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“Running a startup is like being in a knife fight,” BeanBox Co-Founder and CEO Matthew Berk unexpectedly says, as he describes the arduous but rewarding journey from the world of SaaS to making a real-world consumer product.

 From Local Search to the Speciality Coffee Business:

Matthew Berk’s personal and professional path took him from a humanities degree to co-found a local-search startup (OpenList) and eventually to a more traditional real-world manufacturing and logistics business (Bean Box), where he’s the CEO today.

OpenList was ahead of its time as a local search engine and some of the things they did experimentally are now being deployed (e.g., generative-AI review summaries). OpenList was acquired by Marchex in 2006, to provide content for the latter’s extensive portfolio of local domains at the time.

Berk also explains why he loves to write code. And he talks about the steep learning curve in getting BeanBox off the ground, the hard lessons learned in the early days and how they’ve stayed true to their customers as the company has scaled.

Search, Social and Ads: BeanBox’s Marketing Surprises:

We discuss the similarities and differences between running a software startup and a more traditional business with a physical product. Berk also explains the challenges and satisfactions of building a consumer brand that touches people’s lives on a daily basis.

Another significant topic explores BeanBox’s marketing strategies and lessons learned. What worked in the past and what’s working today? Berk covers Amazon, affiliates, Google Shopping Ads, SEO, content and social/influencer marketing. He explains why BeanBox focused obsessively on SEO in the early days, but now not so much.

The company has decided to crowdsource its latest funding round. Berk explains the challenges of investing in growth but also building a sustainable business and maintaining product quality

The Near Memo is a weekly conversation about Search, Social, and Commerce: What happened, why it matters, and the implications for local businesses and national brands.
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