Panic with Friends - Sharona Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO of DSTNC on Endurance Culture, Brand Curation, and The Future of Cycling

Panic with Friends – Investing for Profit and Joy

I’m always excited to interview a portfolio company founder on Panic with Friends, so I’m doubly excited to have Sharona Cohen, co-founder and CEO of DSTNC (Social Leverage Fund IV) on today’s show. Her husband Nave is the other co-founder who I previously had on the pod a couple months back. The company is at the forefront of fashion and technology, or as I like to call it, ‘fashology’ – for the modern cyclist. DSNTC (pronounced 'distance' - vowels removed) is a first of its kind global marketplace and content destination, curating the largest selection of high-end brands and performance products from around the world.

Nave and Sharona have done a phenomenal job over the last ten months or so, and with the site launched and a seed round raised, this is the right time to check in and hear about the company. With DSTNC I finally get to dig into 'fashology', something I’ve been talking about since the Oakley days. Sharona has an eye for fashion, culture, brands and what people will buy. The curation is excellent.

The KEY business hack here is the logistics of shipping returns. DSTNC can locally take returns for all these foreign brands and customers do not have to ship items that do not fit (a large problem with cycling gear) back overseas at a high cost.

You can listen to the podcast here on Spotify or Apple podcast and now all the episodes are on my YouTube channel as well. You can click subscribe on any of these platforms and get the podcast alert each week.

You can also listen right here on the blog:

For more details on today’s conversation read on below…

Guest(s): Sharona Cohen

Profile: Co-Founder and CEO of DSTNC

What is Sharona panicked about? This podcast.

Related:

Building a Cycling Marketplace and E-commerce “Fashology” Company with DSTNC co-founder Nave Avimor

Show Notes:

• 00:36 - Introduction

• 09:58 - Learning Hebrew and Yiddish in Canada

• 13:00 - Investing in husband and wife teams

• 16:04 - Trends in cycling

• 17:17 - Endurance culture

• 20:00 - Brand curation

• 24:08 - Challenges in the industry

• 26:30 - Inspiration behind starting DSTNC

• 28:06 - The future of cycling

• 30:00 - New entrants in cycling

• 35:00 - What to expect from DSTNC

• 39:00 - Competitors in endurance wear

• 40:20 - Dream collab

• 40:55 - Tricks to curation

• 42:16 - Outro

© Panic with Friends, 2023. All rights reserved.

Host: Howard Lindzon | Producer: Knut Jensen | Researcher: Pete Weishaupt Disclaimer: All information provided is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment, legal or tax advice, or an offer to buy or sell any security. For full disclosures:https://howardlindzon.com/disclaimer