• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
TechA Boom With A View

Are Razor Companies Tech Startups?

By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Erin Griffith
Erin Griffith
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 19, 2016, 2:00 PM ET
Illustration by Sinelab for Fortune

💥A Boom with a View💥 is a column about startups and the technology industry, written by Erin Griffith. Find them all here: fortune.com/boom.

Selling razors, cleaning products, or any consumable good is a perfectly fine line of business to pursue. The margins aren’t bad, the universe of vendors and distributors is consolidating, and a young upstart can grab attention with a fresh brand and a snazzy marketing campaign. Often those upstarts take a small investment from a private equity firm and later sell to a consumer packaged-goods giant like Unilever.

But lately budding entrepreneurs in the consumer packaged-goods—CPG, as it’s known—business have discovered an even better one to be in: technology. Positioning your toothbrush company as a hot, new, high-growth tech startup means more investment (from venture capital firms), a higher valuation, and—most important—all the tech hype and glory that come with the sweet startup life. Private equity firms usually want to double their money for a nice, solid return. But venture firms want to centuple theirs to become filthy, stinking rich. (Bonus points if you “make the world a better place” in the process.)

Who cares if a company’s product has no technological component? Plenty of startups peddle the line that selling their goods over the Internet—basic e-commerce, in other words—means they are “tech-­enabled.” Others, like Josh Tetrick, co­founder of eggless-mayonnaise company Hampton Creek, take it a step further. He pushed his mayo company to position itself as a tech platform in order to land a “tech company valuation,” Bloomberg reported.

Disingenuous, maybe. But it’s a winning strategy: Hampton Creek and its peers only need potential acquirers like Unilever to buy into their story of tech-enabled disruption. If a giant (or, more important, its investors) feels threatened enough, the company will pay an obscene price to avoid the appearance of missing the Next Big Thing.

There’s an obvious danger in consumer packaged-goods companies acting like they’re high-growth technology startups: Software is scalable; physical stuff is often not. The pressures of achieving software-style hypergrowth with a traditional business can create dangerous incentives. Hampton Creek, for example, reportedly bought scores of its own products from stores to create the appearance of momentum for investors and partners. (The company claims the buybacks were for testing.)

Shenanigans like these make it easy to dismiss CPG companies as tech-startup wannabes. But investors see value in the category. Chobani and Crocs shot up to $1 billion in sales faster than Twitter (TWTR) and Salesforce (CRM), respectively. And Dunkin’ Brands has better gross margins than eBay (EBAY), Amazon (AMZN), and Google (GOOGL) parent Alphabet.

For more on startups, watch this Fortune video:

Earlier this year Unilever shelled out $1 billion for Dollar Shave Club, a razor startup with just $140 million in revenue last year, giving it an entry into a market dominated by Procter & Gamble (PG). Unilever is also rumored to be interested in the Honest Co., a household goods startup.

In other words, the CPG-as-tech strategy is working. Prepare for a supermarket stuffed with “tech” startups.

A version of this article appears in the November 1, 2016 issue of Fortune with the headline “Come on and Shine.”

About the Author
By Erin Griffith
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

ta
EconomySocial Media
They created AI nudes that got millions of views online. Now they’re being charged with crimes
By Jake Offenhartz and The Associated PressMay 22, 2026
9 minutes ago
Steve Wozniak
SuccessCareers
Steve Wozniak says he didn’t cofound Apple to ‘make money’—he only did it because he was rejected by HP 5 times, and for years his pay was just $50
By Preston ForeMay 22, 2026
11 minutes ago
zuckerberg
CybersecuritySocial Media
A school district’s lawsuit against Meta for mental health costs was set for trial next month. Zuckerberg settled
By Barbara Ortutay and The Associated PressMay 22, 2026
13 minutes ago
In this photo illustration, a Microsoft logo is displayed on a smartphone with Artificial Intelligence (AI) symbols on the background.
AICFO Daily
Inside Microsoft’s high-stakes push to win back its AI lead
By Sheryl EstradaMay 22, 2026
3 hours ago
dario
NewslettersTerm Sheet
‘A pressure cooker ready to explode’: The wild secondaries scramble for Anthropic shares
By Allie GarfinkleMay 22, 2026
4 hours ago
Kevin Warsh, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee for Chair of the Federal Reserve, departs following his Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs confirmation hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 21, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Big TechMarkets
Wall Street has pretty much written off the idea of a Fed rate cut at Kevin Warsh’s first meeting
By Eleanor PringleMay 22, 2026
4 hours ago

Most Popular

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
24 hours ago
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
2 days ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
3 days ago
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
Workplace Culture
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
By Sydney LakeMay 20, 2026
2 days ago
Current price of oil as of May 21, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 21, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 21, 2026
1 day ago
A 'proudly autistic' workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
Conferences
A 'proudly autistic' workplace expert says putting neurodivergent employees in a typical office is like dropping a polar bear in Austin, Texas
By Tristan BoveMay 20, 2026
2 days ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.