😴 The Coziest Startup for Your Labor Day Nap

Joel Hansen -

GM Friends,

Welcome back to Kernal: the friend that reminds you there's a stat holiday b/c the rest of the non-founder world have been counting down for weeks 😅

In this week's startup news: Your boss is OOO at Burning Man, Saylor got sued and NFT trading volumes are in the dumps. Snap is dropping staff, Twitter is testing pods and Starbucks scored a new CEO. It's Labor Day Weekend which means there's a 92% chance you're reading this after a couple Moscow Mules. And it's now September so we're keeping today's word count light so you can go pick up school supplies for the kiddos 🚗💨

Today's Menu:

  • 🐶 The coziest startup that's taking media by storm
  • 🍗 Fresh startup ideas tastier than a Labor Day steak
  • 🍻 Tweet of the week that'll stop your scroll

Labor Day laugh: Why did the ancient Egyptians have a hard time recruiting laborers? It was a pyramid scheme. *ba-doom-chish* 🥁

Now let's boogie 👇

🎥 The Power of Building in Public. Startup Interview with the Founders of Plufl

Let's be honest. Founder life is tough. It's not a walk in the park. And if you do get a Labor Day Monday off, you're probably using it putting out fires or catching up on emails.

That might be the case for our friends at Plufl: The Dog Bed for Humans. Last month we chatted with the founders, Noah Silverman and Yuki Kinoshita. They're bright, young and marketing wizards that'd put Dumbledore to shame. 🪄

We know you're probably wondering: what's the big hype behind dog beds? So let's open a couple chrome tabs and take a closer look:

Sure, the one-liner might make you laugh, but not once you see the traction they've made your jaw will drop. Their wins so far:

  • they've drummed up 3M likes on TikTok
  • gotten called out by Jimmy Fallon, ABC, Fox, Huffpost etc
  • launched a swaggy Shopify website with raving reviews
  • they graduated from LOI, a startup accelerator with ~1B in alumni value
  • they're looking to raise a pre-seed round to fund inventory, marketing efforts and build out their team

📩 Pop quiz: if you know anybody that'd want to connect about a B2B partnership, drop Plufl a line.

We also saw they have a $100 off coupon (or type LD100) for Labor Day customers if you wanna support a Kernal startup 💸

3 fun questions we asked them over email to save you from sliding into their Twitter DMs:

Q1: What's been the biggest learning moments for starting a company?

💬
A: "Our biggest takeaway is that you really never know until you try. Over these past few months, we’ve had to be extremely agile, flexible, and adaptable. The tangible learnings are limitless. We’ve learned so much about international supply chain, fulfillment, manufacturing, and product development and we’ve only scratched the surface. Dealing with supply chain logistics in the current climate has certainly not been easy but we’ve enjoyed finding creative solutions to ensure backers/customers get our product as soon as possible"

Q2: You've been seen all over social media. What's it like to go viral? Did you have any surprising reactions, comments, or feedback?

💬
A: "Our TikTok virality was exhilarating, mind-boggling, and stressful all at once. It definitely forced us to move incredibly fast and led us to move forward our Kickstarter campaign launch timeline by over a month. Overall, it’s created for some super special and exciting moments. From Jimmy Fallon to Fox News features, it’s hard to wrap our heads around the magnitude of people that have heard about the Plufl concept. Our advice is don’t be afraid to experiment. Neither Noah nor I knew a lot about TikTok before we joined the platform, and all it took was one video to propel us beyond what we hoped for"

Q3: Do you consider napping to be working now? Like some sort of market research?

💬
A: "Naps are the fuel that keeps us productive and energized throughout the day. When we take breaks in the Plufl, we tell ourselves that it’s “product testing”

So there you have it.

A startup idea that sounds out of the ordinary validating their idea in public and making massive waves 👏

Got a question or just want to order a flipping dog bed for your mother? Hit up Noah and Yuki: info@weareplufl.com.

*Mention the Kernal newsletter to speed up the response rate 😉

Read Through Plufl's Startup Idea

✨ Startup Ideas of the Week ✨

Welcome back to the Shark Tank Kernalers. Veterans, you know the drill. If you're new, don't be scared. All you gotta do is:

  • Read the ideas below
  • Up-vote and comment on your favourites
  • And reach out to the special ones if you'd like to connect

It's that stinking easy. So get to it 🥾

Here's some of our latest startup ideas catching our eyes:

Don't hold back your startup idea. Step up to the plate and let 'er fly.

Just smash that green button below.

Share Startup Idea

🐦 Meme of the Week:

Screw the small talk, we're cutting right to the best friend shit:

Now go enjoy your Labor Day weekend friends. But please leave your party spot better than you found it.

Remember, you represent the Kernal name 💚

Ta ta for now.

P.S. Thanks for reading till the end. We know how full your inbox is and it makes our day when you carve out the time to read something we stay up until 1AM crafting. If you wanna roast or compliment the Kernal newsletter, drop a google review below.

How did you like this week's newsletter?
🔥 11/10 · 😕 Meh · 😴 Fell asleep