For nearly a decade, funeral home owners watched a new kind of competitor enter the death care industry: venture-backed, direct-to-consumer cremation companies. In Episode 75 of the Direct Cremation Podcast, host Will de Michaelis looks at what actually happened—and why he believes the last decade tells a very different story.
These brands promised something different. Families could make cremation arrangements online, see transparent pricing, skip the funeral home visit, and complete nearly everything from their phones. Backed by millions in investment, some planned to turn online cremations into scalable national businesses.
It sounded like a serious threat to independent funeral homes.
Listen to the full episode to know more: https://youtu.be/eHx1diEzc34
Timestamps
(00:00:00) Intro
(00:01:04) The History of the Movement
(00:01:58) Borrowing the Glossier Playbook
(00:02:19) Tulip Launches the Market
(00:03:14) The Roster: Who Took The Money
(00:04:14) Tulip's Story Arc
(00:05:58) The Intersection of Cremation and Digital
(00:06:38) FPG Folds the Map
(00:08:06) One Region Left
(00:08:38) Why It Doesn't Work
(00:09:05) Reason One: VCs Need Growth
(00:10:44) Reason Two: Nobody Controls the Death Rate
(00:11:47) Reason Three: You Can't Digitize the Decedent
(00:12:35) An Undisruptable Industry
(00:14:08) Watching Tulip Since 2017
(00:14:50) Advice for Independent Operators
For Innovative Funeral Directors Blazing a Trail.
A podcast for funeral home owners where we talk about trends & opportunities we see in the funeral home industry. We bring on death care professionals and cremation experts to share what they know.
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Find us at https://directcremation.com
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Want to start a cremation brand yourself? Learn how the some of the biggest cremation brands do it at https://www.partingpro.com
Learn the playbook responsible for growing my family business to over 4500 calls a year without digital marketing: https://wdgroupconsulting.com