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Top 5 Ways to Crash an Ecommerce Business
Sean Percival@percival
Venture Partner, 500 Startups
Passion Out Strips Experience1
Pro Tips
• Constantly be hiring smarter people than you• Know your arrogance is going to be expensive• Get some serious industry BFFs
Shipping Fails2
Customer Happiness Over Time
Order Placed
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4
-
-- H
ap
pin
ess
---
Stoked
Concerned
Pissed
You Ruined Christmas
Happy
Out for blood
We both said things we didn’t mean
Pro Tips
• Go to a 3PL ASAP• Fight with your vendors more• Set good expectations with customers• It’s worth discounting when you screw up
Margins You Can’t Fix3
Pro Tips
• Test upfront (then test more) • Avoid discounting• Make the tough price switches early• Find secret unsexy revenue
Fundraising Screw Ups4
Pro Tips
• Ecom words to never use with a VC:• Subscription commerce (or the trend of the moment)!• Lifestyle brand!• Curated artisanal experience!• Celebrity endorsement!• It’s Pinterest for…..!
• Never go out in Q4• Know your numbers
You Suck at Marketing5
Pro Tips
• You have try 10 things to get 1 that works• Learn to ankle bite the big dogs• Assume 100% of sales come on a 2nd visit
Thank You