When will Unived raise funds?

I’ve been asked this question, several times over the past many years, by friends, customers, industry collogues, and even people whom I’ve interviewed for a role with us.

The Why?

Where should I begin?

I started Unived in 2010, when I was 27. Raising funds, or chasing valuations, wasn’t a need or an attraction, for me.

In fact, the subject did not make its way into my thought process until around 2013, which is when the first potential investor reached out with their interest. Back then, sales were just starting to show. The new product pipeline was loaded, and we were burning the midnight oil on new launches, while also setting up in-house manufacturing, and executing our go-to-market efforts.

We had so much more to work on, before even being a valid investment idea; why in the world would anyone want to bet on us at this stage, I thought. While I did meet with their entire team over a few weeks, I decided to step away from their offer, respectfully.

They were ready to bet on a few things – myself & my team (all of whom were freshers, with no domain experience), the company & its product-line (vegan dietary supplements, a completely unvalidated and non-existent industry back then), and our firm desire of building the brand while also setting up a 100% in-house production process (a zero outsourcing mentality).

Looking back; turning down that offer was one of the best decisions. Not only was it unattractive (it isn’t even today), but it was grossly unfair, as their investment came with the clause of Unived having to return most of it to their own company via AD spend.

Post that, as the years rolled on, some more reputable and larger PE firms did reach out. We did have curtesy introductory discussions, but I was a bit stern in my refusal to share financial information or to entertain the idea. I just didn’t have the headspace for it, back then, and the buttery flattery was all too repulsive for me to deal with. I don’t like false praise, and it was all false praise as they had no idea of how we were doing things, and they praised us through the roof only to then ask us for every detail.

Most of them have gone ahead and made investments in companies from our domain. Most of these companies have adopted the performance marketing blueprint. Most of this money has passed through the companies, and into the hands of social media influencers, meta, and google. Most of the sales have been deeply discounted. None of this aligns with me.

So, while raising funds was not a mandate for me; early in the journey I didn’t feel we were worthy of any investors time, and a bit later the nature of the conversations wasn’t very appealing to me.

Also, as time went on, we were able to build the brand, the business, the production unit, and the bottom line. We had become self-sufficient and the business was able to fund necessary capex.

?Would things have been different if Unived struggled, and survival was at stake? I do not know the answer to that. But, I do know, that I would never take decisions that I felt were compromising my value system.

The When

The things that you don’t plan, are the best.

So, I don’t know when.

We may close year with a reserves cash surplus of nearly 1.5x of last years revenue. If the business needs cash, we have some, and if we need more, I will visit the bank.

More than funds, what would excite me is someone who can have an impact on the business. Someone who can add true value. Could be backward / forward integration, could be domestic / international growth, could be horizontal expansion, etcetera

People work with people. Teamwork leads to dreamwork. Collaboration leads to knowledge creation. Partnerships & opportunities come in different shapes & sizes, and they come unexpectedly whenever the world conspires in ones favour.

Until then:

Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream,

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily

Life is but a dream.

Thoughts after a Saturday morning espresso, and due to Ramraj Pai's comment on my last post.