Predicting The Turn W/ Dave Knox

For over 25 years, ECRM has been driving efficiencies into the buying and selling process between retailers and brands by hosting over 100 programs per year. When the COVID-19 Pandemic shut down travel, the company quickly pivoted, launching not just one, but three new takes on their business model in just under two months. I sat down with Joe Tarnowski, VP of Content for ECRM, to talk more about how the company the company’s culture and long-standing embrace of a Continuous Beta mindset helped them move quickly when time was of the essence.

When Art Saxby gives advice to aspiring marketing leaders, he encourages them to follow a mantra that has guided his own career - “don’t confuse the thing you do every day with the business that you’re in.” That same mantra guides the thinking of the 75 marketers that make up the team of Chief Outsiders, one of the top Fractional CMO firms in the country and where Saxby serves as CEO. I sat down with Art to talk more about the role of the Fractional CMO, why it is becoming increasingly attractive for companies, and marketers need to think early on about the bigger picture of their company.

John Tabis, CEO of The Bouqs Co, believes that the consumer brands that are going to win are the ones that are where customers want them to be. That is why he thinks of Bouqs as much more than just an e-commerce company, with plans to be in retail and anywhere else a customer might want them to be. I sat down with John to talk more about the journey of Bouqs, his viewpoint on business models, and how launching a brand has changed in the last decade.

The world is filled with people that look at something and think to themselves, can’t this be better? Breezy Griffith is part of the minority of entrepreneurs that actually take the step and do something about it. Breezy is the CEO and cofounder of SkinnyDipped, maker of truly delicious chocolate covered nuts. I sat down with Breezy to learn more about their story, how they went from their kitchen to the shelves of Target, and why entrepreneurs need to come together in these trying times.

In 2002, Scott Price was 26 years old when his employer, Arthur Andersen, went out of business following Enron. With his focus on auditing security around technology controls, Scott started his first company, growing it to $11 million in revenue seven years later. Sensing a broader opportunity, Scott left to start A-LIGN in 2009. As CEO and Founder of A-LIGN, they help companies comply with different regulatory and information security standards globally. We sat down to talk about the rise of cybersecurity and why today – particularly in our new work from home environment – it is becoming a topic of board room discussion.

As the SVP of Marketing for Tractor Supply Company, Christi Korzekwa leads the company’s integrated marketing efforts across a variety of channels. At the heart of this strategy is celebrating “Life Out Here” and the unique role that Tractor Supply Company plays for its communities and customers. We sat down to talk about their efforts around Out Here, launching the new Neighbors Club, and why working on the agency side made her a better leader.

Over 4,000 people have tattoos of the Anytime Fitness running man logo. But as Chuck Runyon tells it, those tattoos aren’t about the Anytime Fitness brand but instead it’s a statement of the personal transformation that each individual has experienced. Chuck is the co-founder and CEO of Self Esteem Brands, one of the top 25 franchise systems in the world and the parent company of Anytime Fitness, Waxing the City, Basecamp Fitness, and The Bar Method. We sat down to talk about the history of Self Esteem Brands, how they have built a franchise platform, and why they ended up building a full-time tattoo studio in their headquarters.

Inspired by an injury that would ultimately end his NFL career, Will Bartholomew was looking for a training facility that was made for someone like him, someone wanting to train like a Division One athlete. Not finding the right place, Will decided to start D1 Training and like a true entrepreneur, he played every position in those early days from coach to bill collector to toilet cleaner. Today, D1 Training is one of the fastest growing fitness franchisees in the country. I sat down with Will to learn more about the breadth of the D1 offering and how they are helping their members through the long “offseason” caused by COVID-19.

Nearly 50 years ago, Smoothie King not only created the smoothie category but came up with the name. Today, the company continues to be a partner in the healthy and active lifestyle of millions of people every day. I sat down with Wan Kim, CEO of Smoothie King, to learn about his journey first as a franchisee and now as the CEO and owner of the company.

In the world of retail, the farm store often doesn’t get the same attention as channels like Food, Drug, Mass or Club. But in many ways, this channel is the backbone of the North American economy. Tom Mahlke, CEO of Mid-States Distributing, knows this firsthand. Mid-States started in 1954 as a cooperative bringing together small entrepreneurial rural companies. Today, Mid-States has become one of the nation’s largest retailers in the farm store channel with 36 members, 700 store locations and annual sales in excess of 6.5 billion dollars. At their Winter Rendezvous Trade Show, I sat down with Tom to discuss the Farm and Ranch channel, what makes it different, and why relationships matter so much in their industry.

“Serial was one of those shows where people figured out how to listen to a podcast because they wanted to listen to Serial.” That’s according to Jen Sargent, Chief Operating Officer of Wondery, one of the world’s leading podcast content creators and someone who knows a thing or two about serialized storytelling with hit podcasts like Dr Death. I sat down with Jen to discuss the world of podcasting and how the business of content creation is changing.

As a Partner at First Round Capital, Phin Barnes is one of the leading seed venture capitalists in the country. But his path to venture capital isn’t the typical one. In his first job after college, Phin spent six years helping to scale AND 1 Basketball from $15 million to over $225 million in revenue including developing their signature AND 1 marketing property — the AND 1 Mix Tape. We sat down to talk his journey, why relationships and process matter, and how he went from marketing basketball shoes to investing in disruptive startups such as GOAT, Blue Apron, and Birchbox.

Entrepreneurship is often about celebrating the founder. Names like Phil Knight, Steve Jobs, and Elon Musk can’t be separated from mentions of Nike, Apple, and Tesla. But there is a different sort of entrepreneur that made companies like McDonald’s a household name. They were able to identify an existing company with untapped potential, acquire that business, and then lead it to tremendous growth. It is called entrepreneurship through acquisition or ETA for short. Eugene Kang is just that type of entrepreneur. Kang is the CEO of Country Archer, a business that he bought for $500,000 in 2010 and over the last decade, has grown into one of the largest jerky companies in the world. I sat down with Eugene to talk about his journey, how retail is changing, and the challenge of driving innovation in a category.

Gautam Gupta is an investor and entrepreneur. Starting his career at General Catalyst, Gautam then went on to be founder and CEO of NatureBox. He's now returned to the venture world as a Partner at M13. We sat down to talk his journey in the startup world and the opportunities that he feels new technology will open up.

Will McClelland is the co-founder and partner at Elizabeth Street Ventures. Will had his first taste as an investor when he supported his brother’s efforts to launch a bike company in the Phillipines that was manufactured out of bamboo. That experience, including their bikes being a gift to President Obama from the Phillipines government, have led Will to focus on investing in consumer startups. We talked about the 30+ investments he has had made, why the intuition of the entrepreneur is what he looks for the most, and the broad aperture they use at Elizabeth St to define consumer.

What would lead someone to walk away from a 6 figure job for a job making 25k a year? For Gino Wickman, it was not only a passion for the company but more importantly a desire to save his father’s failing business. He convinced his dad that he could save the business. His dad wrote him a check for 100k, gave him the keys to the company, and in 7 years he had resurrected the company and sold it. I sat down with Gino to talk about his journey as an entrepreneur, how that led him to create the highly successful Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), and why he wrote his new book Entrepreneurial Leap.

How do you predict an explosive new category? Adnan Durrani, co-founder and CEO of Saffron Road, is a good person to ask after doing just that in multiple entrepreneurial ventures. Before Saffron Road, Adnan was involved in both launching the healthy yogurt revolution with Stonyfield Farms and the emergence of bottled water with Vermont Pure Spring. In Saffron Road, he has now created a new category with the world’s first Halal-certified, antibiotic free and humanely raised frozen entrée. We sat down to talk about his journey as an entrepreneur and how the business was inspired by a changing consumer base with different expectations for brands.

North America is changing. It’s becoming younger, more multicultural, and more globally aware. And the MLS is banking on it. On this episode, we spoke with David Bruce, the SVP of Brand & Marketing at the MLS. He discussed how he’s making the MLS brand and clubs stand out, doing the opposite of competing brands, and embracing multicultural uniqueness. What we talked about: - Competing against well-established brands - Branding in a multicultural world - Cultural fluidity

How do you really empathize with someone? You feel with them. So, if you’re going to create a new category that solves someone’s pain, you have to actually feel that pain. That’s straight from a true category creator, Sangram Vajre. He came on this episode to discuss how he created the #ABM (account-based marketing) category. Sangram is the co-founder and Chief Evangelist of Terminus, and worked at Pardot and ExactTarget during their acquisition by Salesforce for $2.5B What we talked about: - Empathizing with your customers/market - Knowing the pain - Category creation

On this episode, we invited Simon Burton, Managing Director at eighteen94 Capital, to give us an inside look at how he and his team choose investments. Simon has extensive experience in capital management and investment at Chase, Kellogg’s, Norges Bank, and others. What we talked about: - Strategic vs. returns-oriented VC investments - What Kellogg’s looks for in “strategic” investments - How to balancing returns & strategy in VC funding - Corporate VC organizational structure - Venture Capital funding