business model, customer development, e245, engr245, lean launchpad, lean startup, stanford, startup, steve blank

1. Team Promote.It
. 112 total interviews + 2trade shows
Maria Rafael Noa Ashley Andrew
Hustler
MBA, pre-Series A
team at Rappi (last-
mile delivery)
Picker
MBA, Kraft Sales
Analytics
Hacker
MS CS, Machine
Learning
Designer
MBA, Gates
Foundation Food &
Beverage Partnerships
Hustler
MBA, PepsiCo E-
commerce strategy

2. B2B auction marketplace
for retailers’ shelf space
B2B marketplace for
promotional deals
Mobile app for B2B
promotions
TODAYDAY ONE
Google Ads for Shelf
Space

3. Aisle 1: Fantasy Land - Where Everything is Possible

4. Who are the players in the grocery value chain?
Brand Retail
Buyer

5. But for small brands and retailers, there are intermediaries
Brand Retail
Buyer
Distributor Broker
30% 12%

6. • Retailers
• Established CPGs
• Ankle-biter CPGs -
getting product on the
shelf
• Commercial: establish partnerships with brands and retailers
• In-store execution audits
• Engineering: Marketplace development & maintenance
Problem:
• CPG companies have
a hard time negotiating
with the long tail
retailers
• Medium-size retailers
could be getting more
for their shelf space,
they leave money in the
table
• Low compliance in
execution
Solution:
• Use marketplace to
facilitate shelf space
negotiation between
CPG/ Retail
• Fees from transactions that take place on the platform
• Develop an intuitive
and easy-to-use
platform
• Demonstrate in pilot
that CPG brands can
increase sales and
retailers profits
Reaching our
customers:
• Customer visits door
2 door
• Establish
relationships through
conferences and
associations
• Customer relationship
managers to ensure
that retailers and CPG
companies are
benefiting from product
• Engineers to develop
platform
• Personal relationships
with key decision
makers within retailers
• Personal relationships
with key decision
makers within brands
• Small and medium
size retailers (1-300
stores)
• CPG brands
• Retail associations
• Distributors
Opus Week [1]
Google Ads Auction for Shelf Space

7. • Retailers
• Established CPGs
• Ankle-biter CPGs -
getting product on the
shelf
• Commercial: establish partnerships with brands and retailers
• In-store execution audits
• Engineering: Marketplace development & maintenance
Problem:
• CPG companies have
a hard time negotiating
with the long tail
retailers
• Medium-size retailers
could be getting more
for their shelf space,
they leave money in the
table
• Low compliance in
execution
Solution:
• Use marketplace to
facilitate shelf space
negotiation between
CPG/ Retail
• Fees from transactions that take place on the platform
• Develop an intuitive
and easy-to-use
platform
• Demonstrate in pilot
that CPG brands can
increase sales and
retailers profits
Reaching our
customers:
• Customer visits door
2 door
• Establish
relationships through
conferences and
associations
• Customer relationship
managers to ensure
that retailers and CPG
companies are
benefiting from product
• Engineers to develop
platform
• Personal relationships
with key decision
makers within retailers
• Personal relationships
with key decision
makers within brands
• Small and medium
size retailers (1-300
stores)
• CPG brands
• Retail associations
• Distributors
Opus Week [1]
Google Ads Auction for Shelf Space

8. We envisioned a multi-sided marketplace…
An auction marketplace to help smaller retailers better
monetize shelf space, and help brands get their desired
placements
Weeks 1-2
$
$$ $$$

9. … but no one we spoke to was a willing user
“You’re forgetting the shopper
experience. Shoppers don’t care about
how much brands are paying to be on
good shelf locations.”
- Jason Couriveau, Director of
Merchandising at Big Y (77 stores)
“I’m not a mercenary. I will organize my
shelf in a way that makes sense to my
customer.”
- Jane Kimball, Store manager of an
independent retailer
Weeks 1-2

10. Aisle 2: A few wrong turns

11. What we did find: Retail buyers hold the most power
in the value chain
Brand BuyerDistributor Broker

12. So we needed to understand the retail buyer’s workflow
process better
Weeks 1-2
20%
Negotiate
Discuss order
terms, promotional
campaigns
Discover
Find & sample
new products
Verify
Ensure negotiated
terms are executed,
manage audits
Analyze best
total portfolio
50%
Optimize
20%
10%
% of time spent

13. There was white space in technology solutions to
support retailer workflow...
Weeks 1-2
20%
Negotiate
Discover Verify
50%
Optimize
20%
10%
email

14. To negotiate promotional deals, retail buyers spent a lot of time
dealing with brokers
“Brokers are a necessary evil to the value chain, they are
expensive and you never know if they are properly
representing your brand”
- Salsa Brand Founder
“I don’t even meet with 50% of my brokers because I don’t
trust them”
- 20-Store Retail Buyer
Weeks 3-4

15. “We’re in the paperwork business. We need to
manually input in our systems all deals we are
executing with vendors.”
- Rich Gilmore, Category Manager at 24-store
chain (Gelson’s)
If we wanted to disrupt the broker, what would be the first step?
Weeks 3-4
“I spend 12 hours a week managing the promotional
calendar…”
- Lorna Parton, Buyer at 16-store chain (Nugget)

16. Weeks 5-8
So we made a pivot
Software for retail buyers to
auto-consolidate their
promotional calendars across
vendors
Tripcase for retail buyers
B2B auction marketplace
for retailers’ shelf space
Google Ads for Shelf
Space

17. To disrupt the broker, the promo calendar seemed like a
perfect “foot in the door”
1
Organize & digitize the
promo calendar
Weeks 5-8

18. To disrupt the broker, the promo calendar seemed like a
perfect “foot in the door”
1
2
Organize & digitize the
promo calendar
Create a marketplace for new promo
deals direct from brand to retailer
Weeks 5-8

19. To disrupt the broker, the promo calendar seemed like a
perfect “foot in the door”
1
2
3
Organize & digitize the
promo calendar
Create a marketplace for new promo
deals direct from brand to retailer
Sell other digital services - shelf
analytics, product discovery
Weeks 5-8

20. To disrupt the broker, the promo calendar seemed like a
perfect “foot in the door”
1
2
3
Organize & digitize the
promo calendar
Create a marketplace for new promo
deals direct from brand to retailer
Completely disrupt the
broker!!!
Sell other digital services - shelf
analytics, product discovery
Weeks 5-8

21. And we had a willing first partner!
Weeks 5-8

22. But we started building the MVP before asking the tough
questions
Weeks 5-8

23. Three weeks later we were getting not so exciting answers:
“Its an interesting
product and it will add
value but can you get the
brands to pay for it?”
Jason Couriveau, Director
of Merchandising at Big Y
(77 stores)
Was anyone going to pay for this?
Weeks 5-8
“You know, is a good product and it
will save us a ton of time, but we
already have our processes in place
and don’t need to pay for a
software solution”
Daniel Cadena, Buyer at 4-store
retailer

24. Was anyone going to pay for this?
Weeks 5-8
The promotional calendar wasn’t monetizable - and maybe not scalable

25. Aisle 3: Return to the Shopping List
Weeks 9-10

26. We may have over-complicated things
1
2
3
Create a marketplace for new promo
deals direct from brand to retailer
!!
Sell other digital services - shelf analytics,
product discovery Maybe someday
Completely disrupt the broker!
Maybe someday… a long way off
Organize & digitize the promo
calendar Was this actually a
necessary first step?
Weeks 9-10
The true MVP

27. Weeks 9-10
A pivot that solves a need for both sides of the
marketplace!
Software for retail buyers to
auto-consolidate their
promotional calendars across
vendors
Tripcase for retail buyers
B2B marketplace for
promotional deals
Mobile app for B2B
promotions

28. Promote.It is a mobile app for B2B promotions
Weeks 9-10

29. Much more visual and easy-to-use than current solutions
Weeks 9-10
vs.

30. Promotions can be shown in an Amazon-like display
Weeks 9-10
● Retail buyers can see all
available promos visually (vs.
Excel today)
● Brands can offer smaller
retailers creative campaigns
such as innovation trials or
endcap displays

31. Orders and rebates will be routed through Promote.It
Weeks 9-10
● Orders can be
placed directly
through the
Promote.It
portal
● Customization
requests can be
handled through
AI / bots

32. 5 daysResponse time to emails with Opus promotional calendar software
People weren’t that excited to talk to us with the
previous idea...

33. 5 hoursResponse time to emails with Promote.It deals marketplace
… but that’s changed with Promote.It

34. Know anyone we should talk to? Let us know at
info@gopromote.it
Brands and retailers are signing on
(up to $100k pilot
funding)
Nugget Markets (16)
Vallarta Supermarkets (50)
Draegers (4)
4 store independent Retailers
(5+ stores)
BRANDS RETAILERS
+70 partner stores

35. And the market for promo deals is sizeable
Number of Stores (retailers with less <100 stores)+15,000
Total revenue for long-tail grocery retailers$152.6 B
Total Addressable Market
15% of sales reinvested in trade dollars
$22.8 B
Potential Revenue
5% Commissions on promoted dollars
$1.2 B
Year: 2025
Est. Revenues: $ 33 M
Est. Profits: $14 M

36. A look back: From Google Ads for shelf space to
mobile app for B2B promotions

37. Jordan Segall
Fantastic mentor
Whiteboard sessions
Critical feedback
Connections in the industry
Thanks to everyone who helped us along the way!
Our classmates and TAs for their
amazing feedback

38. Follow our progress this
summer and beyond at
gopromote.it
Reach us at
info@gopromote.it

39. Appendix

40. And the market for promo deals is sizeable
Total Addressable Market:
$1.5 B
Total Addressable Market per
Retail Partner:
$750k+

41. And the market for promo deals is sizeable
Total Addressable Market:
$1.5 B
Total Addressable Market per
Retail Partner:
$750k+
Can the marketplace expand into different segments?
Apparel Home & Living Foodservice
Jewelry Beauty

42. How is the grocery industry set up?
Brand Retailer

43. How is the grocery industry set up?
Brand RetailerDistributor Broker

44. How is the grocery industry set up?
Brand RetailerDistributor

45. Weeks 1-2
… so we made our first pivot
CRM for vendors and
retail buyers
Auction marketplace for
retailers’ shelf space
Retail buyer and vendor-
specific Salesforce
Google Ads for Shelf
Space

46. We started by asking if this solution would be valuable
Would a digital CRM
system between you and
your vendors be valuable?
“Umm… Not really”
- Everyone
Weeks 3-4
Look for other quotes
from Jet - already have
Salesforce but never use
it; it’s very high touch

47. Looking back, we heard what we wanted to hear
What are the pains you will solve for the customer?
o Will it save costs?
o Does it fix solutions they already have but are underperforming?
o Does it help them get things done?
o How intense is the pain? Intense
- Most dreaded job function by buyers and category managers
o How frequently does it happen?
- 8+ hours a week
Weeks 3-4

48. We may have over-complicated things
1
2
3
Create a marketplace for new promo
deals direct from brand to retailer
!!
Sell other digital services - shelf analytics,
product discovery Maybe someday
Completely disrupt the broker!
Maybe someday… a long way off
Organize & digitize the promo
calendar Was this actually a
necessary first step?
Weeks 9-10
The true MVP

49. Long tail retailers really want a way to get more promotional
dollars
“I feel ignored by the big guys

50. Our vision is to reach 18,000 point of sales in the 5
years
Year Year 5
# of Partner Stores 18,000
Est. Revenue $35 M
Est. Profit $13,665k

51. Brands are hungry for a way to reach independents
From: Promote.It Feb 28, 11:23 am
To: KHC VP of Sales Finance / former CFO KHC Asia
“We are working on solution to help brands activating and
tracking promotions on long tail retailers”
From: KHC VP of Sales Finance Feb 28, 11:49 am
To: Promote.It
“That’s so awesome!”
Let’s talk in two days.

52. And the market for promo deals is sizeable
Number of Stores (retailers with less <100 stores)+15,000
Total revenue for long-tail grocery retailers$152.6 B
Total Addressable Market
15% of sales reinvested in trade dollars
$22.8 B
Potential Revenue
5% Commissions on promoted dollars
$1.2 B

53. Promote.It has major geographic and sector
expansion opportunities
Apparel
Home &
Electronics
Foodservice
Pharmaceuticals
Beauty &
Wellness
Travel
Additional sectorsAdditional geographies

54. Execution compliance can be done in the same portal
Weeks 9-10
Incentive bonuses
or payment
conditions can be
placed on receiving
photo verification