Start a conversationinfo@themedialab.io

We invest.Then we go to work.

The Media Lab invests in e-commerce brands and the software they run on.

Start a conversationHow we partner
A long black table in a pale, empty room. Unbranded samples line its right half: a folded gray knit, a white sneaker, a mug, a candle, a coffee bag, headphones, a closed laptop and two white boxes topped by a blue one. At the right end, two people stand looking at a white sneaker one of them holds.

01 / THE MODEL

We back what sells and what runs it.

E-commerce brands, and the software and services their teams run on. Four ways in, with the same team behind each.

Overhead view of four paper squares on a black surface, holding a sneaker, a candle, a coffee bag and a closed laptop. The square under the laptop is blue.

  1. Buy: acquisition

    We acquire e-commerce brands that customers already buy from, and buy again.

  2. Back: growth investment

    Capital next to a founder who keeps running the brand. It goes into stock, creative and the next channel.

  3. Partner: operating partnership

    Our team works inside the business next to the founder, on terms set per deal.

  4. Build: tech and SaaS

    We invest in software built for e-commerce operators. When the brands we back need a tool that doesn’t exist yet, our tech people build it.

02 / WHAT WE BRING

The capital comes with a team.

When we back a business, our people work inside it, next to the founder. Three disciplines, one team.

  • Media

    Creative and performance marketing sit in one team, so whoever shoots the ad also sees what it did to CAC.

    A photo studio mid-shoot: pale gray headphones on a black plinth in front of a blue backdrop card.

  • Operations

    Growth breaks operations first. Stock, fulfillment, service and the margin on every order get the same attention as the ads.

    Two hands fold a gray knit sweater into a white mailer lined with blue tissue paper, at a packing table by a window.

  • Technology

    The store, the stack and the data behind it.

    Running brands shows us which software earns its fee. Backing software shows us where brands lose time and margin.

03 / BRANDS

Brands we work with.

We run their performance marketing and work alongside them as partners.

  • Onuia, Home textiles, Ships worldwide
  • Skincu, Natural skincare, Ships worldwide
  • altRx, Weight-loss telehealth, United States
  • Nextmeds, Weight-loss telehealth, United States
  • DirectMeds, Telehealth and wellness care, United States

  • And more

04 / HOW WE WORK

The work, in order.

One order for every business we back. What’s broken gets fixed before anyone spends more on reach.

  1. Find

    The one constraint holding the business back, whether that’s creative, the offer, margin or the warehouse. Everything else waits.

  2. Fix

    Offer and creative. A sharper offer lifts AOV, and better creative brings customers in at a CAC the business can carry.

  3. Scale

    More budget and new channels, for as long as CAC and payback hold.

  4. Protect

    Contribution margin on every order. An order that loses money isn’t growth.

  5. Keep

    The customers already won. LTV grows through the second order and every one after it.

For software the order is the same, and retention carries the weight that repeat orders carry for a brand.

05 / WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Before we say yes.

The category matters less than whether people come back. That holds for a brand and for software.

Brands

  1. Customers who come back without being chased.
  2. Contribution margin we can move.
  3. A founder who wants operators in the room.
A stockroom aisle leading to an open roller door and daylight. A person in a gray sweater, seen from behind with the head out of frame, pushes a black platform cart stacked with white mailer bags, one of them blue. Gray shelving on the right holds plain boxes, pouches, folded knitwear and candles, with gaps where stock has sold.

Software

  1. A problem operators pay to fix.
  2. Usage that sticks.
  3. Something the next store needs too.
A bright white room in daylight. A black desk on the right holds a monitor and two open laptops, all turned away from the camera, and a white mug, with a gray chair tucked in behind. Under the desk, a white vented network cabinet sits on a low shelf, fed by a bundle of gray cables and one blue cable. The left side is open wall and concrete floor.

06 / CONVICTION

Growth is an operating job.

A check alone doesn’t fix weak creative or a stockout. People inside the business do.

  1. Demand before capital

    Capital speeds up demand that already exists. We start with the order history: who came back, how often and at what margin.

  2. Inside, not above

    Our people work in the ad account, in fulfillment and in the codebase, next to the founder’s own team. We’d rather fix a checkout than discuss one in a board meeting.

  3. Software earns its place

    A tool has to save a team time, protect margin or sell more product. If an operator wouldn’t pay for it out of their own budget, we don’t back it.

  4. One set of numbers

    The founder sees what we see, down to the contribution margin on a single order. Bad weeks get reported as plainly as good ones.

07 / WORKING TOGETHER

What happens after you write.

Three steps, from the first call to a straight answer.

  1. Call

    One conversation about the business, its customers and the thing holding it back.

  2. Numbers

    Then the numbers behind it.

  3. Answer

    A straight answer on fit. If it’s a yes, we pick the way in together and talk structure.

08 / CONTACT

Pull up a chair.

Brand or software, tell us what you run and where it’s stuck. If we’re not the right partner, you hear it early.

Start a conversation

or email info@themedialab.io

Two men in gray sweaters sit across the corner of a long black table in a bright room, mid-conversation. One gestures toward a white sneaker next to an open blue box lined with white tissue. A closed laptop, a folded knit, a mug and blank paper lie on the table, and an empty chair is pulled out in the foreground.