Ecommerce Conversations

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.