Tim Hargis of Tuft & Needle on Bootstrapping a DTC E-Commerce Brand from $9-$200M in 3-Years and the Importance of Domain Names.

Two weeks ago I interviewed Tim Hargis on the Capital Stack. Tim does a fantastic job of breaking down his experience of helping building a bootstrapped $200M e-commerce business, and the importance of domain names.

You can listen to the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.

Tim Hargis is a serial entrepreneur and lover of all things startup. He was featured among the top 35 Entrepreneurs under 35 by Arizona Republic. He has actively served as a mentor and advisor for many startup companies while supporting young innovators and entrepreneurs through SkySong, ASU’s Scottsdale Innovation Center. 

After the sale of his precious metals franchise company, Tim joined Tuft & Needle (mattresses online) in their early stages and played an integral role helping the company grow from $9m to $200m (while remaining profitable and bootstrapped) by leveraging his expertise and network in the digital marketing arena. In addition, he helped build the wholesale distribution channel for the business by successfully landing and negotiating multiple big-box retail partnerships with companies such as Lowe’s, Crate & Barrel, and Walmart.

What You’ll Learn:

• Tim’s story of how he got started as a serial entrepreneur

• Using Google Analytics to determine where to open locations

• Understanding margins to find value

• Finding a market that can be disrupted

• Finding early adopters

• Iterating a product which results in less returns

• Using Google search terms for marketing

• Using Google Ads

• Decision-making between staying bootstrapped vs. raising venture capital

• Creative marketing – billboard marketing considerations

• Buying a memorable domain name (one word dotcoms)

Favorite Quote:

“When you are bootstrapped, it forces you to be resourceful. It reinforces building good fundamentals. You have to find a space where you have an edge.” - Tim Hargis

Additionally!!

I have exciting news to share: You can now read Ramblings from David Paul in the new Substack app for iPhone.

With the app, you’ll have a dedicated Inbox for my Substack and any others you subscribe to. New posts will never get lost in your email filters, or stuck in spam. Longer posts will never cut-off by your email app. Comments and rich media will all work seamlessly. Overall, it’s a big upgrade to the reading experience.

The Substack app is currently available for iOS. If you don’t have an Apple device, you can join the Android waitlist here.