This Serial Entrepreneur Raised $70 Million To Help Older Adults Live Independent Lifestyles By Delivering Essential Products

Alexi Suvacioglu’s entrepreneurial story is about passion, resilience, and calculated risk-taking. Having successfully founded and exited multiple ventures, his journey is a testament to the transformative power of adaptability, teamwork, and vision.

From humble beginnings in Australia and Italy to becoming a serial entrepreneur focusing on consumer internet and e-commerce, Alexi’s story offers valuable insights for aspiring founders.

In this insightful interview, he talks about building his latest startup with no capital, scaling it, and raising funding from top-tier investors.

Listen to the full podcast episode and review the transcript here.

From Australia to Italy: A Formative Start

Born in Sydney, Australia, Alexi’s early life took a pivotal turn when his family moved to Milan, Italy. Growing up in a culture steeped in food, community, and passion profoundly shaped his worldview.

Soccer was a central part of Alexi’s childhood, culminating in the remarkable achievement of playing for AC Milan. This experience instilled a competitive spirit and the value of teamwork, qualities that would later become cornerstones of his entrepreneurial philosophy.

Reflecting on his soccer days, Alexi notes, “In soccer, it’s about bringing your A-game every day and leveraging your team’s strengths to achieve a common goal. Business operates the same way; it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Training as a team instead of individuals is crucial for growth and, eventually, winning the championship. People can excel by doing their best every day and surrounding themselves with team members who challenge and motivate them to accomplish more.

The Consulting Years: Building a Foundation

After college, Alexi spent six formative years in consulting at Accenture, working with major consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands like Coca-Cola and Kraft Foods. Consulting taught him to tackle big problems by breaking them into manageable tasks.

Alexi also learned to navigate tight, aggressive deadlines with small, high-performing teams. His tasks involved prioritizing and segregating them into small segments.

“Starting your career in consulting is like a mini life lesson crammed into a few years,” he explains. “It provides exposure to diverse industries, cultures, and challenges, forming a solid foundation for future endeavors.”

Discovering Silicon Valley’s Innovation Hub

A pivotal chapter in Alexi’s journey was his decision to pursue an MBA at Stanford. Coming from Europe, where the whole startup ecosystem was still nascent at the time, the experience was eye-opening.

Alexi was exposed to the dynamic world of Silicon Valley, sparking his interest in entrepreneurship. Despite the allure of starting his own venture immediately, he chose to join eBay, then a rapidly growing juggernaut. He wanted to gain more experience from the best players in the ecosystem.

“I wanted to immerse myself in a successful culture and learn from the inside,” Alexi recalls. This decision gave him the confidence and insights to launch his own companies eventually.

The exposure was a refreshing change from the typical Italian and Spanish mindsets of becoming a banker, doctor, or lawyer. Alexi consciously rewired his thought processes to adapt to the idea of jumping into the unknown–transition from employee to entrepreneur.

Alexi recalls that for him, it was less about developing the right skill sets and more about identity. Employees must excel within a defined set of parameters set by the company’s management. On the other hand, entrepreneurs must define their parameters without someone calling the shots.

Navigating the ups and downs of this emotional roller coaster can be a lonely journey. This is why having a co-founder is crucial. Alexi made this conscious choice, fully aware that he had limitations but could control who, what, and with whom he worked.

The Leap to Entrepreneurship: Oohilove

Alexi’s first entrepreneurial venture, Oohilove, targeted a niche market of luxury designer handbags. “We saw that eBay was underperforming in this segment and created an innovative, auction-based marketplace for high-end brands like Chanel and Dior,” he explains.

Thanks to his upbringing in Spain and Europe, Alexi was aware that the check size or Average order value (AOV) of these items is extremely high. As a result, the venture quickly gained traction, and within two years, it was acquired by Entertainment Shopping AG–Alexi’s first successful exit.

This experience introduced Alexi to the full cycle of entrepreneurship–building and scaling a company and then reaching the finish line. It also helped shape his perspective on companies, answering questions about accelerating and knowing the right time to exit.

ZenDeals–The Next Venture

Next came ZenDeals, a machine-learning-driven platform focused on the discount savings marketplace. With many of the same team members from his first venture, Alexi applied lessons learned to build a high-performing engineering culture.

Alexi had always been fascinated by consumer internet and eCommerce and came up with the concept of using technology as the differentiating factor. Here, he was exposed to the importance of building a high engineering and leadership culture.

The platform’s technology caught the attention of RetailMeNot, a publicly traded and the largest coupon player in the world at the time, leading to another successful acquisition.

Alexi recalls they considered it the right option to generate significant opportunities for all the stakeholders. The exit resulted in substantial capital returns for everyone.

Reflecting on his M&A experiences, Alexi shares three key lessons:

• Luck Plays a Role: While growth and visibility are crucial, sometimes, an acquisition results from fortuitous circumstances.
• Know Your Market: Competitors can often become partners. “We initially viewed RetailMeNot as a rival but kept an open mind when they approached us,” he notes.
• Timing is Everything: The pool of potential acquirers shrinks as your company grows. Knowing when to sell is as important as knowing how to scale. Selling too early can result in leaving money on the table.

In Alexi’s experience, smaller companies tend to overestimate the sophistication of publicly traded companies. Public companies don’t necessarily have super-advanced algorithms or dashboards. Their operations are rudimentary.

Post-acquisition, Alexi realized that ZenDeals was superior and far ahead of RetailMeNot in terms of technology as a differentiator. From the acquirer’s perspective, they were acquiring an asset, team, and technology intending to grow over the next two to four years.

Entrepreneurs tend to think about the end of the journey, while acquirers view it as a beginning. Viewing the middle ground through the lens of maximizing returns for all the stakeholders is crucial. Alexi stayed on for a while with RetailMeNot, serving as a director.

After RetailMeNot, Alexi worked with a few other founders, helping them build their businesses. He then connected with Luca, his co-founder at Because.

A New Mission: Empowering an Aging Population

Alexi’s latest venture, co-founded with Luca, is a deeply personal and impactful project. Inspired by their experiences growing up with aging grandparents, they set out to create meaningful solutions for older adults.

“The world is aging, yet this demographic is often overlooked,” Alexi observes. “In the U.S. alone, 10,000 people turn 65 every day. It’s a global challenge, and we’re building a brand and platform to address it.”

Their venture aims to provide innovative products and services that enhance the quality of life for seniors by addressing their challenges tackling an “unsexy” but vital market with immense potential.

As Alexi sees it, aging is “one of the most profound societal changes that will happen in the next few decades. And, we are unprepared for it.” To address the gap, the co-founders started by spending a lot of time interviewing older adults to identify their needs.

The ethnographic user research yielded multi-decade needs and highly recurring purchases like bladder protection products to manage incontinence, an issue that impacts 40% of older adults. The condition starts in the late 60s and remains until the end of life.

Alexi and Luca also saw that these issues are taboo and attract a lot of stigma. Unlike verticals like shaving sensitive parts and menstrual products, where the conversation is starting to change. The duo identified an opportunity to innovate, starting with a myopic set of products.

Startup Challenges–Lack of Funding

Alex and Luca chose to bootstrap the company at first but not invest too much capital. They wanted to understand the market and research customer acquisition costs, retention rates, cross-selling opportunities, and unit economics.

This information would help them evaluate the growth potential. At the time, they had yet to build relationships with manufacturers. They contacted a random older adult product brand to understand the target audience and compile feedback.

With this data in hand, the duo started the company out of Alexi’s garage with just a couple of phone numbers and no website. Initially, they packed boxes, ran ads, answered calls, and delivered orders via UPS. They knew they had manufacturers and could provide customer support.

In retrospect, Alexi talks about the importance of a founding team to have 360-degree visibility into the business. This can help them identify the friction points, what works, and other challenges.

Eventually, Alexi and Luca raised $70M for Because from a VC. Because now has backing from incredible investors who share the vision of addressing this underserved yet vital demographic.

Storytelling is everything that Alexi Suvacioglu was able to master. The key is capturing the essence of what you are doing in 15 to 20 slides. For a winning deck, take a look at the pitch deck template created by Silicon Valley legend, Peter Thiel (see it here), where the most critical slides are highlighted.

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Alexi reveals they have support from Mike Volpi at Index Ventures and David Weiden at Khosla Ventures, now the largest investors in the Because cap table.

To overcome challenges like the lack of market projections and other metrics, Alexi demonstrated the scalability of their business model and the deep connection they built with customers. That’s how they successfully raised capital for the company.

Today, Because is quickly becoming a trusted brand for the demographic, similar to Hoover for vacuum cleaners and Kleenex for tissues. Because serves the older generation who does not want to age in a skilled nursing or memory care facility that shaves off years from their lives.

The vision for Because is to enable older adults to live their preferred, self-reliant lifestyles by delivering essential products and services.

Final Thoughts: Lessons for Aspiring Founders

Alexi’s journey from Milan’s soccer fields to Silicon Valley boardrooms underscores the importance of adaptability, teamwork, and strategic decision-making.

Whether navigating M&A transactions, building high-performing teams, or addressing underserved markets, Alexi’s career offers a wealth of insights for entrepreneurs at any stage.

“Surround yourself with people who challenge and inspire you,” he advises. “Success is never a solo endeavor.”

Listen to the full podcast episode to know more, including:

• Entrepreneurs must clearly articulate their solution’s value proposition to potential investors.
• Transitioning from a private to a public company demands transparency, scalability, and adaptability.
• Building investor confidence hinges on leadership’s track record and vision alignment.
• Tailor pitches to investor priorities, focusing on long-term growth potential and clear ROI.
• Insights from industry veterans like Alfred Mann can shape entrepreneurial success.
• Deep technical knowledge is vital for innovating in complex fields like healthcare.
• Effective leadership requires perseverance through the rigorous demands of scaling and fundraising.

 

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For a winning deck, see the commentary on a pitch deck from an Uber competitor that has raised over $400M (see it here). 

Remember to unlock for free the pitch deck template that founders worldwide are using to raise millions below.