Lock-In by HappyStack 🥞

Ryan Babenzien doesn't just follow e-commerce trends - he invents them!

A veteran of the footwear and streetwear industry, Ryan has a long-history with brand building and e-commerce. In 2014 he founded the first digitally-native sneaker brand, Greats - a brand which he exited to fashion giant Steve Madden in 2019. Not one to chill on the beach and bask in his own success, Ryan immediately started Jolie - now one of the fastest brands in the DTC space!

Ryan's journey with Jolie has seen him scale the brand to $50mn in revenue in a three year period, all while maintaining a lean team of just four full-time staff. In our chat he dives into his framework to build a successful DTC business, his not-so-subtle dislike of Meta, his experience exiting an eight-figure brand and how he's using AI to scale his business as leanly as possible.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

02:00 Success With Greats - The First Digitally Native Sneaker Brand

04:01 If Meta Is So Great, Why Are Brands Losing Money?

06:59 Has It Gotten Easier Or Harder To Start A DTC Brand?

10:12 Think About Your Exit Before Starting A Business

14:47 Ryan's Framework For Starting A Successful Brand

17:17 The Importance Of Smart Product Positioning

19:34 Staying Focused To Build A $50m Brand

23:31 Growth Hack: The Water Report

26:12 How To Test Your Market Before Building Your Product

29:44 The Data Problem: We've Prioritized Measurement Over Performance

33:38 How Jolie Scaled To $50m With Three Employees

37:09 Is Software Replacing People in E-Commerce?

40:41 How To Price Your Product

48:41 What's Next For Jolie?

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Here we go, Episode One of Lock-In - and it's a cracker! Our guest this week is Matt Kelly, the founder of Spacegoods - Europe's fastest growing all-in-one Mushroom Coffee blend. His journey through e-commerce has been an absolute rollercoaster, from dropshipping ripped jeans, to building two 8-figure brands before both ultimately entered administration in 2021. It's the learnings he took from these that have helped him build Spacegoods into one of the UK's fastest growing food brands.

Our conversation with Matt is raw and honest. You'll hear everything from his thoughts on VC funding vs bootstrapping, through to his ongoing struggles with hiring. Matt's a marketing genius, and today he dives into his playbook for success, sharing real insight into what's working and what isn't for Spacegoods.

Timestamps:

00:00: Intro

00:45: How Matt Stumbled Into Entrepreneurship

06:30: From Bedroom Brand to $50m - Simple Shit Scales

15:25: Moving Into Retail - Does It Move The Dial For Brands?

17:35: Building A Team - You Should Be Able To Do £20M Per Year With 20 People

21:28: Should DTC Brands Raise VC Money?

25:57: Building A Process When Raising Money

29:45: Good Angels Add More Value Than VC's

31:55: What Are The Biggest Challenges Spacegood's Faces?

35:55: Starting A Business With An Influencer - The Key To Fast Growth

40:12: When Influencer Marketing Goes Wrong

42:27: Learning From Failure - What Went Wrong With Neon Beach

50:53: What Do The Next 12 Months Look Like For Spacegoods?

54:24: What's The Biggest Opportunity In E-Commerce Right Now?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.