# Mainstem digs deep & refocuses ahead of Nov 18 closing. | Mainstem Malt

- Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/feed/149819
- Entity ID: wefunder:feed_item:149819
- Published at: 2021-10-24 00:15:21 UTC
- Updated at: 2025-07-10 19:00:54 UTC

## Author
Phil Neumann

## Subject
Mainstem Malt

## Content
Hi All,I can't believe it's been a month since my last update! Don't worry though, we're still alive and kicking over here. Thanks for hanging with me and Mainstem, and for helping us dig deep as we approach our campaign closing on November 18.OK, so here's where we're at in terms of THE STRUGGLE, ROOM FOR OPTIMISM, and CAMPAIGN STRATEGY:The StruggleI'll be frank that the past few months have been pretty hellacious. Between drought in the West, harvesttime rains in the East, and high commodity prices, North American maltsters are experiencing the worst malting barley supply year in decades. I'm sure you'll read all about it soon in the headlines of major publications, as this dynamic will become a significant pain point for brewers and distillers in 2022.... right up there with surging freight prices, critically stressed logistics providers, and a general inability to keep supply chains moving at the pace we all have come to expect.While all of this is very uncomfortable right now for little old Mainstem, disruption of this magnitude also presents some absolutely fantastic growth opportunities for the nimble. One of the best life lessons I gleaned from my time spent racing road bikes is the importance of understanding when EVERYONE is suffering. Then the trick is being able to suffer for just a tad bit longer than the rest. That feeling always passes, the pack gets smaller, you refocus, and you get ready for the next big push.Room for OptimismMost importantly, we're getting some very potent signals from customers. We're in the process of adding another year to our top accounts' contracts, customers new and old are ordering an unprecedented amount of malt out-of-contract, the first whiskey made with our malt is now available for purchase, highly-regarded breweries are releasing more #madewithmainstem beers through retail channels than ever before, and both customers and media are now coming to us regularly without prompting. The industry's lens is shifting to craft malt and we've become one of the most prominent brands in the mix.Oh, and we just hired on one of the country's top whiskey tasters, Courtney Kristjana! More to come on Courtney, but she joins our Customer Innovations team from Portland, OR with an emphasis on solidifying our place in American Single Malt Whiskey, which gets its official designation as a US spirits category in December.Despite our grain supply challenges, we've made subtle tweaks to our procurement strategy and are feeling good about securing enough grain to keep growing malt sales through 2022. We're also well underway in planning a strong planting for the 2022 harvest, including new growers representing diverse geographies, and incorporating both fall and winter plantings. Bringing in some extra working capital from this campaign and remaining scrappy will help buffer any further disruptions to our grain procurement. Next year's harvest is right around the corner and there are many ways for our company to keep building momentum as a leading brand.Campaign StrategyWhile we're pleased to have so far won the hearts of 171 largely new folks from around the country (enough to commit an extra $122k to our capitalization), the campaign is still far from its $1MM max. Again with the frankness, we didn't take marketing this thing as seriously as we should have, in order to quickly raise that kind of dough. However, we still think it's possible to get to $1MM and beyond, applying some valuable lessons learned from our friends at Copperworks Distilling. They're also actively raising from the crowd, so please go check out their campaign and hurry on back with it in mind: startengine.com/copperworksdistillingWhat makes Copperworks' strategy so dang compelling to us is the clear focus on a superb brand-infrastructure pairing. Take a small but budding brand, infuse an epic infrastructure play that will bring exciting new production capacities and consumer engagement opportunities, and emphasize the potential for doing it in an obviously compatible tourist destination.Conveniently enough, Mainstem has already included the infrastructure play as part of our campaign's use of funds: an industry-leading specialty maltings, innovation center, and tasting room in one of the Pacific Northwest's top wine tourism destinations. We just need to double down on this objective. It needs to be clearer that THIS is why folks should be a part of getting us to $1MM.As mentioned before, we have a particular building we're trying to secure in sunny Walla Walla, Washington. We're now going to refocus on that dynamic. My current approach is to push hard to get additional folks into the campaign before November 18th, secure a lease on that building with the help its current ownership or a separate development partner, close out the new grouping of investors, get some light architectural work done and a key strategic partnership formalized in order to better illustrate our plans for said building, restart our campaign in a new phase in January 2022, and run the campaign through April 2022 when our current SEC filing expires. All with understanding and support from Wefunder and a touch of good luck, of course ;)On that note, I should probably get back to work now.Have questions? Feedback? Don't be shy. And thank you, thank you, thank you for anything you can do to help get us closer to $1MM over the next few weeks. Let's do this thang!With abundant energy,Phil