Brendan Candon. He\u2019s the co-founder and CEO of SidelineSwap, an online marketplace for athletes to buy and sell their sports gear. The company has over 100K users, participated in 500 startups and has raised $1.5M in venture funding.
Famous Five:
Favorite Book? \u2013 Leaders Eat Last
What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Jack Ma
Favorite online tool? \u2014 Slack and Appear
How many hours of sleep do you get?\u2014 6-7
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 Brendan wished he could have been more active in entrepreneurship while in school
Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 \u2013 Nathan introduces Brendan to the show
01:43 \u2013 Brendan was in Episode 359 of The Top
02:33 \u2013 Brendan believes that SidelineSwap will make $5-6M in sales by the end of 2017
02:43 \u2013 SidelineSwap just launched their iOs app
03:28 \u2013 SidelineSwap is where athletes list their items for free
03:35 \u2013 You can list any new or used sports equipment
03:43 \u2013 SidelineSwap takes a 12% cut
03:49 \u2013 Their top KPI is gross merchandise volume
03:53 \u2013 They look at the number of sales they drive to the platform
04:51 \u2013 SidelineSwap currently has 15K sellers and around 23K buyers
05:22 \u2013 There are 2 sides of a marketplace:
05:30 \u2013 SidelineSwap gets supplies from the sellers which drive traffic
05:35 \u2013 There should be a balance between supply and demand
05:45 \u2013 SidelineSwap started by their search to see how many people had sports gear lying around
05:58 \u2013 They went to former college athletes, professionals and others in the industry
06:35 \u2013 They got some highly desirable gear from former known athletes
06:39 \u2013 SidelineSwap started with social media to drive traffic to the website
06:45 \u2013 They now have around 70K Instagram and Facebook followers
07:34 \u2013 SidelineSwap has marketing ads highlighting some gear that can be considered collector\u2019s items
08:25 \u2013 Total transaction volume since the launch of SidelineSwap is around $3.5M
08:35 \u2013 70% happened in just the first 6 months
08:57 \u2013 Brendan thinks that getting the right supplies affects their growth significantly
09:08 \u2013 SidelineSwap also educates the buyers on the items that they\u2019re getting
09:30 \u2013 SidelineSwap tries to avoid jockstraps
09:43 \u2013 There are also different accessories that target the younger buyers
10:28 \u2013 eBay started in a similar way as SidelineSwap
11:00 \u2013 \u201cWe want to be the resource for every sports family\u201d
11:21 \u2013 SidelineSwap wants to build the best possible shopping experience
11:45 \u2013 Average order value is $80
11:56 \u2013 SidelineSwap focuses on the number of gear listed
12:23 \u2013 In May, there were 3K buyers and 1500 sellers
12:48 \u2013 SidelineSwap has recently $1.5M in summer
12:56 \u2013 Total will be around $3.5 including a current negotiation
13:23 \u2013 Brendan shares how he pitched SidelineSwap as a marketplace
13:45 \u2013 Brendan believes there will be a sporting goods marketplace
14:19 \u2013 SidelineSwap is currently growing 30%, month over month
14:43 \u2013 Current team size is 10, some are in Boston and some are in New York
17:10 \u2013 The Famous Five
3 Key Points:
There will be a marketplace for sports equipment in the near future.
For every business, aim to achieve a balance with your supply and demand.
Research where you can find the BEST resources for your supply\u2014this will attract your target market.
Resources Mentioned:
The Top Inbox \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio \u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar \u2013 Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you\u2019re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling \u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Host Gator\xa0\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
Audible\xa0\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives