Stumptown coffee's inspiring us

Have to say we're massive fans of Stumptown Coffee Roasters. This is as far as you need to go for inspiration and a fantastic cup of coffee these days. Starbucks had it coming! (When we get around to it, we'll scan and post the Stumptown business card - it's outrageously good).

The cardinal sins of the "beauty biz"

We're getting ready to raise some capital so we're spending some time this weekend (again!) refreshing our investor presentation.

Here's a sneak peek at the first slide, referring to what's wrong with the "beauty" or "personal care" industry (in our not-so-humble opinion):

Our creative firm hates it when I post raw undesigned stuff like this but I just can't help myself.

Having courage as a core value

We've spent a lot of time thinking about our Core Values. Not because we didn't know what they were or should be, but because we wanted to narrow the list down to 4 or 5 values at most. One of the ones that kept popping up was Courage.

Do you know what the definition of Courage is? We like it.

courage |ˈkərij; ˈkə-rij|
noun

the ability to do something that frightens one (!)

ORIGIN Middle English (denoting the heart, as the seat of feelings): from Old French corage, from Latin cor ‘heart.’

Starting a business in this market takes courage. Taking on Proctor and Gamble takes courage (or a healthy dose of insanity). Heading out into the woods for a pre-dawn hike in grizzly bear country takes courage. Raising capital today takes plenty of courage!

What exactly do we mean by "better personal care"?

Since you asked, here's how we define "better personal care":

• Safe (free of harmful toxins)
• Natural (organic when it makes sense*)
• Effective
• Pleasing to the senses
• Reasonably priced
• Readily available (e.g. available outside fancy department stores or salons)
• Sincere and earnest
• Transparent
• Socially and environmentally responsible
• Passionate (would you eat at a restaurant with an indifferent chef?)

* organic ingredients are often 2-3x more expensive than their non-organic counterparts

By the time you've run these filters, there's very little left to chose from. But we're convinced that this is exactly what a growing % of the US adult population wants. So we're hard at work trying to put all the pieces together.

Trucker and Bonna Skis

Hey there, you look mighty fine in them boards! (That's an Eddie Murphy reference, btw).

Upper Old Camp Trail

Testing out that SPF 13 again... Tough to beat the quiet woods on a
day like this.

That's local beer in that glass I swear!

A well-deserved pint (or two)!

Wrapping up on Friday so that means a pint is just around the corner! Don't worry, it only happens once a week (sort of) and only when we deserve one!

Overall, a great week:

• Supplier cranking away on final tweaks to our base formulations. 
• Potential fantastic fragrance solution in the works (keep your digits x'd).
• Ursa Major 'brand ID' very close to being wrapped up.
• Creative firm beavering away on our packaging design - hope to unveil something here next week. 
• Local customers warming up nicely to what we're doing (taking it slow until we have more to show them - brand & scented products). 
• Investor presentation refreshed and looking good!
• Books in squeaky clean shape.
• Two great intern candidates in the mix.

It's going to be cold this weekend (-3F > 18F) but we plan to get out there and explore some new territory. Will post a pic or two here... Have a good one!

Gotta love Vermont winters

Local Severe Weather Alert for Stowe, VT
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1 AM EST FRIDAY... ...WIND CHILL WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 1 AM FRIDAY TO 7 AM EST SATURDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BURLINGTON CONTINUES THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR 3 TO 6 INCHES OF SNOW ACROSS THE NORTHERN GREEN MOUNTAINS OF VERMONT...UNTIL 1 AM EST FRIDAY. IN ADDITION... A WIND CHILL WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM 1 AM FRIDAY TO 7 AM SATURDAY FOR WIND CHILL VALUES APPROACHING -35 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. * TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED BY LATER THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY NEAR JAY PEAK. * SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS AND SNOW SQUALLS WILL CONTINUE INTO THIS EVENING...BEFORE TAPERING OFF TO SCATTERED FLURRIES AFTER MIDNIGHT. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE. * THE COMBINATION OF WEST WINDS INCREASING TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 50 MPH AND TEMPERATURES FALLING BELOW ZERO BY DAYBREAK FRIDAY...WILL CREATE WIND CHILL VALUES NEAR -35 DEGREES BELOW ZERO. THESE VERY COLD VALUES WILL CONTINUE INTO SATURDAY MORNING. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING. A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS THE COMBINATION OF VERY COLD AIR AND STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES. THIS WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE AND LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA OR DEATH IF PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

Inspired by backcountry skiing

More brand inspiration. Came across these Rossignol BC70 skis last year up at the Trapp's cabin.

Norse marauders on skis inspiring us this morning

Found this image online... feels kind of Ursa Majorish (our mysterious, dark side!). These guys look like they're about to get down to the short strokes! However something tells us they don't have much need for shave cream or SPF (or deodorant for that matter!). [image source]

Ursa Major on the pulse

Here's an excerpt from a recent fashion article in the New York Times:

The arctic weather in Europe may be the simple answer, or perhaps it’s something deeper, but for some reason everybody at the Pitti Immagine Uomo trade fair in Florence, Italy, which closed today, was dressed like a mountaineer. On the runways and on the Renaissance streets, the default look comprised hiking boots, heavy felted, checked-wool puffed coats and scarves as wide as king-size bedspreads.

Fashion rarely follows function or logic, but the fallout from the crumbling financial markets may also be responsible for this back-to-nature escapism. The Japanese have been forecasting this nature-bound, anti-urban trend for a few seasons and avant-garde Tokyo brands and boutiques have gone crazy for original plaid, snow boots and hunting gear of every kind, in the process re-energizing staid American mountain classics like Timberland, Pendleton, Woolrich, Filson, L.L. Bean and Red Wing.

Good to know we have the fashion tailwinds at our back; although we're wary of 'trends' here at Ursa Major! Thanks to Alex M. for passing this snippet along. [Photo source: NYTimes/Pitti Immagine]

The obscure language of personal care

Here's a new word for your vocab:

comedogenic |ˌkäməˌdōˈjenik|
adjective:
tending to cause blackheads by blocking the pores of the skin.

Obviously, something we're avoiding like the bubonic plague when formulating our products!

Marketing out in the wilderness

We see these signs from time to time along trails in this area. They're posted to help trail-goers find and stay on trails. This can be very helpful when you're on a trail for the first time or if the visibility is poor (snowstorm, fog, cloud cover).

Tubb's is a for-profit company that makes snowshoes and other gear so I take it this is a marketing exercise. I'm curious to learn more... On the one hand, it seems like it could be a good way to create goodwill with potential customers; on the other, I have serious doubts about commercial messaging out in the wilderness. What if state forests started auctioning off trail-marker signs every 25 yards?

Lots to do this week

We start most weeks with a list of 'things to do this week'. Here's what it looks like for the week beginning Jan 25:

Product

• Final feedback to product formulator (hoping to finish up base formulations by end Jan)
• Get necessary information/make decision re: launching SPF 13 this year
  
• Finalize packaging components
  
• Finalize fragrance solution (this is proving trickier than anticipated - working with natural essential oils poses all kinds of challenges)
  

 Brand

• Complete "brand identity system" (with help of an adviser)
  
• Complete first round of packaging design for face care care and SPF 13
• Research other "brand books"; agree on table of contents for Ursa Major brand book

Customer Development

• Informal drop-ins with local retailers to introduce Ursa Major, get initial feedback and test core assumptions
• Develop table of contents for "customer development" materials (key focus in Feb)

Finance

• Update investor presentation (Executive Summary, PowerPoint)
• Refresh prospective investor list
• Request meetings for mid-Feb (Vermont and NYC), by which point we hope to have final product prototypes and packaging as well as initial feedback from retailers
• Meet with book-keeper to review accounts

Organization

• Meet with three intern candidates

Invariably, by Friday, we're ready for cold pint!

Sky Top Trail

Testing out our All-Season Face Protector with SPF 13. It works!

Dutchy Originals Organic Ale

Fun inspiration as we think about packaging. Masculine. Premium.
Natural. Not spirited enough though!

Making the most of our weekly trip to Burlington

About once a week we head into Burlington to meet with our creative team (Dave and Steve at Place, above), do some market research or customer development, have lunch with an investor, stock up on groceries at City Market or Healthy Living, etc.

Often, if we have enough time, we'll try to hit one of our favorite places for a bite to eat (or a cold beer!): Stone Soup, Open Arms Cafe or American Flatbread. Sometimes, in the summer, we'll even get in a walk or run at Shelburne Farms, one of our favorite places anywhere.

On today's weekly visit to BTV we kicked off Round 2 of our creative work with Place (Round 1 centered on logo development). Now the focus turns to how we bring our brand to life in a powerful, authentic manner out in the 'marketplace' (packaging, merchandising, web site, collateral, etc).

It's exciting to finally be exploring a "visual vocabulary" for our brand in earnest and we'll be sure to share the highlights here. Hopefully some of you will weigh in as we go!

After our session at Place, we dipped into Healthy Living and EMS as part of our 'customer development' effort. The idea here is to talking to customers to introduce Ursa Major (well before we launch), learn more about the market, get feedback on what we're doing, test our key assumptions, etc.

We've now hit about 10 stores in the local area over the past week and we're encouraged by the response we're getting from local retailers. There seems to be interest in a natural, sustainable personal care brand for people who love the outdoors (oh, by the way, that's a riff on our updated mission!).

Sometimes it feels good to work on a Sunday

Sometimes being under the gun means working all weekend, which is the way it went down this past weekend (and the one before... and the one before).

Unsustainable in the long run, but absolutely necessary at this tenuous stage in our development!

And very satisfying when some thing tangible and positive results: an improvement to a product prototype, a stronger strategic plan, an investor check and, hopefully soon, happy customers!

(Above photo from this past Sunday - we spent a good part of the day grouping 'actions and behaviors' we hope to adopt as part of Ursa Major's 'core brand identity').

Starting down the sustainability path

• What does 'sustainability' mean to Ursa Major?
  
• How can we design sustainability into our business in a way that's authentic and adds value for our stakeholders?
• What is the role of business in today's society? How do we define progress?
• How do we measure our progress towards becoming a sustainable business?
• How do we know when we have achieved success?
  

We pondered and discussed these important questions this morning during Ursa Major's first 'sustainability workshop' hosted by Greg Strong, principal of Spring Hill Solutions.

I first met Greg about a year ago at what I recall was billed "Vermont's first carbon management workshop for business", put on by Greg's firm at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

Since then we've met several times (usually over coffee at Stone Soup) to talk about what we can and should be doing at Ursa Major to design sustainability into our brand from the outset.

These discussions have morphed into today's loose collaboration whereby Greg and his firm will hopefully be serving as an inspired guide/partner along our sustainability journey.

We share a conviction that businesses must become net positive contributors to the communities in which they operate after a full accounting of their economic, social and environmental impact.

With this in mind, we'll be drafting a sustainability plan together over the coming weeks, with specific goals for 2010 that should move us towards our longer-term goals. (We'll keep it simple.)

It's exciting to think about the possibilities - even for our embryonic, pre-revenue organization - and we'll be sure to share key insights and lessons learned here on this blog.

Short-sighted brands

Is it just us or are Clif Bars getting smaller in the recession?

Product development update

Products are coming along nicely... base shave cream and lotion formulas are very close. Still have some work to do on the toner and wash base formulas, both of which will be certain to rock when our product development maestro Darren has put his finishing touches on them!

In the meantime, we're tweaking two of the four fragrance submissions from Yosh. They're getting close too. The natural scent blends we're working up feel like fresh green botanical brews and they're packed with therapeutic benefits and deliciousness!

OK, we've completed our work in the city. It's time to head back to hills...

Ursa Minor

In her element.

Vision strategy brand workshop

Spent all day cooped up in a conf room in mid-town cooking up some
seriously blue ocean strategy for the Big Bear! This is Mark, one of
our mad advisors. He's good. Very good. We're lucky to have him.

Aaahhh New York

Blistered peppers and sea salt, in case you're wondering.

Can you guess where?

Clue: cheap hotel in NYC.

Fleshing out the Ursa Major brand...

While we're on the branding track, here's a slide we just pulled together to prep for some brand strategy meetings this/next week in Vermont and NYC. What do you think?

Honing in on a brand identity

So far there's been very little on this blog about how our branding is shaping up so we think it's time for an update on that front.

We've chosen Place Creative Company in Burlington, Vermont as our creative partner and we've spent 3-4 months exploring various brand directions with them.

Along the way we've been making liberal use of a growing informal group of friends and testers who've been weighing in as well (SurveyMonkey has been an effective tool for these quick surveys).

Below are some of the designs we've considered, in chronological order, to give you a sense of how things have evolved (try to focus on the designs, not the colors):

Crazy Three-Headed Bear Design
This is one of the first designs we received from Place. We liked it a lot for many reasons but ultimately set it aside because we felt it was a little too 'aggro' for what we're trying to achieve.

Stacked Logo
We liked the simplicity and clean look of this take but ultimately felt the border to be a little constricting. We don't want to fence in our bear!

Star Map
We were really into this idea for a while - tapping into the 'stellar' side of the Ursa Major name. But ultimately we felt the direction was a little too obscure and subtle for the vibe we're aiming for.

Latest Iteration.
Here's where things stand today. We like this version because it feels bold, spirited, earnest, inspired by nature, refined, inviting and a tiny bit 'campy' (this is a Vermont company after all!).

We'll be firming up our brand 'look'n feel' over the coming 30 days, so please let us know if you have any final thoughts! Thanks.

Big bear stationary in the house!

We found these hand-made cards at a local sandwich shop and thought they would make fun thank-you cards for Ursa Major.

('Ursa Major' means 'Big Bear' in Latin and refers to the constellation with the Big Dipper in it, in case you're wondering what the connection is).

Each card is a little different, made using local 'wild-crafted' birch bark as the canvas, and then the paint/image is stenciled on top.

Not bad for our first batch of stationary! (The artist is Lucie Keene of Vermont Birchbark Arts.)

Product development update

Product samples have been rolling in over the past week or so from our developer/supplier of natural base formulations and also our natural scent collaborator, YOSH. We love it when the UPS truck pulls up in the snow outside and the friendly driver thumps on our door to hand over the goods!

A lot of hard work has gone into thinking about, designing, developing and evaluating our initial products (four face care items: wash, toner, shave, lotion) and it's exciting to start seeing things come together after nine months.

We aim to complete product development in January at which point we will sample final prototypes to our informal 'tester group' - basically, friends of ours who've indicated a strong interest in learning more about refined, effective natural personal care products designed for men.

Assuming we get a green light from our tester group (on things like efficacy, texture, scent, etc), the products will go into what's called "stability testing", a 12-week process designed to ensure that the product will hold up over time and not "stratify" or come apart at the seams. We're getting there!

Photos: Oliver

Keeping the genesis of a brand alive

When starting a business one inevitably gets tugged this way and that in a long series of compromises. Things can erode pretty quick into a washed out mess without a clear vision and the gumption to stick with it. Plus the all-important ability to listen to the right folks along the way and adjust things as needed. Often easier said than done!

Having a clear, compelling vision in place to anchor the business from day 1 is critical. "Vision" is a much-used and often poorly understood term. We like Jim Collin's version best. We've had a 'place-holder vision' in place for the past six months but sense it needs some additional massaging before we unleash it on the unsuspecting universe, so hang in there for the final version, coming soon!

In the meantime, I'm going to share a little trick I've developed when advising founders of small companies over the years. Inevitably, at some point in the evolution of any business, the founder arrives at a place when they feel completely and irreversibly lost (thank God we're not there yet, but being proactive never hurts). To illustrate, a snippet from Dante's Divine Comedy:

In the middle of the road of my life
I awoke in the dark wood
where the true way was wholly lost

What then? What to do? How to find the way again?

I like to go back to a company's genesis, back to the source, so to speak, so I ask entrepreneurs: take me back to the beginning. How did things evolve from the very first inkling that this might be more than a passing idea in your noggin'? What were you feeling at the time? Walk me through the series of events, experiences, feelings, etc. that led you to actually set off and start this business.

Often, after a period of reflection, the entrepreneur's eyes begin to sparkle as he (or she) begins to reminisce viscerally about why they started their business, what problem they were trying to solve and what they love doing. Inevitably, the mood brightens and the entrepreneur's spirit quickens as he/she gets reacquainted with the genesis of what has probably since become their life's work.

 This line of inquiry is one path to the passion and purpose that got things going in the first place. A good place to start when the way is "wholly lost". Our hope is to avoid that fate by making sure we anchor our vision in an authentic, purposeful beginning (or genesis, or narrative), and the first step in doing that is to write it down. But wait, it's time for lunch, so I guess we'll have to cover that in our next a subsequent post!

Photo: Oliver

Finding our pace and rhythm

It's only day two of the new year and we can feel ourselves getting sucked into the start-up morass. It seems like there's always more to do! And, in fact, there always is. If you like to work, it's easy to keep going... and going... and going. A slippery slope, even if you love what you do, and unsustainable.

So it's a good time to remind ourselves that one of the reasons we moved up here away from the city to launch Ursa Major was to slow down the manic, full-throttle pacing that is often associated with urban start-ups and find our own healthy rhythm up here in the woods! 

We've been pretty good at doing that (usually sneaking out for a run or bike or hike or x-c ski late afternoon, then working for an hour or two before/after dinner) and we're convinced this leads to better thinking, less stress and hopefully a greater chance at long-term success. Time will tell!

Of course a bustling urban environment also has much to offer a start-up, including a vibrant cultural scene and lots of energy, people and possible connections, all of which feed creativity. To be honest, we like having access to both Vermont and NYC for different reasons and hopefully Ursa Major will reflect this.

The photo you see above was taken yesterday (or maybe the day before... ) while x-c skiing up one of our favorite local trails, Oslo, at the Trapp Family Lodge. It feels like it's been snowing every day up here since mid-December. And it probably has! Gotta love the four seasons in New England.

Photo(s): Oliver

Influences and inspirations: Velo Orange and Field Notes

We're intrigued with the idea of using this blog as our central communications platform for Ursa Major, so we've been looking around to see what other little companies/brands are doing - how they're using the blogging format to create more value in the markets they're serving, thereby becoming more successful.

One of the first blogs to warrant our close attention is that of Velo Orange. We first learned about the company through a tip from our local bike shop, Old Spokes Home in Burlington, Vermont. Of course, we did what we always do when we hear about an intriguing new company - we jumped online to check it out.

Unlike most company blogs, which act as one-way news outlets and fall short of really engaging readers, VO's blog gets regular comments from brand loyalists, usually in the form of on-the-fly feedback on planned products or just plain encouragement, both of which can be of great value to entrepreneurs.

Another one we like is Field Notes. FN is doing a good job giving life to their brand by engaging an expanding community with earnest (often user-generated) content on their blog which, tellingly, is featured front-row-center on their web site vs. hidden on some back page. Nice to see a creative upstart giving Moleskine a run in this category.

If you know of other small company blogs doing a good job creating value and engaging stakeholders through earnest content/blogs, we would love to know about'em. Thanks.

Drafting our strategic plan for 2010

We've made a point of taking time off over the holidays to rest up for a big 2010 but we're now starting to get restless and we're eager to get to work again! The sign of a good vacation...

With that in mind, we spent a few hours this morning outlining our strategic plan for the coming year. It's only a first draft, but I don't think it'll change much:

I'm a planner by nature but I think the trick for (small) companies is to NOT over-plan, instead keeping plans simple, top of mind, executable and real (adjusting if necessary based on new learning).

This one-page format is a good way to distill the essence of a plan into something readily digestible by key stake-holders (us included!). This is probably as far as a small, embroyonic start-up should go.

Next we'll develop some simple monthly projections for 2010, reflecting the plan above, to get a handle on possible cash flows, and that should be it for planning for now...

At the risk of sounding like a nerd, it's exciting to have a clear, concise plan in place before diving into the new year! We couldn't imagine doing this without one, that's for sure.

Resource tip: entrepreneurs interested in learning more about 1-page strategic plans might like to read this blog post.