Newsletter Nº 3 ·
Would you give part of your company to the person who bakes your bread?
Here's a question for you: Would you give part of your company to the person who bakes your bread? Anyone can bake challah. Keeping it tasting homemade as we grow is the hard part. Today: how I'm looking for that person, what the lawyer won't let me advertise at Remi, and my only exit.
1. Braid & Berry
13 candidates to bake the challah
Braid & Berry has been on hold for weeks because of this.
I'm not looking for someone who can bake. I'm looking for someone committed to making the best challah, and to keeping it just as good when we make it at scale.
That's why it's a partner, not an employee.
This week I'm talking to all 13 candidates. I'll pick about five, and each one brings their best challah, made with their own recipe.
A taste test decides who's in.
The decision: a partner, not an employee. Salary plus equity.
The number: 13 candidates. About five move on to the taste test.
What got delayed: incorporating Braid & Berry and opening its bank account. I was traveling for work and both slipped a week.
The win: not stopping while I look for the partner. The brand and the packaging are moving forward in parallel.
What's next: the taste test. The goal is a partner in the kitchen within two weeks.
2. Remi
What the lawyer told me before I sold a single pill
Remi is a membership for people with diabetes, high blood pressure or weight issues. It includes doctors, ongoing support and medication delivered to your door.
Before signing a single supplier, I sat down with a lawyer. Suppliers, devices and permits all depend on the legal side.
I walked out with three answers:
- The medications we'll handle aren't among the most controlled. That makes e-prescriptions easier.
- If we record consultations with AI, patients have to know and agree.
- GLP-1 can't be advertised to the public.
The third one changed the campaign.
Influencers will talk about Remi's medical service. Never about the medication.
100 hours over 7 months
On Monday the legal proposal came in: 100 hours of work, spread over 7 months.
That work fits in one month. I told them I don't have 7 months. I have one.
They said they can't, they don't have the time.
The good part? We now know exactly what we need. What's missing is someone who can do it in a month.
A pharmacy nobody will walk into
Remi will have its own pharmacy.
No counter. It's a warehouse we ship from.
It still needs an operating notice with COFEPRIS (Mexico's health regulator), a licensed pharmacist in charge and, for GLP-1, refrigeration at 2 to 8 °C with temperature logs.
A lunch and the Medical Board
I had lunch with a doctor friend from the ABC hospital in Mexico City.
He's going to introduce me to specialists for Remi's Medical Board: diabetes, nutrition, cardiology and internal medicine.
It has a face now
And the logo and colors are done.
The decision: the pharmacy is our own, with no counter.
The number: 100 hours of legal work. They wanted 7 months; I have 1.
The blocker: finding a lawyer who can get it all done in a month.
The win: going to the lawyer before signing suppliers. Otherwise I would have built the campaign around something that can't be advertised.
What's next: find that lawyer and define the memberships and prices.
3. My investments
32 investments, one exit
In 2020 I found Plerk browsing Y Combinator. Nobody introduced us.
I liked the problem they were solving and wanted to back founders from Latin America. I invested.
When it merged with minu, I didn't get cash. I got minu shares.
It's my only exit out of 32 investments.
And the rest? 14 shut down. Almost all of them had one thing in common: they weren't solving a real problem.
What the 14 that shut down taught me
That's it.
Next week I'll tell you who made it to the taste test.
Carlos
Learn how to build a company by watching me build mine.
Every week: the decision, the number, the mistake and the win.