Selling Expensive Stuff Online

Brydon

I work on 20Skaters, ThreeFortyNine, Ontario Startup Train and a few others. My vanity site is brydon.me.

Founder’s Club recap for our October 10th meeting….

Scott led a discussion about selling expensive, high margin goods online. We seeded the discussion by reviewing MacKenzie & Marr and their model of selling guitars made in China online. It was clear to everyone in the room how important their Dragon’s Den appearance played in marketing. We were fortunate to have Mark in the room who created Folkway Music from the ground up. His behind the scenes insight into this particular business was fascinating. A few more related links:

MacKenzie & Marr Bring Guitar-making Into The 21st Century

Up Close With MacKenzie & Marr’s Handmade, Online-Only Guitars

Where Are They Now: MacKenzie & Marr Guitars

With Dave Estill in the room with us, we moved onto discussing his business and the realities of operating in a heavily policy driven environment. We spent some time brainstorming other potential models to package and sell home energy solutions. We’ll have to set Dave up to speak at a later Founder’s Club about the results of anything he actually tries out.

Lastly I introduced 20skaters, which I recently launched to help people organize private pickup hockey. There was no real love in the room for the domain name, however, consensus seemed positive about the pain we’re solving and the potential of the business.

Next week we’ll be talking about startup communities, leaders and feeders, and how we can lead ours better. If you can join us, register here.