S06.E05: After the Casery (Everkin)

[Amarsir]

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Two former employees from The Casery want to start their own cell phone case brand; Marcus tries to help Charlotte overcome her confidence issues to become a CEO, so she and Skyler can build a new company from the ground up.

Maybe the best episode they've ever done. A combination of business math, sales skills, design choices, and relationship management. So much happened that the entire trip to Hong Kong was reduced to a 10 second voiceover. I'm sure I'll be watching this again later in the week.

[cooksdelight]

Let me know when they re-air it as I forgot to watch last night. Well, I was also asleep by then, LOL.

[Gregg247]

This was like Old-School "The Profit", where every episode taught me new things about business that I'd never thought of before.  That was awesome!  I'll bet a 2 hour version of this one would be even better.  So much work accomplished in so little time!  I loved how Marcus matter-of-factly told them to get form an LLC and get some articles of incorporation -- while also doing all the work required for their T-Mobile meeting in 10 days!  Yikes!!!  I guess LegalZoom (or whatever they call it) wasn't willing to be a sponsor on this episode.  Too bad; they could have gotten a LOT of publicity out of it.

On the other hand, what we saw was a sped-up version of how business works, because a company without Marcus' help (and $2 million) would not have had meetings with the CEO of T-Mobile or a meeting with the office of the Commissioner of MLB at that early a stage of their development.

[ae2]

3 hours ago, cooksdelight said:

Let me know when they re-air it as I forgot to watch last night. Well, I was also asleep by then, LOL.

Yahoo has been putting the episodes online the day after they air. 

https://view.yahoo.com/show/the-profit/episode/61275221/after-the-casery

[hurrrz]

I felt this episode felt super contrived. The whole T-Mobile pitch felt off to me. The end of the episode also was a bit phony. "You did all this yourself, no idea, no name, no contacts" 

Well, technically, I doubt they would've been able to get both a T-Mobile meeting and a meeting with the MLB if it hadn't been for Marcus. Their phone cases are pretty generic IMHO. There is nothing that really differentiates them. 

 

Missed opportunity -  calling the wireless charger the Home Base for the MLB pitch. 

[CrazyInAlabama]

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Missed opportunity -  calling the wireless charger the Home Base for the MLB pitch. 

What a great idea!      I'm hoping someone at the company reads this, and they market the charger that way.   

This replays (central time) 1/27 Sunday 2 a.m., Sunday 2/3 4 a.m.   The Profit isn't scheduled for next Tuesday, but I think on Tuesday, 2/5, I think there's another behind the scenes, and TV Titan says, it's Standard Burger (8-9 p.m. central), and might have a new one after, but Titan TV is a pain to use, and even worse is the CNBC website.

I liked this episode, seeing the two people have to form the company, and learn everything they had to go through in the short time period they had.      I saw that on their facebook, and website, they currently have iPhone cases, and will have android in the spring.      I thought the new cases were a great improvement over the Casery ones.       I wonder what happened to the Casery man, after everyone left him?           

The Everkin people did have a huge money infusion from Marcus, and his connections with T-Mobile, and MLB certainly got them in the door, plus I'm sure their contracts with those two huge corporations got their foot in the door for pitches with the other companies they showed later, but they still had to do the work, get their logistics, inventory, and shipping online.  

Edited January 24, 2019 by CrazyInAlabama

[ae2]

1 hour ago, hurrrz said:

I felt this episode felt super contrived. The whole T-Mobile pitch felt off to me. The end of the episode also was a bit phony. "You did all this yourself, no idea, no name, no contacts" 

Well, technically, I doubt they would've been able to get both a T-Mobile meeting and a meeting with the MLB if it hadn't been for Marcus. Their phone cases are pretty generic IMHO. There is nothing that really differentiates them. 

 

Missed opportunity -  calling the wireless charger the Home Base for the MLB pitch. 

The pitches always feel contrived. I'll take their word that they are not entirely scripted, but they certainly can feel that way. I don't think we even heard numbers discussed in either of the pitches. Chalk it up mostly to TV editing. But also, these companies listen to the pitches because of Marcus. So they're a bit of a formality, and I think the people being pitched know that it's as much a lesson to the entrepreneur as it is a real business pitch.

What Marcus really meant was, "no contacts, except for me, and the fact that you're on a TV show."

Home Base is great!

[hoosiermommy]

I guess none of the Everkin team members had a non-compete with the Casery? Because that’s T Mobile pitch would have been in violation.

[CrazyInAlabama]

I bet the Casery man never had non-competes with anyone, because he didn't do anything else a real business owner would do.     

[sskrill]

I like Charlotte and Skylar but, really, which of us couldn't suceed under these conditions?

[Showthyme]

I expect to see most of those designs in the clearance bin at Walmart or Target. Pineapple on a cell phone case. Not sure why.

I hope that the delay in setting up for the presentation was to create drama for the show. I hate it when people are not prepared.

[Amarsir]

2 hours ago, sskrill said:

I like Charlotte and Skylar but, really, which of us couldn't succeed under these conditions?

I don't think I could design some of those artsy cases. I can silhouette an MLB logo on a solid color but my skill set at the rest would be buying someone else's art that I hope looks good to most people. Of course they somehow had the budget to hire two designers so maybe that isn't even a requirement for them.

2 hours ago, Showthyme said:

I expect to see most of those designs in the clearance bin at Walmart or Target. Pineapple on a cell phone case. Not sure why.

I hope that the delay in setting up for the presentation was to create drama for the show. I hate it when people are not prepared.

I didn't think they looked bad, but I've never bought a designer case in my life. I used to get rugged cases and now I just get whatever solid color costs about $5. But I wouldn't look down on others for having any of those.

A quick search on Amazon shows numerous existing pineapple cases, including this one I would look down on:

[Brooklynista]

12 hours ago, sskrill said:

I like Charlotte and Skylar but, really, which of us couldn't suceed under these conditions?

While I did enjoy the episode watching this new company succeed, it really felt like I was watching the cousins of "self-made millionaire" Kylie Jenner.  They had just about everything handed to them. Would any random startup have been able to a meeting with the CEO of T-Mobile?? I think not.

[LuvMyShows]

14 hours ago, sskrill said:

I like Charlotte and Skylar but, really, which of us couldn't suceed under these conditions?

Well, even they didn't!  They f'ed up the T-Mobile thing.  Yes, they absolutely got opportunities that very few other companies would get, but to their credit, they did what was needed to capitalize on those opportunities.  There's no way I could have done that, especially so quickly, given that I have no experience with design or manufacturing or distribution, or ......

What this episode was sorely lacking, however, was basically any guidance from Marcus.  We already saw when Charlotte became CEO that she has no idea how to break tasks down and to think in a workflow, and we know she had no presentation experience of this sort.  But all Marcus did was come in at the last moment and chastise them for a lot of stuff they didn't do right -- and I'm not saying he was wrong, but he wasn't mentoring, teaching, checking in regularly to help keep them on task, etc.  And that was surprising, because he had an enormous financial investment in their company.

And I can tell you that if I was an exec, and received presentations from Casery and Everkin that were about equal but had to choose one, I'd lean towards Casery if for no other reason than because they have a sensible name that describes their company, rather than a contrived name that says nothing about what they do and could pivot towards making literally anything under the sun where 'we want everyone to be kin'.  Barf.

[sskrill]

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I don't think I could design some of those artsy cases. I can silhouette an MLB logo on a solid color but my skill set at the rest would be buying someone else's art that I hope looks good to most people. 

My point was that they DID have that experience.  They didn't come into that field with zero knoweldge - they did most of these jobs at Casery.

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There's no way I could have done that, especially so quickly, given that I have no experience with design or manufacturing or distribution, or ......

Again, they both had already done most of this stuff on some level at Casery.

My general point was that if they took anyone, with top notch educations, and several years experience, they would have to be the laziest morons to not succeed.  If you already had several years experience manufacturing and selling widgets, and someone offered you $2m and 2 top level contacts of people who can give you great retail exposure of your widgets, in widget friendly markets, you'd have to go out of your way to fail.

The only pass I'll give them is the super short turnaround on the timeline - but that wasn't really where they failed.  It was not knowing how to assemble an easel, not creating masculine cases like Marcus suggested multiple times, and those types of things.

[CrazyInAlabama]

All pitches sound rehearsed, either elevator pitches, or regular pitches must be very rehearsed make sure you accurately cover all the points of the presentation, and don't have all of those pauses, and 'likes', and other filler words.      

[silverspoons]

This episode was a bit confusing to me. So a few employees that were the creative team in a company leave and within 10 days are suppose to form a company, come up with products, pricing, manufacturing and do a dream pitch? If Marcus wanted to help and guide them, you think he would have given then a few weeks just to form roles in the company and find a space and get settled and then start creating. Once they created a good product, then he would have had them explore manufacturing.

My guess is Marcus had a meeting set up with T-mobile. Marcus did not like the Casery owner but did not want to lose the Tmobile deal. he got this new company started in a rush to get the Tmobile deal done. Then Marcus has the gall to get mad at the girl over the markdowns, they had them start a company in 9 days, he were designers (as far as I know none are econ or business majors). Where was his guidance and help for 49%?

I also can't believe that TMobile who did not seem really impressed with the cases would just order them? Aren't there like 5,000 cell phone case makers, why go with one you do not love. Isn't Tmobile he type of place that tries to sell you overpriced cases when you buy your phone? I always thought the cases were geared toward protection? You just bought this $800 phone, do you want to leave the store without a safety case? Most people must know the cases are cheaper online or at walmart but the selling point is keep your phone safe from moment one. 

Did they get the deal with MLB? the MLB guy kept saying I want imagines , I assume he wanted like Wrigley field or the wall in Fenway park so why not say, come back with some photo cases and hen we will consider. These deals just seemed too easy and set up. 

Edited January 27, 2019 by silverspoons

[MajorNelson]

On 1/23/2019 at 6:39 AM, Gregg247 said:

On the other hand, what we saw was a sped-up version of how business works, because a company without Marcus' help (and $2 million) would not have had meetings with the CEO of T-Mobile or a meeting with the office of the Commissioner of MLB at that early a stage of their development.

I agree with the bolded part above, and also think the workers (the top brass) could barely run a company.  Marcus was just investing in them for some reason.  Probably stems from The Casery show interaction, but just because that owner was a jerk doesn't mean these guys are business geniuses.

Someone above mentioned that Charlotte had poor task breakdown ability, but I bet Skylar would have been great.  A lot of detail-oriented people can be good leaders, not just worker drones.

[BusyOctober]

I agree that none of their designs were unique or different or inspired.  Google 'phone case' or look at Amazon...baseballs, team logos, flags, faux wood or marble, chevrons, animal print, geometrics...even the pineapple....EVERY case company has these same designs.  Other than getting the rights to the T-Mobile magenta color or making a case with that specific color ONLY sold in T-Mobile stores, I don't get where the "wow" factor of exclusivity is.

And I knew there'd be a demo fail when they opted NOT to open or assemble the easels/stands.  A well rehearsed pitch includes knowing how to use the props you bring as well as the content of your presentation.

[JasminePhyllisia]

Agree with pretty much all the comments here on this episode. Not much to add except the sticker shock at seeing the cases were expected to sell for $40 at the T Mobile store! Not one of the designs was unique and variations can be had for under $10 easily at places like Marshalls or Amazon.  If TM really charges that much I would guess they are relying on aggressive upselling and impulse buys, especially for a parent buying the phone as a Christmas or birthday gift for their kid.

I loved the MLB idea of going beyond logos and instead using iconic images that are meaningful to the fans. Also found it interesting to hear that designs and logos worn on caps are often a good barometer of what fans might buy in other products. 

[mojito]

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 I'd lean towards Casery if for no other reason than because they have a sensible name that describes their company, rather than a contrived name that says nothing about what they do and could pivot towards making literally anything under the sun where 'we want everyone to be kin'. 

Like Apple and Amazon. We see how badly they've done.

[stormy]

I guess I was happy with the outcome. God knows why. I didn't like Charlotte (if said um one more time I was going to scratch my eyes out). It was because of her that they weren't prepared for the T Mobile presentation.

And she and Skyler not brainstorming before pitching the idea to Marcus to even have a company name? The name, as someone pointed out, is bad. 

And good Lord, how many times did Marcus tell them most of the cases were too feminine?

[purpledumper]

First off,

There is no way that Marcus put 2 million into this business, where did that figure come from? This business needed nothing essentially (other than them incorporating and basic office space expenses) Surely Marcus would only fund a purchase order when they did finally get one from T mobile. He himself says "this business is finished" if they don't get the T mobile order.  

Secondly, How could anyone think that this product priced at $40 would sell lots of units? Not many people would be interested in paying that due to all the competition and why would this group of seemingly smart people price it at that? Maybe its just a T mobile scam as they asked for 300,000 up front for their "space" after nothing sold.

Its October 2019 now and I see the shopeverkin.com site is down and social media dead, so i guess we can say this business failed? thecasery site is still up, with what looks like an extremely small range of choice now. 

This was a very peculiar episode as It makes you feel Marcus clearly had T mobile, MLB and other licencing plays lined up, as well as a possible hint of the 2 leaving thecasery before he even entertained this business idea in the first place. After all Marcus is all about margins and a clear business plan. Big orders or nothing. He leveraged their complete knowledge of the space, lined up deals, took a calculated gamble, then unfortunately it looks like they didnt come up with good enough designs or price points to pull it off(