Something Ventured Part 4: After Series A, Repeat Focuses On Growing Company Through Community

Editor’s note: This profile is part of Something Ventured, an ongoing series by Crunchbase News examining diversity and access to capital in the venture-backed startup ecosystem. As part of this project, we’re following seven seed-stage entrepreneurs over the course of several months as they build their businesses. Read our previous profiles of Kim Stiefel, Sarah Wissel and Repeat here, here and here, and access the full project here.

Since Crunchbase News last checked in with Los Angeles-based SaaS startup Repeat, the company’s been focused on one major theme: community.

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Community might not be the first thing that comes to mind for a software company, but it’s what Repeat is focused on building to fuel its growth since it announced a $6 million Series A in July.

There’s a reason Repeat opted to grow through community: The traditional SaaS playbook is tired, CEO Kim Stiefel said in an interview. It’s tried and true and there’s something to be said for it, but it needs innovation, which is why Repeat bet on growing through community, she added.

“I think the reason it’s paying off and the reason we’re growing our business in this manner is we sell to consumer brands, right? Those brands value community to build their brand,” Stiefel said. “They lean heavily on community to build their business. So we’re essentially giving to those founders and those operators and those marketers what they give to their customers. We’re speaking to them in a language that they understand.”

Repeat’s SaaS platform helps consumer packaged goods companies turn customers into repeat buyers. Its technology analyzes individual and household behavior, so it can remind customers when they should reorder items, such as face wash or toothpaste. The company is backed by investors including Harlem Capital and Battery Ventures.

Just a couple months ago, the company hired a head of community, who’s focused on building out RePeeps, a community of CPG founders and operators. The idea is to give those founders, operators and marketers access to a place to connect, rather than just access to Repeat’s tech product, through in-person and virtual events and workshops.

Members of RePeeps have access to a Slack community, member events, merchandise, the RePeeps member directory, and more, according to RePeeps’ website.

“We believe that by focusing on the consumer reordering experience and making their experience better, that will naturally lead to them having more authentic relationships with the brands. But also that means they’ll have higher (lifetime value),” co-founder Sarah Wissel said. “Their lifetime value, their value to the brand, will increase because they’re having a more authentic, better experience with the brand. And I think there’s this interesting parallel with the way we’re building our own business.”

As for the challenges that come with building a community and growing through it, it’s too early to say what they are, Stiefel said. Things have gone well so far, and it’s too early to tell what challenges could come up.

Since closing its Series A round over the summer, Repeat has grown its business by 150 percent, Stiefel said. The company began 2021 with three employees, and has more than 20 now. And with the rapid growth, Stiefel and Wissel are also focused on investing in the people who make up the company and anticipating what challenges could arise as the team grows.

Repeat recently hired a VP of people, and the team is focused on improving the onboarding process for new employees as more join the company.

“The way that you build a product, you push a minimum viable product, and then you iterate and learn and make it better and improved,” Wissel said. “It’s kind of like we’re applying those principles to our whole company.”