039: Billion Dollar Brand Building with Tom Shipley

Tom Shipley is a serial entrepreneur, eCommerce investor, strategic advisor, and speaker who has become one of the leading experts in omnichannel brand building.

In 2005, Tom and his partner launched Atlantic Coast Brands and grew it into one of America's largest direct-to-consumer multi-brand companies. They generated over $2 billion in sales before successfully exiting in 2021.

More recently, Tom co-founded two other companies, including Foundry, an e-commerce and Amazon brand aggregator, and AVA, which aims to acquire and scale 30 advertising agencies annually.

In this episode, Tom shares his entrepreneurial journey and his process for building successful businesses. We dig into his mental frameworks and how shifting his operating assumptions and everything he thought he knew about growing a company led to him raising $100M in 18 months.

You'll also discover why some companies never scale despite having the full potential and how to think like a billion-dollar brand builder, so you can reach levels of success you never imagined were possible.

Key Takeaways with Tom Shipley

• How to become a category king by creating purple ocean opportunities—and an example of how Tom used this strategy to build his first billion-dollar brand.
• Want to buy a business with no money or track record? This is exactly how Tom acquired a $15M/year business when he was out of cash and fully leveraged.
• Tom went from $800k/month net positive to losing $600k/month six months later. Find out how he used Massive Imperfect Action to climb his way back to profitability.
• How Tom challenged his preconceived ideas of what was possible and grew from $35M to $100M in 18 months—all during the pandemic.
• Tom's framework for removing blinders, thinking big, and making the "impossible" a reality.
• What his company AVA is doing to disrupt how agencies grow. Learn about their process to scale at speed through acquisition and organic growth.
• The importance of expanding your product line.
• Understanding when it's okay to overpay for a deal.
• Return on relationship versus return on investment.
• Pulling enough money out of your business so you always have a plan B.

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