Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits) (@lifeofbi) / X

Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)

10.1K posts

Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)

@lifeofbi

Buying + advising distressed DTC/CPG brands ($5-50M). Capital stacks, lender negotiations, margin recovery. Host of In The Money. 1 deal/week in the newsletter.

🇺🇸🇦🇺🇫🇷

Joined August 2009

Pinned
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Jul 10, 2025
If you're interested in: 🎧 Listening to some the most interesting $5m-$50m founders, operators, investors, acquirers, and lenders in the DTC and CPG space. 🔖 Reading about interesting M&A deals in the consumer products category. 👀 Seeing a proprietary deal a week from
16K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Sep 18, 2024
I've never heard a story like this. Ex-Morgan Stanley banker buys a failing CPG snack brand for $250,000 in 2011. Business today is doing $100m+ in revenue and $14m in EBITDA. Brand is LesserEvil popcorn.
237K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Jan 30, 2022
Having seen 200+ eCom DTC P&Ls the past year, the best ones look something like: Product Cost - 25% FOB, CC Fees, Shipping/ Fulfilment, Returns, Discounts - 20% >> Gross Margin 55% Marketing (MER) - 20% Opex/ Headcount - 10% >> Net Margin 25%
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Aug 27, 2024
Sara Blakely sold SPANX to Blackstone in 2021 for $1.2B. She's back with Sneex, a high heel that collapses into a sneaker, retailing for $395 to $595. It's not uncommon to see a tech founder have repeat large outcomes. Are there any repeat consumer founders with big exits?
341K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Dec 22, 2023
Apparel brand Something Navy, founded by influencer Arielle Charnas, launched in 2020 with $17.5m of capital at a $45m valuation. It worked; doing $32m of rev in its first year, with plans of a new raise at $100m val. This week it was sold for $1 (and $7.5m of debt assumption).
337K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Apr 28, 2025
Summit Partners ($35B AUM, early Uber/Klaviyo) bet ~$300M on a DTC roll-up: Solo Stove: ~$125M Chubbies: ~$125M Oru Kayak: ~$25M Isle: ~$25M It worked. Solo Brands IPO’d at $1.5B in 2021. Fast forward: last week it was delisted at a $3M market cap. Summit still owns ~70%.
131K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Feb 6, 2024
Canada Goose doing $1.25B in revenue, at 70% gross margins, and 150m EBIT trading at $1.15B market cap is all you need to know about consumer brand valuations right now. Market cap is down 75% since 2019.
170K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Feb 13, 2022
Has anyone told you that eCom is a terrible business if you want to make cash? Improving the cash conversion cycle of a brand is priority #1 when we take it over. Here are our four biggest takeaways.
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Dec 26, 2023
Deckers, the $17.5B market cap footwear platform, may be the best consumer investor of the last two decades: - Buys Ugg in 1995 for $15m, now $1.9B in revenue - Buys Teva in 2002 for $60m, now $200m in revenue - Buys Hoka in 2012 for $1m, now $1.3B in revenue
102K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Oct 23, 2023
Hello Bello, diaper and baby products brand founded by Kristen Bell + Dax Shepard, doing $180m in revenue just filed for bankruptcy! 🤯 They were backed by VMG, top tier consumer PE fund. In their filing they state there's $100m+ of liabilities, incl $22m to a single supplier.
392K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
May 25, 2022
We see 50 DTC businesses a week between brokered, marketplace, and off-market - it is BRUTAL out there, a storm of five factors with one on the horizon. Please start planning for a bumpy summer.
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Nov 30, 2021
We're about to buy our 8th DTC brand this year, have talked to 200+ founders, and everyone asks about pricing/ valuation. Here's what we've learned:
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Feb 15, 2023
Bloomberg reported Away luggage has hired a banker to run an exit process. At ~$300M in revenue, what will it sell for? On $200M raised, what does it need to sell for?
211K
Fan Bi (buy/ advise $5-50M brands in special sits)
@lifeofbi
Aug 13, 2024
Momentous, the supplements brand backed by Andrew Huberman, has launched a RTD bev with 45g of protein and 5g of creatine. In a peak-protein world, surprised that most RTD drinks are still advertising 8-15g instead of 30-50g.
127K