Insightful. It is indeed staggering to read on valuations, new tech developments etc, on one hand on the other - I have to say "Its about time, that we in Europe became a little more gutsy, and bolshy" as the counterparts in Silicon Valley. That said, there is still a hierarchical approach, on where (whom) funding is divested to, whereas in SF the view is less myopic...Sure, we can opine that it all boils to do "product/market fit" and you made a good comment here
"Priority number one is always a very strong product market fit. If you feel like you’re working on a vitamin pill, your product will disappear from your customers’ shopping list by the time they cut their costs..."
In our case at Muldooneys we are building a luxury product - that will always have a niche market of appeal of consumers. True” luxury good where our leathergoods are valued because of its attributes: quality, craftmanship, our raw materials, the details, design, and most importantly integrating advanced technology.
Luxury never truly dies. There is always a demand even when there is an economic slowdown, but it is key though that our strategies are refined, and evolve with the changing times.
With Muldooneys 2.0 what I have done, is look to position ourselves where our main competitors (Luxury Giants) are weakest ie. in their supply chain.
1. This is an area of weakness primarily as: Luxury is built on selling a dream. Its exclusive premise is sold on its ability to control the information, communication flow, maintaining secrecy, in order to convey their "exclusivity" and "not for everyone" image. This justifies our veblen price positioning which increases roi in brand equity.
Why would we do this ? Well given that the biggest competitors we have are those that have stood the test of time. The longevity of that brand heritage (Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci, Chanel etc) is in itself hard to ever be replicated, nor challenged.
20 years ago, we probably would have said – virtually impossible.
But, with secular themes like an ever evolving consumer demographics, disruptive new technology growth, upstarts such as ourselves have a unique opportunity.
Case to point, with Muldooneys 2.0 we have a :
1. Cost Advantage : Ours is a pre-order businessmodel; low market to entry (digital e-commerce business model) - which enables us to generate the same level of margins, with less the expense/cost of the large luxury brands;
2. Positional Value : By integrating new technology (Blockchain, A.I,) in the supply chain, building trust, transparency and including our consumer in a circular-end-to end business relationship. This technology enables us to improve our product performance with the information flow, whilst enabling us to acquire, and retain our consumer output, and satisfaction. With this transparent approach, we help build and confer that valuable brand legitimacy.
Added, with 6 limited edition product drops through the year, all in small quantities this augurs well as investment pieces for the consumer ROI, who was also part of the creation process from day one.
3. Structural/Scope : As a brand being revived with a more modern approach to luxury brand building - ie (just like a tech start-up bootstrapping) I have chosen to build a small, agile team of people, whilst outsourcing the bigger costs. This enables us to remain flexible, adjusting our technology to our product and market quickly, refining the "little trade secrets" whilst serving a niche market, for a long period of time. This in itself make's it hard for top tier luxury brands to replicate - due to their large behemoth structural disadvantages.
It's easy to become giddy with excitement with the big valuations. I too am guilty of that, but once you get a few hard knocks, reality starts to settle in. I have found that going back to the first blueprint, of the how and why I started out, helps bring back the focus on putting the plan in action first, before the ultimate end goal.
Yes 2020 has been a year of revelations: Apple which has become a vaporware factory, Epic Games which plays and wins, Nvidia which overturns the table, AI which gives the lead, Tesla which breaks the house, the solidity of SpaceX.
The new Luddits, on the other hand, the accentuation of fakes news. The stock market no notice, she always seems late
Insightful. It is indeed staggering to read on valuations, new tech developments etc, on one hand on the other - I have to say "Its about time, that we in Europe became a little more gutsy, and bolshy" as the counterparts in Silicon Valley. That said, there is still a hierarchical approach, on where (whom) funding is divested to, whereas in SF the view is less myopic...Sure, we can opine that it all boils to do "product/market fit" and you made a good comment here
"Priority number one is always a very strong product market fit. If you feel like you’re working on a vitamin pill, your product will disappear from your customers’ shopping list by the time they cut their costs..."
In our case at Muldooneys we are building a luxury product - that will always have a niche market of appeal of consumers. True” luxury good where our leathergoods are valued because of its attributes: quality, craftmanship, our raw materials, the details, design, and most importantly integrating advanced technology.
Luxury never truly dies. There is always a demand even when there is an economic slowdown, but it is key though that our strategies are refined, and evolve with the changing times.
With Muldooneys 2.0 what I have done, is look to position ourselves where our main competitors (Luxury Giants) are weakest ie. in their supply chain.
1. This is an area of weakness primarily as: Luxury is built on selling a dream. Its exclusive premise is sold on its ability to control the information, communication flow, maintaining secrecy, in order to convey their "exclusivity" and "not for everyone" image. This justifies our veblen price positioning which increases roi in brand equity.
Why would we do this ? Well given that the biggest competitors we have are those that have stood the test of time. The longevity of that brand heritage (Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Gucci, Chanel etc) is in itself hard to ever be replicated, nor challenged.
20 years ago, we probably would have said – virtually impossible.
But, with secular themes like an ever evolving consumer demographics, disruptive new technology growth, upstarts such as ourselves have a unique opportunity.
Case to point, with Muldooneys 2.0 we have a :
1. Cost Advantage : Ours is a pre-order businessmodel; low market to entry (digital e-commerce business model) - which enables us to generate the same level of margins, with less the expense/cost of the large luxury brands;
2. Positional Value : By integrating new technology (Blockchain, A.I,) in the supply chain, building trust, transparency and including our consumer in a circular-end-to end business relationship. This technology enables us to improve our product performance with the information flow, whilst enabling us to acquire, and retain our consumer output, and satisfaction. With this transparent approach, we help build and confer that valuable brand legitimacy.
Added, with 6 limited edition product drops through the year, all in small quantities this augurs well as investment pieces for the consumer ROI, who was also part of the creation process from day one.
3. Structural/Scope : As a brand being revived with a more modern approach to luxury brand building - ie (just like a tech start-up bootstrapping) I have chosen to build a small, agile team of people, whilst outsourcing the bigger costs. This enables us to remain flexible, adjusting our technology to our product and market quickly, refining the "little trade secrets" whilst serving a niche market, for a long period of time. This in itself make's it hard for top tier luxury brands to replicate - due to their large behemoth structural disadvantages.
It's easy to become giddy with excitement with the big valuations. I too am guilty of that, but once you get a few hard knocks, reality starts to settle in. I have found that going back to the first blueprint, of the how and why I started out, helps bring back the focus on putting the plan in action first, before the ultimate end goal.
"If you act like the party is already over, you will look like either a coward or a walking dead" : C'est toujours le cas dans une bulle.
Le plus dur n'est pas de détecter son existence mais comment résister aux chants des sirènes et ramener une lueur de raison dans un monde hystérique.
L'histoire se répète : Crise - panique - reprise - excès - Crise - panique - etc.
Yes 2020 has been a year of revelations: Apple which has become a vaporware factory, Epic Games which plays and wins, Nvidia which overturns the table, AI which gives the lead, Tesla which breaks the house, the solidity of SpaceX.
The new Luddits, on the other hand, the accentuation of fakes news. The stock market no notice, she always seems late