Ilir Sela

Ilir Sela is the Founder and CEO of Slice, the all-in-one ordering and marketing tech platform for local pizzerias. Through its partnerships, Slice has driven over $1B in earnings for over 18,000 independent pizzerias nationwide. Fun fact, Slice is also one of the largest employers in Macedonia and at one point, employed so many people there, they had to start their own school to train more people. Before Slice, Ilir started Nerd Force and sold it in 2008. Huge thanks to Jeff Richards (GGV) and Ben Sun (Primary) for some amazing questions today. In Today's Discussion with Ilir Sela We Discuss: 1. From Macedonia to the Bright Lights of NYC and Bentley Buying: How Ilir made his way into the world of startups having grown up in Macedonia? How did his less affluent upbringing impact his approach to company building? How does Ilir think about the importance of money? How did he come to buy a Bentley? What does Ilir know now that he wishes he had known when he started? 2. Why Bootstrapped Was Best & The Decision to Fundraise: Why did Ilir scale the business to $4M in revenue without ever fundraising? What does Ilir believe are the benefits of scaling businesses with less money? What would Ilir have done differently had he raised money earlier? What advice does Ilir have for founders who see competitors raising more money than them? 3. Why Delegation is BS and Your Upbringing F***** You Up: Why does Ilir believe that much of our upbringing can instill principles which make us a worse leader? Why does Ilir believe it is BS to hire great people and get out of the way? What are the single biggest mistakes Ilir sees founders make in company scaling? What have been some of Ilir's biggest lessons in talent acquisition? 4. Decision-Making 101: How does Ilir analyze his decision-making framework today? Where does he need to improve as a leader today? What does he need to do to get there? What has been the single best decision he made with Slice? What did he learn from it? What has been the worst decision he has made in the scaling process? How did that change his mindset?

Ilir Sela

CEO & Founder

Slice

Ilir Sela is the Founder & CEO of Slice, the online ordering and all-in-one software platform that helps pizzeria’s manage their business. Ilir started the company in 2010 as MyPizza, rebranded to Slice in 2015, and has since raised over $125 million and supports over 20,000 independent pizza shops. Slice is supported by investors like GGV, KKR, 01 Advisors, Primary Ventures, FJ Labs, and RiverPark Ventures. Brought to you by Secureframe, the automated compliance platform built by compliance experts: https://secureframe.com/request-demo-4?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=062023-thesplit Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/arming-the-pizza-rebels-ilir-sela In this episode we cover - The three reasons small pizza shops are growing 24x faster than big chains - How franchising and "reverse franchising" works - Ilir's biggest mistakes building a franchise business before starting Slice - How to explain a new business model to investors - The customer acquisition benefits of a multi-product model - Bootstrapping Slice to $3 million in profit - Turning down two acquisition offers, one that would have made him nine figures personally - Why MrBeast Burger failed - Why we don't need more cloud kitchens - Empowering entrepreneurs to open their own pizza shops - Building a strong board - Advice for founders selling to small businesses Referenced Cloud Kitchens: ⁠https://www.thefoodcorridor.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-cloud-kitchens-ghost-kitchens/ Frank Slootman from Snowflake, who Illir said inspires him: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankslootman/ Growth in independent pizzerias vs big chains in 2022: ⁠https://www.pmq.com/pizza-power-report-2023/ Jeff Richards from GGV Capital, who invested in Slice and gave Illir some advice mentioned in the podcast: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrichards/ Michelle Obama on whether pizza is a vegetable: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G14qNHPE4qo&t=21s ⁠ MrBeast’s MrBeast Burger: ⁠https://www.mrbeastburger.com/ The growth of Domino’s stock since 2010: ⁠https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/25/dominos-stock-yields-higher-returns-than-google-since-ipos.html Slice’s website: ⁠https://slicelife.com/ Where to find Turner Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak Where to find Ilir: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilirsela Twitter: https://twitter.com/ilirsela Timestamps [00:03:34]: The enormous and fascinating pizza industry [00:04:30]: Why there are so many independent pizza shops [00:07:33]: Illir's deep family history with pizza [00:10:43]: What Slice provides independent pizzerias [00:14:21]: The origins of Slice (mypizza.com) [00:16:55]: Building "Nerd Force" before Slice [00:18:22]: How franchises like “Nerd Force” work [00:22:15]: Selling his first company: Nerd Force [00:23:46]: Forming the idea for Slice [00:27:19]: The very first customers [00:32:37]: Turning down $18 million to double down on Slice [00:33:41]: Raising money and starting Slice phase 2.0 [00:39:27]: An acquisition offer that was “tough to say no to” [00:41:55]: Slice's focus now and in the near future [00:45:01]: Why there are so many pizza shops [00:46:46]: Hot takes on Cloud Kitchen and Beast Burgers [00:51:55]: Why online customers are worth 4x more than offline ones [00:53:32]: Why some investors doubted Slice [00:57:58]: The underrated value of a good board [01:00:57]: Advice for founders serving small businesses [01:03:29]: Hitting $500m annual revenue with Slice 3.0 [01:04:31]: Other categories Slice could go after [01:06:25]: Rapid fire questions Read the transcript: https://www.thespl.it/p/arming-the-pizza-rebels-ilir-sela Production and distribution by: https://supermix.io For sponsorship inquiries: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSebvhBlDDfHJyQdQWs8RwpFxWg-UbG0H-VFey05QSHvLxkZPQ/viewform

Ilir Sela

CEO & Founder

Slice

Slice CEO Ilir Sela answers questions from founders: tips on selling into scattered markets (like Mom & Pop shops), COVID's impact on the restaurant industry, scaling Slice's $43M Series C & more! Join the TWiST Slack: https://launchevents.typeform.com/to/kLq5Bi Check out Slice: https://slicelife.com/ Follow Ilir: https://twitter.com/IlirSela 1:05 Knyck: You mentioned Slice being a platform to provide the technology and buying power of scaled companies to small pizza businesses. Do you think that mom and pop stores in other industries like retail or services could use a similar platform, or is this type of structure specifically fitted for the economics of the pizza industry? 3:32 Michael: How do you see the restaurant industry changing in NYC post-COVID, and where do you see the growth opportunities to create a new type of offering? 5:17 Chris: I’m building a loyalty program startup for restaurants. We’re specifically targeting non-chain ethnic restaurants and customers who may have ethnic nostalgia for cultural foods. What do you think the opportunity looks like nationwide for this demographic? Are most restaurants using mainstream food ordering apps already, or is there a large segment of ethnic restaurants who are off-grid? 9:01 Graham: Mom & pops are such a scattered customer base. Can you shed some light on how you started to get momentum in the early days as a small business yourself? Did early customers have any trust issues with something as important as payment? 14:22 Laura: What is the biggest point of friction you have with adding new pizzerias to Slice? Do you experience many/any pizzerias that don't see the benefit of joining the Slice community? If so, how do you handle these? 18:50 Henry: Have you thought of doing the same for other ethnic food restaurants like Chinese, Indian, Thai etc. and what challenges do you foresee? What would be your approach to tackle? 22:04 Matt: With all the vacant retail that's about to become available, have you thought about helping pizza brands expand into ghost kitchens or helping existing pizzerias launch virtual brands (a la Chuck E Cheese)? 24:33 Ian/Andrew (similar questions): What is this funding round helping your business and platform do for the Pizza shops and their customers? How do you plan on scaling your $43M Series C? How have your plans changed since Slice has gone mostly remote? 31:10 Charles: Please expand on the apparent disparity in pricing across platforms/instore. How can food often be cheaper through a middleman? Our family often finds the most frictionless experience for our regular pizza place is to call in as it's often a single dish. How can this be simplified further? One push pizza? 37:58 Matt: Can you speak to "why pizza” and not Chinese food? At the end of the day, are you limiting yourself by picking one category? 40:32 Mahreen: Curious to know more about Slice's marketing. What marketing channels have been most effective for your platform (in acquiring both customers/new businesses)? 42:14 Ian: What response did you get from companies to sign up, was the take up easy? Or did you have to convince them in a specific sales pitch, how did you frame it? 43:51 Presh: You seem to have a curated following list on Twitter, curious to know your favorite accounts to follow that have impacted your business thinking.. top 5 accounts you recommend following? 45:31 Presh: Where does Slice need to be in order to see an IPO? 47:31 Ian: What are your plans to develop your branding and web/mobile app

Ilir Sela

CEO & Founder

Slice

0:36 Jason shares thoughts on his portfolio activity, getting back to work, leadership & more 4:20 Jason intros Slice Founder Ilir Sela 7:14 How has Slice been helping local pizzerias and front-line workers during the pandemic? https://sliceouthunger.org/pandemicpizza 9:12 What are the economics of an average privately-owned local pizzeria? How are the majority fairing during COVID-19? 13:24 What is Ilir building at Slice? What is their "reverse-franchise model" that helps local pizzerias compete with Dominos & other large chains? 15:32 What is the user-experience on Slice? 18:49 Who is Slice's average customer & how are their pizzerias handling the virus in 3 segments 29:10 Raising a $40M+ Series C during COVID pandemic & leaning on long-term relationships 32:49 Viral GrubHub invoice response - valid or overblown? Unit economics of delivery apps & how Slice's fees compare to GrubHub, DoorDash, UberEats & more 40:12 Huge delivery fees creating the need for two different menus (with higher prices on third-party platforms), how Dominos digitizing their order volume created maximum efficiency & allowed them to keep the same prices for over a decade 45:28 What is Ilir planning on doing with Slice's excess office space, how will the pandemic effect in-person work going forward? 50:10 Which groups of employees perform better under isolation? How is Slice helping employees deal with working remotely? How is New York responding to the crisis, and what will reopening look like (hybrid offices)? 1:06:53 Do business leaders have a responsibility to go through the testing process to understand how to help employees get tested efficiently?

Ilir Sela

CEO & Founder

Slice