My Biggest Lessons with Chris Meade

Sweating is hard to stop unless you are always wearing deodorant or spend money on Botox. Mathieu Mireault is the co-founder and marketing director at Dermadry. The world's leading manufacturer of iontophoresis machines for the treatment of hyperhidrosis, a medical condition characterized by excessive sweating that affects approximately 1 in 20 people worldwide.

Key moments in this episode

3:00 Figuring out how to start a business when you have no experience

6:00 Knowing your competition's weakness (that can be your strength). Especially in older industries

7:30 Dealing with the microchip shortage.

10:30 Self financing a medical device company through banks and government grants

11:30 Working with Health Canada to be able to sell the devices on the website and through retailers like Costco.

13:00 Finding loopholes that allow you to sell and expand.

16:00 Focusing on organic vs paid Tik Tok content

17:50 What Matt would do differently (setting more realistic goals)

Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Michael Uy is a retired content creator who has built Tik Tok houses and generating 1.6B views.

• What it's like setting up and living in a Tik Tok house.
• Lessons learned from the creatives and the brands buying.
• Focusing on one platform first and using that to grow other platforms.
• Why some influencers make it, and others don't.
• The hardest lesson he learned - taking off more than he could chew.

Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chelsea Moore is the Founder and CEO of BOXFOX -- whose goals make it easy to build custom gifts and keep in touch with your friends, thy've grown to 47 employees and 8 figures in revenue.

Key moments in this episode.

• 4:20 The choice to keep fulfilment in house even with higher costs to keep presentation and flexibility to their high standards.
• 6:50 Working with other online retailers and what the deal structure looks like.
• 12:30 Covid-19 refocusing what investments matter most versus doing every trade show they can do, and the importance of unplugging.
• 13:50 Working on the business vs in the business keeping things high level (and coming back in when you need to).
• 17:30 Accurate projecting and forecasting amid pandemic and iOS changes and how to save them through other channels.

Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

In 2015 my husband, Colby, and I founded Thread Wallets. Through our venture, we have found an irreplaceable sense of freedom and happiness as we see our vision unfold. I love coming up with creative ways to market a product or idea and I enjoy brainstorming ways to build long-lasting brands.

I believe in the power of surrounding yourself with smart and talented people who are dedicated to creating and building. I love helping others achieve success for themselves and I feel passionate about helping them find the same freedom I have found in my entrepreneurial and creative pursuits.

1:00 Proof of concept and get to market. Replacing everything after losing it. In 2015 my husband, Colby, and I founded Thread Wallets. Through our venture, we have found an irreplaceable sense of freedom and happiness as we see our vision unfold. I love coming up with creative ways to market a product or idea and I enjoy brainstorming ways to build long-lasting brands.

5:02 Running a business with your significant other. Getting to know each other and setting healthy boundaies.

10:25 Who the first hire would be now compared to before iOS changes.

14:30 Scaling a regional sales team and pay structure

18:45 Rising all channels together as a strategy

22:00 Putting your foot on the gas when you’re ROI positive.

Patsy's Candy is a confectionary business with over 100 years of experience. They also make CBD chocolates that almost landed him in jail.

2:30 Starting by selling CBD tinctures at farmers markets and trade shows before selling a couple of businesses to focus on CBD chocolates.

4:45 Scaling taboo brands when you can't market on Facebook and you have to rely on word of mouth and community.

8:22 Buying into a family business and updating an old assembly line.

13:30 Looking at the legal challenges of selling a product derived from cannabis.

Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Rob Fraser is a 5X national team professional cyclist! Now he's spending his time growing Outway, a sock brand which he's bootstrapped up to $10M in sales. Now it's time to scale to $100M.

After wearing his cycling socks all day, he realized that they could be a bit better in quality.

2:45 Getting people to buy $15 - $20 socks on the internet that they can't feel before buying. Rob started in person to get people to buy, try, and build trust. They also told the story for cyclists, runners, and other athletes.

8:30 Combating iOS changes by going back to trade shows and other creative strategies. They're also promoting at events like marathons to give all runners a pair of socks.

12:25 Staying focused on not adding too many line items like shirts and hoodies.

18:00 Working with a team to keep egos and big personalities focused on the goal.

Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Shray Joshi is the founder of Good Peeps. He’s run performance marketing at brands like Health Aide, and Nuggs. If you’re a CPG marketer, this episode is a must watch.

5:45 How CPG entrepreneurs can plan for profitable marketing using data. You have to know your LTV for it to be profitable.

8:25 Finding undiscovered platforms that are more appropriate for your brands, and balancing the blend of offline and online advertising. Online targeting can translate to offline sales.

11:30 Keeping content production in-house (and what tasks are better outsourced), and keeping focus on more than just output.

16:45 Understanding the relationship between brand and product. Your brand is more than your product and packaging, and not every product needs to be a brand.

19:00 Why Shray is starting his own startup.

Steve O'Dell joins Chris Meade to share the biggest lessons he's learned while building Tenzo Tea, a CPG brand who makes the best matcha tea. Steve shares with Chris.

• How they got their first retail accounts by knocking on doors and cold calling.
• Dealing with knock offs and me too products especially on Amazon.
• Building trust for taste when selling online, and the products have a hard reputation.
• Building out a successful subscription program without breaking the bank.
• Making your first hires. Steve says to go uncomfortably long with as few people as possible.
• Having boundaries with your cofounder
• Setting milestones that are clear to understand and easy to follow to keep your staff focused and your company growing.

Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin.

Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Started in 2018 to fill the market for weighted blankets, Aaron Spivak and Lior Ohayon launched a business that grew to $40M in less than 5 years.

Starting with their first product, Aaron shares how they manufactured their first run, and the lessons they learned about communicating and figuring out what they had to pay, and when they had to pay it.

Canada is a unique market. Instead of trying to spread everywhere, Aaron stayed in Canada vs going international and expanding in the US first.

Forecasting future sales is tricky. One lesson Aaron shares is to negotiate paying terms to free up cash flow, including where the most ROI positive channels including Tik Tok being adopted by more consumers.

Hush doesn’t compete directly with competition. The mattress and sleep space is big enough

Selling a business is one of the hardest things you’ll do. Aaron wasn’t originally planning on selling, but thanks to a special relationship with the acquiring company CEO.

Since working from a young age, both Chris Meade and Nick Guillen have had part time jobs and side hustles. One of those for Nick was picking up Instagram handles. When @sauce was available, he had to scoop it up.

He never thought he'd be the co-founder of the worlds largest, and fastest growing luxury hot sauce brand.

• The importance of patience when it came to growing wholesale, increasing leverage with 
• Hiring from customer bases because your employees understand your brand.
• Working close to customers in store where the details matter. Using Truff at a grocery store deli, or to make sure the product is facing properly.