Pit Liquor Test

Pit Liquor is an all-natural super effective deodorant that happens to be powered by overproof spirits. If this is your first time hearing about us, here is the quick cliff notes of our founder story: Four years ago as a mom-to-be, Erica Feucht set out to find an all-natural deodorant that would work well, and not harm her or her baby.

Cut to the chase, she couldn’t find one so her husband, Jason, who is a materials scientist, made one for her. Inspired by the bacteria-killing qualities in hand sanitizer, his formulation used overproof whiskey, a safer, more natural source of alcohol. For the scent component, he combined the spirits with essential oils and teas and Pit Liquor was born.

Since then we’ve built a business. And business is booming.

Our Value Proposition is simple and born from two key problems that we solve in the category.

The combination of ingredients has created a product that people love as much for its efficacy as its scents.

Our customers aren’t just “all-natural” types. The brand pulls in people across the cultural spectrum because of our spirits-base, our name and because, yeah, the stuff works really well.

The whiskey and other spirits in Pit Liquor are there for bacteria-killing, not scent. Like hand sanitizer, the alcohol smell and liquid dissipates quickly. The essential oils remain to do the “Ohhh you smell good” stuff.

Our core scented varieties are gender-neutral and each has its own legion of fans.

Additionally we offer two unscented variations for those who want to remain in stealth mode.

Beyond our core variants, we offer limited editions 8-10 times a year. Limiteds are an important component to sales - they currently drive 40% of our business. We can typically double or triple our average daily sales with an email blast to our subscription list announcing new limiteds or a “last call.” We are continuing to refine our strategy so that we can create even more scarcity and news around these products.

Below the surface there are key attributes that align with the modern marketplace.

It all adds up to a devoted, uncommonly passionate user base that grows each day. We maintain a VIP board on Facebook and have a specific VIP email and SMS list to remain connected.

The deodorant category has been changing dramatically since COVID. As expected category sales slowed with people staying at home but growth is accelerating as things return to normal.

Consumers are becoming more discerning about their choices - P&G quietly announced a recall of Old Spice and Secret sprays because they contained Benzene, a carcinogenic compound. It was yet another catalyst for growing awareness of better-for-you products in the category.

Another trend in our favor - sales of stick deodorants in the U.S. are declining as innovation shifts towards sprays.

Net: we are well positioned in the category.

What exactly is natural? A number of our competitors claim to be all-natural but include baking soda which, in theory, is natural but in practice causes rashes in many users. Part of our job in marketing will be to continue to point out our unique truly, all-natural properties.

Over the last six months, we’ve worked hard to create a more effective marketing mousetrap. We have added new sales channels and shored up our online storefront.

Our marketing team has taken a sophisticated approach to positioning the brand for future growth. We are benchmarking ourselves against top CPG brands such as Dollar Shave Club and Liquid Death. We will have the same level of consistency and sophistication across all touchpoints.

We are partnering with Noun Ventures to re-design all aspects of our visual identity including our core packaging. Noun’s Founder, Neil Riddell has created highly successful brands including Angel’s Envy Bourbon which was acquired by Bacardi for $150 million. As always, Neil’s team will start with in-depth research to help uncover powerful consumer and brand truths that the team will use to inform creative output for years to come.

Why WeFunder

We invite you to join us on this journey and participate in the final public offering of equity in Pit Liquor. Pit Liquor is raising our final round at a $7.5M valuation and an early bird discount valuation of $7M.

Our timeline remains aggressive but we are pivoting to a more self-sustaining model to eliminate unnecessary risk. Our favorable margins allow for profitable scaling, and with the addition of WeFunder investment the transition will make the company stronger for the long haul. With our last raise, Pit Liquor grew revenue by 50%.

Our next stages of growth will come from concentrating our focus in several ways. First we intend to choose 2-3 consumer segments and serve them consistently. We’ll prove to them how relevant we can be whether this is yoga patrons or crossfitters we will be relevant and grow real communities within those passion areas. Second, and related to this is product sampling. For a product such as ours, TRYING is believing. So we are going to put some muscle to getting bottles in hands especially in key Colorado markets, and model our learnings in new markets. 

In conjunction with the sampling effort we may localize our paid marketing efforts to feel BIG in key markets with the goal of influencing retailers to take us on as we ensure their success. Once wholesale action begins we will continue to support with in-store activations and local media support to create pull-through. We will save a portion of the budget to continue efforts on a national basis as well but will rely heavily on email and SMS to keep sales moving.

We have a lot of debt that we racked up as bridge loans to get to funding. This is a risky move, but we’re paying off our debt, creating wholesale movement, acknowledging the iOS14 update and its impact on our business, as well as our plan to pivot to wholesale. DTC has become very crowded in natural deodorant. If we don’t address these things in the video, we need to hit them in the WF page. I think we should mention everything, even if it’s passing, in the video.

A look-forward

Thanks for tuning in. We hope you will join us in this next phase of growth. Click “Watch for Updates” in the bar to the right to stay in the know.