Table of Contents
- Introduction
- What is Copper Cow all about?
- Funding Journey
- Problem Slide
- Solution Slide
- Market Opportunity Slide
- Business Model Slide
- Competition Slide
- Go-to-Market Strategy Slide
- Financials Slide
- Suggestions to Fill Missing Contents:
- "Visual Evaluation" of the Images and Visual Elements in the Pitch Deck
- Positive Contributions of Visuals
- Areas Where Visuals are not Positive
- Next Steps and Advice for the Founder
- Market Presence and Growth
- Conclusion
- Citations
Introduction
Copper Cow Coffee was started by Debbie Wei Mullin in 2017. It's well-known for its Vietnamese coffee products and is a big deal in the special coffee world. The company started in Mullin's sister's garage after she left her job at the World Bank (yes!). Debbie really cared about getting coffee in a sustainable way, and she wanted to share real Vietnamese coffee with people in the U.S.
What is Copper Cow all about?
Copper Cow Coffee is positioned as a different coffee brand because it uses natural, biodegradable, and sustainably sourced coffee products. They claim not to add any extra stuff or artificial ingredients. Their main product is a portable pour-over coffee that lets you enjoy fancy coffee at home. That is a pretty clear and crisp positioning.
Funding Journey
Seed Funding
In 2018, just one year after it started, Copper Cow Coffee got $2 million to help it grow. Investors included Silverton Partners, Social Starts, AmplifyHer Ventures, and others. They used the funds mainly to make new products and get into new markets.
NB: I suspect the pitch that I am analysing here is from this vintage, although this is not verified.
Series A Funding
In 2021, the company did really well, making a lot more money—about 300% more than the previous year. Because of this success, they got $8.5 million in funding from investors. They planned to use this money to make new products and sell them in more places. After, Copper Cow Coffee was in over 3,000 stores, including big ones like Whole Foods and Walmart. This is last record of funding that I was able to find on the Interwebs.
Sometimes it is good to get the voiceover from the founder on the pitch deck. It provides a lot of color and can help in crafting your own pitch commentary.
Here is the script of her full pitch at Shark Tank:
Introduction:
"Whoa!"
"Ohhhhh Wowza"
"Mullin Laughs"
"My mom immigrated here from Vietnam, and even though I was born and raised in California, make no mistake, I was definitely raised in a Vietnamese household. And I loved everything about it -- I loved the food, I loved the culture, and I especially loved the sweet, creamy treat of Vietnamese coffee."
"If you're not familiar with it, it's just a simple, dark-roasted coffee that's paired with sweetened condensed milk, and it is out of this world."
Product Pitch:
"Sharks, nowadays, people are looking more than ever for that coffee shop experience, and Copper Cow Coffee is exactly that."
"Our single, individual pour-overs allow for anyone to make a gourmet coffee without any additional equipment."
"Simply take your pour-over, open it up, and grab your biodegradable filter."
"Gently hang it over your cup, tear off the top, and then pour hot water over the organic grounds and immediately watch as your organic coffee drips directly into the cup."
Quality and Uniqueness:
"We partner with the best farms in Vietnam to bring the absolute best Vietnamese coffee to the U.S."
"Once brewed, then you get to add your Copper Cow Creamer, and there is nothing else like it on the market -- there are no preservatives or additives."
"Stir, and within seconds, you will be sipping on your own perfectly balanced Vietnamese coffee."
"So Sharks, tell me -- who's ready to be their own barista?"
Product Samples:
"O'Leary: Tell us about what's in front of us, Debbie."
"Debbie: Yeah, so, what you have in front of you is a sampling of our best-selling products."
"You, of course, have the classic, which is what I just made here, that comes with the milk and sugar."
"But we also have it just black."
"And then on your far right, you've got our churro and our lavender. They're natural infusions, and trust me, they're all delicious."
Customer Experience:
"I got to tell you, you know, this packaging is absolutely incredible."
"Thank you."
"I just came back from Ho Chi Minh, and I stood in line two hours for one coffee shop."
"Yup."
"Now, I learned how to --"
"Herjavec: Really?"
"Now, are you telling me that I didn't have to wait out there for two hours?"
"Nope. And you don't need to buy any additional equipment. This is great."
Cultural Influence:
"Why is it so sweet?"
"Well, we do sell it just black, but we do find that most -- just like most Americans drink their coffee with milk and sugar, that's how most people want to buy it."
"Robert: That's the culture. Philippines, Vietnam..."
"Yeah."
"Oh, yeah."
"... that's the profile. That's the flavor profile."
"It's actually normally much sweeter in Vietnam."
"Yeah."
"It's like it packs a punch, for sure."
Debbie's Story:
"So, what's your story?"
"Ohh."
"How did you come up with this?"
"Yes, so my background is, is that I went to M.I.T. and Berkeley. I ended up working at the World Bank in finance supply-chain management."
"And I wanted to do something that really was more creative, something where I could go a million miles per hour."
"During the last year at the World Bank, I did this on the side."
"I was on the subway with a duffel bag full of samples selling door to door to get into our first 30 stores and, you know, was manufacturing and living with my sister, making it out of her garage."
"When was this?"
"This was four years ago."
Innovation and Success:
"What I think is really cool is this. I've never seen anything like it. It's really clever, this packaging."
"Yes."
"Did you create this yourself?"
"We perfected it in terms of exactly the brew that we want, but it's actually a technology that's very common in Japan..."
"It's fantastic."
"...and so we're the first people to be bringing it over."
Pricing and Costs:
"And how much does this sell for?"
"$15 for five servings, and it costs us $3.10 to make it."
"So it's premium coffee."
"It's premium coffee."
Recognition:
"So I took it to the Fancy Food Show, and I was chosen as the Innovation of the Show."
"Really?"
"And so we got into a thousand stores that month."
"What year was that?"
"2017."
"So total sales to date is $4 million."
Now let us start to analyse the investor Pitch.
Copper Cow Investor Pitch Evaluation
So if I were giving feedback to Debbie on her early pitch deck, this is how I would go about it.
Specific Negative Points on the deck:
1. Problem Slide:
- Missing clear problem definition that the product is addressing. Is this for the Vietnamese diaspora in the US? Is this coffee for coffee afficianados?
2. Solution Slide:
- Lack of a dedicated slide outlining the unique solution Copper Cow Coffee offers. I know this is coffee, but who is it targetted at and why? This part comes out very clearly in her Shark Tank pitch. Perhaps Debbie covers this part by providing a voice over. I can only judge what is in the deck.
3. Market Opportunity Slide:
- Insufficient details on market size and opportunity beyond the general $32 billion industry figure. A little more color on the initial beachhead that the brand is seeking to address will be good to know. The Serviceable Addressable Market and the Serviceable Obtainable Market for specialty coffee would have been good to show here.
4. Business Model Slide:
- No clear explanation of how the business makes money or plans to scale. Focus on the unit economics, the Cost of customer acqusition and the lifetme value of each customer. It is possible to extrapolate the company’s business model from the images on the slides, but that may leave room for misinterpretation by the investors.
5. Competition Slide:
- No analysis of competitors or differentiation strategy. Especially important when it comes to existing successful brands like Starbucks, Costa, Nero, Blue Bottle and hundreds of others. Why are you different as a brand and why will you succeed?
6. Go-to-Market Strategy Slide:
- No clear strategy on how the product will be marketed and distributed. Again, this is implied rather than mentioned upfront. Super important for a brand like coffee- are you going to be in stores only? How will you reach your stores? Here you need to cover how will reach more stores and so on.
7. Financials Slide:
- The financial information provided is minimal and lacks projections or future goals. Perhaps this is best for a teaser deck kind of a format but not for a full deck. I would recommend a 3- 5 year projection of Revenue, Costs, Profits along with critical customer or distrbution metrics.
Everyone knows that these projections maybe completely off the mark, but not including it may show that you are don’t care about financials or don’t understand financials. Both are a turn-off for investors.
Suggestions to Fill Missing Contents:
1. Problem Slide:
- Describe the specific problem in the market that Copper Cow Coffee addresses. This could include issues with current coffee offerings, convenience, or quality.
2. Solution Slide:
- Outline how Copper Cow Coffee solves this problem. Highlight the unique aspects of the product that differentiate it from competitors. Focus on the Vietnam origin /convenience of brewing, appeal to coffee connosieurs and so on.
3. Market Opportunity Slide:
- Provide more detailed information on the target market segments, growth potential, and total addressable market (TAM /SAM/SOM).
4. Business Model Slide:
- Detail the revenue streams, pricing strategy, and any partnerships or distribution channels that are critical to scaling the business.
5. Competition Slide:
- Include a competitive analysis that identifies key competitors and explains how Copper Cow Coffee differentiates itself in the market.
6. Go-to-Market Strategy Slide:
- Explain the marketing and sales strategy, including how you plan to attract and retain customers. Discuss any strategic partnerships or marketing campaigns.
7. Financials Slide:
- Add financial projections for the next 3-5 years, including revenue, expenses, and profitability. Consider including key metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime value (LTV).
Now let us do a “VISUAL Evaluation” of the Pitch Deck
Positive Contributions of Visuals:
1. Cultural Connection:
- The images of Debbie's grandmother in Saigon and Debbie visiting coffee fields in Dalat, Vietnam, effectivelyestablish a cultural and personal connection to the product. This helps to reinforce the authenticity and unique value proposition of Copper Cow Coffee as a brand rooted in Vietnamese tradition.
2. Product Focus:
- The images related to the product emphasize the artisanal and carefully crafted nature of the coffee, which aligns with the brand's promise of quality. This visual focus on the product can help mitigate some of the concerns about narrative clarity by reinforcing the product's unique selling points.
3. Market Credibility:
- The visual emphasis on the $32 billion American coffee industry and the 2,000+ stores adds credibility and highlights the market opportunity. This can partially address the missing market opportunity content, though it would still benefit from additional detailed analysis.
4. Team Credibility:
- Including the team members and their roles in a visually appealing way adds to the credibility of the deck. This helps to present the team as experienced and capable, which is crucial for investor confidence. Clearly, Debbie is positioned as the expert with a stellar education and and experience working in Supply chain in The World Bank.
Areas Where Visuals are not positive:
1. Inconsistent Design:
- While the images add value, the overall design consistency is still lacking. The pitch deck could benefit from a more uniform visual theme, consistent font sizes, colors, and alignment across all slides. This inconsistency can distract from the key messages and reduce the overall professionalism of the presentation.
2. Lack of Visual Hierarchy:
- The images, although valuable, do not establish a clear visual hierarchy. Important content and images sometimes compete for attention, making it difficult for the audience to focus on the most critical points. A more structured layout with a clear flow would improve the deck's effectiveness.
Some slides contain redundant information, which can overwhelm the viewer. The visuals should be used to complement, not compete with, the key messages on each slide.
3. Missing Content:
- While the visuals enhance certain aspects of the pitch, they do not fill the gaps identified in the missing content areas (e.g., detailed problem and solution slides, competitive analysis, and go-to-market strategy).
Next Steps and advice for the founder (Debbie in this case):
- Revise the pitch deck with the above improvements in mind.
- Consider feedback and iterate to ensure the final presentation is compelling and investor-ready.
Debbie surely does not need this advice, because she has raised a ton of money and is running a successful company! I am demonstrating how I would go about doing the ptich review and feedback session, that’s all.
Where are they now?
- Copper Cow Coffee has used its special products and sustainable sourcing to become well-known in the market.
- The company sells its products in many ways, including selling directly to customers through its website, which brings in a lot of money.
- They have also started a subscription service that offers different flavors, and this has helped the company grow quickly.
- Looking ahead, I read that Copper Cow Coffee plans to keep growing in stores and online and wants to come up with new products.
In conclusion, Copper Cow Coffee is a great example of a small business that worked hard to become well-known in the coffee world. By getting the right funding at the right times and always thinking about the environment, the company is set to keep growing. It could be an interesting acquisition target for another company or target an IPO in the future.
Want to get your hand on Copper Cow's full deck and review your own deck? Setup time to discuss your pitch with me for free>>https://linktr.ee/futureustrategygroup/?utm_referral=blog
Citations:
[2] https://bestpitchdeck.com/copper-cow-coffee
[5] https://www.pitchdeckhunt.com/pitch-decks/copper-cow-coffee
[6] https://coppercowcoffee.com
[7] https://icmai.in/upload/Students/Syllabus2022/Final_Stdy_Mtrl/P20C.pdf
[8] https://getshogun.com/learn/copper-cow-customer-story
[9] Risking It All for the Entrepreneurial Dream featuring Debbie Wei Mullin - Retail Voodoo Food and Beverage Branding. https://retail-voodoo.com/podcast/risking-it-all-for-the-entrepreneurial-dream-featuring-debbie-wei-mullin/
