From Designer to CEO. The system is the work.
For first-time CEOs, post-exit founders, and operators in transition. Twenty years from product designer at Nike to PE-backed CEO of a $220M DTC platform. The system is the work.
In the field · Phoenix The window, the floor, the screen
Three surfaces every operator manages. Get them aligned and the revenue follows. Get them out of sync and you are running theater.
Window
The storefront and the first impression.
Floor
The physical and operational experience.
Screen
The interface where intent becomes revenue.
11 tools, no single view of the customer. So I built a warehouse.
Our data lived in 11 tools. Nobody could see one customer from start to end. So I connected them, one by one, into one cloud warehouse. The numbers on screen are synthetic demo data, not client results.
Read the essay →Recent essays
My First 90 Days as CEO Almost Wrecked Me
Close to 40% of new leaders fail within 18 months, and it usually starts in the first 90 days. I almost became one of them. Here is the mistake I made, and the plan I wish I had run.
The Return Loss
Americans returned about $850 billion last year (NRF), and online, roughly one in five orders comes back. A return is not a neutral event, it is a refund plus a cost. Here is the margin math most brands never do, and why Amazon, Walmart, and Target now tell you to just keep it.
Your Retail Media ROAS Is Lying to You
Attributed sales are not incremental sales. Attributed means the ad was nearby when it happened. Incremental means the ad is the reason it happened. One is worth paying for. The other is a tax you volunteer for.