# Outreach & Newsletter — Curious Endeavor

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## 1. Cold Email Templates

### Version D: Warm Network — Feedback/Pilot Ask (Lukas voice)

**Subject: something I'd love your take on**

Hey {{first_name}},

Hope all is well. {{shared_history}} — I'd love to run something by you.

We just launched Curious Endeavor: an AI-native brand strategy platform built on 20+ years of real agency experience (my co-founder Assaf was the founder of Any Studios in NYC). You feed it your brand book, campaign briefs, and market data — and it outputs senior-level strategies, visual identity systems, campaign assets, Figma files, and playbooks in any language and market simultaneously, in a fraction of the time a traditional agency would take.

Think of it as a senior creative strategist available on demand — without the hiring or the overhead.

{{prospect_need}}

I'm looking to get feedback on it for now and potentially find first pilot partners. Would that be interesting?

Best and thank you,
Lukas

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**Variables:**
- `{{first_name}}` — contact's first name
- `{{shared_history}}` — connection context e.g. "Been some years since my Brandwatch days" / "We met at [event]" / "We connected via [person]"
- `{{prospect_need}}` — 1–2 sentences on their specific pain or opportunity, e.g.:
  - *"Given [company] is scaling into [market], having a creative system that moves as fast as your growth seems relevant."*
  - *"With [company] rebranding / launching / expanding, the timing feels right."*
  - *"I know [company] runs [X] campaigns across [Y] markets — CE was built exactly for that volume."*

**When to use:** Warm or lapsed connections (1–5 years). Lukas sends. Feels personal, not salesy. Best for ex-colleagues, event contacts, LinkedIn 1st-degree warm.

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### Version A: Competitive Threat

**Subject: {{company_name}} — spotted something in your category**

Hey {{first_name}},

{{company_insight}}

I'm flagging this because we just finished a competitive intelligence deep-dive for another food tech startup in an adjacent space, and the overlap with your category was striking. There are 3-4 players making moves that probably aren't on your radar yet.

We mapped the full landscape — positioning, pricing, channel strategy, funding trajectories. I pulled a free 2-page preview of the market map that's relevant to {{company_name}}.

Want me to send it over?

— Kitt
Curious Endeavor

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### Version B: White Space Opportunity

**Subject: a gap in {{market_category}} nobody's claiming**

Hey {{first_name}},

{{company_insight}}

We just wrapped a deep research sprint for a food tech founder — mapping every player, positioning angle, and distribution channel in your broader space. One thing jumped out: there's a meaningful white space that nobody's owning yet. It's adjacent to what you're building.

I put together a 2-page preview of the market map. It shows where the gap is.

Reply and I'll send it — no strings.

— Kitt
Curious Endeavor

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### Version C: Funding Positioning

**Subject: how {{company_name}} looks to investors right now**

Hey {{first_name}},

{{company_insight}}

I just completed a competitive landscape report for another food tech startup prepping for their raise. One thing that became clear: the founders who can articulate *exactly* how they're differentiated from the 12 other companies investors have seen that month — those are the ones getting term sheets.

We mapped the full category — who's funded, who's gaining, and where the positioning white space is. I have a free 2-page preview that covers your market.

Want it? Just reply.

— Kitt
Curious Endeavor

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## 2. The Brand Gap — Issue #1

### Why 90% of Food Tech Startups Have the Same Positioning Problem

*The Brand Gap — a weekly brand strategy newsletter by Curious Endeavor*

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Open any food tech pitch deck from the last three years. Read the positioning slide. Now open another one. And another.

They all say the same thing.

"We're making [category] that's better for you and better for the planet."

Sustainable. Delicious. Mission-driven. Better-for-you. Plant-based. Clean label.

It's not that these things are wrong. It's that they're *table stakes dressed up as differentiation*. And when everyone leads with the same story, nobody stands out — which means everyone competes on price, shelf placement, and paid media. Which means you burn cash faster. Which means you die.

This is the positioning problem killing food tech startups, and almost nobody talks about it.

**The numbers tell the story.**

The global plant-based food market hit $44.2 billion in 2024. Over 1,200 new plant-based products launched in the U.S. alone last year. Alternative dairy — the most mature sub-category — is seeing growth slow from 20%+ annually to single digits as the segment crowds.

Meanwhile, consumer data from Mintel and SPINS shows something uncomfortable: **trial rates are flat and repeat purchase rates are declining in most plant-based categories.** People aren't rejecting the concept. They're failing to find a reason to pick *your* brand over the other eleven options on the shelf.

This isn't a product problem. It's a positioning problem.

**Why it happens.**

Three reasons food tech founders end up in the same positioning trap:

**1. They position against the old world, not within the new one.**
"Better than dairy" was a powerful position in 2016. In 2026, with a mature alt-dairy set that includes Oatly, Ripple, NotCo, Miyoko's, and dozens more — "better than dairy" doesn't tell anyone why they should choose *you* over the other alternative. You're positioning against an enemy that's already half-defeated, while ignoring the real competition: each other.

**2. They lead with ingredients, not identity.**
Consumers don't buy oat milk because it's made from oats. They buy it because of what it says about them, how it fits their life, or how it makes them feel. Yet most food tech positioning reads like a spec sheet: "Made with organic X, free from Y, powered by Z." Features aren't positions. They're supporting evidence for a position you haven't articulated yet.

**3. They confuse mission with brand.**
"We're saving the planet" is your *why*. It's not your *position*. Patagonia and Shein both sell jackets. Their "why" couldn't be more different, but that's not what makes Patagonia's brand work — it's the specificity of *who they're for* and *what they stand for beyond the cause*. Most food tech brands have a beautiful mission slide and zero brand specificity.

**The fix: Position for the 10%, not the 90%.**

The best food tech brands don't try to appeal to every health-conscious, sustainability-minded consumer. They pick a sharp, specific territory and own it completely.

Look at the brands actually winning:

- **Liquid Death** ignored every alt-bev convention and positioned on attitude, not health. $1.4B valuation.
- **Fly by Jing** didn't position as "clean label Asian sauce." She positioned as unapologetic, premium Sichuan flavor for people who were done with watered-down "fusion."
- **Chomps** didn't say "better-for-you meat snack." They said: "What jerky should have been all along" — and went hard on a specific customer: the CrossFit/paleo/Whole30 crowd.

None of these led with sustainability. None of them tried to be for everyone. All of them are winning.

**A framework you can use today.**

Try the **Position in 3 Layers** exercise:

| Layer | Question | Bad Answer | Good Answer |
|-------|----------|-----------|-------------|
| **Category** | What do you *actually* compete in? | "Plant-based food" | "Weeknight dinner for dual-income families who don't cook" |
| **Enemy** | What are you the antidote to? | "Big Food" | "The guilt of feeding your kids frozen nuggets again" |
| **Only** | What can you say that no competitor can? | "We're sustainable and delicious" | "The only brand a pediatrician and a picky 5-year-old both approve of" |

If your "Only" statement could be copy-pasted onto a competitor's site and still make sense — it's not a position. It's a platitude. Go sharper.

**This is what we build.**

At Curious Endeavor, we help food tech founders find the positioning that's *theirs* — not the same recycled story everyone else is telling. If you want to run through this framework with structure and teeth, grab the **[Brand Positioning Canvas ($49)](https://curiousendeavor.com/canvas)** — it's the worksheet version of what we do in our full engagements, designed for founders who want to do the first pass themselves.

It'll take you 90 minutes. You'll come out with a positioning sharper than what most agencies deliver in 6 weeks.

Next week: **"The Naming Trap — Why Your Brand Name Might Be Costing You Your Series A."**

— Kitt
Curious Endeavor

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