Ecommerce Conversations, By Practical Ecommerce

Patrick Coddou launched Supply.co with his wife, Jennifer, back in 2015. The company, which sells razors and shaving supplies, is bootstrapped — no outside investors. He has little patience with the concept of lifetime customer value or paying more to acquire a customer than he can recoup on the first purchase. That approach has produced, in five years, a profitable, mid-seven-figure-revenue business that, until recently, had just two employees: Jennifer and himself.

The progression for most direct-to-consumer entrepreneurs is to conceive a product idea and then locate a manufacturer to produce it. But Jaime Schmidt took the opposite approach when she launched Schmidt's natural deodorant in 2010. "I started in our kitchen with batch sizes of maybe 20 deodorants on the stove. The product turned into a business idea. So I kept the manufacturing in-house. I liked the control, which was born out of my love for making."

Ecommerce entrepreneurs understand the need for multiple revenue channels.  Relying exclusively on, say, Facebook or Amazon or Google can lead to disruptions. And that's what happened to Allen Walton's company, SpyGuy, which relies on Google Ads for most of its traffic and revenue.

Having founded and sold multiple ecommerce companies, and having worked for numerous ecommerce startups, Web Smith believes broad economic trends determine entrepreneurial success as much as tactical execution. Successful entrepreneurs, Smith asserts, must be polymaths — possessing extensive knowledge across multiple subjects — to understand opportunities. And that's the purpose of 2PM, his latest company.

I asked Sam Parr, the founder of The Hustle, an email newsletter with curated business and technology news, how he has grown his list to over 1 million subscribers. “It’s fricking hard,” he said.

Entrepreneurs tend to become emotionally entwined with their businesses. "It's my baby," an entrepreneur might say when describing his company. But not Rohan Gilkes. "There's no emotion," he told me. "I have no babies. I build businesses for the cash flow."

Aaron Marino says he hates to read. He's bad at grammar and writing, he claims. But he's really good at making videos. "I had a fitness center that didn't work out," he told me. "I started making YouTube videos in 2008 with no idea that I could ever make a buck on that platform." Fast forward to 2020. Alpha M, Marino's YouTube portal, which focuses on male grooming and fitness, has 6 million subscribers. It has spawned multiple ecommerce businesses, including Pete & Pedro (haircare), Teige Hanley (skincare), and Enemy (sunglasses).

What's the most competitive product on Amazon? Smartphone cases. What does Matt Atschul's company, Smartish, sell? Smartphone cases. And it thrives.

Kurt Elster's "The Unofficial Shopify Podcast" has been downloaded more than 1 million times. His agency, Ethercycle, helps Shopify merchants drive revenue and profit. And his newsletter at KurtElster.com contains tips and strategies to scale a Shopify store. "I eat, sleep, and breathe Shopify. I even have a Shopify license plate," Elster stated.

Taylor Holiday runs three successful ecommerce businesses and a thriving, ecommerce-focused ad agency. He's developed definitive views on acquiring customers and advertising performance, among other insights. We recently spoke with Holiday about his ventures, the state of ecommerce, and advertising dos and don'ts.

In March 2015 Ryan Michler owned a successful financial planning company. His clients were medical professionals. He earned a comfortable living. "I was making great money, but I felt like something was missing. I thought there were opportunities to help men. And that's when I started." What he started was Order of Man, a website, podcast, Facebook group, and paid membership to help men become better financial stewards, better fathers and husbands, and better leaders.

Five years ago Greg Mercer was traveling the world, making a living by purchasing white-label goods from China and selling them on Amazon. "I realized that some of my products were doing better than others," he said. "I developed spreadsheets to estimate how well all products on Amazon were selling. I thought it would be cool if I could put this into a Chrome extension. I launched it as a fun, side project.” That side project, Jungle Scout, now has roughly 250,000 worldwide customers and 150 employees.

Conventional ecommerce wisdom is that merchants should sell across multiple channels, manufacture or control their products, and scale. Don't tell that to Brian Goulet, president of The Goulet Pen Company, which sells high-end fountain pens and writing accessories. "I wanted to be a craftsman," Goulet told me. "That approach shapes our whole business. We have a craftsmanship mentality of high touch, high quality, high level of service — with a lower volume. I was never trying to scale or sell as much as possible. We were after a discerning customer."Ten years after Goulet co-founded the company with his wife, Rachel, Goulet Pens has 35 employees and 4,500 SKUs — all in its headquarters of Henrico, Virginia — and one sales channel: GouletPens.com. We recently spoke with Brian about launching the business, content marketing, and managing an expanding team.

The global coronavirus pandemic is forcing many companies to adjust to a remote, home-based workforce. TaxJar, a sales-tax management platform, has been entirely remote since its founding seven years ago. All 160 employees work remotely, mainly from their homes. Mark Faggiano is founder and CEO of TaxJar. I recently spoke with him about managing a large, distant team.

In 2008 Robert Patton was coming off his second deployment in Iraq with the U.S. Army. “I was going to do 20 years in the Army,” he said, “But I'd already been on two deployments and was scheduled to go back for a third. I had a family. I didn’t want to spend half of my time in Iraq. So I had this idea.”That idea was a unique type of men's underwear. Fast forward to 2020 and his company, Sheath Underwear, is on track to record $2.6 million in sales.

Ronnie Teja immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 2008. He was 22. Fast-forward to 2020 and he owns and operates a thriving ecommerce company that sells men's watches and related accessories across 15 websites, including Branzio.com. His team consists of 30 employees in a dozen countries. We spoke with him about launching his company, acquiring websites, and the challenges of managing it remotely.

The rise of Amazon has prompted some observers to suggest independent ecommerce merchants are threatened. Rick Wilson, CEO of Miva, the ecommerce platform, disagrees. He says independent ecommerce is thriving. His new book "Dragon Proof Ecommerce," offers a roadmap for continued growth.

Anyone who has purchased used books on Amazon likely encountered Thrift Books. It launched in 2003 as a pure-play Amazon seller. It's now the largest used-book seller in the world. Its CEO, Mike Ward, has been with the company since inception. We recently spoke with him about the company, the industry, and the logistics of selling tens of millions of books every year.

This is the final episode in my "Building an Ecommerce Business" series.  I've hosted 18 amazing guests who have provided much insight into launching, growing, and selling an ecommerce business. There is no right way to do that. You'll likely find success, however, if you focus on three primary functions: vision, execution, and cash flow.

Launching and then growing an ecommerce business can be both exciting and stressful. Many entrepreneurs hope to someday sell their companies. For this installment in my series on building an ecommerce business, I spoke with Michael Jackness. He is the owner of Terran, a multi-brand ecommerce company. Jackness has sold several ecommerce sites. In this conversation, we discussed the latest sale, and why he made that decision.