David Perry is the Founder and CEO of Carro, an Orange County SaaS company revolutionizing e-commerce. Their tagline is: “Sell more Together.” Perry’s previous company sold to Sony PlayStation for $385M in cash and was backed by Benchmark Capital and NEA. In today’s ‘How Did You Do It?’, we sat down with Perry to learn how he was able to successfully raise capital in today’s unfavorable fundraising conditions.
Interviewee: David Perry (DP)
Interviewer: Noela Tuquero (TCA)
TCA: David, what is CARRO?
DP: If you make a product and get it into retail stores like Target, that’s really exciting! What a great day! We asked ourselves, “If you’re an online brand, who will help get your products into lots of other online stores?” Nobody. Also, “Who’s helping you find additional high-quality products to increase the sales in your store? With ZERO risk.” Nobody. We saw the opportunity and went after it.
TCA: So, are brands using Carro today?
DP: Yes, over 28,000 brands have installed Carro directly into their e-commerce stores. For a clear example, take a brand like Blendjet, which makes portable blenders. Blendjet is now being sold in multiple other stores using Carro technology, including Paris Hilton’s store. All those orders are transmitted back to Blendjet, so that they can fulfill them. Blendjet could make additional money if they also sold lots of different ingredients that could go into their blenders, so Carro connected them to many great companies. The Carro technology wires them together, so the ingredients appear in the Blendjet store. Suddenly, they have a wealth of products to upsell with zero risk. Carro automates the relationships.
TCA: What kind of impact does Carro have?
DP: We have plenty of examples of brands on the Shopify platform doubling their sales by using Carro. Recently, we’re seeing entirely new marketplace stores being built on Carro, so while we started as a partnership network, Carro is rapidly becoming a platform, where the brand depends on Carro to even exist.
TCA: How is Carro raising millions in this economy?
DP: Firstly, it’s important to find the right investors, ones that are interested in your specific category. We are, commerce enablement / e-Commerce / commerce marketplaces. I once met an investor and tried to pitch him, but he stopped me and said, “Sorry, I only invest in Marine Batteries!”, that was my mistake for not doing my research! Second, you have to make it easy. We created a “Convertible Note” with very good terms for an investor, in this economy they deserve great terms, so nobody is arguing over those. Finally, if this thing is going to get big, you need to have a great team.
TCA: How much is Carro raising?
We planned to raise just $5M, but in this economy, double what you think you need, so we have increased the round to $10M. We currently have $6M+ allocated.
TCA: How do you find the right investors?
DP: Three things are key:
1) Network & don’t be afraid to ask people. “Do you know investors that would be interested in Video Games? Marine Batteries? eCommerce Technology?” Those introductions are worth their weight in gold.
2) Look for investments in your sector, who made them, and not just which company, but which partner. See if that partner has done any interviews, and research their thesis.
3) Always try to get an introduction, but if you have no other choice, then try email.
They HATE cold emails, but if you’re getting to the ideal investor, just don’t start with: “Dear Investor”. They will immediately hit delete. They prefer something like, “Hi Mary, I apologize for reaching out to you cold, I’d normally wait for a warm introduction, but seeing that you have invested into companies like X, Y, Z, I think you’ll absolutely LOVE what we’re working on.” By the way, your TED talk was fantastic. Make it hard to just hit delete.
TCA: Can we help Carro?
DP: If you’re an investor and would like to connect, please reach out. If you know a brand on the Shopify platform, please make an introduction, and we will take great care of them. If you know any strategic investors interested in commerce enablement, please make an introduction. If you want to sponsor an entrepreneur to build their own marketplace brand online, our team will reduce our fees and help. (Gear.com is a good example of a marketplace.)
TCA: How big do you think Carro could become?
DP: Once companies like Netflix started to use Carro, we got pretty excited. Today we even power live-selling on Television networks. The opportunities are endless. I believe it’s important that every investor has someone swinging for the fences in their portfolio. Our ultimate goal is to become the world’s inventory, powering commerce everywhere it can happen, helping brands to “Sell more, together.” It’s not crazy to think that Carro could be worth many billions of dollars someday, and we’re enjoying building it.
TCA: How can people get in touch?
Direct Email: dp@getcarro.com
Website: GetCarro.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dperry/
Disclaimer:
The views, information, or opinions expressed during the interview series is solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Tech Coast Angels and its employees, consultants and interns. Tech Coast Angels is not responsible and does not verify for accuracy any of the information contained in the podcast series available for listening on this site. The primary purpose of this interview series is to inform. This Interview series does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services.
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