Dan Reich

Excited to announce Top Shelf Ventures's latest investment: Eileen Inc. Eileen is a retail intelligence platform that gives brands on-demand, real-time visibility into their shelf presence by connecting them to a network of 12,000+ “shoppers” who capture in-store data via photos of live shelves. If you’re a CPG brand, big or small, that wants to see what’s going on on ALL your shelves today for as little as $1/shelf, you need to check Eileen out. It sort of blew our minds the first time we tried it. Because here is the problem they’re solving: Retail execution failure is one of the most expensive and least visible problems in the CPG industry, and out-of-stock events alone cost brands approximately 8% of potential sales. Most brands have literally no independent mechanism to verify what's actually happening at the shelf level, which means brands can spend months landing distribution in a major retailer, only to find out a year later that a third of stores never put the product on the shelf. Eileen fixes that. We're particularly excited about Eileen's potential to become the Nielsen or IRI for the modern CPG landscape, and we believe its founder, Jordan Karcher is the right person to build it. Much more to come on this one.

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Most DTC brands never make it into retail. Not because their product sucks. Not because they don’t work hard. But because they treat retail like it’s just another DTC channel. It’s not. Retail is its own beast with new rules, new expectations, new buyers. If you don’t have: • Sell-through data • Retail-ready packaging • And a founder-led pitch that makes buyers care… You’ll get ignored. This is the same framework we use with brands doing $1M–$30M in DTC, helping them unlock big-box and specialty retail.

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The fact that AI now recognizes tech-forward, Maker-focused models like LibDib as the future of distribution is a big moment—and a strong validation of what we’ve been building. The alcohol distribution landscape is changing—and AI is taking notice. We asked Google’s Gemini which distributors small and mid-sized alcohol brands should consider, and the response was clear: LibDib is a top choice. As LLMs like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Perplexity reshape how Buyers and Consumers discover products, it's more important than ever for brands to rethink their go-to-market strategy. Some predict 75% of online revenue will soon be driven by AI over traditional search. Check out what Gemini had to say and why LLM's matter for every brand. https://lnkd.in/e2GiPuVy

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"What is your strategy and who is your consumer?" "Stay true to your consumer" Wise words from Kimberly Bean of Perkins American Food Co. Marketing is incredibly complex. Marketing is hard. But, to make it a little more simple and a little easier, everything should come back to those statements. 1) What's the strategy? 2) Who's the consumer(s)? Stay true to the strategy (or change it when you have enough info to do that confidently). Stay true to the consumer(s). Things change. Things evolve. But, if everything comes back to the strategy and the consumer, you'll be in a good spot.

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Private Label Threat: When Target Launches Your Product for 40% Less Indie wellness brand launches vitamin gummies. $34.99 for 60-count. Sells well at Whole Foods and on DTC. 18 months later: Target's Good & Gather launches nearly identical gummies. $19.99 for same count. Target's private label teams don't just compete. They study your best sellers, then manufacture similar formulations at 40-60% less. Here's Target's private label empire in 2025: 🎯 Good & Gather: $4 billion annual revenue (adding 600 new items in 2025) 🎯 up & up: $3 billion (relaunched beauty in Feb 2024) 🎯 Cat & Jack: $3 billion in kids' apparel 🎯 Filed 525 trademarks in 2024 (more than Walmart, Aldi, Lidl combined) Private label market hit $277 billion in 2025. Gen Z private label spending will surpass Boomers by mid-2026. Even households earning $100K+ are rapidly adopting. Ulta launched private label beauty. Target expanded Good & Gather into wellness. Every major retailer has teams analyzing what indie brands sell best. They have: → Your sales data (if you're selling through them) → Manufacturing scale (driving costs down 40-60%) → Shelf placement control → Customer loyalty programs with 20+ million members One collagen supplement brand watched Target's version launch at $18 vs. their $32. Six months later, their retail orders dropped 60%. What's stopping Target from studying your formulation next? #CPG #PrivateLabel #RetailStrategy

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As Jeannie Jarnot eloquently put: sustainability is a team sport. Earlier this month, I sat down for a warm and intimate panel at Beauty Heroes® with Jeannie, Greg Starkman - CEO Innersense Organic Beauty and a real veteran of the clean beauty sector, and Danielle Jezienicki - founder of Impact FWD and one of the most pragmatic and trusted voices in packaging sustainability today. My goal at rePurpose Global has always been finding ways to make sustainability more central to the business KPIs of an organization, and over the last 12 months there has been a lot of positive momentum in that direction, fuelled by regulations like #EPR. Not everyone has the same role to play, but brands, retailers, founders, policy makers, and consumers all need to push in the same direction. The carousel captures a few of the ideas that stayed with me most from the evening. Grateful for rooms like this one that make space for practical, honest conversations about what it really takes to build sustainable brands that can scale.

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Who isn't using AI every day for one task or another. According to Beauty Independent latest coverage from their AI Tech Summit (link below), 94% of beauty CEOs are using some form of AI. We’re seeing AI reshape beauty across every layer of the value chain: 🧪 Product Innovation Ingredient trend analysis Formula optimization Stability + quality flagging Packaging design inspiration Sustainability modeling 🎨 Marketing + Creative Copywriting + campaign iteration Product photography + video generation Consumer sentiment analysis Competitive teardown in minutes, not weeks AI-powered personalization at scale 📣 Sales + CRM Precision-targeted ads Chatbots + virtual advisors Consumer insight clustering Retail media optimization Door/region targeting 📦 Operations + Supply Chain Demand forecasting Inventory planning Route optimization Financial modeling Legal review + documentation This is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It’s becoming foundational infrastructure. But here’s the important part: AI won’t replace humans and do 100% of the work for you. It won’t replace taste. It won’t replace instinct. It won’t replace brand vision. What it can do is compress the work of many — managed by a few. It allows lean teams to operate with enterprise-level capability. It allows founders to move at the speed of insight. It allows operators to test, iterate, and learn faster than ever before. And change is happening daily. The question isn’t whether AI will impact beauty. The question is how thoughtfully we integrate it. 👉 What excites you most about AI in beauty? 👉 What concerns you the most? 👉 Where do you see this heading in the next 3–5 years? For anyone interested in how brands are actually putting AI to work, this recap from Beauty Independent’s AI Tech Summit is worth the read: https://lnkd.in/gmMcYd2Q #CleanBeauty #ScienceBacked #PersonalCareIsPersonal #buildinginpublic #beautyindependent #BeautyIndustry #CPG #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #BeautyTech #Innovation #ProductDevelopment #FutureOfBeauty #BrandBuilding #Entrepreneurship #Founders #StartupLife #SupplyChain #Marketing #ConsumerInsights #DigitalTransformation #TechInBeauty

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What’s coming down the pike in the cannabis drinks space? The next big wave may well be functionality. That's according to ayrloom president Mack Hueber — who’s leading New York’s #1 cannabis drinks brand (250K cases annually, $50M wholesale run rate) — says beverages that go beyond taste to deliver specific, repeatable effects could be the next big growth driver. 🔶 Using minor cannabinoids like CBN, CBG, and others to target outcomes — sleep, focus, relaxation, uplift 🔶 Pairing THC with functional ingredients to create a clear “what it will do for me” promise 🔶 Borrowing a proven playbook from other categories where mood-based marketing works — think non-alcoholic and functional drinks with “Focus,” “Relax,” “Unwind,” and “Energize” on the can In adult non-alc beverages, this approach has been a massive success, helping brands win shelf space, consumer loyalty, and premium pricing. The question is: Can cannabis beverages follow the same path — and will consumers embrace these effect-based products as readily? What are you seeing in the market? Let us know in the comments 👇 #BusinessofDrinks #BeverageIndustry #BeverageTrends #DrinksBusiness #NAbeverages #FunctionalDrinks Business of Drinks Scott Rosenbaum

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Tech VCs getting over their skis investing in DTC brands set back CPG investment for a decade Historically VC has been about investing in technology that disrupted big markets and captured lots of value That model didn’t fit consumer brands...until around 2012 it suddenly did: FB/IG ads provided hyper targeted access to your core demographic — stand up a website (Tech!) and suddenly you could “cut out the middleman” and grab a bunch of margin typically “stolen” from you by “antiquated retailers” Apply that to BIG markets (Shoes! Beds! Bags!) and all of a sudden VCs were chomping at the bit (they love TAM) In 2016, Dollar Shave Club was bought for $1 billion by Unilever; by 2018 Bleecker and Chestnut streets were full of DTC storefronts and the VCs behind those brands were celebrating Then things started to change: CACs rose, growth slowed, Casper botched its IPO and Apple changed its iOS to make ad targeting even harder The investors who were just recently high fiving on the way up were now underwater (crushed under heavy pref stacks) They were quick to throw the industry under the bus: “Consumer products are too capital intensive” “There’s no big outcomes in consumer” “We’re pivoting to e-commerce enablement - picks and shovels!” “DTC just doesn’t work” ...and their peers, their LPs, the media and the ecosystem at large took them at their word The industry dismissed consumer products as a whole, and in doing so it threw the baby out with the bathwater and led a lot of capital to write off CPG But the real story: these were overfunded businesses with good (but not great) products, structurally low repeat purchase and minimal moat Allbirds, Casper and Away raised a combined $700m to create less than that much value in their end state; Unilever sold off Dollar Shave Club at a steep discount 7 years after buying it The lasting misconceptions became core narratives that were only recently violated as the VC community scratches its head at the recent run of big CPG exits that raised modest amounts of capital (Poppi, Siete, LesserEvil, Touchland, Simple Mills) Word lately is that “CPG is back” — it’s just a shame that all these people thought it ever left

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Bright Future for Bricks & Mortar Stores. Great piece covering Advise by John Walshe @ Retail Media Group, and highlighting: ·      Vast Majority of Grocery Sales still happen in Brick & Mortar Stores (80% plus) ·      CPG/ FMCG manufacturers are drowning in data and leaving enormous volumes and value on the shop floor, on the shelf, in the storeroom, with the competition, wasted… take your pick! ·      When manufacturers don’t engage with data they already have access to, they can’t automate processes, increase margins, increase efficiencies, reduce costs & retail talent. ·      Almost forgot… Manufacturers have to embrace AI, where it makes sense, like everyone else… 😊 See full article here: https://lnkd.in/erNY7bnH #cpganalytics #drowningindata #ecrireland #catmanglobal

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