New success

We Categorize Our Successes

Typically, we recommend preparing your Exit Path 2-3 years before exit but not everyone is looking to Sell or just know it's not time for whatever reason. In most cases, brands just want and need the SUPPPORT to Grow.

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

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)

Variations Of Manage-To-Grow

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)

Lets Talk

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

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.
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.

Our aim was to create our own ecommercebusiness, but we started with nothing to sell.
We wanted to have many products indifferent 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.

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.

We grew the brand from zero to a $10M exit in five years (2021).
We continue to manage the brand for the new owners. And now, in 2022, it's almost a $20 million business.
Months later 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. So we came up with a product development commission plan to keep them growing with new products.
Perfected a business model of efficiency, high profitability, and low expenses.

Turnaround Distressed Asset: Grow-To-Sell

Snipers Edge Hockey is an ecommerce business that provides training aids for hockey players and coaches. It’s a great company with excellent products and serves a solid niche market.
They were overpaying for 3PL warehousing services. They were overpaying for marketing that wasn’t effective. Worst of all, there was poor leadership with no know how.
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 2019, we learned that their business was doing 7 figures but losing hundreds of thousans. 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, there was poor leadership with no know how.
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.

We brought all operations in house to fix this distressed asset. We eliminated overpriced and under performing 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: sometimes you can double profit in a business by eliminating waste/expenses. But, you also have to grow it's top line, 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.

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

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 SportsEngine 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.

Capabilities Demonstrated

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.
We get a commission from the buyer once the sale is completed.

Results

Significant ROI. Bought business in 2019 and sold it for 5X the original price we paid for it in just two years.
We doubled sales.
There was a 7 figure swing in year profit (from significantly negative Net Income to several hundred thousand in the black.

Grow-To-Sell: Short-Term

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, tablets or your laptop.
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, and theywere interested in selling the business.
They wanted to grow the business andincrease its value before they sold.
They didn’t have the capacity or expertise tohandle the growth and associated activities.
The biggest issue was that they were also manufacturing the equipment. They had previously tried to sell the business, but too many brand buyers had told them they didn't want manufacturing.
They needed to separate the manufacturing from product sales. This was also an area where they did not have expertise.

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 businessesinto manufacturing and product sales.
We reorganized the infrastructure separatingmanufacturing 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 focused on profitability optimization, and addback allocation to increase the value of the business.

In six months, we doubled their Amazon business.
As of the beginning of 2023, we’re packaging Top Form Design for sale.
We're prepping the financials and building our list of potential buyers

Grow: Sell Products From Online Store

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, we built store.profilefplan.com

Profile needed a strategy that would work seamlessly to continue to service their members.11
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.

Profile already had the assets. They were lackign experience about store setup and bringing inventory online with no direct to consumer capability.
We became and 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.
Profile already had customers from their stores, so we turned on the spigot and move those customers online.
We built the site and still manage all of their orders and warehouse operations including pallet orders to their 49 store locations.

Getting an online storefront built, and handling all inventory item descriptions and setup for online purchase.
Migrating from physial stores only to an online business model for a season during Covid shutdown
Managing all warehousing infrastructure and functions for complete order fulfillment.
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Aided in various discovery of website apps to deliver functionality including custom reporting and other app development.

Within 90 days, we created an online store selling over 100 products for online purchase.
Within six months, their online revenue ran into multiple six figures.
We continue to serve them

Sell: Match Sellers With Vetted Buyers

Turbo Mop sells the Turbo Microfiber MopFloor Cleaning System on Amazon. Thebrand has 10s of thousands of top (4.7/4.8) reviews.That is quite an achievement. The uniquedesign makes it a top product in theAmazon Household Cleaning Toolscategory.

These were some of my friends inMinneapolis. They were ready to selltheir 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 allclean and ready for sale.
They wanted to avoid mistakes, and tocomplete the sale as quickly andefficiently as possible.

We had a few calls where we exploredtheir options. I shared a few conceptson readiness and helped them be betterprepared to sell.
I let them know that I had a list of vetted buyers looking for solid businesses tobuy, 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 and 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 negotiation the sale

They sold their business for multiple 8 Figures
They saved $1-2 Million Dollars in sales commissions
My warm intros to vetted buyers savedthem dozens of hours of searching forbuyers.
Closed the deal!

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