creating a pitch deck, to rehearsing a narrative and finding people who want to part with their hard earned wonga, there's lots to think about and get right. 

So imagine going out to ask for investment without a product, without any paying customers, and without a similar product in the market to point to. That’s what we did. Luckily for Bob, Mike has had lots of experience in raising investment so we relied on him to work his magic.

Raising £65,000 with no product and no sales requires skill, luck, and passion. A lot of passion. 

For any budding entrepreneurs thinking of starting their own business and thinking of raising investment, we asked Mike what his top 3 tips would be. To be fair to him they are actually pretty good:

KIS (Keep It Simple)

1. What problem are you trying to solve in the world and how big is the problem?
2. What is the solution / product / service / thing you are creating or selling that you believe will solve the problem, and why?
3. How much money do you need in order to bring the solution / product / service / thing to market?

And that’s it. If you have clear answers to the above three questions, you are in a good place to start speaking to people with money, to ask if they will fund all, or part, of the money you need in answer to question 3. 

Want to own a little piece of Bob?

After filling this email with lots of prompts and nods towards investment, it would be rude of us not to ask if you, our wonderful Bob community, would like the opportunity to invest in Bob’s next investment round.

From as little as £5,000 you can have the chance to become one of Bob’s early investors.

Your hard earned dollar, dollar bills will be used to help manufacture Bob’s product and soap, as well as help us bring Bob to market over the coming months. 

We are raising a total of £300,000 for our next round so we only need 60 Bob’s to invest £5,000 to hit our target (not 5,000 bobs. If you don’t get it you're probably too young to know old money slang, so just google ‘bob old money).

On a serious note, if you would like to invest in Bob then click the link here and register your interest.

That’s all for this week folks

BW (Best Wishes or Bob Washes, whatever you prefer),

Bob

P.s This week's email is dedicated to a dear friend of ours. It’s a cruel and tough world out there. Take the time to check-in on one another. Pick up the phone to the person you keep telling yourself you will call. And yes, it’s ok to hug your guy friends too, they might just need one x