From Dead in the Water to Profitable and Why People Don’t Buy Because of the Mission | David Simnick, Founder of Soapbox

David Simnick (0:00)

We started making soap in my college kitchen. My landlord thought I was making meth. People don't buy it because of the mission.

That sounds so weird coming from me, right? Soapbox story is one of resilience. We just refuse to give up.

Mike Gelb (0:14)

Meet David Simnick. He co-founded Soapbox in 2010, making soap in his college apartment kitchen, while his landlord was fairly convinced he was cooking meth. 16 years later, Soapbox is in Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Target, Costco and Wegmans. It's profitable and David gets pinged every month from private equity groups. But getting there took a near death rebrand. In 2016, the product was moving 0.15 units per store per week against a target of two. His broker told him he'd never seen velocities that low. They rebuilt the whole brand and put it back on shelf in 2018

The lesson he pulled out of that is the thing I wanted to talk to him about the most. Here's my conversation with David Simnick.

David, thank you so much for joining me here, especially on a Friday. How are you?

David Simnick (1:10)

I'm good, man. How are you?

Mike Gelb (1:13)

I'm doing well. I'm doing well.

David Simnick (1:15)

Can I talk about how this is part two?

Mike Gelb (1:17)

Yes, this is part two. This is part two. This is part two.

We actually did this live and I lost the recording. I don't know if it actually recorded.

David Simnick (1:30)

But that's so sad. You both were loopy as hell.

Mike Gelb (1:34)

No, it was totally my bad. I'm so sorry. I lugged all my equipment over.

It was, and you very sweetly took an hour with me, which is very kind of you to take that out of your day. Yeah, man.

David Simnick (1:48)

We helped you find like an extension cord and like, Oh my God.

Mike Gelb (1:52)

Yeah, that's right. That was crazy. And we checked out and like all the different media, like all the things we can actually record, which it's still surprising. I may just say before we get into it, it's still very surprising at a trade show where there is the media lounge and you actually can't record podcasts in the media lounge. When it's, I feel like it's no different to having a conversation like a normal conversation. But anyway, we did do it.

What? It's not really a media lounge.

David Simnick (2:21)

It's just kind of a lounge.

Mike Gelb (2:22)

It's kind of a lounge, a lounge with no podcasts.

SPEAKER_3 (2:26)

No podcasts allowed.

Mike Gelb (2:28)

David, let's talk about you.

We'll talk all, all about you. All right.

David Simnick (2:34)

Let's do it.

Mike Gelb (2:36)

So when you when you zoom out the past 15 years of Soapbox, what do you think is most misunderstood about Soapbox in your story?

David Simnick (2:48)

Well, I remember the last time we did this, the first time we did this interview, I was super loopy because I was sleep deprived with my one and a half year old.

And man, what six months does in terms of allowing me to sleep a little bit more now that I have a two year old.

But I'd say the biggest thing is, look, Soapbox story is one of resilience. We just refuse to give up. Right? Like we see a lot of our friends either fail out or have these extraordinary success stories of selling to Unilever or Church of Dwight or whatever it might be.

And we continue to grow, just not at the pace where a strategic goes, man, I want to buy that. And what's interesting, and this is just me being super vulnerable and very transparent. What's interesting is we get pinged every month by private equity. Again, I'm not exaggerating, like Scouts Honor, Mike, every month. And we're usually like, look, you must be this tall to ride this ride. And most people self-inject. So we know that we're EBITDA positive, we make money, and we continue to grow. So we're just going to do those things until we hit the right number. And in the meantime, like, I love the mission that we get to curate and be shepherds of. And that mission is, how do we turn everyday purchases into, like, these moments where we turn consumers into philanthropists. So, that's what we do.

Mike Gelb (4:27)

I love it. Do you feel at this stage, do you feel more like a first time founder, or now a very seasoned operator?

David Simnick (4:36)

Oof, both. Depends on the day.

I think the biggest lesson that I've learned time and time again in this industry is that the moment you start thinking you really know it, or you're like, man, like, yeah, like, I'm good at this, is when you just get your absolute shit handed to you. So, humility is a very, I think, safe for your mental health play. If nothing, like, you know, like, let's just like zoom out, like ethically, probably a good way to live life, but also very safe for your mental health.