Alex Wiltschko

What's weird is it turns out that by getting really good at designing the sense of fruits and flowers and vegetables you actually, for free, get good at these other scent problems, like with human scent or with product scent, because the overlap of the actual molecules that you see is actually pretty high. So there's not an infinite number of molecules out there.

There's a lot, but if you get really good at one domain of scent, it turns out to help you in other adjacent domains.

There's a lot, but if you get really good at one domain of scent, it turns out to help you in other adjacent domains.

There's a few pieces here. at first brush are recession-proof. So if people aren't buying luxury fragrances, they're buying hand soap, right? So fragrance is in 90% of the products in your household. And there's a very small number of companies that provide all of that. And so if one category is going down, another is typically going up. So really, really great long-term profile.

There's a few pieces here. at first brush are recession-proof. So if people aren't buying luxury fragrances, they're buying hand soap, right? So fragrance is in 90% of the products in your household. And there's a very small number of companies that provide all of that. And so if one category is going down, another is typically going up. So really, really great long-term profile.

The margin profiles are also very great. So fundamentally, these are manufacturing businesses with non-manufacturing margins because there's a ton of know-how that goes into producing the finished blended product.

The margin profiles are also very great. So fundamentally, these are manufacturing businesses with non-manufacturing margins because there's a ton of know-how that goes into producing the finished blended product.

So although it's just ingredients mixed together in a jar that's then sent to a customer who then puts it in their packaging, how you get the exact right blend of those molecules is typically a deeply held secret. And what we've done is studied the industry very, very deeply and figured out, okay, you

So although it's just ingredients mixed together in a jar that's then sent to a customer who then puts it in their packaging, how you get the exact right blend of those molecules is typically a deeply held secret. And what we've done is studied the industry very, very deeply and figured out, okay, you

a lot of what is being provided in the industry we think can be augmented by artificial intelligence and we can do this faster. The other piece here is customers are typically quite sticky. So if you're running a beauty or a CPG business, and you run out of stock, your first inclination is to reorder from your past supplier, not to bid out again.

a lot of what is being provided in the industry we think can be augmented by artificial intelligence and we can do this faster. The other piece here is customers are typically quite sticky. So if you're running a beauty or a CPG business, and you run out of stock, your first inclination is to reorder from your past supplier, not to bid out again.

And so typically, if you've won the business, industry standards for repurchasing are well above 50%. So if you build this very wide book of business that has different parts that fluctuate based on the macro, you have a really resilient business there. And the margin profile is typically quite good.

And so typically, if you've won the business, industry standards for repurchasing are well above 50%. So if you build this very wide book of business that has different parts that fluctuate based on the macro, you have a really resilient business there. And the margin profile is typically quite good.

Which I always do every day.

Which I always do every day.

So I'm always paranoid when Mother Nature is going to show up and say, you're done. Like, no, in 2025 or 2026 or 2027, this is not the year for you to peel back another mystery of how this human sense works. And so you're blocked for taking the next step. And that could manifest in any number of places. We could fail to make these sensors small enough to be held in your hand at an appropriate

So I'm always paranoid when Mother Nature is going to show up and say, you're done. Like, no, in 2025 or 2026 or 2027, this is not the year for you to peel back another mystery of how this human sense works. And so you're blocked for taking the next step. And that could manifest in any number of places. We could fail to make these sensors small enough to be held in your hand at an appropriate

price. There could be something fundamental we don't understand about the world. This is an existential risk that we can never really remove. But we continue into the darkness and into the fog regardless. What we're trying to do is never lose sight of the mountaintop, which is we fully digitize the human sense and it's personal, it's portable, it's affordable.

price. There could be something fundamental we don't understand about the world. This is an existential risk that we can never really remove. But we continue into the darkness and into the fog regardless. What we're trying to do is never lose sight of the mountaintop, which is we fully digitize the human sense and it's personal, it's portable, it's affordable.

And our philosophy for doing that is not to climb up the sheer face of the mountain to that single goal, but to find a route up that mountain with a shallow enough grade where at some points we can stop and build a business. The philosophy here, and I've seen other startups kind of fail to do this, is build along a responsible path