Ecommerce Building Blocks is a podcast hosted by Jason Wong, serial eCommerce entrepreneur and investor. Each episode is a lightning quick 20 minute interview with an eCommerce founder or expert to hone in on the concepts behind their most successful ideas. This is not about tactics, but about the story behind a strategy. Tactics get outdated as technology changes, but strategies and principles last forever. Jason wants to know how people strategize and how we can make those ideas last.
Ep. 36 Okay Sis’s Mady Maio on Why Founders HAVE to Prioritize Mental Health
In this episode of Ecommerce Building Blocks, Jason is joined by Mady Maio, host of the popular business and lifestyle podcast Okay Sis and co-founder of the travel recommendation app Camber. Jason and Mady talk about mental health for founders and entrepreneurs: why it’s so important and what all of us can do to make sure we use our well-being to show up for the projects we love and ourselves every day.
Jason and Mady start their conversation by talking about the particular challenges that face female founders and entrepreneurs, and why preparing mentally and emotionally is crucial to balance and success. Mady shares what self-care looks like (NOT bubble baths) for her and how this plays into her definition of success. In the second half of the episode, she and Jason talk about Camber app, what it has to offer, and how Mady has navigated her relationship with her co-founder through inventing, building, and finding investors for this project.
Topics Discussed:
- Female founders / female entrepreneurs
- Mental health in business and entrepreneurship
- Building an emotionally supportive professional network
- The most common hardship facing female entrepreneurs
- The emotional side of business
- Designing practical, impactful self-care routines
- How hustle culture prevents us from showing up at our best
- Camber App
- Expectations for founders in 2022
- Working with a co-founder and loving it
Okay Sis podcast: https://linktr.ee/okaysis
Mady’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/madyrosemaio?lang=en
Mady’s TikTok: @madymaio
➡️ Building Blocks website: bbclass.co 🍍
Jason’s twitter: https://twitter.com/EggrolI
Sign up for Jason's weekly newsletter: http://news.bbclass.co
14 Sept 2022
Ep. 35 Aishwarya Iyer from Brightland on Finding her Brand’s Superpower and Creating a Cult Product
Brightland might be the first sustainably sourced DTC olive oil company to exist, and it has achieved cult-status for its freshness, its colorful and beautifully designed bottles, and its personal touch. All of this is thanks to Brightland’s founder, Aishwarya Iyer, who joins us this week to share her story, and some tips for finding your own success story.
It often seems like crossing the distance between an idea and its execution is impossible, especially when you have a product in mind but no clue where to start. In this episode of Ecommerce Building Blocks, Jason wants to find out from Aishwarya Iyer how she went from corporate communications to founding Brightland, the much-heralded sustainably sourced California olive oil company. Aishwarya eschewed the typical marketing tricks used by DTC founders and chose to lean into her skill set. She focused on what she could do, and on how she could educate herself in areas where she needed to learn making every step of the production process into something personal and meaningful.
Topics Discussed:
-The difference between product affinity and brand affinity, and why it matters for your marketing strategy
-How Aishwarya Iyer got the idea for Brightland
-Her thought process in telling the story of Brightland
-Why she began with PR and Communications instead of branding
-How Aishwarya Iyer legitimized her product even without a background in food
-Using your superpowers as your marketing compass
-The preparation that went into creating Brightland’s supply chain: olive education, establishing relationships with farmers, creating packaging
-How packaging and shipping are intertwined, and how to prepare for common pitfalls
-How to use DTC’s major communication advantage when you experience delays
-What makes a cult favorite?
-How Brightland takes their customers on the journey with them, and why that is so valuable.
-Aishwarya Iyer’s if she could do it all over again advice to herself as a young entrepreneur
➡️ Building Blocks website: bbclass.co
🍍Jason’s twitter: https://twitter.com/EggrolI (https://twitter.com/EggrolI)
Sign up for Jason's weekly newsletter: http://news.bbclass.co (http://news.bbclass.co/)
Brightland: https://brightland.co/ (https://brightland.co/)
Aishwarya’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/aishwarya228 (https://twitter.com/aishwarya228)
Aishwarya’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aishwarya-iyer-44112a19a (https://www.linkedin.com/in/aishwarya-iyer-44112a19a)
7 Sept 2022
Ep. 34 How House Of Léon is Reshaping the Luxury Furniture Industry
Steven and Jordan Neman started House of Léon as a DTC business that only the brave would attempt: furniture. Massive, bulky, made to order, and expensive, how could they apply DTC building blocks to something so far outside of the box? In this episode, Jason talks with Steven about how they got started and what they are learning along the way.
Jason and Steven begin by talking about what went into founding House of Léon and how they were able to work around the standard furniture manufacturing conventions that guarantee that almost everyone is paying the same prices for mostly identical pieces, no matter the branding. Instead Steven and his brother Jordan began by designing one-of-a-kind pieces and then found someone who would make them to order, always putting their vision first. Of course, the brand has only existed since 2021, so there have been lots of learning along the way - Jason and Steven get into what it takes to manage inventory when it is so large in size, how to manage it by doing market research ahead of time, and what Jason wishes he had learned when he was at the beginning of his founders journey.
Topics Discussed:
Jason’s 56 page deck for ecommerce founders
What changes for companies based on the size of what they sell - from tiny false eyelashes to sectional sofas
House of Léon’s founder story
How House of Léon was able to upended manufacturing’s hold on furniture pricing
How House of Léon stands out: quality materials and excellent design
How to avoid making products your customers don’t want
Listening to your customers to make production choices
Different inventory problems: overstock and stockout
Different inventory solutions: conservative ordering and demand prediction
Jason’s take on hiring early in the business life cycle
➡️ Building Blocks website: bbclass.co
🍍Jason’s twitter: https://twitter.com/EggrolI (https://twitter.com/EggrolI)
Sign up for Jason's weekly newsletter: http://news.bbclass.co (http://news.bbclass.co/)
Steven’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-neman-93625488/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/steven-neman-93625488/)
House of Leon instagram: https://www.instagram.com/houseofleon/ (https://www.instagram.com/houseofleon/)
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