Mori

Akin and Cam met at JP Morgan, where both worked in investment banking on technology, media, and subscription businesses. Their finance backgrounds informed how they approached building Mori, a direct-to-consumer baby essentials brand. They identified a gap in the market for high-quality, thoughtfully designed products for newborns through age three, with a particular focus on capturing the significant gifting behavior in the baby products market—a segment that represents 50-75% of market purchases.

The company officially launched its main collection in February 2016. Initially, Mori tested a subscription model focused on size-up apparel items with a limited product portfolio. However, customer behavior quickly revealed that this approach didn't match how mothers actually purchased. The team pivoted to pure e-commerce, which unleashed significant growth. They expanded their product range to include core items like the "clever sleeping bag" (priced at ~$75-80 USD, their top seller), towels, sleep suits, and mousins. By year-end 2016, they'd achieved "about half a million" in sales.

The company invested heavily in paid acquisition, spending approximately $50,000 per month on Facebook and Instagram advertising, plus emerging PPC and retargeting campaigns through Criteo. However, the founding team increasingly recognized that paid spend efficiency was declining relative to revenue growth. They deliberately began pivoting toward organic acquisition through brand building, community engagement, and word-of-mouth—growing their monthly revenue 20-30% while their ad spend only grew 5%.

What worked spectacularly was understanding repeat purchase behavior. The average customer purchased 4+ times, with about 50% of monthly revenue coming from repeat customers. This insight drove everything: they deployed Klaviyo for dynamic product recommendations (pairing items based on purchase history and baby age), doubled their average order value to ~$100 since the previous interview, and expanded their product bundle offerings. The failed subscription model taught them that gifting behavior required flexibility—they couldn't guess what a new mother needed each month. Their new "subscription plus membership" model launching in July allowed customers to set up regular purchases of basics (like sleep suits) while maintaining flexibility to add items via "Dash" as needed.

As of late May 2017, Mori operated at a $2 million annual run rate (achieving ~$150,000 in monthly revenue) with a goal of $4 million in 2017 total revenue. They'd acquired over 10,000 customers across 50+ countries, predominantly in the UK, and were adding ~1,000 customers per month. In a major milestone, they closed a $2 million equity round (up from a $125,000 note from 500 Startups). Akin credited their strong repeat purchase metrics and brand equity as the primary value drivers for investors. The team continued focusing on expanding their product portfolio within the 0-3 age range while building community and brand loyalty to reduce reliance on paid advertising.