We Categorize Our Successes
As a Spectrum Of Grow And Sell With Many Variations

Grow-To-Sell

  • Established Business
  • Short-term Grow-To-Sell 6-18 months)
  • Long-term Grow-To-Sell (18 months to 5 years)
  • Startup From Zero (no products, no sales, no business)

Manage-To-Grow

  • Strictly Manage-To-Grow (done for you)
  • Manage-To-Grow That Becomes Partnership
  • Manage-To-Grow That Becomes Full Ownership
  • Ownership That Becomes Manage-To-Grow For New Owner

Variations Of Manage-To-Grow

  • Transition from brick and mortar to online business
  • Turnaround to flip
  • Profitability fixes
  • Distressed assets
  • Brand strategy
  • Creative marketing tactics

It’s Both Simple And Complicated At The Same Time
Our Working Relationships Evolve From Our Client’s Needs

Everything revolves around the concepts of Manage-To-Grow, but the possibilities are endless.

As we get into working in your business, you’ll find yourself getting a lot of new ideas…and we do too. That’s one of the most enjoyable parts of our business…that jolt of new energy that our clients get.

We’re open to considering any kind of deal that makes financial sense for both parties.

Grow-To-Sell: Startup From Zero

Company:
Essential Values

  • Essential Values is a multi-million dollar ecommerce brand on Amazon. It specializes in lower-cost alternatives to everyday products of national brands.
  • Our aim was to create our own ecommerce business, but we started with nothing to sell.
  • We wanted to have many products in different categories under one brand.
  • We decided to provide lower-priced
    alternatives to everyday basic products sold by major brands.
  • Our vision was to provide value for essential products, so we called the company Essential Values.

Challenges

Solutions

  • We had a vision of rapid and data-driven development of new products.
  • We rapidly developed new products. We constantly experimented, tested, got results, and improved the next iteration of the product.
  • This constant development and improvement of products quickly grew our product line.
  • Our decisions were data-driven, based on what we knew about our customers, their needs, and the demand for our products.
  • A big part of the success was due to hands-on management of all the marketing tactics. We developed the full playbook that we now use as Branded Seller.
  • Developed a model for growth through new product development and new product launches.
  • Proved the ability to scale from zero products to hundreds of products.
  • Grew zero sales to $10 million in sales.
  • Started with an unknown brand with no recognition in the market. Used marketing capabilities to build it into a major brand.
  • Built valuation from  zero to $10M in five years.
  • Perfected a business model of efficiency, high profitability, and low expenses.
  • Developed the Branded Seller full-growth playbook.

Capabilities
Demonstrated

Results

We grew the brand from zero to a $10M exit (2021) in five years.

We continue to manage the brand for the new owners.  And now, in 2022, it's almost a $20 million business.

After a while, the new owner came to us and said, “Guys, we're managing your brands that we bought from you. But, we suck at new product development. We’re not growing like we could. Can we come up with a model of a new product development arrangement with you?” And so we came up with a product development commission plan to keep them growing with new products.

We’ve developed more than 150 new physical products for the client.

Turnaround Distressed Asset:
Grow-To-Sell

Company:
Snipers Edge Hockey

  • Snipers Edge Hockey is an ecommerce business that provides training aides for hockey players and coaches. It’s a great company with excellent products and serves a solid niche market.
  • In 2019, we learned that their business was doing 7 figures in sales and losing several hundred thousand dollars per year. We realized they needed a complete turnaround.
  • They were overpaying for 3PL warehousing services.
  • They were overpaying for marketing that wasn’t effective.
  • Worst of all, the existing leadership could not improve company performance or grow the company.
  • We decided to buy the company because they were in such bad trouble and It needed a lot of cash, The owners didn’t have resources to revive the company.
  • In 2 years, after fixing it up and doubling sales, we sold it for much more than we paid for it.

Challenges

Solutions

  • We brought all operations in house to fix this distressed asset.
  • We eliminated overpriced and underperforming services, and did these in-house.
  • We migrated this brand from Amazon’s Vendor Central (wholesaling to Amazon) to Seller Central (direct to consumer). We took control of the brand through this move.
  • We did a product and packaging rebrand that brought a fresh appearance to the products.
  • We’re headquartered in Minnesota which is the state of hockey, but Canada is the country of hockey. We developed concentrated marketing efforts focused on Canada.
  • We grew the sales in two years. Just a philosophical side note: you can't double the business by just fixing it up. You also have to grow it, and it’s important to find the right tactics to grow it right.
  • We expanded to more brick and mortar retail stores, and added dozens of stores selling our products.
  • We were in the middle of COVID-19,
    so we created a train-at-home campaign.
  • Kids in sports and their parents use an app called Sports Engine to track games and practices.
  • We ran an ad on Sports Engine that said some lucky kid could win our $1,500 train-at-home system.
  • We were able to get the email address of basically every hockey parent that uses the app for their kids.
  • We acquired 30,000 emails and (once the contest was done) were able to remarket to those parents. This drove a massive sales surge.

Pst...We Want You To
Know How We Got
All Those Sales

  • Increased perceived value with brand and packaging refresh.
  • Strategically increased revenue by reorienting from wholesaling on Vendor Central to retailing on Seller Central.
  • Developed train-at-home campaign to increase sales (and help beleaguered parents of Covid-housebound kids).
  • Designed creative marketing tactics to increase sales in spite of COVID-19 issues.
  • Targeted marketing efforts at Canada and other areas where hockey is an obsession.
  • Used a clever giveaway tactic to build a massive targeted list of hockey parents.

Capabilities
Demonstrated

Results

Bought business for $750K in 2019. Fixed the problems, grew the business, and sold it for $2.5M in 2021.

Doubled sales from $1.8 to $3.5 million in two years.

Business turnaround from losing $400K a year to being $500K positive in two years.

Grow-To-Sell: Short-Term

Company:
Top Form Design

Top Form Design sells unique accessories for Peloton and other cycling bikes. The products allow users to do things like pivot their Peloton screen by 360 degrees, adjust handlebars, or add trays for books or iPads.

These innovative products fit the needs of  cycling fitness enthusiasts and users to overcome Peloton shortcomings. This was our first “official” Branded Seller client.

  • In 2021, we met with the owners. One of the partners needed to move 3 hours away. This precipitated a need to cash out by selling.
  • They didn’t want to be forced to sell prematurely or in a rush.
  • They wanted to grow the business and to increase its value before they sold.
  • They didn’t have the capacity or expertise to handle the growth and all associated activities.
  • The biggest issue was that they were also manufacturing the equipment.
  • They had previously tried to sell the business, but too many buyers had told them that they didn't want to buy the manufacturing.
  • They needed to separate the manufacturing from product sales.
  • This was also an area where they did not have expertise.

Challenges

Solutions

We converted to Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) and stopped doing merchant fulfillment. This gave us massive benefits (better search results and fewer problems).

We upgraded every listing with new images, lifestyle images, new bullet points, and video for every product.

We began advertising on product targeting, Product Search, and Amazon’s display advertising (DSP).

We doubled the business in six months. At that point, we bought 50% of the partnership.

  • Our relationship went from a client to a partnership.
  • Partnering was advantageous to all parties as a way to maximize business value and business price on exit.
  • Within one year, we separated the two businesses into manufacturing and product sales.
  • We reorganized the infrastructure separating manufacturing from the brand.
  • We upgraded bookkeeping services, drilled down into profit leaks, and corrected them.
  • We converted from cash-based accounting to accrual-based accounting, recognizing revenue when it’s booked. This increases the value of the business.
  • We added encoded, relevant expenses to be considered addbacks. This also increases the value of the business.
  • We focused on profitability optimization, and add back allocation to increase the value of the business

Capabilities
Demonstrated

Results

In six months, we doubled their Amazon business.

As of 8/22, we’re packaging Top Form Design for sale.

We're prepping the financials and building our list of potential buyers.

By partnering with them, we were able to structure a deal with the partner who had to move. He got some immediate cash-out as needed. He will get the remainder on sale of the business (at the increased valuation).

Grow: Sell Products From
Online Store

Company:
Profile By Sanford

Sanford Health is the largest rural health system in the United States, providing access to health care in America's heartland.


Profile by Sanford is a personal health coaching service developed by Sanford Health. It is a weight loss and nutrition program created by doctors, researchers and dietitians.

  • The Profile By Sanford weight loss program was conducted in 65 brick and mortar stores. When COVID-19 hit in 2020, all stores were shut down and—in order to survive—they had to pivot online virtually overnight.
  • Profile needed a strategy that would work seamlessly to continue to service their members.
  • They had absolutely no online experience or expertise.
  • We had been working with them providing promotional products through our Stakkers company.
  • They asked us to help get them online ASAP.

Challenges

Solutions

  • Profile already had the assets. They were lacking expertise about store setup, and bringing inventory online. They had no warehousing capability.
  • We became an extension of their team, applying the required expertise.
  • Within 90 days, we built and launched their online store selling all the products previously sold only in their physical stores.
  • Sanford already had customers from their stores. So we turned on the spigot and moved those customers from offline to online.
  • Once the store was launched, Sanford wanted to expand their distribution across the country.
    We needed to produce the marketing power to bring customers to their online direct-to-consumer site.
  • We handled all customer service, marketing, and inventory for them.
  • Getting an online storefront built, and handling all inventory item descriptions and setup for online purchase.
  • Migrating from physical stores only to an online business model.
  • Managing all warehousing infrastructure and functions for complete order fulfillment process.
  • Marketing to drive traffic to the website and grow sales from the website.

Capabilities
Demonstrated

Results

Within 90 days, we created an online store selling over 100 products for online purchase.

Within six months, their online revenue ran in the multi six figures.

We continue to manage the online business for them, and it is now a multimillion dollar online business.

Sell: Match Sellers With
Vetted Buyers

Company:
Turbo Mop

Turbo Mop sells the Turbo Microfiber Mop Floor Cleaning System on Amazon. The brand has 10s of thousands of top (4.7/4.8) reviews.

That is quite an achievement. The unique design makes it a top product in the Amazon Household Cleaning Tools category.

  • These were some of my friends in Minneapolis. They were ready to sell their business, but had never done that before.
  • They heard that I’d sold Essential Values, and wanted advice and coaching.
  • They had a good business that was all clean and ready for sale.
  • They wanted to avoid mistakes, and to complete the sale as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Challenges

Solutions

  • We had a few calls where we explored their options. I shared a few concepts on readiness and helped them be better prepared to sell.
  • I also helped them optimize their ad spend.
  • I let them know that I had a list of vetted buyers looking for solid businesses to buy, and encouraged them to get connected.
  • I made intros to more than a dozen buyers.
  • By being connected to my vetted buyers, they were working directly with decision makers. We were able to get the deal done in 6 months.
  • Coaching on prepping the business for sale.
  • Exploring various options with owners to determine their best decision.
  • Demonstrating a list of vetted buyers looking for businesses for sale.
  • Coaching on negotiating the sale.

Capabilities
Demonstrated

Results

They sold their business for $20 million.

They saved the 5-10% broker’s commission ($1-2M).

My warm intros to vetted buyers saved them dozens of hours of searching for buyers.

The time-to-sale took only 6 months.

LET’S TALK