Balance Sheets First, Growth Later

Nexus Capital is running the modern consumer sponsor playbook … again

Laird Superfood just announced a $38.5M all-cash acquisition of Navitas Organics, funded by a $50M convertible preferred from Nexus Capital Management.

The math matters:

• Laird revenue: ~$43M

• Navitas revenue: ~$36M

• Pro forma revenue: ~$80M

• Laird pre-deal market cap: ~$60M

• Nexus preferred: 5% dividend, fixed conversion, plus $60M+ dry powder for follow-on M&A

This isn’t financial engineering, it’s platform formation.

Nexus’ pattern is consistent (Dollar Shave Club, FTD, TOMS): step into complexity, recapitalize stressed balance sheets, underwrite inorganic scale, then reset operations.

For Laird, the deal does three things:

• Buys instant scale

• Pushes the brand beyond creamers into a broader functional nutrition stack

• Re-rates the business from subscale public co → sponsor-backed platform

This is what “mid-market special sits” actually looks like when it works.

Chip Wilson’s proxy fight isn’t about nostalgia, it’s about control

Chip Wilson is launching a proxy contest at Lululemon while the company searches for a new CEO.

That timing is the tell.

Look at the proposed board slate:

• Former On Running co-CEO → product + performance edge

• Former ESPN CMO → cultural relevance + storytelling

• Former Activision CEO → IP, community, franchise thinking

Translation: less incremental apparel optimization, more brand-as-a-platform logic.

Founder proxy fights usually show up when:

• The business still looks healthy

• Growth durability feels less certain

• The founder believes the brand is being over-financialized

This is the core tension in scaled consumer today:
Do you protect margins by playing defense, or protect the brand by taking risk?

Lululemon isn’t “in trouble.”
But leadership transitions are where suppressed strategy debates surface.

Worth watching closely.

In beauty, the most interesting capital move right now is repair, not growth

Anastasia Soare just wrote a $225M personal check to recapitalize Anastasia Beverly Hills as TPG effectively exits.

Context:

• ABH peak revenue: ~$500–600M (pre-2020)

• TPG invested ~$600M in 2018 at a reported ~$3B valuation

• August: ABH downgraded to “D” by S&P Global Ratings after a missed payment

• Recent restructuring: TPG stake 38% → ~6%

Soare’s recap:

• Materially reduces debt

• Stabilizes the balance sheet

• Shifts control back to the founder

• Restores strategic optionality

We’re likely to see more of this pattern:
Levered growth → category normalization → sponsor de-risking → founder recap

This is what late-cycle consumer looks like.

🎙 Podcast Highlight: Growth isn’t always a marketing problem, sometimes it’s the market

Isaac Mertens joins In The Money for one of the most honest operator conversations this year.

Isaac has:

• Trained as a media buyer

• Worked at a top-tier agency

• Spent eight figures on paid media

And still says this plainly:
Great marketing can’t save you from a bad market, and no agency is coming to rescue your business.

We cover:

• Market vs marketing (and why even elite buyers struggle)

• Why founders must understand paid media even if they outsource it

• The myth that switching agencies fixes growth

• Why ending flat can be a win

• Cashback vs discounts (and why 50% off ≠ 50% margin loss)

• Price testing as an underrated profit lever

• How outside capital quietly destroys revenue quality

• TAM ceilings, footwear economics, and when growth capital actually makes sense

If you’re a founder, operator, or investor navigating flat growth and rising costs, this one will recalibrate your thinking.

🎧 Watch on YouTube, listen on Spotify.

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Deal Alert: Men’s personal care / grooming brand exploring strategic options.

Key highlights:

• ~$2M in sales on a hero SKU

• DTC + Amazon distribution

• Cash-flow positive and profitable

• Celebrity partner involved

• Significant whitespace for SKU expansion and retail

Attractive platform for an operator or strategic buyer looking to scale a focused, profitable brand with strong brand leverage.

Email: fan [at] thehedgehogcompany.com

That’s it for this week.
If you liked this issue, forward to a friend who obsesses over brand strategy, capital flows, or exit timing.

In the Money – following the flow of capital in consumer

P.S. We love talking to brands interested in exiting in the next 3-18 months. If you know of any brands interested in exiting, or any firms trying to help port cos manage turnarounds, we'd love to share a POV.

fan [at] thehedgehogcompany.com