Roll With It | Lucas London of Lick | Visionaries Ep

[00:00:01][music] >> The size of the market was exciting and it was predominantly a [music] offline market. So, about 5% of paint was bought online. So, those two things are quite interesting concepts cuz if you could bring the market online, which you're seeing in lots of other categories but not paint, [music] then you could take market share of a big market. And a key problem in the customer journey is choosing color [music] and having the confidence to paint your home in that color. There wasn't a brand that was focused on solving that customer.

[00:00:34]>> [music] >> My name is Lucas London. I am CEO and co-founder of Lick.

[00:00:43]We were just looking at a number of different ideas. I was start the business with a close friend called Sam Bradley and he had an idea to set up a CBD business. Um and I was looking at different categories in the home decor.

[00:00:56]And then we landed at paint. [music] We thought that was an exciting opportunity.

[00:01:00]Sam and I were thinking of different names and and he originally came up with the name Lick. [music] And I didn't love the name, but when we started playing with the name in what traditional fonts and branding, [music] for me it really stood out and became much more effective. There was a way you could lose the actual meaning of the word and it just be a strong bold name.

[00:01:18]And and I think [music] it was a very powerful asset for us as a way we've grown and stand out from other companies and brands.

[00:01:28]We had this window to set up the business, so we were going as quick as we could. We did a pre-seed funding round and set up the business to launch.

[00:01:36]And it just so happened the launch fell on the day lockdown was announced in the UK.

[00:01:41]We sent an email around to all our investors at the time saying, you know, we're holding back. It's obviously very challenging um market dynamics to launch a product in and with a lot of unknowns. But very quickly it became apparent that everyone was at home. People were bored. Um home became more important.

[00:01:58]>> We were buying our tins from China at that point. And then there was this moment where they just stopped responding. They stopped picking up the phone and I remember telling my two close friends and family that something [music] quite severe was happening because the the factory that we were dealing with weren't responding. But we still sort of pushed on with with launching and then it all kicked off very quickly.

[00:02:16]>> Yeah, this is in my son's room. This is It's in the Yeah, in the woodwork. And we've got white to two on the walls.

[00:02:21]>> We were obviously a new brand, so we didn't have a lot of stock and we didn't have scalable supply chains, so keeping up with that demand [music] was very tough. You know, so we saw people sell half-empty cans of paint on Facebook Marketplace cuz we couldn't fulfill orders.

[00:02:38]We had limitations during COVID when we launched because, you know, we couldn't do production shoots and we really [music] focused on our consumers and our community. And that created what we call as a sort of people-powered decorating movement. So, right at the early doors we I started asking sort of friends and family to paint and and to shoot the content and send that content to us. And there was one moment where a very close friend, they're a couple and they had a a small dog and they were drinking wine while painting and I think the dog peed on the carpet during it and they sent it to us and the content performed really well. And it was the moment really where we thought, "Okay, putting the the community first in a home that [music] people could relate to, doing things creatively to get a really nice finish because with paint you can get a very strong look and a different look quite accessibly, we could encourage other people and inspire other people to decorate their homes." And that's how [music] the brand started as a really community-driven brand.

[00:03:38]>> I think a big one is understanding the customer from the outset and creating content that was meaningful, relatable in a fairly outdated, traditional industry. We kind of came in and >> [music] >> made paint look sexy. We kind of created content in relatable moments and relatable homes. We made a brand feel accessible yet modern, cool, and elevated. So, um and we've continued that. That's an important part of the brand to date [music] and certainly something that Lucas and Sam in particular felt very strongly about doing from the beginning and had a clear vision on making it feel like a modern, innovative, new brand that traditional brands just just weren't facilitating. [music] >> When we launched the business, the focus was to build a D2C paint brand and to bring the industry online.

[00:04:29]>> [music] >> And we were very correct at the start during COVID. Post-COVID, you saw online adoption revert to some degree back to norm and you saw our competition increase online.

[00:04:39]>> [music] >> A big learning we've had is that the customer journey frequently starts or ends in a DIY store in the UK. [music] Large DIY chains have huge market share.

[00:04:50]And in order to scale, we had to become multi-channel. [music] And those DIY stores are very effective in supporting the customer across a range of categories. And they over the last few years have adopted online very effectively. So, we had to become a multi-channel brand. So, I guess at the start we were right as a D2C business and then post-COVID, we had [music] to completely rebuild the business to be multi-channel and to scale. And we went through that journey and come out the other side and are growing [music] very quickly after that.

[00:05:21]And some brands pride themselves on the fact they have 2 million colors to choose from.

[00:05:25]So, most brands that >> [music] >> when we hit the market were focusing on choice and not supporting the customer choose colors. So, not guiding them to get [music] the look or the feeling of the home that they want.

[00:05:38]>> You can paint a room in a day [music] with Lick paint because you don't need primer. The coverage is so amazing that you literally just need two [music] coats. Like, I call it magic paint.

[00:05:49]Like, it's literally magic paint. Like, I've seen a black wall turn white in two coats before with Lick.

[00:05:55]>> Because the industry is [music] built with this very established brand, slowly over time products become [music] poorer as they try and get more and more margin out of it. So, it's our passion to make sure that we have the best product we can.

[00:06:10]So, we have our own manufacturing facility. We have invested from day one in building business that can scale.

[00:06:14][music] And it's amazing to see the volume that's increased over over time, you know, from when we launched to where it is today, >> [music] >> um to go from multiples of 10 to multiples of 100,000. It's It's uh very exciting.

[00:06:27]The business has grown now over 70% in terms of liters sold to consumer year on year for 6 years, um >> [music] >> which we're incredibly proud of, and that means more people are decorating their homes and creating the homes that they want to live [music] in. And we are hugely ambitious to continue that growth and build the biggest paint brand in Europe.

[00:06:47]When we started the business, we were lucky to find a supplier that could support us in creating the products. We then worked with the team to create 50 colors. That color palette then grew to 100 later [music] on. It required capital at start, which is why we did quite a large pre-seed round. And then, as we move from a D2C business to a multi-channel businesses, that has [music] had different requirements for capital. Um so, at this point where we've got past the point where we necessarily [music] need venture to scale, as the business is in a really strong place. It's been great to work with Wayflyer to enable us to have capital for different short-term cash requirements, whether it be inventory building um or managing cash flow.

[00:07:30]We've had raw materials [music] pricing pressure. You know, we banked with Silicon Valley Bank that went under while I was halfway through a haircut.

[00:07:37]We've had multiple cycles for funding.

[00:07:40]When we started [music] the business, people were raising 100 million pound rounds and that was everywhere and then, you know, now if you're on there, our business is very [music] challenging to raise capital.

[00:07:48]So, you've had to be very resilient to build a business and you've had to have extreme conviction in your idea, but also to be able to pivot and [music] adjust to what is a very changing macro landscape.

[00:08:08]There's definitely a level of intensity of building a business and I started playing golf a few years ago and I found it an amazing release on work. I mean, it's massively helped my mental health and it's allowed me to do a better job at Lick because I can [music] give Lick the focus with a more clearer mind because I have that off switch that I can [music] sort of channel my mind into outside of work.

[00:08:36]>> This is his dream, building a business.

[00:08:38]He's always wanted to do this and [music] I'm extremely proud and pleased for him for what he's achieved. I think his finance background has massively played into his role as a CEO and being meticulous around the numbers, cash flow, running the business. He [music] is constantly thinking ahead. What's the next growth avenue? How can we get to the next stage of the business, which he does successfully.

[00:09:05]Oh, did you hear that? I was going to say I bet you love that.

[00:09:08]>> [laughter]