Capsule

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Verse Chocolate, a chocolate company. We source cocoa beans and process them into chocolate products that are less bitter than other chocolates. We also sell our products in our retail store.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Capsule?

We were starting our business from scratch, so we needed branding, product design, and packaging design services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Capsule helped us design and develop everything related to our new image and brand. They basically developed the look and feel of our company and our product, and they helped us come up with our name and message.

Although the chocolate recipe was ours, Capsule helped us design the product shape too. For this part of the project, they used a 3D printer to create models of the product shapes. Our chocolates aren’t bars but individually packaged medallions, for which Capsule also created the packaging and the graphic design for the box. Moreover, they helped us come up with 6–7 different color-coded names for our products.

In addition to the branding, naming, and design services, Capsule helped us with our digital marketing, reaching out to influencers on Instagram and promoting our business on LinkedIn. Their involvement also included creating LinkedIn posts, supporting our participation in Expo West and Expo East, and performing market research.

Additionally, they helped us create an engagement forum called Sync and Link, where people came to meet with us, hear our story, and ask questions. Before the COVID-19 pandemic started, our forum was in person, but we then had to move it virtually through Zoom. We had two of those Zoom meetings, where 100–200 people joined.

What is the team composition?

We worked with six people from Capsule, two of whom were our main points of contact. Their team included the CEO and co-founder, the VP of customer engagement, the director of design, the creative director and co-founder, a design manager, and a communications manager.

How did you come to work with Capsule?

I’m part of another business that worked with Capsule. When I started my new venture, the CEO of that business recommended them. After meeting them for the first time, they came back to us with professional documentation detailing what the project would take. Our final agreement detailed the project expectations and value.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $430,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first met in December 2018. By May 2019, we signed the final agreement on how they would help us undertake the project. We had our entire branding and collateral design ready by August 2020, and we launched our new image in October 2020. We kept working with Capsule on the marketing side until March 2021, but we decided to part ways because it was getting expensive for us. Still, they help us with design changes and other tasks every now and then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Thanks to Capsule, we went from idea to selling our final product in 21 months despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

How did Capsule perform from a project management standpoint?

Capsule performed really well. We had daily 10–40-minute calls at 8 a.m. through Zoom. Additionally, they used their own project management tools internally to track the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Capsule was an excellent design firm. They understood our product and what we were trying to do very well. They also understood our market and the niche we were targeting. They had never done food product design before; still, they understood our products and used technology to help us design them, which was very useful.

Moreover, Capsule’s curiosity was very strong. To better understand our products, they bought all kinds of chocolates to taste them. I even provided them with a small-batch line of chocolates to try and experiment with so that they could understand its roots well. They strived to know as much as they could about our company, and they worked so closely with us that it became difficult to tell the difference between our companies. Their relationship-building skills were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would have been great if Capsule understood our pain points better. They eventually did, but it took them too long and required a lot of conversations about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Contact them and get their two co-founders engaged in your project. If Capsule’s co-founders believe in your project, you’ll find success; that’s the key.