Today’s show is with two ex-Amazon execs who co-founded Foundry Brands—a portfolio brand operating company—sharing everything they know about buying and building the strongest, longest-lasting and most valuable ecommerce brands possible. Kyle Walker and Stefan Haney consider more than 30 variables when they assess the value of a business (and that number is growing as new aspects to business need to be measured), so they can give you a really good feel about how you should be thinking about your business. 

Some context: In 2020 there were only five aggregators—private equity firms targeted at Amazon and ecommerce brands—and now there are more than 55. There is no doubt that investors are putting their capital to work in this area because of the enormous opportunities for growth and returns. There is a lot to be learned from Stefan and Kyle in this episode: everything from where investors are placing bets to what they expect to see in ecommerce to what strategies investors like Foundry are planning to use once they buy a company.

 

What You Will Learn In Today's Podcast Interview

The “cold” way of looking at branding

Amazon data points for e-commerce and optimizing conversion

What the exceptions to being a brand are

The common issues direct to consumer customers face and how to solve them

Why you want to be ‘privileged in your partners’

How to build a great portfolio brand operating company

The benefits of long-term thinking at all stages of planning

How to align your interests with clients and your balance sheet

The downside of transaction-based interactions and how to create win-win scenarios instead

Learning how to watch the money when you’re still small helps you see where the money goes when you’re growing

Why it’s vital you connect with your customers

The impact of heavy shopping sales days

How to be in stock as efficiently as possible so you see better returns

What running a restaurant and operating an ecommerce business have in common

Why consolidating is such a challenge and what you can do about it

 

Are You Growing The Value of Your Business

Take The 2-Minute Assessment To Get Your Intentional Growth Score™ And 1-Page Vision Board.

Are your company's current initiatives intentionally designed to increase the value of the business?

Do you know what you want from your business long term and why?

Do you know what your company is worth?

Do you know the differences between Management, Family Transitions, PE Firms, ESOPs and Strategic Buyers?

Does the business have a written strategic plan on how to achieve the desired normalized EBITDA and valuation?

About the Guest:

Stefan Haney spent 16 years at amazon, working the last three years on their details page so he understands how to optimize for conversion and e-commerce shopping. He has a proven track record of launching new technology, delivering business results, mission critical programs, projects, and systems in a variety of industries. Stefan lives in Moscow, ID with his wife and kids. When not shuttling his seven kids to activities, you can often find Stefan adventuring on a bicycle.

Kyle Walker is an experienced digital brand builder who  created and helped launch over 10K digital businesses while working at Amazon. He also founded three global multi-billion dollar Amazon programs and helped inform many of the Amazon tools and technology brand owners use today. Today Kyle uses this knowledge in his work with the company he co-founded, Foundry Brands. Kyle lives in Sammamish, WA