My guest on this episode is Mehtab Bhogal, co-founder of Karta Ventures. Karta is a Canadian based e-commerce acquirer investing primarily in e-commerce turnarounds, a corner of the world I didn't even know existed but that is incredibly fascinating.

This episode is one of my recent favorites because of Mehtab’s ability to share high level insights and then, in the next sentence, dive deep into obscure e-commerce details.

If you enjoy conversations with seasoned operators who love to get their hands dirty, you will love this episode. During our conversation, Mehtab describes the dynamics within turnaround businesses, the risk return profile of each of them, which mimics venture in many ways, how he finds companies, and some incredible stories about what he's discovered in declining e-commerce companies.

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Links:

Mehtab Bhogal on LinkedIn

Karta Ventures

Diapers.com 

Josh’s Frogs

Josh’s Frogs on YouTube

Topics:

(5:06) - Mehtab’s background and career

(7:14) - Dropping out of college to flip guitars full-time

(8:40) - Launching a search vehicle

(9:54) - What kinds of deals did you find via Reddit?

(11:02) - When did you get the sense that you were on the right track with DTC brands?

(12:48) - What are the dynamics of a turn-around business?

(14:24) - What are the main reasons an e-commerce business will become a turn-around business?

(15:59) - What companies in a turn-around situations do you steer clear from?

(17:02) - Why are you able to do due diligence so much faster with these types of companies?

(17:52) - The nuance between product issues and marketing issues

(19:15) - The low cost of entry for these businesses

(20:30) - Risk-return vs. Venture

(21:59) - How do you find these companies and choose the best ones?

(24:12) - What happens day 1 after acquiring the business?

(26:00) - What are some easily identifiable expenses that you find and cut?

(28:50) - How do you evaluate managers?

(29:59) - What do you do to shift companies into growth mode?

(31:22) - What changes do you make on the product, sales and marketing side?

(32:34) - A discussion on Lean production

(33:50) - How do you evaluate whether a product is a breakeven bread product?

(34:25) - Are you able to see what order items are added to someones cart?

(36:58) - What are you surprised by that’s missing or not done well at these companies? Any wild stories?

(40:56) - What college class would you teach if it could cover anything?

(42:28) - What’s a strongly held belief you’ve changed your mind on?

(42:59) - What’s the best business you’ve ever seen?