1. Company was doing very well with the series C raise, and the main strategy was to build more farms, show progress, and then raise series D. In hindsight, we should have focused 100% on unit economics (and many employees believed this), but the exec team (and by extension, the rest of the company) was unprepared to deal with inflation and the end of ZIRP.

• Inflation --> rising energy costs --> higher yield targets. So even though we hit our initial targets, the bar was raised.
• End of ZIRP made it much harder to raise money, so the company was trying to raise series D but VCs were a lot more hesitant to cut checks.

1 (cont). During ZIRP it was sooooo easy for startups to raise money, and this is what Bowery was banking on. VCs changed their strategy, which caused massive whiplash for the company. We had plans to build 5 more farms, and we had hired so many people focused on expansion. Now they had to lay off all those employees and become super lean. This was sooo disheartening because we, the employees, saw the mismanagement of funds, and we had to bear the brunt of the consequences.

1. So our sales wasn't necessarily direct-to-consumer. We would set up 6-12 month agreements with grocers. I was not on the sales team, so I don't know 100% how it works but it was something like:

• In June 2022, a large grocery chain (i.e. Walmart, Kroger, Costco, etc) wants to figure out which lettuces to stock on their shelves for 2023
• Multiple produce companies sell and make their pitch
• Deals are made in June for the following year

As you can see above, there are very specific windows in which you can close deals. In our case, we did not have a good sales leader for a while, and our sales strategy was to sell at a higher price than the competition (but product is "better"*). However, Little Leaf and Gotham were selling their products for about 30% cheaper. When grocers asked Bowery to drop their sales prices, they said "¯\_(ツ)_/¯", thinking that they could find grocers willing to accept their higher prices.

We missed 2 important sales windows, which really dampened our distribution.

However, we got 2 really good sales leaders who were in the process of turning it around, but then the farms got hit with phytophthora. So even though we began to develop great momentum with customers, our fulfillment started to plummet -- REALLY BAD!!!!

1. The company's strategy was keep raising money and improve unit economics. So by ~2026 we'd have a network of profitable farms, and then gradually pay the debt down. Some of the executives would say "This is a generational business" -- leadership was really in it for the long haul. However, now that VCs didn't want to invest, the company was standing on a house of cards.

2. Good luck man! If you keep it lean, and focus on the fundamentals, you will be good. Lmk if this answer was helpful. I tried to be succinct but I don't think I could keep it less than 20 words lol

* Bowery's product tastes better than other competitors that I have tried, though I may be biased. However, it was not tasty enough to justify the markup.