lystn

Adam Pritzker is the co-founder of Assembled Brands which is a modern holding company providing a new way to finance consumer brands. Prior to Assembled Brands, Adam Pritzker cofounded General Assembly which raised $100 million from top tier investors. General Assembly was reportedly acquired for over $400 million by The Adecco Group. In this episode you will learn: The three biggest challenges that new consumer brands have to deal with Ways to finance your startup The danger of popups The best use of offline distribution channels Why starting with wholesale has great profit margin advantages SUBSCRIBE ON: For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here) that I recently covered. Thiel was the first angel investor in Facebook with a $500K check that turned into more than $1 billion in cash. Moreover, I also provided a commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400 million (see it here). Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that is being used by founders around the world to raise millions below. About Adam Pritzker:   Adam is the Chairman and CEO of Assembled Brands, a modern holding company. He was also Chairman and Co-Founder of General Assembly a global network of campuses providing educational and professional development training. For his entrepreneurial endeavors, Adam was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Vanity Fair’s The Next Establishment, Inc. Magazine’s 30 Under 30, and Business Insider’s Silicon Alley 100. Adam holds a BA from Columbia University where he studied Anthropology and Economics.   Connect with Adam Pritzker: Website Linkedin Twitter * * *FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW: Alejandro: Alrighty. Hello everyone and welcome to the DealMakers show. Today we're going to learn a lot about basically going through the full cycle as a founder. Then also, the life purpose of being able to help founders, creatives, and innovators not only from the educational side but then also the financing side. So, without further ado, Adam Pritzker welcome to the DealMakers show today. Adam Pritzker: Thank you so much for having me, Alejandro. Alejandro: Let me ask you this, Adam. How was life being born and raised in San Francisco? Adam Pritzker: San Francisco is an amazing place to grow up. To date myself, I was born in '84, and I left in '03 to go to New York for college. As you can imagine, from '84 to '03 a lot happened in San Francisco. The tech people went from a fringe group to kind of the dead center of the culture. Alejandro: Right. Especially because when you came here, probably the innovation and the creativity that is happening today, it was almost nonexistent. You had big companies starting to happen like DoubleClick and things like that, but it was still really premature compared to the Bay Area. Adam Pritzker: Absolutely. In terms of the startup community, there was a wave or two of founders before me. General Assembly, the first company I started with a number of co-founders really kicked off in 2010. Flatiron at that time had kind of tumbleweeds going through the middle of it. We leased a 20,000 sq. ft. space for $30 a foot. I believe it's like $90 a foot now. So, a lot has changed since 2010. Alejandro: Got it. We'll get into General Assembly in just a bit, but I wanted to ask you about the upbringing and growing up in San Francisco. Then also, coming from a family of people that have been very much deep in businesses that have also created very successful businesses. For example, the Hyatt. What did you learn growing up from the business side? Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur? Adam Pritzker: I did. Yeah. My aunts and uncles and cousins were all entrepreneurial. It was all around me and at the dinner table.