One of the three things that CEOs only do is to “make sure there is enough cash in the bank” (see job #3 here). Although CFOs may be responsible for much of the heavy lifting, keep in mind that CEOs’ job #1 is to communicate vision and strategies to all stakeholders, which certainly includes potential and existing investors. It is very hard to raise capital to build a great company without great storytelling skills, something almost all great CEOs possess.

Clearly communicating a bold vision is especially important for early-stage venture-backed companies. These companies are usually pre-revenue, pre-product-market-fit, and definitely pre-scaling. From the VCs’ perspective, they invest not only in where the company is today, but also where the company would be, could be, and should be. In many cases, investors buy into the company’s second, third, and fourth acts in the future, as very few great companies are one-trick ponies.

SRTX is the perfect example. Last week, we went to the grand opening of their mega-factory in Montreal. To my knowledge, it is now the largest textile factory in Canada. The pictures and videos don’t do justice to the massive scale of this facility.

This is especially impressive when you know that 180 days ago, when they took over the facility, the roof was leaking, there were no walls, and there was no electricity. The SRTX team moved mountains, rock by rock and at lightning speed, to get the factory ready for production. 

I wish I could share some pictures inside the factory. Unfortunately, I can’t share their secret sauce. If you really want to have an insider view, you have to become an investor 😉

It took 7 years from its inception for SRTX to begin evolving into a fully verticalized behemoth through innovations in advanced material, hardware, and software to deliver traceability, sustainability, durability, and cost advantages, which is now giving them an “unbreakable” advantage – pun fully intended!

Today, millions of Sheertex unbreakable pantyhose are sold. They became THE best-selling pantyhose, unbreakable or otherwise, in North America, not bad for a 15-person company based in Bracebridge, Ontario, a town with a 15,000 population and a 2-hour drive north of Toronto when Two Small Fish Ventures invested!

Now, they are ready to license the IPs of their rip-resistant technology to other textile companies. That’s their second act. Watertex, one of the world’s most hydrophobic polymers that is engineered for unparalleled water resistance for use in, say, swimwear, is their third act. There are other IPs that are in the works. I would call them their fourth act.

But please don’t use the word pivot here. Pivot implies ‘nothing works, let’s try something else.’  Since the early days, Katherine was very clear that selling pantyhose online was the necessary first act to give her the economy of scale before she could begin her second act, third act, and fourth act. What we see today is exactly how she articulated her bold vision when we invested in the seed round five years ago. We bought into her vision, joined the journey, and now, what she told us is becoming a reality. We wouldn’t have invested in a company that was merely selling pantyhose online, even if millions were being sold.

The power couple, Katherine Homuth and Zak Homuth, are not your typical founders. SRTX is rewriting the rules of textiles through innovations. I can’t wait to watch the second, third, and fourth acts unfold right before our eyes from my front-row seat.

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