Operators

The episode contains genuine operational density in patches - particularly around wholesale feedback loops, the 3-year decision lag in retail line reviews, and store-level economics - but is significantly diluted by banter, jokes, and long tangential stories that add no learnable content for operators.

“we had this line review in uh, probably May of 2024 and that they were going to use that to decide what they put on the shelf in 2025... We made a decision in 2024 that we won't get to undo until 2027. So just think about that. That's a three year period.”

“if you set something in Target and it's in, let's say you have five SKUs and 500 doors every day, you have 2,500 data points of how things are going. And so you get to statistically significant samples, like, really quick, like in a week”

A few genuinely counterintuitive angles - the asymmetry between price increases and decreases in wholesale, Walmart deploying AI negotiation agents, and the idea that wholesale greed-for-growth is invisible until catastrophic - but the broader channel-fit framework and sell-through vs. sell-in distinction are well-trodden retail wisdom.

“when you get greedy for growth in wholesale, you don't know you're over your skis until you're really in trouble”

“Walmart's already implemented a system where they're doing more, some of their negotiations with an AI agent, you're not negotiating with your buyer, you're actually talking with an A.I. agent.”

Both guests are genuine practitioners at meaningful scale: Mike Beckham built Simple Modern to 10,000+ wholesale doors across major mass retailers from a standing start, and Curtis built Portland Leather Goods from 1 to 16 owned stores while running his own manufacturing - real operators, not thought leaders.

“we had three stores. Right now we have 16. Within five years, we plan to have 100 to 120.”

“we probably have, you know, I don't even know. I mean definitely over 10,000 doors that we're in and uh, we probably have a hundred SKUs that we sell into wholesale.”

The episode is well-stocked with named numbers: 29% store EBITDA on $1.2M first-store revenue, $3.5M/year for the second store, a $9M Sam's Club commitment from under $100K lifetime sales, a $1M inventory buyback, and an explicitly dated 3-year Target decision cycle - concrete enough to be genuinely actionable.

“it made, you know, brought in, like, $1.2 million. What was the profit? 29%.”

“That store makes three and a half million dollars a year right now”

The host constructs a useful comparative debate structure and lands some sharp follow-ups (pressing on EBITDA, sell-through failure modes, lease timelines), but routinely allows long tangential monologues and banter to run uninterrupted without redirecting toward operator-relevant substance.

“Can you give me the reverse then if it does not go well? So you get feedback right away then. And like this is the whole agency thing. What do you do?”

“Same, Same EBITDA at the store level”