Ecommerce Conversations, By Practical Ecommerce

Shreya Patel is a biologist and healthcare administrator who seeks to change how folks clean their home. Products that kill bacteria do more harm than good, she says. And that's why she launched Hyve, a direct-to-consumer seller of household cleaning goods. She says, "Cleaners that kill 99.9% of bacteria leave 0.1% that are likely the most harmful."

Ardon Lukas launched Shirtwascash in 2014, having spent several years in corporate finance. He sells t-shirts, hoodies, shorts, sweatshirts, you name it — all printed with cultural memes or images. Some are edgy; all are interesting. He's the "godfather of memewear," according to his LinkedIn profile.

Bryan DeLuca has a name for folks who build brands within large corporations. He calls them "intrepreneurs." He should know. Having co-founded and then sold a successful ecommerce business, DeLuca worked for a traditional retailer, creating brands within the company.

Chris Cage founded Greenbelly, a maker of high-nutrition meal bars for backpackers, after having left his accounting job and traveling the world. That was in 2014. Fast forward to 2021, and the business is thriving.

Shakil Prasla recently made a big mistake. An astute ecommerce operator and owner, Prasla purchased in late 2020 Covid-related protective gloves at roughly twice the ultimate selling price. His company, Gloves.com, lost $6 million.

Content marketing can be difficult. But not for Kyle Boureston. He's an editor and publisher. His company, Boureston Media, runs seven content sites around niches. He's refined his topic selection and production methods over the years to engage visitors from organic search. Boureston's insights can help ecommerce companies improve their content marketing efforts.

Adam Ryan joined The Hustle in August 2016, four months after its launch. He was a part-time employee responsible for generating advertising revenue. By February 2021, when HubSpot acquired it, he was president. Ryan is now an investor and consultant, advising companies on content strategies that engage prospects.

Having sold Grasshopper, the virtual phone service, for $175 million in 2015, David Hauser assessed his priorities. Grasshopper was his third launch and exit, following ReturnPath (email services) and Chargify (subscription management). "I decided to optimize for happiness, not for return on capital or profit," he said.

Felipe Correa is a pro at product development, custom manufacturing, and logistics. He also knows much about skin lotions, as he had eczema when young. And it's his frustrations with eczema that inspired Goodspread, a direct-to-consumer seller of skincare products that launched on June 7.

On his website, Antonio Centeno lists the businesses he owns. They include Real Men Real Style, a blog and a YouTube channel with millions of readers and subscribers. Menfluential Media is an influencer ad network. And there's Vitaman.com, a direct-to-consumer seller of organic skin and hair products for men. Centeno launched the site in early 2020.

What prompts an entrepreneur to enter the eyelash industry? For Jason Wong, it was watching his girlfriend apply makeup. Just 23, Wong is a Los Angeles-based serial entrepreneur and consultant. His latest company, Doe Lashes, launched two years ago as a direct-to-consumer seller of comfortable, lightweight eyelashes.

Berlin Brands Group started on eBay 15 years ago. It is now a global ecommerce powerhouse, with over $300 million in annual revenue across a dozen or more brands. Managing Director Christian Salza addresses the company's acquisition process, its focus on technology, and more.

Is there a more competitive consumer market than nutritional supplements? I asked that question to Damian Soong, the co-founder of Form Nutrition, a maker and seller of plant-based proteins and food products, which launched in 2017 in the U.K. He and I recently discussed starting the business, nutritional goods, bootstrapping, and more.

Ezra Firestone launched his first ecommerce business in 2007. It sold wigs. He's owned multiple brands since. BOOM!, which sells cosmetics, he co-founded in 2010. He focuses on key management metrics, such as spending 30-percent of ecommerce revenue on advertising.

The viability of open-source ecommerce platforms may seem limited given the rise of SaaS providers. Not so, says Ryan Szrama. He's the founder of Drupal Commerce. He wrote the code in 2005 as an addition to the open-source Drupal content management system. "Suddenly I was skyrocketed into collaborative development with a worldwide reach," he said.

Henry Davis and Bryan Mahoney foresaw in 2018 an avalanche of direct-to-consumer companies that served smaller, niche audiences. Chord, a DTC-first ecommerce platform, is their answer to bringing sophisticated, "headless" technology to smaller firms. "We like to call Chord the first headless platform with a brain," Davis told me.

Peter Keller launched Fringe Sport in 2010 to help folks assemble home-based gyms. He also wanted to make a lot of money. "I was very financially motivated," he told me. Then he attended a seminar a few years ago that focused on a company's purpose, its mission. He spoke with employees and customers. He discovered the real value in Fringe Sport.

The idea for Chisos boots started with back pain. Will Roman, the founder, owner, and lifetime cowboy-boot wearer, injured his back in a motorcycle accident. Wearing boots became painful. So he launched Chisos.com, a high-end, handcrafted bootmaker, in 2019. Quality and craft drive Roman and his outlook on life.

I've interviewed entrepreneurs for this podcast who developed organic consumer-care goods. But none did it before Eric Malka. He and his wife, Myriam, devised shaving oils from their kitchen in 1996 and then launched The Art of Shaving. Their new company, Ingredients, focuses on wellness and sustainability.

Imagine selling home gym equipment online at the onset of the pandemic. Athletic clubs were closed. Consumers were stuck in their houses. According to Kaevon Khoozani, the founder of Canada-based Bells of Steel, the demand for weight-training equipment was “obscene.” “We ran into two giant hiccups,” Khoozani told me.