S05.E12: The Casery

[cooksdelight]

Quote

A Los Angeles startup is creating buzz with its fashion-forward cell-phone cases; behind its breathtaking sales, the cracks are starting to show; its CEO does whatever he pleases, leaving his partners demoralized and the business unable to grow.

I hate Matt with the heat of a thousand hells.....

[LoreliLee]

Omg. That was hard to watch. First time I recall hearing Marcus call a potential partner a prick. My recording cut-off right when Charlotte(?) called to propose forming a partnership w/Marcus. I’m definitely catching the end of the replay!

[Kenz]

What's with the sweaters that Marcus is wearing, the ones with a broken heart? Strange, and not attractive. Has Marcus gotten married? I think I saw a wedding ring on his left ring finger.

I thought the phone case business was pretty saturated, and I figured they were made in China, but these were not. It looks like The Casery could be a good niche company if stupid Matt got out of the way. I hope he keeps good financial records separating all off his personal expenses out from the business or the IRS could have a field day with him. Somehow I think he does not. What a jerk.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Kenz

[windtrix]

I am so excited because Skyler is my nephew-in-law! I only found out about this whole thing today, but I am seeing him at a family function this weekend. I can’t wait to get all of the details. I was really relieved that he wasn’t the asshole. I didn’t know that much about his job or what his position was, but I thought he was part owner so I was worried he might be part of the problem.

[Amarsir]

I wish this show was about business and not the ego of the week. However, the talent departing the company to partner with Marcus is really interesting and is something I wished to see in bad companies of the past.

As is frequently the case, the investment timing is all exposed as fake as well. Marcus writes the check, but it didn’t exist because the later check with the royalty demand was the only one he wanted back. I think he’s clearly in the right here but that doesn’t help appearances.

Phone cases seem like an oversaturated market for low cost providers. I’ve never paid over $15, rarely over $10. But then I don’t have an iPhone either.

42 minutes ago, windtrix said:

I am so excited because Skyler is my nephew-in-law! I only found out about this whole thing today, but I am seeing him at a family function this weekend. I can’t wait to get all of the details. I was really relieved that he wasn’t the asshole. I didn’t know that much about his job or what his position was, but I thought he was part owner so I was worried he might be part of the problem.

Be proud of him. He came off very well.

[cooksdelight]

Since it’s a two-parter, or a “to be continued” story, we’ll probably get another dose of Matt. I hope it’s him being handed his ass on a silver platter. I, too, want to know why Marcus wasn’t asking for all of his money back. Maybe because Matt has already spent it.

Yes, Marcus got married recently. BRKN Heart is one of his fashion brands.

http://www.mlfashiongroup.com/

Marcus and his wife. Does anyone remember her from a previous show?

https://people.com/tv/marcus-lemonis-confirm-marriage-bobbi-raffel/

[Ray Adverb]

7 hours ago, LoreliLee said:

Omg. That was hard to watch. First time I recall hearing Marcus call a potential partner a prick. My recording cut-off right when Charlotte(?) called to propose forming a partnership w/Marcus. I’m definitely catching the end of the replay!

There's not really anything after that.  Marcus says something like "Maybe this is not the end of the story...", and a TO BE CONTINUED appears on the bottom of the screen.

[Ray Adverb]

That was a very interesting episode.  Matt seemed like he took every opportunity he could to sabotage the business.  Business ownership attracts people like him.  They want to be their own boss and call the shots and have that kind of freedom.  So when someone like Marcus, Skylar, and Charlotte try to tamp that down, he doesn't take it well.  Marcus's connections are always valuable, and they are doubly so in this kind of business which is so saturated and niche.  That T-Mobile deal would have been HUGE, but Matt's ego kept getting in the way.

 

WTF was with Charlotte putting so much money into the business but getting almost no equity?  What kind of slime ball does that to a person?  But what kind of person gets suckered into something like that?

 

What about the legality of Matt using all that company money for his own expenses?  Isn't that embezzlement?

[Ray Adverb]

Oh yeah, and Charlotte... (I hope that's her name, I forgot).  Her dad loaned them $250,000 for the business?  How do these peoples' parents have that kind of money to spare?  My parents are both retired and they're doing okay.  I went to dinner with my mother last week and Mom gave the waitress a $50 tip.... on a bill of only $51.  Then they take a bunch of cruises and own a second home (it's in a cheap part of the country and I hear it's a modest home, but still... two homes).  Right now I am in a mild financial bind due to some car repairs and want to ask her for $200 (which is actually only 25% of the repair costs) but even that feels exorbitant.

[ae2]

Marcus: "You speak like you know everything about everything, and that's the one thing you have to change with me."

Uh... Marcus... that's sort of your modus operandi.

Yes, this episode focused heavily on the drama and personalities. But in this case I think they actually affected the business, as opposed to Marcus stirring up tangential problems where there were none.

But seriously, Matthew, check your ego for a couple of weeks, get a huge deal with T-Mobile, and then go whine and cry and get out of the business. Why would you tear everything down before that deal happens?

The show has always been a little wishy-washy with how Marcus' investments work. However, we know from previous lawsuits that he does actually conduct handshake deals and does actually give the money to the businesses. So my assumption about the $750k is that it is either 1) spent on debt and loan repayment, and not retrievable, or 2) Marcus still maintains his ownership in Casery but backs away from control and becomes a silent partner. Hopefully we'll find out more in the continuation, as that's one of the more fascinating parts of the show.

[ae2]

2 hours ago, Ray Adverb said:

WTF was with Charlotte putting so much money into the business but getting almost no equity?  What kind of slime ball does that to a person?  But what kind of person gets suckered into something like that?

 

What about the legality of Matt using all that company money for his own expenses?  Isn't that embezzlement?

Well, they were dating, which might explain part of it. I'm surprised Marcus didn't dig deeper into that. Also, on the surface this looks like a good investment - the business is growing fast and generating a lot of revenue.

As to embezzlement, I'm no lawyer or CPA, but I think as the business owner the expenses would get categorized as an Owner Withdrawal. Having partners might complicate that but I don't think it could get classified as embezzling. Even if it somehow came to a lawsuit he would probably be able to argue they are valid expenses since all the ones we saw were for his "development" and "education" as a CEO (despite being hokum). 

[Ray Adverb]

53 minutes ago, ae2 said:

As to embezzlement, I'm no lawyer or CPA, but I think as the business owner the expenses would get categorized as an Owner Withdrawal. Having partners might complicate that but I don't think it could get classified as embezzling. Even if it somehow came to a lawsuit he would probably be able to argue they are valid expenses since all the ones we saw were for his "development" and "education" as a CEO (despite being hokum). 

The education I could buy as wasteful, but essentially legal.  I sort of remember some other living expenses and entertainment things too but the exact nature eludes me.

 

If Charlotte breaks off and partners with Marcus, I guess she loses her initial investment and the money her dad loaned The Casery?  Seems like a lot to sacrifice.

[hurrrz]

I was surprised he didn't buy the guy out or join forces with the other two and vote him off. It seemed like they had a good bunch of people and a good product with a potential deal with t-mobile. Get the idiot out and make bank. 

[LuvMyShows]

4 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Yes, Marcus got married recently. BRKN Heart is one of his fashion brands.

http://www.mlfashiongroup.com/

I don't get the brand at all.  When I kept seeing it, I figured it was for a heart-related charity, like how people wear different colored ribbons for charity.  Otherwise, uh, why would you want to wear a huge broken heart logo?  Is it supposed to be for people to wear when they've recently broken up or had a death that has left their heart broken?

So I went to their website https://brknheart.com/, and this is what it says in About [the bolding is mine, for my analysis afterward]:

Don't be fooled by what you see, this heart is unbreakable, this woman is unstoppable. No matter the challenges and hurt our hearts may be confronted with, we get back up.  Women persevere. You can't minimize us. You cannot tear us down. We will never stop showing up with an open heart, ready to take on the world. 

Pop art shades and subtle monotones artfully coexist on our hoodies, t shirts, button downs, outerwear, sweatshirts, sweatpants, bags, and accessories with an urban, rebellious flair.

BRKN Heart is a minimalist line of casual sportswear essentials with an edgy, graphic feel and a compelling message. We source only the finest materials from cashmere to pima cotton to leather,  our clean designs that spotlight an evocative logo capturing the spirit of an era that glorifies the power of celebrating your true heart without fear.

WTF? First of all, if the heart is unbreakable, then why are you showing the exact opposite?  Wouldn't that be like owning a cake/pie/cookie bakery and only having advertising photos showing bread?  Second, they have products for men...nice to not only tacitly ignore them in your mission statement, but explicitly exclude them  Third, there is nothing edgy or graphic about solid color clothing with a heart on it. Fourth I literally have no idea what the message is from looking at the clothing.  Fifth, it is not an evocative logo...it looks like something from the American Red Cross organization.  Sixth, what era are they talking about...is it now?  Seventh, since the logo literally depicts a broken heart, and that is what the entire line is called, then that is what is being celebrated...so our true hearts are broken.

Their About statement reads exactly like the written equivalent of what Marcus did when he re-branded that salon's hair care line.  It's so much verbal diarrhea, that is supposed to convey some wonderful/uplifting/strong/powerful message but actually means nothing.  Actually, it reads like something that if it was written by a company other than one of Marcus's, he would have done a takedown on it.

[Showthyme]

Bean counter here. Casery's financials may not be set up properly. Scenario #1: Casery is a corporation. Did Skyler and Charlotte get shares of stock to document their percentage of ownership? Is the loan from Charlotte's dad on the books with a formal note? As a corporation, any personal expenses are a liability and should be shown as due from officer and should be repaid. Skyler is complicit in expensing questionable items. The real problem is that using the corporate checkbook as one's own to pay personal expenses punctures the corporate veil. Scenario #2 is that Casery is a sole proprietorship. Skyler and Charlotte do not have a legal piece of the business. The personal expenses are a form of a withdrawal and do not get deducted on tax return (yeah, right). Scenario #3 is that Casery is a partnership but he is taking withdrawals to cover his personal expenses while his partners are not. As "partners" I wonder if Skyler and Charlotte know that they are on the hook to their creditors and tax agencies. Regardless of the legal/tax structure Marcus said it best: shiny piece of shit. It sounds like Sklyer has good bookkeeping skills but needs advice from a CPA. 

Matt should take a training class in financial statements for non-financial managers. The meditation and time-management classes have only separated him from his money. 

Phone cases are in clearance bins everywhere. Phone sizes change constantly. Casery may be running into cash flow problems when the retailers return these cases in large quantities because they do not sell through. Casery is not making money as Matt states. They are selling a lot of goods, some of which will be returned. 

That BRKN heart sweater needs to go. It is not edgy. Looks like something that would be in the clearance section at Ross. 

[OrchidThief]

I like Marcus a lot, but I don't think design is his strong suit -- guessing he was wearing the Broken Heart logo as an ad, but it didn't really land well. His couple of eps working with clothing companies didn't seem to work. 

As for this episode, I just don't think cell phone cases are a great business idea. Phones come in so many different sizes and change every year. I know few people who have the little ring on the back or even use a case (I never have, not sure why they are necessary as they add bulk). I find the whole cell phone accessory market ridiculous, and you see high-end products of such in the $1 bin at TJ Maxx every day.

But the woman was an idiot for putting in so much capital with virtually no equity. I'm hoping she wasn't romantically involved with Matt at some point, but it kinda smells like she was...and she put in a LOT. Matt reminded me of people who start fake nonprofits and just harvest their living expenses off the "non" profit. 

Anyway, it will be interesting to see what the two dissed partners come up with to pitch to Marcus in the future. The gal obviously doesn't have great business sense, but the guy does and it seems they'd work well together.

[JasminePhyllisia]

4 hours ago, Showthyme said:

Phone cases are in clearance bins everywhere. Phone sizes change constantly. Casery may be running into cash flow problems when the retailers return these cases in large quantities because they do not sell through. Casery is not making money as Matt states. They are selling a lot of goods, some of which will be returned. 

 

Totally, they're a dime a dozen and there was nothing unique about those designs.  As far as males I would think if they're buying at all it's based on ruggedness (not a more masculine graphic) because most guys I know seem to have cracked screens so clearly they drop their phones a lot.  Missed opportunity there but then Matt is a bad businessman on many levels, this episode should be renamed "The Douchery."  I am rooting for his business partners however.

[cooksdelight]

I swear by Otterbox for my iPhones I’ve owned. Would never buy another case, I don’t care how pretty it is. 

[Christina]

Nothing is linking prettified because I'm using my tablet after clicking on a link to a Radar Online article resulting in the blue screen of death on my laptop and I'm not at home to use my desktop. That site is absolutely awful; my firewall and adblocker hate it and it is never worth the bother to read the articles, yet I stupidly tried.

On Twitter, Charlotte had tweeted then deleted a few comments about the business and Matt. She had agreed with Marcus about his money being returned, etc., and nothing seemed out of line and worthy of deletion to me. I can't link to any of the tweets directly because she deleted them. Her twitter account is https://twitter.com/charpops7 in case anyone wants to keep an eye on it. She probably won't post anything about "To be continued..." until after the future episode airs, though. The Casery's Twitter account hasn't posted anything since April, and it didn't have much about the business anyway. https://twitter.com/thecasery

Marcus' twitter is https://twitter.com/marcuslemonis/with_replies. He posted a few things about T-Mobile possibly helping Charlotte and Skylar, but nothing much. He also responded to tweets asking if he actually received his money back, and he answered one by saying he went and picked up the check, and one was for the $700k, not the $150k mentioned in the restaurant. I'm going to try and type those links to see if they will embed, but my tablet isn't making it easy and I want my laptop back...crying in the corner...

 

 

[Showthyme]

Thanks, Christina. The tweets confirm that Casery is a shiny piece of shit. Matt confuses making money with making sales. What an idiot. Hope Charlotte's dad gets repaid. 

[GoGamecox]

I actually had looked at the Casery's website several months ago after seeing an ad on Facebook for it. Some of the designs were fun, and I thought about getting one (but didn't). I'm not in the target demographic (I'm almost 50), but I like artsy, unique stuff. But I ended up getting an Otterbox instead. 

My first thought on Marcus' BRKN sweaters is they look like Mr. Rogers promoting some kind of American Heart Association awareness campaign. NOT SEXY. 

[KHenry14]

Seems bizarre that the head of sales in a company would deliberately not pursue sales opportunities. Marketing to men couldn't possibly hurt the brand, nor would making cases for phones other than ones from Apple. Yet, doofus refused. You could even go after licensing deals with sports teams. 

Anyway, dopes like this get what they deserve eventually

[cooksdelight]

I won’t be satisfied until I see Matt in prison stripes.

[tobeannounced]

Apparently Charlotte and Skylar have a new phone case company coming soon called Everkin

Edited June 23, 2018 by tobeannounced

[Kiss my mutt]

Why not  bring design phenom, Craig from Southern Charm, on? (Eye roll and smirk)

[TVbitch]

On 6/23/2018 at 5:36 PM, Kiss my mutt said:

Why not  bring design phenom, Craig from Southern Charm, on? (Eye roll and smirk)

...or the guys with the watches. 

I will never understand the people that blow it with Marcus. Unless that was their agenda for some reason to begin with. I mean surely they have seen the show and have thought long and hard about whether this will be good for their company --and it almost always is. So you would have to almost have a certifiable personality/impulse disorder to fuck it up like that. Even if the guy is a narcissist, just suck it up until you are nice and rich, then unleash your inner asshole. Jesus God. 

Edited June 28, 2018 by TVbitch

[Jamoche]

On 6/27/2018 at 7:14 PM, TVbitch said:

 I will never understand the people that blow it with Marcus. Unless that was their agenda for some reason to begin with.

Same thing that eventually killed Kitchen Nightmares - they're absolutely convinced that the expert will come in, fawn over them, say "oh, you're such a genius, and now that I have bestowed my blessings upon you all those little people who are keeping you down will realize what a mistake they made". 

I don't want to watch a show where I'm rooting for the small business owner to fail so the hard-working employees they've been snubbing can go somewhere else that appreciates them.

[tobeannounced]

Good point @Jamoche. It reminds me of people who go to an online forum asking for advice, when they really want validation. When everyone disagrees with them, which they never anticipated, they have a meltdown and flounce.

[Jamoche]

4 hours ago, tobeannounced said:

Good point @Jamoche. It reminds me of people who go to an online forum asking for advice, when they really want validation. When everyone disagrees with them, which they never anticipated, they have a meltdown and flounce.

There's a tumblr blog where the author finds letters to advice columnists who are pretty obviously trolling for validation  for their bad behavior and gives them the snarky "advice" they deserve: http://thatbadadvice.tumblr.com 

[tobeannounced]

6 hours ago, Jamoche said:

There's a tumblr blog where the author finds letters to advice columnists who are pretty obviously trolling for validation  for their bad behavior and gives them the snarky "advice" they deserve: http://thatbadadvice.tumblr.com 

Now I know what I'm doing for the rest of my evening - lol

[shksabelle]

That douchebag-to-end-all douchebags should have his own show:

The Goniff: How to run your company as your personal ATM AND rip off your friends. 

I hope he falls - HARD

[sskrill]

Only caught the end the first time this aired - finally caught a full rerun tonight. 

What I wouldn't give to see Charlotte beat the shit out of Matt.

I feel like Skylar is the smartest of the group and has the potential to go the furthest.  Matt's going to end up back in his mothers basement - he reminds me of Eric Cartman if cartman had a degree from USC.

Edited July 29, 2018 by sskrill

[marny]

The Broken Heart clothes just look like an attempt to knock-off of the Comme de Garçons brand. We’ve seen Marcus wear it in previous seasons of the show. Here’s an example of the stuff: https://www.farfetch.com/ca/shopping/men/comme-des-garc-ons-play-v-neck-cardigan--item-12351908.aspx?storeid=10163&from=listing&tglmdl=1

[CrazyInAlabama]

I hope the two that left Casery do very well with their own company, and show everyone how talented they really are.   

 

And I hope Marcus did partner with Everkin (the new company Charlotte, and Skylar started together )-I hope I get the names right.