Shopify Happy Hour

Crowdfunding Investors for a CPG Brand with Kevin O'Leary and Will Patch of Cape Cod'r

• Dan Cassidy • Season 1 • Episode 6

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Kevin O'Leary and Will Patch, co-founders of Cape Cod'r craft cocktails, share their journey launching a beverage brand made for those who crave memories of care-free summers. 

In this episode we dove into topics including:

  • using crowdfunding to raise cash for marketing and create raving fans 
  • why founders need to share their story over and over
  • advice for anyone thinking about founding a CPG brand
  • how to get sips to lips and cans in hands for a new beverage brand
  • why speaking to the right investors and co-packers can get you to market faster with less risk

Brands, services, books and products mentioned in this episode include:


Dan (00:01)
Welcome to episode six of the Shopify happy hour. Each episode of this podcast, you'll hear from founders, operators, and experts on growth marketing strategies, lessons learned from the trenches and other nuggets of e-commerce wisdom shared over a different drink each episode.

Will Patch (00:11)
Okay.

Dan (00:17)
Today I'd like to welcome Kevin O'Leary and Will Patch, co-founders of Cape Codder Craft Cocktails. Inspired by their seaside stomping grounds on Cape Cod, Codder Craft Cocktails are made with real spirits,

all natural juice, and are made for those who crave memories of carefree summers. Kevin and Will, welcome.

Kevin O'Leary (00:36)
Hey Dan, thanks for having us on.

Dan (00:39)
Thanks much for being here. So let's kick things off. So we're down here in North Carolina. You guys are obviously up in Cape Cod area. What's the weather like? We're having this episode right in the middle of smack dab of December. let's, cold windy, what's going on up there?

Will Patch (00:44)
Okay.

Kevin O'Leary (00:50)
Yeah. You know, we're actually getting a slight reprieve at the moment. But no, it's been consistently cold, think. Feels like

the coldest December we've had in a while. So I don't know if that's showing us how the rest of the winter will be, but we're excited for at least a day of a little warmer weather.

Will Patch (01:01)
you

Dan (01:12)
sounds like it's the right opportunity

to crack open one of these cocktails, which first of all, the packaging looks great. I love the can. It's got this very nice kind of vibrant vibe going on. So it's super light, reminiscent of like the New England summers. So can you talk to me about just what we're drinking? got the vodka cranberry mint and then the classic. And then I also have the perfect storm, which is the white rum ginger. So what are these guys?

Will Patch (01:34)
you

Okay.

Kevin O'Leary (01:42)
Yeah. So what you were holding there a second ago is actually the genesis of why we got started. So, you know, really Cape Cotter was born in my backyard many, many years ago. And, you know, I grew up drinking a drink, a Cape Cotter, which historically is a vodka cranberry wine, little splash of seltzer. I won't say

when I had my first, but my family, you know, it always kind of encapsulated that moment together.

Will Patch (02:08)
you

Kevin O'Leary (02:12)
and drinking your favorite drink surrounded by your favorite people and your favorite place. And I knew like that moment

wasn't unique just to myself or my family. So we set out to bring that drink and a few others to life. So ours is made with a little mint really to showcase kind of the unique family recipe for ours. So vodka, cranberry, mint, all super light.

Will Patch (02:22)
you

Kevin O'Leary (02:40)
natural ingredients, easy drinking.

Dan (02:43)
love it. So you just don't remember which month when you were 21, you started. The first one is where you're saying, course, right? Perfect. Perfect. So yeah, there's a lot I want to dig into. I'll crack one of these guys. So can you talk about kind of the journey? between, okay, so you've got this memory of drinking this cocktail, which is native to the region. You want to share memories with friends and family and people you love and have a good time.

Kevin O'Leary (02:48)
Exactly. Precisely, yes.

Dan (03:09)
this beverage, can you talk about how that, how you go from that idea to where you're at today?

Kevin O'Leary (03:18)
Yeah, I mean, I know this podcast is only an hour long, so we'll keep it pretty short here. But I think it really goes back to Will and I, him and I are brother-in-laws. And, you know, I think as I started dating my now wife, Emily, you know, we really bonded over all the things you typically bond with your brother-in-law on, but most importantly, you know, our shared passion for the next big thing. And

Will Patch (03:18)
Okay.

Kevin O'Leary (03:48)
You know, we stumbled over, you know, a few interesting ideas over some cocktails, some late night conversations, but, you know, really as we kind of formed this idea, we knew it just had a ton of potential. Really because, you know, the drink of Cape Codder has been around for decades. You know, whether or not, you know, you're drinking a Cape Codder in other regions of the U.S., a vodka can is a, is a staple.

Will Patch (03:57)
Okay.

Kevin O'Leary (04:17)
nationwide. So we knew with the right branding and our story, starting with our flagship classic, but building other coinciding cocktails, each with a nostalgic look and feel, premium ingredients, and connecting that brand story as a whole, which is nautical, fun, vibrant, and family.

Will Patch (04:17)
Okay.

I think additionally, we saw just a lot of drinks in the market, national brands that everybody really knows. No one really voices the pain points that they have around each and every one of those options, it seems. A lot of options taste synthetic, metallic, sweet, or syrupy. We wanted to find flavor profiles that were sessionable, light, actually just taste clean. That's what people want.

So each one of our six flavor profiles encapsulate that clean, light, refreshing taste that we think people intend to find in this concept.

Dan (05:27)
I it. love it. Well, I'm about to crack my first one. Am I drinking alone or you guys could be with me? What's going on here? I mean, it's noon somewhere,

Will Patch (05:31)
Ugh.

Kevin O'Leary (05:33)
You know what? I

Will Patch (05:38)
Let me go grab that.

Kevin O'Leary (05:38)
I can go grab one of it. Yeah.

Will Patch (05:40)
I never thought I'd start drinking at noon on a Tuesday, but with you...

Dan (05:45)
Well, you know, we were

tempted to do this later, but to fit into everybody's schedules went a little earlier. So you know what? Tuesday at noon, let's get this going. We'll change the podcast from shop from Shopify happy hour to Shopify brunch hour or lunch hour.

Kevin O'Leary (05:53)
all that. Well, looks like you're...

Will Patch (05:53)
Alright.

Kevin O'Leary (06:00)
There we go. There we go.

And you know, I think it perfectly plays in our cocktails were made for, you know, being the all day drinking companion, right? Something light, easy drinking, not going to be too heavy here at 12 on a Tuesday.

Dan (06:11)
Yep.

Yep.

Awesome. All right. So Will, which one are you going with?

Will Patch (06:19)
So I've got our mermaid's tail. This one is our tequila, watermelon and mint. You can see that. We usually have some cocktail to compare our flavors to, like the Perfect Storm you mentioned you had is our white rum ginger lime kind of plays like a Moscow Mueller Dark and Stormy. The mermaid's tail kind of it's its own flavor. Watermelon and mint. The mint came from the classic. did so well there we were like, okay.

what other ingredients can mint play well with. And so that's where we arrived at watermelon and then tequila is hot. People like tequila for health benefits or the like and so the tequila watermelon mint is where we landed after a lot of surveying and taste tests.

Dan (07:06)
Awesome. Awesome. Tastes like real mermaid, I'm sure. All right, well, cheers. Cheers to both of you guys.

Kevin O'Leary (07:10)
Cheers.

Will Patch (07:11)
Cheers!

Dan (07:14)
Nice, yeah, so this is very light, refreshing for sure. Definitely picking up a good amount of cranberry and mint. It's really not boozy, so it would definitely be a crushable drink to knock back a few of these on a weekend afternoon. And yeah, effervescent, very, very nice. The coloring is great, very vibrant for anybody who can see. So, well done. Awesome.

Kevin O'Leary (07:42)
Yeah, and that's a good call out Dan

too. As you pour out other drinks like ours on the market, you're going to see clear liquid, more synthetic, as we'll refer to metallic tasting. And with ours, the natural ingredients come out just in the color of the liquid. Each resemble the color of our cans.

Dan (07:59)
Nice, fantastic, awesome. Okay, so what year was it that you guys had the decision to move forward with us?

Will Patch (08:08)
2021, I'd say. I mean, we were drinking a bottle of whiskey over the holidays. And that's where we saw, we kind of called the light, the growth in the ready to drink cocktail space. And the brands doing well were those that had a regional relevance in Thai. And so that's where it was kind of born. I believe it was kind of like fall 2021, maybe a little earlier than that.

where we decided to really learn how to bring a product like this to life. I there's a lot that goes into it. It's not just brand idea, but it's cans, cartons, ingredients, logo, can placement with the logo, all the regulation that goes into it. It's a long process. So it took us about a, I'd say about a year.

to get it ready to launch in May of 2022. So I want to say it was the summer. I think it was the summer down in Wrightsville, Kev.

Kevin O'Leary (09:17)
Hmm.

Dan (09:17)
Gotcha. So throughout that year process, what were some of the kind of major steps in order to go from concept to this product idea? You you want natural ingredients, you know, you want it to be refreshing, you know, that you want it to be reminiscent of that original Cape Codder cocktail. How do you go from that to having cans with product that's branded that you're able to then sell to the market?

Kevin O'Leary (09:46)
Yeah, I can go first here. I think it's taking every conversation and connection that comes your way. and I came from outside the beverage industry, each doing our own things. as Will alluded to, it took about a year just to be able to launch. And really what that entailed was connecting the dots. So in our moonlighting period,

You we were taking calls with industry professionals, potential, you know, co-manufacturers, and then most importantly, prospective investors. So, you know, in connecting those three, you know, we put together our, you know, go-to-market strategy and we were able to identify an incredible co-manufacturer to bring our products to life. That was the most fun part was testing the liquid and of course, getting that right.

but also, you know, goes without saying, you know, creating the brand and the story and the logos on the cans and the cartons. so, you know, it took about six months or so to get it all right. And, you know, most importantly, we were raised, we were able to raise the capital in order to get us to launch and get us live.

Will Patch (11:07)
Yeah, yeah, you know, I think like in that process, in addition to finding that contract manufacturer, you got to do the research to figure out what are their components to the product you need to suss out. So cartons, cans, all these elements to the cost of goods sold of your product. Doing that research and understanding its costs and what the all encompassing costs to your

your product is was a huge lift in project unto itself because ultimately that impacts the price that you sell it to your distributor and then down the line to your consumer. that was the project and exercise that took a fair amount of time as well in that ramp up period.

Dan (12:02)
So when you talk about product testing, I'm sure you guys are doing lots of tasting, right? That was a super fun part. How did you know when you got it right?

Will Patch (12:13)
I mean, we kind of, you we sat down at the bar right there at our contract manufacturer's brewery and, you know, he rolled out five or six iterations of our classic flavor and, you know, playing with the proportions of, you know, mint, cranberry, et cetera. it's, you know, and basically they all

tasted different. so we, you know, it was a, we were feeling pretty good afterwards, but you know, was a lot of note taking a lot of, you know, making sense of the pros and cons of each of those, those iterations to then kind of say, okay, well, we change. And then we did a turn on that he brought out another five or six. And then ultimately we arrived at one or two.

that made a lot of sense that were delicious. then he took that to his, you know, on a Saturday afternoon, you know, his brewery was filled with 100 plus people. You know, he just surveyed across all those consumers. We did the same back home with hundreds of our friends and families and then got some just great feedback. I think you need to survey whatever product you're bringing to market.

to get reaction from people who have different taste profiles. So after that survey process, we arrived at the formula that we then registered with the TTP and brought to market.

Dan (13:53)
Was there a clear winner or was there lots of feedback where you had to kind of consolidate and then make some tough choices?

Will Patch (14:02)
There wasn't a lot of variation in the second round. The first round there was some clear winners, but in the second round you're kind of dialing it in. And then you ultimately needed to make a decision and could have gone one of a couple ways, but we felt like we really hit with the one that we got. down the line, you can do it again and you can adjust your complexion.

Kevin O'Leary (14:05)
you

Will Patch (14:32)
but we feel like we really didn't need to, luckily. So I don't know if you have anything to add, Kev. I feel like we kind of dialed it in on that second round and it was good to go.

Kevin O'Leary (14:44)
Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, think just going back to the original question, think when we and I really knew we had clear winners in our liquid is when you're behind a sampling table at retail and you get the consumer's reactions in person. know, these are people outside your network, outside your manufacturing facility that are giving you their honest feedback. And, you know, we joke about it. How often we would always get the phrase,

This is actually good. And, you know, in our first year, it was probably every Saturday, somebody would say that at some point throughout our samplings. But we love that because that's, you know, they're honest in the moment reaction. So I think that's when you really know.

Dan (15:31)
Fantastic. All right, so you get to the point where you've got a product you're happy with, consumers that you've tested are happy with, your manufacturer is ready to start cranking out product. You talked about having the metrics dialed in for your distributors and retailers. What's next after that? How do you actually get into retailers? What was your process for that?

Kevin O'Leary (15:54)
Yeah, you want to go well? I can go too.

Will Patch (15:58)
Sure. mean, next is, you you get a distributor in your market. The three tier system with a beverage alcohol requires you to go through an intermediary, which is a distributor, you know, before you get into retail. You know, but what's next is when you decide to launch, the timing of that launch is always pretty important, depending on the product you're selling. And we tend to do very well in the warmer months.

So leading into the spring of 2022, we kind of planned out a full on blitz of the market. First, we started with a sales kickoff with our distributor sales team to say, what is our product positioning in the market? What's the pricing? What are our value propositions? Why should a retailer carry us on the shelf? So that they are insented and armed to go out to the market and put our product in stores.

But then us as founders, the three of us co-founders, Taylor is not with us today. We just divided and conquered. We got in our cars with samples and we told the story to hundreds of retailers. And when you're kind of coming to the market with that local New England based look and feel brand, the reactions were great and got us in stores.

I can't have missed anything.

Kevin O'Leary (17:27)
No, mean, nothing to add. mean, at end of the day, the people that are going to sell your product best are yourselves. So, you know, that's been our mentality since day one. And to Will's point, the three of us just been pounding pavement and putting just an excessive amount of miles on our cars over the past three years.

Dan (17:47)
Nice. What have been some of your biggest struggles getting into retail, manufacturing, just everything related to the brand in the past couple of years?

Will Patch (17:57)
I think like national brands have so much strength that breaking consumers of that kind of automated buying process of walking in the store to buy XYZ brand is tough. It takes one consumer at a time. I don't think Kevin and I thought we would spend so many Friday and Saturday nights in stores.

But that's what it takes. It's touching every consumer with the value proposition, getting sips to lips, explaining the differences and letting them experience it themselves. And then ultimately, you have that fan and consumer for life is the goal. But it's tougher than you think.

Dan (18:44)
Sips to lips, I haven't heard that term, I love that.

Will Patch (18:50)
Sips to lips and cans in hands is how we say it. Stack them high and let it fly. We got punch lines for everything at this point.

Dan (18:50)
Awesome.

There we go. You got all the

titles for your next rap album, I'll tell you that much. So how do you guys, so it sounds like retail is a primary driver of sales. How are you thinking about retail versus online?

Kevin O'Leary (19:16)
Yeah, mean, retail is, you know, been priority number one. You know, we've had, you know, sales online since summer of 2023. And really, the driver of that was to, you know, gather data and, know, concess customers, and, you know, trying to map out the regions where our products were purchased outside of our core. You know, we've

Invested a little bit in DTC, but really the majority of our investment is to drive sales at retail while complementing our sales with online capabilities.

Will Patch (20:00)
You know, people still by and large buy their booze online, excuse me, in store. You know, it's not like a clothing product or something, a quick fix on Amazon buying toothpaste or the like. It's something that still hasn't fully transitioned to online purchasing, but it is. So we just, you all these little towns are miniature markets that we want to inflict, like, you know,

you know, build brand awareness with and it requires you to be there. So we invest pretty much all of our time in store while just allowing folks to buy online if they'd like.

Kevin O'Leary (20:41)
Yeah. And we did, we did kick off the business by offering, Merch sales online and they were doing well. you know, I think what we found, Will and I was, you know, our house was just covered in boxes and it would take us three hours, just a package of the merch daily. And it was kind of negating the primary, which is to, you know,

Will Patch (21:09)
Okay.

Kevin O'Leary (21:11)
sell our products at retail and then have our online sales complement that.

Dan (21:17)
That's always a challenge for if you're somewhat early stage is how do you prioritize your hero products versus diversifying the product lineup. Because if you've got a consumer who's got an appetite for lots of different types of products, then especially with online, one of your biggest cost drivers is going to be.

cost required in a customer, even in retail, right? You guys are spending lots of time on the weekends, spending time educating that consumer. So once you've got them educated, then it's okay. How do you maximize the value and have that consumer come back time and time again? Now what's nice about a beverage brand is they're consumable. People are going to drink these and they're going to want more, right? But other flavors are really nice, but it's like, yeah, can you do other products like merchandise? But if so, how do you get that?

as a value add to consumers where they're excited about it, but it doesn't distract from you focusing on the main thing, which is selling your beverages. So yeah, it's a challenge that we see with lots of early Stigicom brands where it's, if you diversify too much too soon, not only.

you're be distracted as founders and there's a cost to just operationally managing that stuff. But then you're tying some revenue and profit and cash just in that merchandise instead of being able to turn that back into the business. So yeah, it's a question that lots of brand owners have. So it's nice that you guys were testing that, but it sounds like most of your efforts are just selling drinks, which is.

Will Patch (22:50)
There's

a whole lifestyle of our brand that we want to continue to grow. Memories backyard, beach, pool, memories with your friends. There's a lifestyle to what we've built. if and when the time comes where we can start to have a little bit more of a merchandise focus, great. We're just tirelessly building our brand in stores and that's the focus. But it's not.

It's not to of pigeonhole us there if the lifestyle side of the brand picks up.

Dan (23:25)
sense. Yeah, because there could be a really good opportunity down the road for going after transplants, right? So people from Cape Cod, different parts of the country where that's where you can really leverage your D to C, potentially the beverages, but then also all the merch associated with it. That can be pretty neat for people who want a taste of home, but they live in Arizona, North Carolina, Florida.

Will Patch (23:46)
Mm-hmm.

Dan (23:47)
Sounds like you guys are focused on the biggest opportunity, which is your local market and just educating those consumers. awesome. Well, why don't you tell us about the start engine campaign that you guys have kicking off in January. What was the impetus for that and what would success look like to you for that campaign?

Will Patch (24:06)
Yeah. Yeah, we're excited to launch it. think, you know, for us, you know, the concept of crowdfunding was relatively new in a business that is at the stage that we're in as a venture, early stage venture. You raise funds, you know, in chunks, usually annually as you continue to grow. So we've done that, you know, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

This year, the crowdfunding made sense mainly because of our focus on top line marketing, creating this bigger brand awareness around our product that drives people to stores looking for us instead of us pulling in store or sampling our product and then raising capital at the same time. for us, the concept of raising money from thousands of passionate fans and drinkers

Kevin O'Leary (24:41)
Thank

Will Patch (25:05)
You know, one creates an avid community that markets drinks and buys Cape Codder themselves. And that's how you kind of build that community even further. We're looking to raise around $1.235 million to fund the marketing programs that we have in place across our three markets of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. So it all is going to

building that avid community and then building capital to fund marketing efforts in 2025 and beyond.

Dan (25:40)
So from a consumer standpoint, what does that look like? What do you consumers, what does that look like from their standpoint?

Will Patch (25:47)
Well, mean, again, crowdfunding was new to me. It's still pretty much a young concept, but the SEC opened up this crowdfunding form CF to allow ventures to raise funds from the general public at small minimums. so, know, ventures, startups can raise money at a minimum of $250, $300 and participate in equity ownership of a business.

So for us, we're running a pre-campaign right now across social media to build that awareness of the campaign so that on January 7th when it launches, all of those folks interested will understand the investment and can go to the Start Engine crowdfunding page, check out with their credit card, and join the Cotter team. So over the next three weeks,

You know, folks that are interested in the campaign can drop their name into our crowdfunding campaign link where they'll be fed some emails that'll inform them of the crowdfund raise, perks that come along with it, what the terms of the deal are. You for us it's a convertible note with a $6 million valuation cap and a discount rate as well as, you know, an 8 % interest.

on that note. But if you invest at certain levels, we have some really fun experiential perks like cruises in Newport, one night stays in Newport, and free swag and free products. So we're really excited about

Dan (27:37)
So why is every early stage consumer brand not doing this?

Will Patch (27:43)
now.

Kevin O'Leary (27:45)
Yeah.

Will Patch (27:46)
I think that it's very broadly known as a vehicle to help raise capital, but it's growing.

Kevin O'Leary (27:54)
And I would

add that the platforms, you know, they have a criteria for what companies are accepted onto the platform. So, you know, to your point, like, you're not wrong. Like everybody should be investigating and figuring out the capabilities of launching their brand there. But you have to be at the right point in your business for it to truly make sense. you know, without the community that we've already built.

it wouldn't make sense for us. So we're just really looking to grow that and have our people become official ambassadors of the brand.

Dan (28:31)
So I know you haven't kicked it off yet, but at this stage, knowing what you know now, what type of brand do you think this would make sense for? So it sounds like community. They've got to have some community already built up.

Will Patch (28:44)
Yeah,

yeah, I think where we do where they do the best is when they have an avid community of subscribers, whether that's through Shopify, people have subscribed to newsletters or Facebook pages, subscribe to companies, Facebook pages, having that community from which to market a campaign like this is such a head start. Since we were predominantly in stores, you we had our Instagram or Facebook communities to lean on.

But if a brand has a big community, that's a huge lift. But you don't need that to start. A lot of these campaigns, what they do is, you know, kind of, there's a lot of prep work that goes into them. It's called pre-campaigning. And so over, you know, a four to eight week period, you know, really drilling down on social media, paid advertising, getting the brand out there.

attracting interest and building that pipeline of interest to community and leads is super critical for when you launch the program. Because on these platforms like WeFundr and StartEngine, so much of the momentum impacts the end result that you want to have a fast start. So within a week to two weeks, having all those folks that you've been pre-campaigning to,

come in fast allows these platforms to then boost that venture, your venture, to their thousands of subscribers in their platform. And that's kind of how it works. A lot of these platforms will raise about 50 to 70 % of your capital raise. But for those interested in crowdfunding, know that it's a lot of work up front as founders, as the core team.

to build that initial push.

Dan (30:39)
Yeah, that makes sense. And it's not too different than more traditional crowdfunding platforms, right? So Kickstarter, Indiegogo, I think there used to be more questions about, or I'd say incorrect assumptions from some brand owners who would think, hey, I've got a new product idea. I'm gonna launch it on Kickstarter and I'm gonna become a millionaire.

I'm just gonna, I'm definitely gonna get my full ask. And that's without any audience, any community, any history of sales. And that just typically doesn't happen, right? There's gotta be some type of already either set of influencers or community, or you've got a history of sales, or you're gonna push a bunch of money into paid ads to build that off platform.

because the platforms, they'll all, everybody wants to make money, right? So the platforms want to prioritize brands and products that are already selling well. And if they promote a new product and nobody's buying it, they're not gonna prioritize that anymore, because otherwise it's gonna be a wasted impression. They wanna maximize all of their views and their whole community. So it makes sense that they're going after, they'll prioritize brands that have.

and that you guys are doing the same thing just from a different standpoint where you're actually offering some ownership in the business, which I think is fantastic. So, you know, I completely get the benefits where it's, know, you're gonna build, like, the community is gonna be even stronger, right? You're gonna have raving fans if people have some ownership in the business. Having these experiential, let's say, awards or tiers, those are just opportunities for virality based on the

the, let's say that the tier that you're offering. And it just provides us really cool way for people to talk about the brand, right? Instead of it just being a, it's not just a consumer brand from my hometown, right? From Cape Cod instead it's, Hey, it's my hometown. And guess what? I'm part owner because they did this really cool thing where I paid a few hundred bucks or whatever it is. And now I own.

Kevin O'Leary (32:39)
Yeah.

Dan (32:44)
percent of this that's super cool they're gonna tell everybody right because they have vested interest and it's something cool to say yeah I love this brand and I'm a part owner so I you know the benefits there are super clear from a marketing standpoint what are you guys doing to prep for that

Will Patch (32:54)
Mm-hmm.

Well, Kevin and I, we're basically building, I mean, we have been raising funds over the past three years, you know, regularly. So we kind of know our positioning on the market, the size of the market, the growth in our segment of ready to drinks, the spirit-based segment. So in terms of building the business case, that hasn't taken as much time, I think, for us.

The majority of the time we're spending is creating email campaigns, social media engaging posts, educating folks on the business, and doing just outreach to our friends, family, and network. That's pretty much what we're doing full time is building that list of leads that are aware of and interested in this campaign so that January 7 rolls around and they're ready to rock and roll.

So we're doing a thousand things that I think that's pretty much what sums it up is like, you know, reaching out to folks, building content, informing folks with all the details of the deal and preparing for a hot start. I don't know, Kev, I'm missing anything, but that's pretty much full time right now.

Kevin O'Leary (34:23)
Well,

that about sums it up.

Dan (34:26)
Awesome, awesome. So looking back, I know you guys have been in this for a few years now. If you had to start over knowing now or knowing then what you know now, what's something you would do differently?

Will Patch (34:42)
It's a loaded question.

Kevin O'Leary (34:47)
I I look back on our journey, I'll just, I'll kick it off, Will. And maybe you can connect the full thought if it starts to go on. But, you know, I don't know if it's necessarily possible to do anything differently in beverage alcohol. The requirements to launch a brand, it's super capital intensive. You have to have the right branding, you have to have a story. And at the end of the day,

You know, we're not owned by owned or backed by an influencer or a larger alcohol conglomerate like, you know, ABM, Beb, Diageo, Gallo, whoever else. you know, so really, you know, looking back at our journey and piecing it together, raising the capital that's needed, telling our story, getting our customer base. I don't have like one specific example of.

something we would do drastically different. There's obviously incremental things that, you know, looking back, we could have done better or done differently. But more of a general answer to the question, but that Valk is one of the toughest industries to get into for any entrepreneurs listening. You know, we've, we've called out a lot of things. mean, in order to start a brand, you got to be fully in it.

Will Patch (36:02)
It's done.

Kevin O'Leary (36:14)
We left corporate in April 2022. And you got to be comfortable with being behind the table and selling your brand. It's exhausting. It's challenging. And you're going to tell your story thousands and thousands of times. And you got to get comfortable with that. And I remember an investor actually telling us that.

in a meeting maybe back in 2022 and it's just stuck out. He was just like, your story doesn't need to be perfect, but just get ready to tell it countless, countless times. And I love doing that, but he was right. so.

Will Patch (36:59)
I

bet Kev's pretty sick of hearing me talk and vice versa. But we tell the same story over and over again, but the beauty of what we're doing is people are interested. People are loving the brand direction, what we're going for, the drinks. If you weren't selling something that one you believed in and two you weren't getting good feedback on, then maybe you should consider a folding shop. Just maybe. Like you want to make sure you have something that's got traction in legs.

And when you have that, every day you're living your dream because you built something that you care about and you love to tell the story. So it gets us out of bed every morning. just all of the positive feedback we get from consumers across our three states and beyond. And so all the hard work doesn't really discourage us. We do it because we love it.

Original question, what would you have done differently? It's tough because to figure that out because we, Kevin and I try to do our homework and we talk to a lot of industry professionals to be like, what exactly makes a successful, you know, consumer packaged goods brands? It's sampling, it's promoting in restaurants and in stores. You know, it's creating experiential events and partnerships and we're doing all that. think we're just.

We're learning how to do them better and at scale. And so I wish we had the knowledge that we have today two years ago, three years ago. But that's, yep.

Kevin O'Leary (38:35)
Yeah, let's go ahead and put it.

Dan (38:38)
Well, very smart move connecting with people who have been there, including investors to find out what makes a successful business so that you guys can make sure that Kate Cotter has those elements even at the beginning. So we just have a few minutes left, so we're going to move to the speed round. So either you guys can jump in. If you both have a cool answer, fire away, but each of these should be like 30 seconds or less. So what is one of your most recommended books?

Kevin O'Leary (38:57)
Yeah.

Right now for me, I'm into two genres, entrepreneurship, startup, and history, like every 30 plus year old man, think at this point. one recently, Burn the Boats, really enjoyed. I think startup and entrepreneurship books are sometimes tough and difficult to relate to your current business.

I think in reading it was very interesting to hear his perspective on sticking with the original plan and how we can apply that to our business.

Will Patch (39:48)
Yeah, Guardians at the Gate and Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Animan. Really good book for folks that want some good advice as being a founder, tactics not to get too high and too low.

Dan (40:06)
What's an under-the-radar product or brand that either of you have used and like but most people don't know about?

Kevin O'Leary (40:17)
I'm going to give a shout out to one of my friends, Hayden. owns a company called Nantucket Crisp, which is a potato chip company based on Nantucket and sold actually nationwide with a large emphasis on the Northeast. But they've created such a unique brand, very much kind of aligns to our brand and we've done different things with them. But their story is...

It's so unique and what they're attempting to do and disrupt the very old potato chip industry with healthier options and a better story.

Will Patch (41:00)
healthy options for chips. That's an oxymoron. I came across this low calorie, more health oriented hummus option. It's called bezi labne. It's like a Turkish dip that's now sold in grocery stores regionally. It's really good. Delicious dip and it's very low calorie and healthy.

So that's one that just pops into my head right now.

Dan (41:33)
Awesome. You've shared lots of different nuggets, but what's one piece of advice you have for anyone listening who is thinking about starting an e-commerce business, specifically in CBG, but hasn't yet?

Will Patch (41:47)
Go for it.

Just go for it. Build it out. Build it out in a smart way. Understand your market, the concepts, product, market fit. Understand the cost of said product and the cost of acquisition of the customer. You know, if you do your homework in a thoughtful way, build something out while you're working on the corporate side and earning a salary. But when you have a concept that's the point where you can raise money, go out and raise it. And then when you get that first commitment, you're like, right, I can do this.

And every stage there's going to be that I can do this voice in your head and don't mute it. Just listen to it and run with it.

Kevin O'Leary (42:29)
Yeah, for me, two things. The idea itself is really only like 0.00001 % of the journey of bringing the brand to life. But additionally, don't be selfish. If you're a founder and are trying to launch your business alone, surround yourself with the right people. It's worth it. If you're able to do it by yourself, awesome.

But you're only going to make your business more successful if you realize where your weaknesses are and where the gaps are in building that business and surrounding yourself with the people that fill that and are smarter than you in certain areas is really how you achieve success.

Dan (43:15)
Where can people connect with you guys to learn more?

Kevin O'Leary (43:19)
Yeah, LinkedIn, Instagram, our handle is at Cape Cotter, C-O-D-R. Check out our website and there's a page for anybody interested to sign up to join all the exclusive updates and access to our start engine campaign, launched on January 7th.

Dan (43:45)
Fantastic. We'll link to all that stuff in the show notes for anybody who's interested in purchasing product, learning more about Kevin Orwell or investing in the business, which sounds super awesome. So Kevin, we'll thank you both so much for taking the leap and bringing Cape Codder to market based on your shared childhood passions and memories, sharing your expertise and insights with our audience for the delicious beverages and for joining us on the Shopify happy hour.

Kevin O'Leary (44:15)
Thank you for having us, Dan. We really enjoyed it.

Will Patch (44:17)
Alright Dan, see ya.