05/22/2018

The Importance of Staying True to Your Mission

Don't lose sight of what matters most - to your members

When Index first invested in Good Eggs in 2014, we bought into an exciting new concept: bringing the farmer’s market to your home. Fast forward four years, and the company has gone through an incredible journey — from high flyer, to near bankruptcy, to back on top. Today, Good Eggs is announcing an exciting milestone - a $50M round of funding led by Bill Gurley, one of the investors we respect the most in the VC world. 

The Good Eggs journey has had some unusually difficult moments. Though it started with a great idea, talented founders, and strong backers, including VC firms like Sequoia, three years down the road the business began to stumble. The model they were operating under — as a farmer’s market with limited grocery inventory — could not scale. The company had been aggressively pursuing growth by trying to serve four cities, was overstretched, and started to run out of money. Its momentum was running out, and major investors began to pull out.

It looked like the company was about to go under - and as one of its primary investors, here at Index, we faced a big dilemma. We had to decide whether to walk away with some of the other investors, or keep fighting. We chose to double down, brought in a new, transformational CEO, and extended fresh capital. Other firms also came to the table, including a few highly respected angel investors. We kept fighting because we had a strong conviction in the original vision, were excited about Good Eggs’ new leader, and wanted to do the right thing for the company’s loyal customers. And while the beginning was a bit rocky, the bet quickly began to pay off.

Please select this link to read the complete article from LinkedIn.