20VC: From $4.1BN to $142M Market Cap; Why Public Markets Have Written Allbirds Off, What Allbirds Need to Do to Get Profitable, Why Growth has Slowed and The Bull Case for Allbirds Next Five Years with Joey Zwillinger, Co-Founder @ Allbirds
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 637 Ratings
🗓️ 6 November 2023
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Joey Zwillinger is the Co-Founder & CEO @ Allbirds, the company behind the world's most comfortable shoe. In Nov 2021, Joey took the company public and the stock soared to an all-time high of $4BN, today the company has a market cap of $137M. Prior to Allbirds, Joey spent six years at biotechnology firm, Terravia, leading its renewable chemical business, developing and selling high-performance algae-based chemicals into various industries such as CPG, personal care, and industrials.
In Today's Episode with Joey Zwillinger We Discuss:
- The Founding Moment:
- How did Joey's wife's friendship lead to the co-founding of Allbirds?
- What does Joey know now that he wishes he had known at the founding moment?
- What does Joey believe he is running away from? What is he running towards?
2. Public Market Performance Review:
- Why has Allbirds lost 97% of it's value since going public? What mistakes were made?
- Why has revenue declined for the first time this year?
- What strategic investments have Allbirds pulled back on or paused entirely?
- When will Allbirds be profitable?
3. The Competition:
- How do Allbirds compete and catch up with On and Hoka?
- What strategic mistakes did Allbirds make in COVID that allowed others to take the crown?
- Was the movement into running and athletics a mistake for Allbirds?
4. Joey Zwillinger: The Leader and Person:
- Did Joey take secondaries out during the Allbirds journey?
- How does Joey reflect on his own relationship to money?
- How has Joey dealt with the last 12 months personally? How does he manage the stress effectively?
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | We have a mountain of cash. We have control of our destiny. The fact that Wall Street's written us off |
| 0:05.1 | as a fickle beast as it is, the markets are unforgiving. Our market cap is a reflection of the |
| 0:11.1 | fact that we've essentially been written off by people. Welcome to 20VC and today we're sitting |
| 0:16.3 | down with Joey's Willinger, co-founder and CEO at Allbirds. Now, Allbirds is an incredible story, |
| 0:21.9 | a much-love brand that went public in 2021, sold to a peak valuation of $4.1 billion, but just two |
| 0:28.9 | years later, now has a market cap of $142 million. Today, what happened? Why are revenues down? |
| 0:35.7 | When will they be profitable? And what will it take to turn it around? |
| 0:39.3 | This is a very special one. But before we dive into the show today, did you know that every 20 VC episode you listen to is recorded with Riverside? |
| 0:47.7 | Riverside is insanely good. Like, I would pay $1,000 per month for Riverside. It's that good. Why? Well, first off, ease. Your guests do not need an |
| 0:57.3 | account. One click and they're in the recording room with you. It is fantastic, especially for high |
| 1:02.2 | profile guests. Second, they record your video and audio track separately and in the background, |
| 1:07.5 | so they're not only higher quality, but the guest does not need to record |
| 1:10.9 | their end and then send after, which is a total nightmare. But for me, honestly, what I love so much |
| 1:16.0 | is how much thought they put into the product. Like, when the internet quality is low, |
| 1:20.1 | they will disable the video for the cool, but for the recording, it works seamlessly, it records |
| 1:25.1 | perfectly. It's so thoughtfully done and it makes such a difference. |
| 1:28.9 | Use my coupon code, 20 VC, that's 20 VC, and get a 15% discount. |
| 1:34.6 | It is the tool I could not run my business without. |
| 1:37.2 | And speaking of game changes for businesses, as a VCI come across many businesses that have potential and offer a great product or service, |
| 1:44.9 | but they run into issues, and that's why I love the team at a rising ventures. |
| 1:48.8 | They're a holding company that acquires tech startups that are facing setbacks and helps |
| 1:53.3 | get them back on track to success. They've already helped so many businesses, one of those being |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Twenty Minute VC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Twenty Minute VC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.