Ecommerce Conversations

Leave it to a customer to speak truth to an entrepreneur. That's what happened when Lelac Almagor, a Washington, D.C. school teacher, purchased an electric kid-hauler cargo bike from Bunch Bikes, a Texas-based direct-to-consumer manufacturer and seller. Supply-chain disruptions during the pandemic almost shut down Bunch Bikes. Then the founder, Aaron Powell, met Almagor at a bike event. &quot...

Patrick Campbell founded ProfitWell, an advisory platform for SaaS companies, in 2012 after stints at the U.S. Department of Defense and Google. He sold the business last year for $200 million. ProfitWell had no outside investors. Campbell paid himself a $74,000 annual salary. He had $20,000 in the bank when the deal closed. How does a founder, or anyone, adjust to $200 million from $20,000? Campb...

Harry Joiner launched his ecommerce recruiting firm in 2005. He's witnessed many market fluctuations since. Early 2008 was bad, he says. No companies were hiring. The onset of Covid was equally bad.  He calls the state of ecommerce jobs in 2023 "a zoo" with many more candidates than positions and likely permanent structural changes in the overall hiring market. Here's his persp...

Ecommerce Conversations host Eric Bandholz is the founder of Beardbrand, a leading direct-to-consumer seller of men's grooming products. 2023 has been challenging for the business — "a perfect storm of calamities" per Eric. This episode is admirably transparent with Eric sharing his view of good and bad decisions, supply chain hurdles, marketing missteps, and much more. It's a...

Elizabeth Mercer had her first child four years after launching Sleekform, an online seller of ergonomic office furniture. Returning to work after childbirth was a challenge.  "I thought I could just come back and be off to the races," she said. "I knew my body would take time to recover, but I did not expect the mental taxation of childbirth." She persevered. In this episode,...

Steve Chou is a merchant, blogger, podcaster, and trainer. He's now a book author with the release in May of "The Family First Entrepreneur," his HarperCollins title on business, freedom, and priorities. This is Chou's third appearance on the podcast. In 2020 he discussed Bumblebee Linens, his osCommerce store. In 2022 he described his preference for frugal living despite havin...

Brad Moss is a former Amazon product manager turned video game developer. He's now chief Amazon officer at Brandless, a direct-to-consumer seller of home, health, and beauty goods and an active acquirer of other companies. Brandless launched in 2017 and famously flamed out in early 2020 after raising close to $300 million in funding. A private equity firm purchased the assets, regrouped, and...

Athena Severi co-founded Titan Network, an Amazon-seller community, in 2019 with Dan Ashburn, a U.K.-based merchant. Before that, the pair launched China Magic for product sourcing. Titan Network hosts in-person events and offers workshops, mentoring, and collaboration.  In this conversation, Severi discusses Titan, selling on Amazon, the benefits of community, and more. For an edited and condense...

I recently joined a group of ecommerce owners on a hiking trip in Utah. It was 15 of us more or less, sharing our entrepreneurial journeys amid stunning scenery.  Late one night, four of us gathered around a table for this episode — three former guests of the podcast and me.  Mark Taylor is the founder of Warehouse Republic, a 3PL. Mike Tecku started Momentum, a nutritional supplements brand, afte...

Brandon Chicotsky is a professor of marketing at Texas Christian University. He states that his students have endured years of standardized, grade-level tests and are focused on the right answer or the best GPA.  But Chicotsky realizes businesses often face decisions with no right answer. And that has impacted his method of teaching. "I don't offer exams in my class," he said. &quot...

Josh Paulson acquired his grandfather's pet accessories company in 2015 when it was losing $25,000 per month. Three months later it broke even. The company, Quality Cage, manufactures products for pet owners and veterinarians. When Paulson arrived, the company had 2,000 SKUs across multiple pet verticals. Focusing on chinchillas provided the long-term turnaround. "We niched down into onl...

Bruce Bolt is a direct-to-consumer baseball batting glove company in Austin, Texas. The business launched in 2017 when its founder was 16. He needed a better batting glove and a job. Making and selling his own gloves solved both needs. Chris Hall is Bruce Bolt's director of marketing. He and I recently spoke, addressing acquisition tactics, ad performance, and more.  For an edited and condens...

In 2019 Joe Spisak's ecommerce company had gone through three third-party fulfillment companies in just 18 months. Frustrated, he began fulfilling in-house, which led to offering fulfillment services to other brands. And that led to Fufill.com, a marketplace of nearly 600 fulfillment companies worldwide, connecting merchants to providers. In this conversation, Spisak describes his fulfillment...

Adam Hendle had a dream job with Google. Then he had an idea in 2017 to launch a hygiene brand focused on men's privates. He named the brand Ballsy and launched it on Black Friday 2018. It quickly scaled. By 2021, Ballsy was an eight-figure revenue business and entertaining offers from potential acquirers. Hendle sold it that year. He's now focused on his new venture, a laundry-detergent...

Andrew Foxwell co-launched Foxwell Digital, an agency, in 2012 from his base in Wisconsin. The firm now manages social media ad campaigns for brands worldwide. Having experienced much industry change, Foxwell concludes the key to a successful marketer is a nonstop desire to learn.  He describes in this interview his agency's approach to paid social campaigns, building a team, overall paid soc...

Mike Lee was once a 12-0 middleweight boxer who fought for a world title. Then anxiety and injuries took a toll. His search for a cure led to cannabidiol, the non-addictive, non-impairing marijuana extract. And that led him to Soul, the CBD brand he co-founded with his sister Angie. He shares his story in this interview, addressing his health issues, CBD's benefits, launching Soul, and more....

Kevin Williams owns KDF Aegis, a U.S.-based consulting and investment firm. In 2021 he invested in Balls.co, a U.K. seller of grooming supplies for male private parts. He says, "The notion of running Balls is hilarious to everyone who knows me. But it's a gift to a marketer to work with an edgy product." Humor ended up being the company's principal marketing vehicle when it ret...

Kevin Stecko launched 80sTees.com in 2000 selling t-shirts imprinted with pop-culture items. The process requires obtaining permission from the rights holders, which is not easy. He says, "I started the company with designs of He-Man, a toy cartoon. I obtained that license, and then they wouldn't approve hardly any of my designs." Fast forward to 2023, and 80sTees.com has 120,000 SK...

Allen Walton launched SpyGuy, an online retailer of surveillance cameras, in 2014. The business quickly scaled, experiencing much success. Then Google Ads banned it. Then competitors arose, narrowing margins. Still, Walton preserves. Google lifted the ban, and he has doubled down with a renewed focus on sales channels, customer service, vendors, and more. This is Walton's second appearance on...

Ten years ago Ken Freeman was a drop-ship Amazon seller. The business grew beyond drop shipping to seven figures (revenue) utilizing FBA. He sold to Thrasio, the aggregator, in 2019. He now advises established companies via Full Circle, his agency.  Amazon's marketplace circa 2023 is ruthlessly competitive, unlike in the mid-teens when, per Freeman, "you could get rich selling yoga mats....

Tony Smith acquired TimberVaults, a direct-to-consumer seller of concealed gun safes, for expansion opportunities beyond firearms. He foresaw hidden storage of other valuables, such as jewelry and documents.  That was in mid-2022. He's now learning the ropes of running an ecommerce business. In this conversation, he shares his early mistakes, operational decisions, and growth plans.  For an e...

Zach Stuck is an agency founder turned ecommerce owner. The agency, called Homestead, runs marketing campaigns for direct-to-consumer businesses. And lessons from those campaigns drive his second venture: acquiring and launching his own brands.  His top lesson? A customer from paid acquisition has to be profitable on the first sale.  He shares his journey  — from running an agency to owning and op...

Mike Tecku sold his Amazon businesses, retired, and became bored. He's back, having just launched Momentum, a maker of nutritional shakes, which he calls "the Rolex of supplements." He describes his journey in this week's episode, addressing personal priorities and Momentum's market position, growth plans, and more. For an edited transcript with audio embedded, see https:/...

Isaac Medeiros's company, Mini Katana, is a direct-to-consumer seller of Samurai-themed letter openers, swords, and related accessories. Just two years old, the business produces a whopping six videos every day from a team of creators, writers, and editors. That's 3,000 videos to date. How can a small company produce and post six videos every day? He explains that and more in this fascin...

Braxton Manley launched Braxley Bands, a DTC seller of Apple Watch bands, in 2017 while a college student in Texas. The business grew quickly. He's now looking to diversify beyond Apple Watches to products from the same sustainable material as his bands.  In this conversation, he shares successes and challenges from 2022, international expansion plans, and the evolution of his company. It&apo...