Brand building is hard to measure, prove and grow.
But startup Tracksuit last month raised $6.8 million to do just that.
The money came in a seed round led by venture capitalists Blackbird, Icehouse Ventures, Ascential, Shasta Ventures and marketer Mark Ritson.
Tracksuit was founded in 2021 by Matt Herbert and Connor Archbold in partnership with TRA Labs, the venture studio arm of insights agency TRA, and innovation and venture studio Previously Unavailable.
Mark Ritson: "It is easy to lose track of all the marketing startups and brand companies being launched. But I am genuinely excited about Tracksuit and what it can achieve in the years ahead.
“Every decent marketer wants to track the health of their brand and most either face a slew of small, unimpressive operators or the giant over-complications of a global research firm.
“Tracksuit fill the middle with incredibly low priced, high end brand tracking. And their grasp for marketing metrics and the challenges of brand plan is second to none."
Matthew Herbert and Connor Archbold (right) met in 2017 when they joined software company Mish Guru.
Herbert was head of business development leading growth across Australia and New Zealand and Archbold was chief operating officer, based in New York.
“After years overseas, both Connor and I moved back to New Zealand and reconnected at the end of 2020,” says Herbert.
“Since reconnecting, we’ve loved building Tracksuit together. We challenge each other in the best ways and we share a vision and passion for creating a team and workplace that is both highly effective and highly empathetic.
“Bringing experience and learnings from previous startups, we want to change the world and we hope one of the ways we’ll do that is by showcasing a very human and team-centric way to build a billion-dollar-business from New Zealand.
“My first taste of entrepreneurship was when I was just 21. While completing a law and science degree in Canterbury, I took responsibility for launching Uber into Christchurch. I was the first boots on the ground in the city, working remotely with the Uber team in Auckland. I quickly saw a corporate legal career just wasn’t going to cut it - my passion lay in scaling innovative technology.
“I’ve always wanted to be in a position to help those around me get the most out of themselves and solve problems in innovative and creative ways. Bringing expertise and people together, channelled in a shared vision, direction and common goal.”
Tracksuit was born out of best-in-class market research and brand building companies, TRA & Previously Unavailable.
Herbert: “It was there, surrounded by some of the best brand strategists, we saw brands were over-investing in the product and not enough into their marketing budget - often stunting their ability to sustainably grow.
“It’s difficult and costly for brand marketers and leaders to demonstrate the value of their brand-building efforts and make the case for investment.
“And so, we’re facing a brand-building crisis - a desperate shift to harvest limited demand with short-term sales activity. This problem encourages marketers to rely on ‘gut feel’ and a ‘convert at all costs’ mentality, skewing the business world too far into short-termism, devaluing brands and creating major issues for long-term, sustainable growth.
“Thus, Tracksuit was born - we exist to be the common language to measure, understand and communicate the value of brand.”
Raising cash is always an issue. Great ideas don’t always immediately translate to gold standard backing from the money sector.
In the very early stages, the two partners sought feedback on the appetite for what they proposed.
Archbold created a list of 68 brands to contact and 10 of them committed.
“This was the moment we realised this idea could actually do something positive and help companies grow,” says Herber.
“When we started Tracksuit 20 months ago, we built a cash-flow positive, bootstrapped business. When the demand for our product skyrocketed thereafter, we went into investor conversations with confidence knowing we had the backing of an incredible team and strong metrics.
“The level of immediate demand for Tracksuit is indicative of the shift in consumer businesses, who are focusing less on immediate conversion and more on building long-term growth through highly effective, creative marketing.
“Raising cash to further increase momentum was one thing, but we wanted to make sure we surrounded ourselves not only with investors but strategic partners who shared the vision and brought something special in their expertise and network.”
Since launching in early 2021, Tracksuit has grown to 32 staff and the business is now tracking more than 1,500 brands across Australia, the US, the UK and New Zealand.
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