Hi Republic fans. Wow, can't believe we only have a couple weeks left in our campaign. I wanted to thank you again for the support. Investments are already being put to good use--some updates below: 

• Our March launch into the KeHE distributor's California and Midwest warehouses was great: 65 new stores added to the list and growing. Not counting the 6 Erewhon stores and 12 Lassen's stores in L.A.! 
• We signed with the Amazon agency Netrush and will begin kickoff next Tuesday. The plan is to scale our Amazon business to $200k in 6 months. They are bringing forth $50k in advertising for us that will only get paid back with a percentage of sales as the ads start to work. I like this plan because by putting money in, Netrush is "in the boat" with us too and will be extra motivated to get results. 
• Fortunately with the influx of stores, Amazon sales and press hits (see the latest here) I now have support from a great Marketing Coordinator Jenni Burke, who started a week ago! With 84 applicants, it was a grueling hiring process. I was careful to hire someone with great potential who would stay with us for a long time and grow their career with Lil Bucks. This person is the front line of our marketing funnels and the community curator, manager and brand voice, and I'm thrilled to have Jenni join the team. She's catching on very quickly. 
• We plan to start our retail marketing manager in May and will have a planning workshop in Chicago the week of May 10th.  
• How am I just listing this now: We launched our newest Clusterbucks flavor MATCHA COOKIE CRUNCH. Customers are swooning as we hoped. This will launch straight into Pop Up Grocer which will be in Chicago starting April 30th, and then it'll launch into Lassen's May 15th.
  
• Last but not least, certainly not least... after 18 months of raising I am thrilled to share that we are closing our $600k convertible note round in the next week as well. Some influential entrepreneurs are involved and I can't wait to share once the deal is done. 

I am deeply moved by the community behind Lil Bucks--our customers, our growing team, our investors. We survived one of the most challenging stages for an emerging food brand, yet alone in a pandemic, and are thriving. We are moving into the next phase of growth--my mindset is shifting from "creating the thing" to "growing the thing." I am reading Multipliers by Liz Wiseman and am finding it super helpful as I think about leading and growing our talent. Any reading recommendations? Please share! Thank you for the support!

Emily