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Prior to launching Pilgrim Soul, Founder and CEO Shawn Gold started his career as CMO, Head of Marketing & Content for MySpace, where he spearheaded the development and implementation of marketing initiatives and campaigns for MySpace during its growth from 25 to 110 million users worldwide. Following MySpace, Shawn served as CMO at TechStyle Fashion Group which launched the subscription fashion category with Fabletics, JustFab, ShoeDazzle, FabKids, and Rihanna’s SavageXFenty. After which, he became the CMO of Lowell Herb Co.

Notes:

Pilgrim Soul. Pilgrim Soul is a creativity company. The name comes from a William Butler Yeats Poem about a man looking back on his marriage and reflecting on the depth of his love.

“How many loved your moments of glad grace, And loved your beauty with love false or true, But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you, And loved the sorrows of your changing face.”

In the Brand’s context, the “Pilgrim Soul” is the native, creative explorer born inside of all of us. The company’s mission is to help people elevate creative thinking to give people a competitive edge in life and work. Pilgrim Soul tries to help people look at problems in entirely new ways, get out of their comfort zones, challenge default thinking, and tap into what makes them uniquely creative. It is more about unlocking their innate creativity than it is teaching people to be creative. The company believes we are all born creative.

Top 500 Book on Amazon in 2021. Since the company's inception in 2020, Pilgrim Soul has sold $3.5M worth of its wildly popular flagship product The Creative Thinking Journal (4.6 ratings / 2,500+ ratings on Amazon) and most recently developed a line of Live Resin Vape Pens (available in CA only) designed to be used in tandem with the journal to help unlock the mind and get into your creative flow.

Funding. The company raised $2M of seed funding from Merida Capital Holdings, Beehouse and Meaningful Partners on January 11, 2022. Michael Diamant, Al Harrington, Ann Watson and Merlin Kauffman also participated in the round.

Vertical Focus as a Differentiator. Pilgrim Soul develops Cannabis and non-Cannabis products that allows retail partners to promote their brands as well. Given the marketing challenges of being a Cannabis company, Pilgrim Soul has found creative ways to advertise (such as instagram / facebook ads for the creative thinking journal). In addition, Pilgrim Soul has focused on owning the SEO taxonomy around Cannabis & Creativity.

Gen Z is more Creative. 72% of gen Z and millennials in the US, UK and China believe that creativity today is dependent on technology, and 92% believe that technology opens up a whole new world of creation, according to Wunderman Thompson Data in July 2021.

Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk on Creativity (February 2006) has 72M views. He believes that creativity is not a linear process, in which you have to learn all the necessary skills before you get started. It is true that creative work in any field involves a growing mastery of skills and concepts. It is not true that they have to be mastered before the creative work can begin. Focusing on skills in isolation can kill interest in any discipline. Many people have been put off by mathematics for life by endless rote tasks that did nothing to inspire them with the beauty of numbers. Many have spent years grudgingly practicing scales for music examinations only to abandon the instrument altogether once they’ve made the grade. The real driver of creativity is an appetite for discovery and a passion for the work itself. When students are motivated to learn, they naturally acquire the skills they need to get the work done. Their mastery of them grows as their creative ambitions expand. You’ll find evidence of this process in great teaching in every discipline from football to chemistry.

👋 The Highly Objective Podcast is hosted by Dai Truong, who leads Cannabis Investment Banking at Arlington Capital Advisors.. Third-party information presented here and links to third-party content are for informational purposes only and are not intended as a recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument, security or investment. The information provided is not warranted as to completeness or accuracy and is subject to change without notice. Linking to third-party sites in no way implies an endorsement or affiliation of any kind between Arlington Capital Advisors, LLC, or its affiliates and any third party. The information in this blog constitutes my own opinions (and any opinions posted by guest bloggers from time to time) and it should not be regarded as a description of services provided by Arlington Capital Advisors, LLC or any affiliate.

Highly Objective

🎙️ Podcast: Pilgrim Soul – CEO, Shawn Gold