Back in the Arena: Part 2 - Daring Greatly
Three months ago, I wrote about returning to the arena.
Today, we've moved on to daring greatly.
Between that essay and this moment, I’ve become a father, hired a team, completed our $1.5 million fundraise, surveyed over 1,000 families across 47 states, and laid the foundations for the bold vision we’re pursuing: technology to make feeding your families simpler, smarter, and more affordable.
Allow me to introduce you to Stretch!
What We've Learned
Before we built anything, we listened. (Read full report here) We surveyed 1,009 families across 47 states. What they told us wasn't just validation—it was proof of a crisis.
Nearly half of all households (49.1%) report that their grocery costs exceed their budget and that food prices are a significant source of stress.
Here's what shattered the myth that this is a low-income problem: 55.3% of families earning $100,000-$149,000 are buying cheaper or lower-quality food to afford groceries. This is compared to 43.6% from those earning less, many of whom have already traded down as far as they can.
And here's what made me furious: 18% of shoppers are using credit, Buy Now Pay Later, or borrowed money just to buy food. When nearly one in five Americans has to finance a necessity as fundamental as food, the failure lies with the system itself.
Why This Matters Now
I wrote in July about watching tech CEOs line up to kiss the ring, cementing themselves as oligarchs while abandoning the people they once claimed to serve. While Silicon Valley's brightest minds optimize digital experiences for one another and build better AI solutions for Fortune 100 companies, American families are financing their groceries. While the ruling class debates data centers, 18% of shoppers are skipping meals.
This is what it means to dare greatly—to build solutions for Hard/Good problems that affect those who need them most, not easy optimizations for those who can afford more conveniences.
The grocery industry is a $1.8 trillion market that's been allowed to operate with almost zero price transparency. Retailers deploy sophisticated pricing systems - surge pricing on bread! - while families are forced to guess, compare across fragmented apps, or simply hope they're making the right choices. That ends now. Shoppers are demanding it and we’re building the platform that aligns incentives and makes it good business for an industry that has survived with entrenched inefficiencies for far too long.
Our research shows families aren't victims—they're strategically fighting back. They're building meticulous shopping lists. They're comparing prices across multiple retailers. 47% of shoppers say they'd drive at least 10 extra minutes to meaningfully reduce their total basket cost—rising to 58% for households under $50,000.
These aren't passive adaptations to inflation. They're intentional strategies developed out of necessity. Families are awakening to the fact that they are in control. And that realization will fundamentally change how the grocery business operates.
What We've Built
Stretch is the first company to ever put the shopper at the center and exists to give tools and transparency that put families in control.
Imagine this: A shopping list that enables you to compare prices, see what's in stock, and make informed decisions based on actual data, not guesswork, before you go to the store. No more standing at the register, surprised by the total. No more wondering if you should have gone to a different store. This is what Stretch is building.
Early testing shows Stretch helps families save over $1,000 annually while reducing shopping planning time by 40%. But the real value isn't in the savings—it's in the dignity of having control. It's about making informed choices about trade-offs between quality, convenience, and cost. It's in deciding for yourself where to shop based on what matters to you that day.
Join Us
This is day one of a long journey to reshape how America feeds itself. We're building for the next decade, not the next quarter.
The waitlist opens today at stretchformore.com. We launch in October.
Daring Greatly
Three months ago, I invoked Theodore Roosevelt's "man in the arena." I said I couldn't keep thought-leading from the sidelines. Today, we're striving to do what Roosevelt described: daring greatly.
Not with incremental improvements to existing systems. Not with safer bets or easier problems. But by confronting a $1.8 trillion industry that's failed 100 million American families and saying: this changes now.
Join the waitlist at stretchformore.com. Join our team. Join as an investor. And watch what happens when you give 100 million American families the control they've been fighting for.
I’m back in the arena and Eloise is watching.
And that’s what really matters.
Stretch - for more of what matters. 🛒🔥
Andy
