How to Turn a Distribution Company Into a Valuable Business
June 11, 2021 |
About this episode
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Co-founders Eytan Wiener and Jonathan Goldman started Quantum Networks as a simple Amazon Reseller of technology gadgets. The business model was basic. Resell a semi-known brand’s product on Amazon, or source a device people wanted in China and resell it on Amazon at a slim margin.
But Wiener & Goldman wanted more than just a cash flow business. They decided to create a sellable company by promoting their brand (Blucoil), bundling products bought together frequently, and striking exclusive reseller arrangements with some brands. The three tactics jacked sales, took gross margin from around 5% to approximately 20%, and top-line revenue to $30 million, which caught the attention of Advantage Solutions (NASDAQ: ADV).
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Why owning your brand is essential to building a valuable company.
- How to differentiate yourself in a sea of competitors online.
- The surprising reason Wiener & Goldman decided to sell.
- How inventory is valued.
- How to know when an acquirer is motivated to close.
- The psychological impact of selling your baby.
Check out our article on The Conversation Behind Closed Doors.
Show Notes & Links
(06:58) Eytan Wiener: “Yeah Blucoil, that was the brand.”
(08:11) Eytan Wiener: “Jonathan Goldman, he was my partner for the last, let’s say 10, 11 years. So we were the partners, and we had a team of about 15 team people in New York City. Bunch of overseas people as well on the support and data side.”
(15:12) Eytan Wiener: “we take a podcasting mic from Sennheiser or Jabra, or Monster, whatever, I mean these big companies and we bundle it to create that value.”
(16:44) John Warrillow: “I just interviewed a guy who ran a company called BeastGear”
(18:42) Eytan Wiener: “Amazon just shut down Chinese sellers that were doing billions of dollars of sales, because of reviews and replacement, and fakes and stuff.”
(25:36) John Warrillow: “I was listening to the Prof G podcast the other day..”
(26:11) Eytan Wiener: “I also started this Amazon seller show called The Prosper Show”
(39:54) Eytan Wiener: “there’s a bunch of companies like Advantage Solutions, which was the acquirer that were like these retail, consumer product base, large, like selling into Costco, and Target, and Walmart, and lots of retail, there’s very heavy focus on retail that needed more E-commerce diversification and that was a really cool, strategic target, in my opinion, because they needed let’s say expertise.”
(1:06:28) Eytan Wiener: “it was an Audi… An Audi e-tron, which is the coolest car.”
(1:10:33) Eytan Wiener: “So I use different providers, and I actually had the Prosper Show, that other company that I found, this Amazon seller show, I met the guys from GETIDA, which is the company I’m working with now, and they were much better and sophisticated in their process and know how. And I use them as a tool for my company Quantum, to recover funds.”
(1:12:17) Eytan Wiener: “It’s called GETIDA, which is this little sign behind me here. So G-E-T-I-D-A.com, and you could read about it. Anyone selling in Amazon FBA, which is most sellers, we can support you whether you’re doing a million or 100 million in sales. We work with agencies, we work with brands, we work with all types of sellers, developing other products too, but really around this whole financial audit space.”
About Our Guest
Eytan Wiener, was the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Quantum Networks, an online retail agency for global brands, and played an integral role in the company since its inception. Wiener oversaw the company’s expansion from a startup in 2008 to a multimillion-dollar company in 2014. His oversight gained the company a 4,566% increase in revenue, a rise deemed unprecedented in the industry, making the INC 500 list three years in a row. Without any prior professional experience in the tech or online industries, Wiener has skillfully deciphered and mastered the e-commerce space to help create and maintain a revolutionary company dedicated to bringing next generation of technology to the masses.
Wiener also co-founded the Prosper Show, the largest and most renowned Amazon Seller Show, in 2016 with key industry leaders James Thomson, a former Amazon executive, Joseph Hansen, founder of leading Amazon agency Buy Box Experts, and Chad Rubin, founder of Skubana.
Both of Mr. Wiener’s ventures were successfully sold to publicly traded companies: Quantum to Advantage Solutions (ADV NASDAQ) in 2020, and Prosper Show to Emerald Expositions (NYSE: EEX ) in 2018.
For more than a decade, Mr. Wiener has created an industry-wide awareness of the discrepancies that occur during the lifecycle of inventory sent by sellers to Amazon’s fulfillment centers. Dissatisfied with both his solutions, as well as those of other providers, Wiener utilized GETIDA and discovered that they made the deepest impact in maximizing financial recovery for his company. GETIDA’s solution significantly affected his company’s bottom-line profit, thereby increasing the total value of the sale price, contributing to Wiener’s successful exit.
Wiener led a private investment round in GETIDA in early 2021 and is now the CEO of the company.
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