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.
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.
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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.
Learn from my fumbles: the profit lessons that cost me
Everybody posts the highlight reel. I am going to give you my fumbles instead. Because that is where the real lesson is.
I Worked at Three Retailers That Went Bankrupt. Here Is What I Saw.
I ran digital inside three big retailers. JCPenney, Art Van Furniture, and Conn's HomePlus. All three later filed for bankruptcy. I was hired each time to fix the digital business. And each time, the thing that actually decided the company's fate was sitting underneath it.