Philz Venture Cap – What happens when money takes over

Cat & Cloud Podcast

Cat & Cloud

Education

4.8 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 18 August 2025

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Chuck and I dig into the recent Philz Coffee sale. We break down how venture capital and private equity deals actually work, why common stockholders often walk away with nothing, and the difference between preferred and common shares. We talk about how control shifts once big investors enter the picture, the influence of a board, and how decision-making can drift from a company’s original vision. We also explore the missed opportunity for Philz to take care of employees who invested their own money, even without a legal requirement to do so. From coffee companies as “brand pieces” for investment firms, to the challenges of scaling retail, we compare this sale to deals like Blue Bottle’s. It’s a conversation about money, ownership, and the choices that shape a company’s legacy. 🔖 Chapters – 01:07 Philz Sale 05:06 Common equity overview 10:50 Fluffy words 12:11 The start of philz 14:09 what is venture capital actually getting from cafe purchases 18:38 Philz sale vs Blue Bottle 22:25 Who's getting what and who should have 26:47 Takeaways from this sale 🔗 Links – KQED Philz Article: https://www.kqed.org/news/12051278/no-layoffs-in-philz-coffee-sale-but-stock-owning-former-employees-will-lose-out SF Standard Article: https://sfstandard.com/2025/08/01/philz-coffee-sale-private-equity/ Cat & Cloud: Instagram www.instagram.com/catcloudcoffee/ Webstore www.catandcloud.com/ Chris Baca’s Personal Blog: www.chrisbaca.com/ We are Cat & Cloud Coffee. Started by three friends trying to pursue their passions with the mission to inspire connection by creating memorable experiences, and we created this podcast to continue forming those connections inside and out of our cafes. The Cat & Cloud podcast was created as a space for us to share our experiences in the coffee industry and starting a business. Each week we sit down to talk about new challenges as business owners, how we utilize our mission and values to make decisions, and answer questions from our listening community. If you’re looking to expand your coffee knowledge, get some advice for your own small business, or just like the vibes, give us a listen! Enjoy!

Transcript

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0:00.0	I watched this movie Suburbia last night.
0:04.0	1996, directed by, what's the dude's name?
0:07.4	Is it like a psychological?
0:08.8	No, no.
0:10.0	Richard Link later.
0:11.6	Yeah, he's like a famous guy.
0:13.1	Yeah, I've seen some of his works.
0:15.1	I've never seen this movie.
0:16.4	It's very clerksish.
0:18.2	Yeah, he does more cult-classic-y kind of thing. Yeah, it's a one-night hang with some, with some, I don't know, it's very nostalgic. Oh, yeah? Yeah. It's like the one night to live party in the suburbs. It's more of like one night to express all your angst and, you know. It's like the opposite of the of days and confused they're all living their best life
0:41.0	for what day is a good hang this is a nostalgic hang but I don't know if I necessarily call it good
0:47.5	yeah you might feel angry at the end or unresolved or just um yeah just a little upset all right yeah not going to watch so yeah don't watch
0:57.8	it i was going in for a good vibe i like a nice good hang because i thought it was going to be like
1:03.2	a clerk's vibe yeah it's a good vibe but yeah it wasn't anyway speaking of not a good hang speaking
1:09.0	of not a good hang so Speaking of not a good hang.
1:15.5	It's investing money in a company and then it gets sold and you don't get anything. And then piecing out.
1:16.7	Yeah.
1:17.1	So last week, Charles alerted me to the Phil's coffee sale, which doesn't seem like it's
1:24.2	fully gone through yet.
1:25.4	I saw some article saying that it went through.
1:28.2	Maybe August 8th that was a date.
1:30.1	That's what it said.
	...

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