While Marsh Mokhtari was a newcomer to the alcohol industry when he launched the Gray Whale Californian gin brand with his wife, Jan, in 2018, he’s stayed in the vertical with his latest venture. In the second part of Global Drinks Intel‘s interview with Mokhtari (below), editor Olly Wehring picks apart Make Waves Ventures and finds out who it’s for – and why.
Since stepping away from Gray Whale in May 2024, you’ve set up Make Waves Ventures.
We ended up in a position where we were able to hold other founders’ hands. We focus on being able to show a new business’s proof points to a strategic (investor or acquiror), without giving the strategic a reason to say no.
It’s like ‘try before you buy’, where you buy a stake in the company and, with that, you get both the founder and Make Waves for the next two to five years. It’s not just the unloading of a brand – we’re still there to help the brand succeed. That way, we all win.
We’re creating and advising brands that have to do some good in the world. We’re tiny, right now, but, I have relationships with most of the strategics now and they tell me what they’re looking for – some of them are in acquisition mode.
The aspiration for Make Waves is to continue along the current path. We’re having fun finding brands, nurturing them and helping founders to realise their dreams, which is central to why we decided to do this.
It’s about seeing other people hit their life goals.
How does the business model work?
We bring capital and resources. We have a lot of high-net-worth individuals in our community in Manhattan Beach and Silicon Valley (in California). We also have access to multiple creative partners who we used for Gray Whale.
We start with a consulting arrangement of one hour a week for a nominal US$350 per hour. We found that when we gave information without any payment, they didn’t listen to it. At the start, we’re just seeing if they’re going to listen and whether we’re going to get along.
If either thinks the other’s an asshole, then we won’t work together – I mean, this is going to be hard!
The next stage is the nuts-and-bolts stuff, like trademarks and IP protection. Also, beyond a pretty presentation pack and a great story and great liquid, is there a reason to care? Then, we’ll sometimes focus-test your product. We’re basically looking for reasons to say no. If we can’t find one, then we’ll likely end up doing a deal.
What advice would you give to other brand founders who are in the early stages with their businesses?
With any potential partnership, you need to have the swagger to ask, ‘what else do you bring to the table?’ If you’re looking for capital, money’s everywhere. But you need to have that swagger, because dumb money is dumb money. Smart money, however, is very smart.
What’s catching your eye at the moment?
There’s a really fun RTD – every demographic’s going to love this – that I’m seeing incredible success for in the UK and another country in Europe. I’m very excited about potentially partnering with them, helping them roll out in the US to one state, show another proof point and then get a strategic partner to hop on board and crush it!
Which do you prefer, being the poacher or the gamekeeper?
I see us as more of a hand-holder. You’re along for the ride, and we know the way to get you to the exit.
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