The Retail X Series Podcast
Are you an early stage founder revolutionizing the future of retail? Then you’re in the right place. My name is Sapna Shah and I’m an angel investor investing at the preseed stage in retail tech, ecommerce, marketplaces and consumer. I’m also the founder of Retail X Series, an ecosystem to help early-stage founders in the retail sector. Retail X Series includes events, a YouTube channel, a Slack community, resources for founders, and this podcast. In this podcast, I interview founders, investors and experts in the retail space, and we dig deep into the tactics around key topics that early-stage founders want to hear about. Welcome to the Retail X podcast.
Episodes
45 episodes
How to Institute a 4-Day Workweek at a Startup, Featuring Matt Hornbuckle of Stantt
How can a startup with a small, lean team institute a 4-day workweek? Especially one that has customer service at its core? Matt Hornbuckle, co-founder of Stantt, talks about how Stantt implemented a 4-day work week and what needed to change at...
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Episode 44
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22:05
How to Build a Marketplace with Innovation at the Core featuring Trisha Bantigue of Queenly
Everyone knows that markteplaces are hard to build. And apparel marketplaces are even harder. This episode features Trisha Bantigue, CEO of formalwear marketplace
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Episode 43
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27:30
Building the Customer Journey featuring Louisa Schneider of Rowan
How do you craft a customer journey for brick and mortar retail? How do you get to know your customer deeply? How do you build a company with the customer at the center? This episode features
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Episode 42
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37:11
Getting to a Successful Exit Featuring Ju Rhyu of Hero Cosmetics
When you’re just starting up your company, it may feel too early to be thinking about a future potential exit. But how does that exit ultimately happen? This episode features Ju Rhyu, co-founder...
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Episode 41
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30:15
How to Sell a Consumer Product into Costco, Featuring Michelle Razavi of Elavi
How can a startup with only two full-time employees sell their food product into Costco? This episode features Michelle Razavi, Founder & CEO of Elavi...
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Episode 40
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36:02
Building a Brand without VC Dollars Featuring Sarah Kauss of S’well and Amanda Herson of Founder Collective
How do you build a successful large consumer brand without raising any VC dollars? Is VC the best fit for consumer brands? This episode features Sarah Kauss of iconic water bottle brand S’well and Amanda Herson, General Partner at Founder Colle...
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Episode 39
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33:34
How to Sell into Nordstrom, Featuring Niki & Ritika Shamdasani, Co-founders of Sani
Selling into wholesale accounts is a really different proposition than selling through your own DTC channel. This episode features Niki & Ritika Shamdasani of Sani, an apparel brand inspired by South Asian culture. They walk us through how ...
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36:59
How to Raise a Preseed Round, Featuring Ann Wehren Founder & CEO of In-seam
Fundraising at the early stages is hard, and it’s been especially difficult over the last year or so – and even more so for a solo founder. This episode features Ann Wehren o...
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Episode 37
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33:13
Doing Stakeholder Research Pre-Launch, Featuring Ana Rosenstein, CEO of Amante 1530
How do you do customer research before launching your product? This episode features Ann Rosenstein, CEO of Amante 1530, a newly launched aperitif brand. Ana tells us how she developed Amante 1530 from the ground up, based on the research she d...
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Episode 36
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39:08
How Brands Think About Retail Tech Featuring Monica Royer of Monica & Andy
Ever wondered how brands make the decision to implement a particular retail tech product? This episode features Monica Royer, Founder & CEO of Monica & Andy, a baby & children’s apparel brand. Monica gives us an inside look into h...
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Episode 35
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39:55
Summer Hiatus - And Send Your Thoughts!
Hi everyone, a quick Retail X Series update for you. There won’t be any new podcast episodes during the summer. Instead, I’m going to take the summer to plan out and record episodes for the fall. But I’d also like to hear what topics you’re mos...
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1:42
Lessons Learned in Building a Marketplace Featuring Jaclyn Grauman of The Verticale
Marketplaces are notoriously hard to build. This episode features Jaclyn Grauman, CEO of The Verticale, a social shopping platform that enable...
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Episode 34
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32:57
Should All Startups Raise Venture Capital? Featuring Leigh Sevin of Endear
For many founders, raising outside capital, including venture capital, is the accepted path. But is this always the case? This episode features Leigh Sevin, co-founder of
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Episode 33
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31:25
How to Crack the Code on B2B Sales Featuring Casey Golden of Luxlock
Cracking the code on B2B sales, particularly in retail tech, is not easy. This episode features Casey Golden, CEO of Luxlock, an omni-retail experience...
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Episode 32
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44:45
Building an Omnichannel Brand Right from the Beginning, Featuring Vanessa Dawson of Arber
Most new brands today want to be omnichannel right from the beginning. This episode features Vanessa Dawson, Founder & CEO of Arber, a startup that specializes in organic plant biologicals. Vanessa talks about why an omnichannel approach wa...
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Episode 31
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32:04
How to Build a Beverage Brand Featuring Lan Pham of Sang
Building a beverage brand from the ground up? Then this episode is for you. This episode features Lan Pham, who recently founded Sang, a ready-to-...
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Episode 30
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29:20
How to Build an Apparel Brand Featuring Siyana & Andy Huszar
Building an apparel brand, particularly in womenswear, is incredibly challenging. This episode features Siyana and Andy Huszar, who...
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Episode 29
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36:45
How to Successfully Sell on Amazon, Featuring Annalisa DeMarta
Should early-stage founders sell their brands on Amazon? And if so, how? This episode features Annalisa DeMarta, who founded and scaled a children’s brand on Amazon, and is also the fou...
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Episode 28
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24:18
Building B2B Partnerships as an Early-Stage Startup Featuring Trisha Goyal of Break the Love
How do you build successful partnerships with big brands when you’re still a startup? This episode features Trisha Goyal, Founder & CEO of Break the Love, an early-stage marketplace that connects lovers of racket sports with underused space...
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Episode 27
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21:00
Early Stage Fundraising Featuring Anna Palmer of Flybridge Capital
How do you raise a seed round? This episode features VC Anna Palmer, General Partner at Flybridge Capital. Anna talks through how the fundraising...
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Episode 26
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26:19
Building and Scaling a Consumer App Featuring Genevieve Bellaire of Realworld
You might have heard that building a consumer app is hard, and scaling it is even harder. In this episode, Genevieve Bellaire, Founder & CEO of
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Episode 25
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25:21
Fundraising for Early-Stage DTC Startups in the Current Environment, Featuring Sarah Foley
Can DTC companies raise early-stage capital right now? Well, it’s a little more complicated right now. This episode features VC Sarah Foley, Partner at
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Episode 24
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35:08
How to Write a Great Cold Email to an Investor, Featuring Meha Agrawal, Founder & CEO of Silk + Sonder
This bonus episode of the Retail X Series podcast features Meha Agrawal, founder and CEO of Silk + Sonder, a self-care membership experience for...
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Episode 23
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27:52
All You Need to Know About Cap Tables, Featuring Allison Cooper, Corporate Partner at Fenwick &West
"Simplicity is king." Think of this episode of the Retail X Series podcast as your "Cap Tables 101" class. This episode features attorney Allison Cooper, Corporate Partner at
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Episode 22
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36:32
How to Successfully Crowdfund, Featuring Kate Anderson, VP of Revenue Operations at IFundWomen
This episode of the Retail X Series podcast features Kate Anderson, VP of Revenue Operations at IFundWomen. Kate goes through the critical steps founders need to take to successfully run a rewards-based crowdfunding campaign. She al...
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Episode 21
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37:24
