What Every Private Equity Firm is Looking For in Your eComm Business with James Thomson

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What Every Private Equity Firm is Looking For in Your eComm Business with James Thomson

James ThomsonJames Thomson is the Managing Partner at Equity Value Advisors, where he supports private equity and branded product leaders with due diligence and strategy consulting to accelerate equity value through eCommerce. He is a Board Member and Investor in Mamenta, Davinci Micro Fulfillment, and MAVI.io. Before his current roles, James was the Chief Strategy Officer at Buy Box Experts, a company that offers premium Amazon services to medium-sized and large-sized brands around the world to optimize and grow their businesses.

James continues to immerse himself in the world of Amazon issues. Before Buy Box, he served as the Business Head of Amazon Services — a division of Amazon responsible for recruiting 10s of 1000s of sellers annually to the marketplace. He also served as the First Account Manager for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Before Amazon, James was a management consultant and banker.

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Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

  • James Thomson discusses Equity Value Advisors and his role there
  • The benefits of diversifying into other e-commerce channels
  • James shares his favorite experience while at Buy Box Experts
  • Advice for sellers who want to cross seven figures
  • Questions you need to ask if you want to grow your business
  • How to execute customer engagement
  • Should you drive traffic to your website or to Amazon?

In this episode…

Are you someone who has become a seven-figure seller and wondering how to reach that next level? Often when entrepreneurs reach a level of success, the challenge can be what is there to do next. So, what is the next step?

Business leader and e-commerce expert James Thomson suggests these three actions. The first step would be to build a team of experts and delegate responsibilities. Next, start thinking about brand equity and discover ways for your customers to fall in love with your brand. Lastly, execute a three-year plan and stick with it.

In this episode of the eComm Breakthrough Podcast, join host Josh Hadley as he welcomes the Managing Partner of Equity Value Advisors, James Thomson, to discuss exit strategies and making your business purchase-friendly to eligible buyers. James explains the benefits of diversifying into other e-commerce channels, shares advice with sellers who want to cross seven figures, and answers the question: should you drive traffic to your website or to Amazon?

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Special Mention(s):

Related Episode(s):

Sponsor for this episode…

This episode is brought to you by Ecomm Breakthrough Consulting where I help seven-figure ecommerce owners grow to eight figures. Of course…

I started Hadley Designs in 2015 and grew it to an eight-figure brand in seven years.

I made mistakes along the way that made the path to eight figures longer. At times I doubted whether our business could even survive and become a real brand. I wish I would have had a guide to help me grow faster and avoid the stumbling blocks.

If you’ve hit a plateau and want to know the next steps to take your business to the next level, then go to www.EcommBreakthrough.com (that’s Ecomm with two M’s) to learn more.

As a special bonus to my podcast listeners, this month I’m giving away one $10,000 comprehensive business strategy audit session at no cost. Email me at josh@ecommbreakthrough.com with the subject line “Strategy Audit” and tell me why your business should win the free audit for the chance to win and don’t worry, if you don’t win the free strategy audit this month, you’ll automatically be entered for future months.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:04

Welcome to the eComm Breakthrough Podcast. Are you ready to unlock the full potential and growth in your business? You’ve already crossed seven figures in sales, but the challenge is knowing how to take your business to the next level. Join Josh Hadley and eight-figure e-comm. Business Owner and investor as he interviews highly successful business owners get ready because you’re going to learn specific actions you can take today to help your business reach its full potential and leave a lasting impact on the world.

Josh Hadley 0:37

Welcome to the eComm Breakthrough Podcast. I’m your host Josh Hadley, where I interview the top business leaders in e-commerce. Previous guests include Steven Pope, Kevin King, and Norm Farrar. Today I’m speaking with James Thomson of Equity Value Advisors and we will be talking a lot about preparing to exit and making your business attractive to a buyer. This episode is brought to you by e-comm breakthrough consulting, where I help seven figure companies grow to eight figures and beyond. Listen, James, I started Hadley designs back in 2015. And I grew it to an eight-figure brand and seven years, I made a lot of mistakes along the way that made the path of getting to eight figures take a lot longer than it actually needed to be. At times I doubted whether our business could actually survive, whether we could actually become a real brand or whether I could step into that real CEO, role and lead others. I wish I would have had a guide to help me grow faster and avoid a lot of those stumbling blocks along the way. If our listeners have hit a similar plateau and want to know the next steps to take their business to the next level, then go to eCommBreakthrough.com. That’s e-comm with two M’s to learn more. Today, I’m really excited to introduce you all to James Thomson. James is the Managing Partner of Equity Value Advisors, advising brand executives and investors that are seeking guidance on how to accelerate e commerce revenues, and to align e commerce and physical retail distribution and pricing strategies. Formerly, James was the Chief Strategy Officer at BuyBox Experts, a Managed Services Agency supporting brand executive teams selling online, as well as private equity investors evaluating brands sold on Amazon. He has also served as the business head of Amazon services, the division of Amazon responsible for recruiting 10s of 1000s of sellers annually to the Amazon marketplace. He also served as the first Fulfillment by Amazon account manager. And prior to Amazon. James was a management consultant and retail banker. So with that introduction, James, welcome to the podcast.

James Thomson 2:44

Thank you for having me today, Josh.

Josh Hadley 2:45

James, you have a wealth of knowledge that I think our listeners are going to be eager to hear what you have to share with us all. But most importantly, I love what you are currently doing right now is, as you sit on the board of multiple e commerce companies, you’re evaluating a lot of E commerce companies in terms of acquisitions, and you know, investment opportunities. So James, tell us a little bit more about your role with Equity Value Advisors and what you’re doing there right now.

James Thomson 3:16

So when I left Buy Box experts, a traditional Amazon agency, I decided that I wanted to continue to work with investors, private equity VC companies, some angel investors that were looking to buy Amazon businesses, or at least buy businesses that had strong Amazon channel initiatives. If we think back to a couple years ago, when Amazon aggregation was a big, big deal, and everybody was jumping in buying brands. And a lot of stuff started to happen. There were people were looking at Brands saying should I buy this one? Should I buy that one. But you still had the traditional VC and private equity companies in the background, who were buying brands. And we’re looking at these types of companies. But a lot of those traditional P and VC companies stepped back when the multiples on brands got really really high as aggregators were swooping in to put capital to use and buying up these these different private label brands. Obviously, things have changed a little bit with the aggregators, private equity and VC is back there certainly looking at Brands, many of which, as I say, have this Amazon presence. Amazon is a different language compared to just about every other channel that brands might sell through. And so I’ve been able to apply the knowledge I have around how Amazon works, how it works in conjunction with other channels and help evaluate not only what’s right and wrong about a business, but where’s their opportunity for an investor to take that business to the next level. So many of your listeners may have seven figure brands, some of them may have eight figure brands. Whether you’re a seven figure eight figure even nine figure brand today. If eventually you’re looking to sell your business. Yes, you need to pretty up your business and make it ready for sale. The part of that exercise is going to be around how Do you make it attractive to a buyer to absorb that business into its existing portfolio? How do you help them identify where there’s opportunity for them to grow the business quickly, and quickly recover the cost of acquiring your business. So that’s the mentality that I applied to the work that I do today is helping investors think through, where’s their opportunity to pull certain levers that might not have been pulled enough, up to this point, so as to be able to realize new forms of growth, that traditional private label brand owners might not have been able to accomplish themselves.

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