24 Comments
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Samantha Rose's avatar

This is the first time a celebrity brand’s financials actually explain the hype.

Community first, ops second, attention third—and it shows up in the EBITDA.

Huge moment for the category. Also refreshing to see a major acquirer leaning into transparency instead of burying the numbers in footnotes. Raises the bar for everyone!

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Alex @ Get Sh!t Done's avatar

I love this financial break down! The hard thing about an every day founder learning from celebrity brands is awareness and influence at scale, which drives so much of how these brands generate sales and access capital. Would love to see a break down part 2 on ways to grow that aren’t about followers. I have mad respect for CPG founders. It’s hands down one of the hardest verticals to survive and scale

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the blank slate by rachel b's avatar

The most interesting breakdown— you made this easily digestible and understandable for those not in finance.

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Mollie Button's avatar

Wonder why Chamberlain coffee didn't work

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Olivia Adriance's avatar

I’m also very curious about this!

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Kristin Turner's avatar

Insane but such a great job analyzing this. More people in the space need to spend time with this analysis.

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Lydia Lee's avatar

ooh wowww

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Karen AH's avatar

That's really good insights, thanks for sharing !!

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Ann Sheybani's avatar

Super interesting

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Minh H.'s avatar

I honestly have no idea what any of these numbers meant, but I'm subscribing anyways. 😎

reverseengineeringharmony.substack.com

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Cosmic Sans's avatar

Why would she want to sell it though? I don't understand. If it is so profitable, wouldn't it be more lucrative to keep it and keep growing?

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Lucky Chode's avatar

Women buy and produce the dumbest shit there is- what a joke.

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Lisa FJ's avatar

This was super fascinating. Thanks!

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Maggie Russell's avatar

Really fantastic read!

Ps, the deadline for the Webbys is soon and they have a category for finance writing. #gogetyourprize

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allie ailis's avatar

ELF in general has made a huge turn around in the last 15 years from being just a cheap drug store brand that most teens scoffed at for being "uncool" to now being one of the most trusted brands with fantastic products for the same great price.

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Andrew Holliday's avatar

This is a great analysis - I can’t say I knew much about the unit economics of beauty brands in general, but fascinating to learn more about those and where Rhode and E.L.F. exist in that landscape

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Nia's avatar

This was a great, insightful and useful read.

Thank you David, you opened my mind.

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