Brewbird — Mickey Du interview
"Capital isn't our primary constraint — value-add is. MVP introduced us to the CEO of one of the world's largest real-estate firms and a former CBO of one of the largest market-cap companies in the world."
In their own words.
Tell us about Brewbird.
My name is Mickey Du. I'm the CEO of Brewbird. We're building a platform to scale specialty coffee.
Why did you choose MVP?
The biggest thing was the positioning that MVP could be the most value-add investor on the cap table. A lot of people say that — MVP went into very specific examples, and a lot of examples, that was extremely helpful for me to hear. For us, capital is not a primary constraint. The primary constraint is how willing and how able investors are to help us build this into the fullest potential. That's where MVP had an incredibly strong track record with other companies — and now with us.
Where has MVP added the most value?
If I had to highlight one, I would call out go-to-market. This is where MVP has made some really clutch introductions. They introduced us to the former director of facilities at one of the largest companies in our space. They introduced us to the chief procurement officer at one of the largest customers we're now in process with. From a customer perspective, they introduced us to the CEO of one of the largest real-estate development firms in the entire world to explore a partnership with their division — and a potential investment from their venture capital arm as well.
What other introductions have stood out?
One impactful introduction recently that MVP made was to the former Chief Business Officer at one of the largest market-cap companies in the entire world, to explore a potential advisory or board role at the company. This is not including a lot of other areas where MVP has gone above and beyond — certainly more than their weight in terms of dollars invested — across advisory, portfolio partnerships, capital markets, and talent as well.
How has MVP changed your view of co-investors?
I had previously thought of co-investors as just popup capital, and not much more than that. I didn't have any expectations of co-investors really digging in or getting involved without enough skin in the game. The incentives are to not really spend a lot of time, not really do the rolling-up-of-the-sleeves and digging in. MVP has certainly changed my opinion of that. MVP does the dirty work — they take the time, they invest in the people and processes to make their portfolio successful. They have a very compelling, differentiated value prop — they're not trying to squeeze a lead position, they can piggyback off strong rounds with a hyper-differentiated value prop.
What's your bottom-line recommendation?
You should take MVP's capital. The team is dedicated, they go above and beyond, but beyond all that — they're great people. It's been an incredibly productive, incredibly positive relationship. The value-add has been above and beyond my expectations. We're in this to build it out for the long term, and MVP is really supportive in that company-building journey. If you don't have the room as part of your round, you should consider making room.