Allbirds IPO Filing Shows Jump in Both Sales and Losses – Bloomberg
To remain impartial when discussing Allbirds’ pending IPO is a difficult task as my company ARCH and “Allbirds” began on Kickstarter at the same time. Allbirds gained the front page due to the number of backers and the rest is history. Their success has been considerably greater than my own. I stopped making shoes in 2015 and shifted the entire business model to this media format in 2016. The issues with footwear manufacturing and the fact that I didn’t fund at nearly the rate that a company with an ex-professional footballer as a co-founder, led to my issues. Allbirds, who at the time they launched was named Three Over Seven and touted their wool runners as performance shoes, ran into a few issues with the delivery of their kicks on Kickstarter. However, the company made the right type of noise and became a darling of Silicon Valley. They funded at 100,000. I funded at 3,500.
Their funding gave them a runway and also allowed their team to step away and recreate itself. The result was a continued ability to raise funds for the startup. Billing itself as a sustainable company, the shoe became a constant on the feet of men and women in tech. The company continued to raise funds and launched brick and mortar and even expanded internationally. During that time I questioned continually if the company should be generating that type of support. I even explained in this post that Allbirds needed to expand their product options and demographics:
Allbirds Tree Dasher is a Throwback to the Beginning and a Requirement For Expansion – ARCH-USA
I’ve been consistent on my thoughts about the company. I knew the brand would have to IPO for investors to cash out. I also know that the brand has some serious flaws to repair, as well as opportunities to maximize, to make their eventual shareholders happy. Here are my 10 discussion points to consider about Allbirds. I won’t dive into detail. Don’t hesitate to contact me to if you’d like me to expand on these points in a white paper.
- Allbirds has limited distribution options. 18 U.S. locations 12 International.
- Extensive Promotional Sales hidden in eBay listings.
- The design is easily copied and open to counterfeits and knock-offs.
- Small demographic and what seems like no real plan beyond social media ads to improve their reach.
- A difficult road into performance, which is critical as all brands are being lifted by that category.
- No real strategy for educating the consumer, having only recently ramped up creation of content on YouTube and in social.
- A great opportunity in the collaborative effort with adidas.
- Their right to first use relationship with Mirum by Natural Fiber Welding could be a game changer if handled correctly. Unfortunately they didn’t do very well with Braskem, so the precedent isn’t great.
- They have failed miserably at utilizing the design opportunities with PENSOLE. If they adjust that, it could be powerful.
- Despite all of the shortcomings, adjusting isn’t difficult. They will have the capital as I expect the uninitiated will love the sustainability position of the company.
What do you think about this upcoming IPO?
