Operators Series

Operators Series

By Casey ArmstrongBusinessEntrepreneurshipTechnologyMarketing
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Operators Series episodes

  • Lee Commerce Ventures: Michael Lee
    How do venture capital companies decide who to fund? What mistakes do brands make when trying to raise venture capital? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Michael Lee of Lee Commerce Ventures as well as Yelitsa Jean-Charles, the founder of Healthy Roots Dolls. Listen in to learn about venture capital companies evaluate deals, why it’s important to get a “no”, and how Yelitsa generated funds through Kickstarter and got her doll company started.
    Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
    How Michael got into the investing scene
    An investment that generated internal controversy
    How to evaluate a deal once proposed
    Why it’s important to get a “no”
    How Michael’s firm got involved with Thursday Boot Co
    The four things Michael looks at in today’s consumer brands
    The most common mistakes by brands raising venture capital
    Yelitsa’s story
    The customer for Yelitsa’s dolls
    Whether Yelitsa is seeing repeat order behavior
    Whether Yelitsa has begun to explore different commerce infrastructure tools
    How Yelitsa’s Kickstarter generated funds
    Yelitsa’s shipping horror story
    How Yeltisa approached manufacturing
    Capitalizing on going viral
    Maintaining a luxury price point
    Advice for today’s entrepreneurs
    Resources:
    Michael Lee
    Yelitsa Jean-Charles
    Healthy Roots Dolls
    50 min
  • Lee Commerce Ventures: Michael Lee
    How do venture capital companies decide who to fund? What mistakes do brands make when trying to raise venture capital? In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Michael Lee of Lee Commerce Ventures as well as Yelitsa Jean-Charles, the founder of Healthy Roots Dolls. Listen in to learn about venture capital companies evaluate deals, why it’s important to get a “no”, and how Yelitsa generated funds through Kickstarter and got her doll company started.
    Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
    How Michael got into the investing scene
    An investment that generated internal controversy
    How to evaluate a deal once proposed
    Why it’s important to get a “no”
    How Michael’s firm got involved with Thursday Boot Co
    The four things Michael looks at in today’s consumer brands
    The most common mistakes by brands raising venture capital
    Yelitsa’s story
    The customer for Yelitsa’s dolls
    Whether Yelitsa is seeing repeat order behavior
    Whether Yelitsa has begun to explore different commerce infrastructure tools
    How Yelitsa’s Kickstarter generated funds
    Yelitsa’s shipping horror story
    How Yeltisa approached manufacturing
    Capitalizing on going viral
    Maintaining a luxury price point
    Advice for today’s entrepreneurs
    Resources:
    Michael Lee
    Yelitsa Jean-Charles
    Healthy Roots Dolls
    50 min
  • Bain Capital Ventures: Ajay Agarwal
    Where do brands get started with venture capital? Is a cold email to an investor worth it? What is it that you need to know about debt vs. equity? These are some of the questions that today’s guest will address. Ajay Agarwal is a partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Listen in as he shares his knowledge about venture capital, brands and technology, and e-commerce.
    Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
    Ajay’s work with Build.org
    Metrics that brands should focus on in the early stages
    How brands know if VC is right for them
    Differences between fundraising rounds
    Emails from first-time founders
    Debt vs. equity
    Brands disrupting e-commerce
    Positioning products for investors
    Crowdfunding as an effective option
    How quickly VCs want a return
    Evaluating ROI
    Investments that turned out to be less risky than originally thought
    Ajay’s number one piece of advice
     
    Resources:
    Ajay Agarwal
    50 min
  • Bain Capital Ventures: Ajay Agarwal
    Where do brands get started with venture capital? Is a cold email to an investor worth it? What is it that you need to know about debt vs. equity? These are some of the questions that today’s guest will address. Ajay Agarwal is a partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Listen in as he shares his knowledge about venture capital, brands and technology, and e-commerce.
    Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
    Ajay’s work with Build.org
    Metrics that brands should focus on in the early stages
    How brands know if VC is right for them
    Differences between fundraising rounds
    Emails from first-time founders
    Debt vs. equity
    Brands disrupting e-commerce
    Positioning products for investors
    Crowdfunding as an effective option
    How quickly VCs want a return
    Evaluating ROI
    Investments that turned out to be less risky than originally thought
    Ajay’s number one piece of advice
     
    Resources:
    Ajay Agarwal
    50 min
  • ShipBob: Dhruv Sexena and Todd Bills
    ShipBob is a company that helps new brands and startups, but it was also new at one point itself, so when learning about new businesses, ShipBob’s story is important as well. In today’s episode, you’ll hear from Dhruv Sexena and Todd Bills of ShipBob. Listen to the interview to hear about how ShipBob got started, what benefits a merchant might see from using ShipBob as opposed to a different type of service, and what convinced them that ShipBob would make it. 
    Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
    How ShipBob got started
    Whether ShipBob is startup-friendly for newer brands
    The benefits for a merchant of using a service like ShipBob
    The biggest challenges for ShipBob right now and how to address them
    Why ShipBob limits SKUs
    Fulfillment center expansion
    Fulfilling non-prescription medications
    Where it’s better to fulfill from
    The event that led Dhruv and Todd to believe their venture would work
    Mistakes in the early days of ShipBob
    Whether ShipBob’s warehouses are air conditioned
    The situation with USPS
    Dhruv and Todd’s number one advice for direct-to-consumer brands
    Resources:
    Dhruv Saxena
    Todd Bills
    57 min
  • Kopari Beauty - Lanie Depaquale & Kula Cloth - Anastasia Allison
    How did things start, and how are they going? How does testing factor in? Listen to today’s episode to hear more about these subjects. Joining the podcast today is Lanie Depaquale of Kopari Beauty and Anastasia Allison of Kula cloth. Listen in to learn more about the production, marketing, and shipping of these products. 
     
    Topics Discussed in Today’s Episode:
    How Allison came up with her idea
    What the Kula cloth is made from
    What the price of the Kula cloth is
    The odor resistance of the Kula cloth
    Where Alison was a park ranger
    What Lanie has seen from Kopari
    Historic and current bestsellers for Kopari
    Where Lanie manufactures
    Where Anastasia manufactures
    Getting a big order that’s out of the comfort zone
    Whether to use a digital marketing firm
    Handling creative content and ensuring consistency
    The budget for marketing each month
    How Lanie found her agency
    Time and money-saving effects of a shipping partner
    How to decide which products to sell on which channels
    Handling customer communication
    Managing international shipping
    How influencers charge
    Number one advice for other entrepreneurs
     
    Resources:
    Lanie Depasquale
    Kopari Beauty
    Anastasia Allison
    Kula Cloth
    55 min

About Operators Series

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Join us every Wednesday at 1pm CT as we sit down with ecommerce founders, aspiring entrepreneurs, marketers, supply chain managers, and the technology experts that help them grow.