My Biggest Lessons with Chris Meade

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Shray Joshi joins Chris to share big mistakes they've made during BFCM in years past.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.After starting an Instagram account about the life of a baseball player. It grew into a community, and before he knew it a brand. This is his story, and the lessons learned along the way.Key moments in this episode of My Biggest Lessons4:35 Professional athletes who have made it to the big leagues5:30 Waiting until 1M in sales before spending money on advertising 7:00 Founder dynamics with a large age gap and working with your wife8:00 College World Series the fire Marshall set up.10:00 Business never escapes us Chris audiogram10:30 Hiring a fractional CEO, and what you get from hiring them. When you need to spend more money.17:00 getting into stores like Sheilds 18:00 Driving retail sales and sell through19:45 Generating $5000 a day in sales from a single pop-upSign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Cael Schwartz is head of product at Birddogs, he stopped by the DTCX studio in NYC to talk about their growth, Shark Tank, and advertising on platforms like Pornhub and Grinder.Key lessons in this episode.5:00 The Impact Chubbies had on two ecommerce founders6:13 Backlash from marketing emails 7:45 Funny stories 11:13 Day in the life of a head of product at an ecommerce company. 14:00 Inventory fuck ups16:00 Begging suppliers to slow down after Shark Tank 21:00 Ordering 6 months of back inventory by accident22:00 TV ads and alternative advertising networks including Pornhub and Grinder28:00 Why Birddogs keeps everything in houseSign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Learn how Chris closed over $1M in wholesale business through Gorgias, and you can too. https://www.gorgias.com/customers/crossnetKenny Flowers is run by Kenny Haisfield, who founded the brand in 2015 when he quit his corporate consulting job in NYC to move in with his grandma in Bali and start making Hawaiian shirts for his friends.Key moments in this episode3:24 Going to College and Coming out as an entrepreneur, and telling your friends and family you’re starting a business.4:03 Visiting a family member living in Bali as a nomad before it was popularized.6:25 Making connections with manufacturers.7:38 Fuck ups early on in building a clothing and apparel business 9:18 Being deep in SKUs as a modern resort brand.11:32 The power of friend and family support 14:20 Tips for working remote - you have to be disciplined. You don’t think of the founder working behind a computer.16:10 Separating working relationships19:16 There are fires every day20:14 Fighting iOS 14 issues and working with A list influencers.26:41 what would you tell your younger self

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Emanuel Storch is the founder of Blackbird foods, based out of NYC the OG plant protein and frozen pizza. Based Now the fastest growing pizza brand. Prior to this, he was the founder of Simpli gum.Key moments in this episode0:00 Intro and how Blackbird Foods became the best plant based pizza and fastest growing pizza brand in the world.3:00 Getting started with plant based meats to restaurants for plant based meat. 60% of the business is selling into food distributors.5:00 Increasing sell-thru instores through sampling, and allocating budget into in-store samples and trade spending and going up to 20% trade spend.9:00 Horror stories rolling up into retail. Bad promotions like individual slides and trying to get new ideas to shop.11:15 How Blackbird Foods has changed from their first iteration, and growing from a plant based audience to a more wide appeal for flexitarians and adventurous foodies.12:45 Selling on platforms like getter and Uber Eats.14:30 How they were able to get into Whole Foods with regional and national buying. Emanuel started regional focusing on the North East including their home town of New York. They also launched in the South West region including Texas where the Whole Foods headquarters is.16:30 Lessons learned from bringing Simply gum into Wal-Mart, Target, and Whole Foods. 17:00 Funding the business and keeping things simple including the best things being done in-house, and finding the right hires early on.21:00 Lessons learned from product line expansion. Just because something is good for restaurants, doesn’t mean that it will be a great fit for a restaurant.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Pete Sena is a creative entrepreneur and forward-obsessed business builder and founder of Digital Surgeons. He brings over 20 years of experience with him, working on brands like Lego and Hershey to American Express and SalesforceTopics and Lessons.Lessons Pete has learned, and shares with the audience.Get your contract signed before giving away work. (Working with two major celebrities created a breakthrough campaign but had to chase the money)You have to start by defining success. Success isn't just working with great clients and making financial gains. How i've leaned into frameworks to shift and evolve my thinking. Where our focus goes our energy flows. It took me 15 years to realize that speed comes with systems and smart workflows. Now I lean into automations and frameworks to grow. DON’T build a business AROUND you.Key Moments in this episode:2:30 Getting qualified to work with brands from someone who knows how to design and code from first iteration to going public and big names like Kanye West and Lady Gaga. 4:00 Choosing the right agency partner is about working on what the agency is best at. If they’re a PR agency, focus on PR, not website design.7:30 When a $100,000,000 digital turnaround strategy doesn’t go as planned.9:30 Lessons from Nik Sharma on branding through different tactical lenses. Branding is always happening. It’s easier to brand first then to go back and try to overhaul and fix things.12:30 Measuring brand vs other aspects like conversion, and how those investments early on make a difference.14:00 The first advice Pete would give to someone starting an agency is don’t start an agency. Sometimes it just happens, but other times it’s a way to work on your craft. You don’t need to start an agency to do what you want to do.16:00 Working at an agency is a great way to work on a few different things without bouncing around jobs. Starting an agency is starting a service based business.18:30 The world of instant gratification and ease of getting started leading to a lack of patience. Diversification helps, but it won’t help you chase passion. Knowing yourself is the most important thing when it comes to waiting for an overnight success.22:00 The green zone, or the zone of genius is where you can be motivated to work and you’re good at. Some people might love data entry whereas others love more creative work.24:00 Staying motivated and thinking beyond the metrics when there are other things to think of. Crossnet is more than daily sales, it’s creating memories and beautiful days with friends and family.30:00 Finding your purpose and making it easier to have the genius zone.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Dan Demsky is a co-founder of Unbound Merino. A premium apparel company made for travel. 3:45 Getting started and positioning a premium brand online 9:35 How do customers understand about Merino and the properties.11:35 Do customers come back or buy more.13:25 The skills from a video production company that helped to launch an ecommerce brand with customers instead of clients.15:20 Biggest lessons and mistakes, including hiring much faster than they could keep up with.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Mike Fata is the founder of Manitoba Harvest. A company that makes natural hemp foods sold online and in-store. Get in contact with him, and learn more about mentoring here.2:00 Thoughts on college and university and educating yourself. There are more ways to educate yourself than traditional channels.4:30 How Mike funded the original iteration of Manitoba Harvest. Now as an investor, Mike shares what types of investments he makes in products, and founders he'd like to have in his house, and singing high praise for Jake at Mid Day Squares.7:30 It's a much more competitive world now, but there are more tools you can use.9:00 Lessons learned the hard way, including not trying to fight the government. Even if you win the battle, you could be paying a lot more down the road.10:30 Being an entrepreneur is a competitive sport, and you have to eat and train like an athlete. Chris shares the benefits of doing yoga or Pilates twice a week.13:30 Bootstraping, putting in your own capital, and building out your own board of advisors. Mike shares resources for setting up an advisory board without being taken advantage of.16:00 The race to profitability with lowering valuations and the importance of making money. The journey from $5-$10M and then to $50M requires a ton of capital. A true 50% gross margin with discounts and overhead gives you the ability to tap into growth.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Chris Meade used Gorgias to generate over $1,000,000 in retail sales, learn how he did, and you can too.Athletes treat pain with many different remedies, but many have side effects or other bad stuff. That's why Ryan Gresh started the Feel Good Lab.2:37 Mark Cuban tackling pharmaceuticals.3:46 Creating products without bad ingredients for transdermal delivery, but keeping the ingredients that work.5:20 Getting customers to trial a new product when you're in chronic pain through authoritative8:30 Selling on QVC and making the claims around brand level natural messaging.13:00 Learning how to use fund raising to drive retail sales in stores like Target vs bootstrapping and then raising money when you need it.19:30 The mistake of paying part time employees full time wages.21:00 Ryan's biggest lesson of treating the business like a family and not a sports team. Not everyone will treat the business the same way as you.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Nik Hall is a follower of Christ, husband to the best wife, and the cofounder of vitafive, an emerging gummy vitamin brand with high quality ingredients and now a lower sugar gummy vitamin alternative that we have launched into Target and HEB (while previously scaling our sugar gummy into over 7,000 retail doors. Key times in this episode 3:30 Why people stop taking their vitamins after a few weeks and lifetime value drops.5:30 Managing regulations and following best practices.9:30 Good vs bad partners. Stay away from drug stores like CVS and Walgreens.15:30 Breaking down the math of increasing LTV17:00 Go slow and build methodically vs trying to do everything all the time.20:00 Changes in marketing spend now vs 12 months ago, and mastering Amazon ad buying budget.23:27 Nik’s biggest lesson is to have faith that the process and everything will work out.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Ross Mackay is the CEO and Co-founder of Daring, a chicken alternative available in 10,000 grocery stores and 1000 restaurants around America. He chats with Chris about scaling retail sales, and taking a be where chicken is approaching.Key Moments in this episode0:30 How Adam started Daring getting into grocery stores and restaurants.4:15 Identifying their ideal customer for profitable distribution.7:00 Being where people buy chicken which is rarely online.10:16 Driving retail sales through 12:46 How a carnist like Chris Meade can enjoy plant based chicken.16:00 Hiring for aptitude vs experience.

Engineer turned Entreprenur Austin Maxwell started out on Shark Tank, and now he's selling coolers around the country.Austin shares his secrets to:Generating his first $100K in sales to get on Shark TankDominating trade shows as a sales channel and form of lead generationThe Shark Tank impact on a growing businessAll ships sink eventually, including the partnerships you launched your business with.How Austin is currently finding high ROI on Tik Tok.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Tiffany Krumis auditioned for the first ever episode of Shark Tank – and struck a deal with Barbara! Hear how she grew and sold her first business, and the lessons she’s taking into her next one2:00 Intro and be coming an accidental entrepreneur, and casting for the first ever episode of Shark Tank and making a deal with Barbara.4:00 Convincing a shark to make an investment with no prior experience.5:00 What’s it like working with a shark, up to selling the company.6:45 How has Shark Tank changed? There are very few inventions now, it’s all established businesses. If it weren’t for Shark Tank, Tiffany wouldn’t have made it.10:00 Discounting is fine as long as it’s part of the marketing strategy, and growing aggressively month over month through organic growth. Turning television opportunities into sales opportunities. The power of keeping relationships. 14:00 Not being taken advantage of as a new brand.16:00 Lessons that may have worked at the first company.18:00 Getting smart about managing inventory.22:00 What’s the biggest lesson you’ve taken away? Be extremely passionate about something related to what you do. It’s a long road that if you’re only doing it for the money, and being able to talk about it day in and day out.

Adam is the founder of Crown & Paw, a brand that sells totally unique products to every single customer. He scaled from Zero to $10 Million in 9 months in a space where serious scaling appears to be impossible.Key moments in this episode.0:22 Going to 10 million in revenue through print on demand4:30 Print on demand is not dropshipping. 6:00 Keeping customers happy while automating the entire process. 7:00 Dealing with payment processors and credit cards amid delayed orders.8:30 Dealing with customer service going into the holiday season10:00 Pivoting to a pet lifestyle brand versus a novelty brand.11:40 Planning for an exit with a healthy business versus a one time lift in sales.15:00 Dealing with 2000 back orders, and overloading Zapier with automations.19:00 The uncomfortable conversation around letting people go.

Tim Sheilds invented a sport! He joins Chris to share his biggest lessons, along with his journey of inventing and launching a sport!1:00 Recent success of UBall, and what it is.2:00 What if James Nasmith invented basketball today?3:30 The painpoint that lead to the product being invented.4:45 Growing the sport and learning lessons the hard way6:30 Manufacturing issues.8:30 Quality testing to make sure the product can survive, and not testing in extreme heat.11:10 Working with big names like Lonzo ball, and motivating them to continue to post.16:00 Importance of email marketing to be able to tell your story.19:30 Messaging and availability for your customers21:47 Afterpay and other payment options, and sneaking it into the abandoned cart flow23:00 The Biggest Lesson - not following up and staying in touch with personal relationships. Pick 5 relationships to foster and talk to them on a weekly basis, and what to talk about when you’re hanging out with friendsSign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Sean Riley has gone from being on Shark Tank to millions of dollars a year in sales.Clean your butt. https://dudeproducts.com/ 1:17 with the story of how it was created, and launching a company while having full time jobs.4:50 Going from some cool learnings to making it a full time with less than 100K in sales by going through an incubator, and taking part time jobs to make ends meet.6:00 Getting into more retail stores and sections, and launching complimentary products that grow bigger and faster.7:30 Raising capital and working with Mark Cuban. They used the money toward inventory, and that’s the best place to put capital early on if you can. This let them build relationships with banks to open up lines of credit based on sales and accounts receivable. ivan@hoski.ca This is a good audiogram.10:20 Be patient and let the capital come.10:50 $702,000 in Amazon Prime sales. Using previous data to place bets for home runs and use the inventory for future orders.13:10 Mark Cuban’s best advice early on was don’t drown in opportunity. Spend your time with what’s working. They learned during COVID how to prioritize their loyal retailers who reordered and slotted in toilet paper isles.15:00 Most of the budget is spent putting towards getting new trials. Their NASCAR was a partnership with Wal-Mart. This means looking at ROAS less directly for direct sales through the website. 17:35 Sean is unapologetic about sharing wins and addressing competition from big brands of toilet paper players like Royal and Charmin.20:00 Sean loves getting involved with billboards and out of home, including the virality of online presence.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Connor Renton is a 3x founder and has been featured across Canadian Media platforms including BlogTO, Global News, and Sixbuzz. He runs one of Canada’s Largest Men’s basketball leagues - Brodie Rec League - with over 10,000 annual players and is cofounder at Boostbear. The worlds first better for you protein candy which has amassed over 75,000 followers in under a month all from organic content. Visit boostbear.com to join the waitlist. Key moments in this episode.1:00 How Chris and Connor go connected via cold email2:45 The history of Booster Bear4:00 The struggles of going through various food manufacturers 8:00 Power of learning from the mistakes they’ve made.9:00 Learning Tik Tok and growing through documenting what they’re doing. Even if it’s content that was filmed 3 years ago.12:00 Dealing with supply chain issues when sourcing protein.13:00 building an audience os 20,000 emails, and over 75,000 followers on Tik Tok15:45 Wholesale strategy early on, but not before owning an audience.18:00 Ability to get your products to your customers early on.19:36 The Biggest Lesson screwing up forecasting when working with Loblaws

Connect with Max, Cofounder of Bala Bangles on LinkedIn. Bala Bangles reinvented the way people work out by wearing the weights, and looking at how people work out at home.4:30 Talking about the first iterations of the product and messaging, and blurring the lines of fashion and fitness.7:45 Not relying on performance marketing and discounts earlier.11:30 Almost being bankrupted with large orders from big box retailers, and lessons from Mark Cuban.14:30 Working with retailers where you stand out vs blend in.17:45 Being burned by retailers and influencers that rip you off or don't perform.21:00 Finding your swim lanes when working with your significant other, including adding a safeword and reminding people that they're doing a good job.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Michelle and Nikki started Elavi to fulfil their own need for  Functional, shelf-stable snacks designed to go with you anywhere and help with cognitive focus, balanced mood, athletic recovery, and overall vitality in a delicious, convenient way.4:00 Starting by bootstrapping, which is amazingly hard to5:20 Balancing full time focus form one co-founder without both having to deplete their safety nets and the importance of having a co-founder. Making contribution of both sweat equity and capital equity and managing the dynamics.9:30 Starting their retail strategy local to keep acquisition costs down, and find out what their sales and follow up strategy looks like.12:00 What types of sales collateral do you need? What unexpected customers did you get.15:00 Working with distributors to work into big box retail18:00 Hard lessons learned including shipping LTL truck loads to residential SF addresses, and working with retailers.20:00 Discussing DTC or retail sales strategy and creative marketing strategies to connect with customers.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.

Ash Melwani is cofounder and CMO at Obvi, a health and wellness supplement brand. He joins Chris Meade to talk about the growth of their brand to over $30M in sales over the last 30 months.3:30 Setting up partnerships with legacy brands like Entenmann's and Reese's for partner and customer value and understanding.9:00 Advanced marketing and collaborating with other brands.12:00 Ash shares his biggest lessons which include not testing enough, bad flavours.15:00 Keeping it simple with unanimous approval in house for flavouring.17:00 Power of their Facebook community for R&D.19:00 How the 3 co-founders came together to play to each other's strengths.Sign up for Chris' weekly newsletter Cross Commerce here, and connect with him on Twitter and Linkedin. Chris Meade is the co-founder & CMO of CROSSNET, the world’s first four-way volleyball game. Chris was honored with Forbes 30U30 for the 2021 Sports category. CROSSNET combines elements of the childhood game four square and volleyball in a competitive game to 11, win by 2. CROSSNET is now available at 3000+ retail stores such as Walmart, Target, DICKS, Academy Sports, Sam’s Club and 20+ other retailers.