Founder & CEO, @emerge_ecom (TSXV: $ECOM.v) 15 years. $1BN GMV. 1M Mistakes. 40 Under 40 ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

Joined March 2009
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The wild story of how we sold SHOP to SHOPIFY in 12 days.. We were short $500K to close an opportunistic acquisition (T2G). Out of nowhere, I was reminded that we had been sitting on these premium SHOP domains that we picked up years back. Naturally, Shopify (NASDAQ: SHOP), the worldโ€™s largest e-commerce tech co., was the fitting buyer. It took about 12 days from reaching out to Harley Finkelstein, @Shopify President to closing the deal. The last minute proceeds from the Shop sale were the final $ needed to close the T2G acquisition, which has since added $1M / year in EBITDA, and has been a big part of our turnaround this year (we recouped our upfront investment in the first 90 days). As far as weโ€™re aware, it was the largest .ca domain sale of the year in Canada. Not huge $ but it was a nice last minute gift (on Xmas eve nonetheless!), and just in time to close our game-changing acquisition. If only it had been a .com instead of a .ca ๐Ÿ˜… Stay scrappy, my friends ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿผ
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Ghassan Halazon retweeted
TODAYโ€™S SHOW // 6.10.26 @mkobach โ€” 12:40pm CT @instajee โ€” 1:45pm CT News & Views Stars Honey hits $50M, raises $24M Pizza Hutโ€™s reading program Lavazzaโ€™s single-serve espresso tablet Reeseโ€™s C4 Whey Protein exists Nike goes all-in on World Cup StockX jumps into live shopping
Europe Discovers Buc-ee's | StockX Launches Live Shopping | 2026 Seguno Discount Report x.com/i/broadcasts/1pJdRRPkWโ€ฆ
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I know people donโ€™t like to hear this, but most founders & management teams have absolutely NO idea what the true limits of their business are. By that I meanโ€ฆ Relentless negotiation and ruthless cash management. Iโ€™d say 95% of the people in business donโ€™t have the stomach for it. Approximately 0% chance of executing the turnaround that we did over the last few years without this mindset. The biggest profit opportunities are usually hiding in places management has already accepted as fixed. Everything (and everyone) is negotiable.
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During an office move years ago, we accidentally discovered a growth hack that sent our sales through the roof.. While setting up phones for the sales team, our caller ID mistakenly appeared as #EMERGE (rather than the consumer brand names we operate) Answer rates skyrocketed.. Turns out, prospective merchants interpreted EMERGE to be short for: EMERGENCY! So they answered. The good news? It wasnโ€™t an emergency. The bad news? It was a sales call. There was usually a moment of relief when they realized nobody was in danger.. just a scrappy little company called EMERGE trying to earn their business. We fixed a lot of things after that office move. The caller ID wasn't one of themย ๐Ÿ˜Ž @EMERGE_ECOM $ECOM.v
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Ok, our Q1 results are out. We just completed 2 full years (8 quarters of YoY revenue growth). 6 consecutive quarters of Adj. EBITDA positive. $4.1M Cash position (up $1.4M YoY)... Q1 is normally the most seasonal Q of the year for us, so it's nice to see positive Adj. EBITDA during "quiet season". Coming up.. Q2 is normally the strongest Q of the year, with peak golf season in action. It will also be our first full Q including Viral Loops (latest acquisition) results. Let's go.. or as the kids say.. LFG Appreciate everyone on the mission with us - you know who you are. @EMERGE_ECOM $ECOM.v
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Lights, Camera, AUDIT! ๐ŸŽฅ๐Ÿฟ๐Ÿ‘€ Our full year 2025 audited financials are in.. Quick highlights below (2025 vs. 2024): โœ… Annual revenueย increased to $27.7M vs. $19.3M, 43% YoY โœ… Gross profit grew to $9.9M vs. $7.9M, 25% YoY. โœ… Adj. EBITDAย improved to $1.5M vs. ($472K), $1.9M YoY โœ… Cash flow from operations grew to $2.8M vs. $129 K โœ… Cash positionย grew to $4.1M vs. $3.1M, a $1M increase YoY Q4 and full year (audited) results were in line with preliminary results (Financials exclude Viral Loops which was acquired in Q1 2026) 2025 was a breakout year for EMERGE. We delivered another year of organic revenue growth, returned to positive Adjusted EBITDA, and generated meaningful cash flowโ€” achieving all three of our core operational objectives. Our Q4 results marked another strong quarter of growth, despite being a seasonal period for T2G. Both our Grocery and Golf verticals performed well, supported by record holiday B2B sales. The acquisition and rapid scaling of hashtag#T2G exceeded all expectations and validates our EMERGE 3.0 playbook. Weโ€™ve carried this momentum into 2026 with the acquisition of Viral Loops, adding a high-margin, recurring revenue stream that further enhances our model. We remain focused on compounding value through profitable growth and disciplined capital allocation. Iโ€™d like to thank our team, Board, and partners for their continued execution and unwavering support ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ Now, time to do it all over again.. @EMERGE_ECOM $ECOM.v
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BORING ALERT - We release our full year audited statements tomorrow (April 29) pre-market. Join us for our FY 2025 and Q4 earnings call tomorrow at 9am ET. (Earnings dial in info in comments) @EMERGE_ECOM $ECOM.v
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Ghassan Halazon retweeted
Damn. Ecom is going through a BULL market haha Looks like big money is seeing ecom as a "safe" investment with the rapid advancements of AI What do we think it sold for? 1B? More?
Unilever is acquiring fast-growing VMS brand Grรผns for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 2023 by Chad Janis, Grรผns has become one of the largest brands in the U.S. Greens Supplement category. The company has also expanded into new categories like immunity, childrenโ€™s nutrition, and pre-workout supplements. Grรผns reached a $500M valuation 11 months ago. Investors in Grรผns include Headline, Selva Ventures, Vanterra Ventures, Sugar Capital, and others. Unilever recently divested its massive food division in order to focus on beauty, wellness, and personal care.
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Ghassan Halazon retweeted
This week has to go down in history as one of the most active weeks in consumer M&A history, with over $3B deployed into 5 transactions in the last 4 days! All of these brands are generating north of $100m in sales, with a good mix of PE and strategic buyers. That's a refreshing mix - 2025 was a good year in consumer M&A with lots of fireworks, but one layer deeper the dollars were completely dominated by large strategic acquirers.
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Our company is growing up and so is the way we are starting to think of the business.. Today, we provided Cash Flow figures for Viral Loops, our recently announced acquisition, based on preliminary (unaudited) results for 2025: Cash Flow:ย $700K Adj. EBITDAย to Cash Flow Conversion(1):ย 86% Based on these results, the $2.3M total purchase price for Viral Loops represents approximately 3.3x cash flow. With cash flow becoming an increasing priority at EMERGE, we wanted to give investors more visibility into Viral Loops' cash flow profile. This level of cash generation demonstrates the quality of the earnings and the asset-light nature of the platform. Viral Loops operates with a lean team, a disciplined marketing budget, and minimal working capital requirements, which has translated into consistent profitability and cash generation. We look forward to integrating Viral Loops and strengthening EMERGE overall. @EMERGE_ECOM $ECOM.v
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Due to strong investor demand, we're upsizing our private placement announced last Wednesday to $2.5M, from $1.8M. We believe investor interest validates the accretive acquisition of Viral Loops, as well as our overall operational execution at EMERGE. The upsized offering is meant to now fund the entire purchase price, including the deferred consideration and transaction costs, allowing the company to more fully retain the cash flow generated by Viral Loops, and in the process, strengthen the balance sheet. Closing is expected on or around March 4. We are grateful for everyone's support. @EMERGE_ECOM
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Next up.. ๐—˜๐— ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—š๐—˜ ๐—ฆ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป๐˜€ ๐——๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ถ๐˜๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—”๐—ฐ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€, ๐—ฎ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐—•๐Ÿฎ๐—• ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐— ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ, ๐—”๐—ป๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐˜€ $๐Ÿญ.๐Ÿด๐—  ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜ƒ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜Œ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ค๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜Œ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ยทย ย ย ย Viral Loops enables businesses to run referral campaigns to acquire and retain customers ยทย ย ย ย ๐—ฉ๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—Ÿ๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜€ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—”$๐Ÿญ.๐Ÿฏ๐—  ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜‚๐—ฒ, ๐Ÿด๐Ÿฒ% ๐—ด๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป, ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—”$๐Ÿด๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฌ๐—ž ๐—”๐—ฑ๐—ท. ๐—˜๐—•๐—œ๐—ง๐——๐—”(๐Ÿญ) (~๐Ÿฒ๐Ÿฎ% ๐—”๐—ฑ๐—ท. ๐—˜๐—•๐—œ๐—ง๐——๐—”(๐Ÿญ) ๐—บ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ป) ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ (๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฎ๐˜‚๐—ฑ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ) ยทย ย ย ย Purchase price of CA$2.3M (~๐Ÿฎ.๐Ÿต๐™ญ ๐˜ผ๐™™๐™Ÿ. ๐™€๐˜ฝ๐™„๐™๐˜ฟ๐˜ผ(1) ๐™ข๐™ช๐™ก๐™ฉ๐™ž๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š) ยทย ย ย ย Inclusive of Viral Loops, ๐—˜๐— ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—š๐—˜โ€™๐˜€ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ผ ๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—บ๐—ฎ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฑ ๐—”๐—ฑ๐—ท. ๐—˜๐—•๐—œ๐—ง๐——๐—”(๐Ÿญ) ๐˜„๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฑ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ป $๐Ÿฎ.๐Ÿฎ๐— , a ~52% increase, based on preliminary (unaudited) results ยทย ย ย ย First B2B acquisition under newly formed โ€œ๐™€๐™ˆ๐™€๐™๐™‚๐™€ ๐˜ฝ2๐˜ฝโ€ vertical, set up to enhance the Companyโ€™s overall financial profile and drive portfolio synergies ยทย ย ย ย The Company announces a concurrent, non-brokered private placement for $1.8M ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฐ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—น ๐—ฅ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ฒ โ€ข ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ผ ๐—ฆ๐˜†๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ด๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐˜€: Viral Loopsโ€™ referral technology is expected to be deployed across EMERGEโ€™s Direct-to-Consumer (โ€œD2Cโ€) Grocery and Golf verticals to drive cost-effective customer acquisitions and โ€œword-of-mouthโ€ campaigns ๐—ผ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ป ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—œ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—น (โ€œ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—œ๐—–โ€) (1) expected to exceed 25% in Year 1 ๐—ผ ๐—›๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต ๐—˜๐—•๐—œ๐—ง๐——๐—”(๐Ÿญ) ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—–๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ต ๐—™๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„ ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป given the asset-light nature of the business model (no inventory) ๐—ผ ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฆ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—œ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—˜๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ป๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด๐˜€ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ถ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜†: Viral Loops generates recurring revenue throughout the year, which is expected to reduce the seasonality inherent in EMERGEโ€™s consumer-facing businesses and enhance overall earnings stability Viral Loops is precisely the type of high-margin, recurring revenue business we aim to acquire โ€” profitable, cash-flow generative, and strategically complementary to our portfolio. At ~2.9x Adj. EBITDA, we believe this transaction reflects disciplined capital allocation with compelling immediate returns. We are impressed with the lean team running the business and their tech-forward AI roadmap that we believe has the potential to both take Viral Loops to the next level, as well as super-charge the overall EMERGE portfolio. (๐˜๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ)
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With these preliminary results, we can now confidently say that EMERGE has delivered on its 3 core operational objectives for 2025, achieving organic revenue growth, positive Adj. EBITDA and positive cash flow for the full year ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿผ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿผ $ECOM.v @EMERGE_ECOM
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๐—•๐—ผ๐˜๐˜๐—ผ๐—บ ๐—Ÿ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† Every capital allocation decision now begins and ends with enhancing profitability, and ultimately cash flow generation, with the goal of reinvesting into future growth and lowering our cost of capital, re-enforcing the flywheel. Worth noting, we will also continue to aim for moderate, positive organic revenue growth, with higher growth expected to be derived from acquisitions, as demonstrated by T2Gโ€™s impact (๐˜Œ๐˜”๐˜Œ๐˜™๐˜Ž๐˜Œ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ~45% ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ 2025 ๐˜ ๐˜›๐˜‹). Over time, our aspiration is to emulate long-term, cash-flow-focused compounders โ€” not โ€œgrowth at all costsโ€ models. (๐˜Œ๐˜น๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜‘๐˜ข๐˜ฏ 2026 ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜“๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ - Re-EMERGE, available on our corporate site) $ECOM.v
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One of the reasons I wrote such a candid shareholder letter was to attract and retain serious, long-term shareholders. Investor messages like this one reinforce a simple belief of mine: ๐—ง๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ธ๐—ฒ ๐—ถ๐˜ ๐—ถ๐˜€.. ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐˜„๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—น๐—น ๐—ถ๐˜! Owning past missteps, sticking with it, and remaining level-headed about the road ahead builds trust. Trust, along with continued execution, is what creates lasting shareholder value. Thank you for your enduring support โค๏ธ $ECOM.v (Link to ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜‘๐˜ข๐˜ฏ 2026 ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐Ÿ‘‡)
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Read the โ€œRe-EMERGEโ€ shareholder letter here: emerge-brands.com

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On the back of the success of the T2G acquisition, future acquisitions must reflect the spirit of that transaction: disciplined pricing that clears our return on invested capital (โ€œROICโ€) hurdle rates, cash-flow positive within the first year, and meaningful synergies with our existing portfolio. During this phase, we are focused on the following verticals: ยท Grocery โ€“ Building around truLOCAL, a formidable brand, and the Canadian market leader in D2C meat and seafood subscription, well positioned to tuck-in various players in the D2C food/ tech space, including direct competitors, adjacent โ€œhealthy/ localโ€ food brands, and corporate gifting (B2B) businesses. ยท Golf โ€“ Our North American golf platform now includes UnderPar, JustGolfStuff, and T2G. Our 3-brand, 400,000 member portfolio is an excellent starting point for bolt-on acquisitions across golf experiences, products, apparel, media and tech. ยท E-commerce Enablement / Digital Servicesโ€“ Our objective is to assemble a suite of B2B apps and tools that can super-charge our portfolio leveraging the latest technologies, including AI, while enhancing margins, cash flow, reducing seasonality, and balancing inventory-heavy businesses with asset-light additions. It is our belief that these verticals have tremendous total addressable markets and potential over the long-run, a mix of organic and inorganic growth. (Extract from my letter to shareholders that can be found on our corporate site, emerge-brands.com) $ECOM.v

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Ghassan Halazon retweeted
.@EMERGE_ECOM (TSXV:ECOM) is sharpening its focus on profitable niche verticals to drive sustainable growth. In this exclusive #Csuite interview, $ECOM CEO Ghassan Halazon breaks down the companyโ€™s evolution into a leaner, more profitable operator: ๐ŸŽฏ Niche Strategy: The company's pivot to focus on high-retention "hero" brands like truLOCAL (premium meats) and UnderPar (golf experiences). ๐ŸคStrategic M&A: How the acquisition of Tee 2 Green deepens their dominance in the golf vertical and aligns with their streamlined playbook. ๐Ÿ’ฐFinancial Discipline: How their tighter operational focus is successfully improving margins, cash flow, and recurring subscription revenue. Watch below to learn more.๐Ÿ‘‡
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๐— ๐˜† ๐—ง๐—ผ๐—ฝ ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ from building, buying, and restructuring e-commerce brands (~$1๐˜‰๐˜• ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜Ž๐˜”๐˜): 1. ๐—ฃ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€ (๐—ฎ ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜). What you pay disproportionately determines whether a deal succeeds. We recouped our cash payment on #T2G within 90 days, as we negotiated just over ~1x EBITDA upfront. ๐Ÿฎ. ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—น๐—น๐—ถ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐˜. Proven, โ€œold schoolโ€ businesses bought at the right price trumps buying the next shiny thing. ๐˜‰๐˜ถ๐˜บ โ€œ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จโ€, ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ โ€œ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜บโ€ ๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ. ๐Ÿฏ. ๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜€ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ณ๐˜‚๐—น ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด. We found greater success going deep into a vertical (vs. broad), allowing us to zone in on every aspect of building an ideal customer experience and sound operating metrics. Extreme focus at @TruLocal reignited growth and materially improved profitability. ๐Ÿฐ. ๐—”๐—น๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ป ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐˜€๐—ถ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ. Find out who your true stars are, incentivize them accordingly, and get out of the way. Conversely, toxic talent has to go FAST (no matter how talented). ๐Ÿฑ. ๐—–๐—ผ๐—ฐ๐—ธ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜†. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆโ€™๐˜ด ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ!ย  Survival alone creates opportunity. When T2G appeared, being alive mattered. ๐Ÿฒ. ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€-๐—ง๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜. 10% downside sensitivity isnโ€™t enough. Model 30%. โ€œOnce-in-a-lifetimeโ€ macro events seem to happen every ~10 years ๐Ÿณ. ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ ๐—™๐—ถ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐˜, ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ. ๐˜–๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ข๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ. Beyond public requirements, focus relentlessly on results. Let the numbers speak, first. ๐Ÿด. ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐˜„๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐—•๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ. Durable e-commerce requires real brand and community. truLOCALโ€™s ~$2,000 CLTV vs. ~$124 CAC reflects a purpose-driven brand with durability. ๐Ÿต. ๐—ฆ๐˜๐—ฎ๐˜† ๐—ฆ๐—ฐ๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐˜†. We questioned every cost, renegotiated every material vendor agreement, and pushed a culture of โ€œ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ท๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต.โ€ We funded the T2G acquisition by selling our dormant #SHOP domains to #Shopify among other legacy assets, and replaced them with a high-quality, cash-generative business. โ€œ๐˜š๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜บโ€ remains a defining characteristic of EMERGE. We guard the Companyโ€™s cash rigorously, and we intend to keep it that way. ๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ. ๐—ฃ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—น๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ ๐— ๐—ผ๐˜€๐˜. In business, and in life, the people you surround yourself matter, even more so when you are climbing seemingly insurmountable mountains. Grateful for everyone who believed in us to embark on and execute this improbable turnaround, which we continue to execute. We have a relentless team, a highly engaged Board and a long-term investor base. Thank you all for your enduring support and commitment โค๏ธ ๐—ช๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ณ๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ? ๐—–๐—ผ๐—บ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐˜ ๐—ฏ๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ผ๐˜„.. ๐˜Œ๐˜น๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ต/ ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜“๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ (๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฌ ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐Ÿ‘‡) @EMERGE_ECOM
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๐—ฅ๐—ฒ-๐—˜๐— ๐—˜๐—ฅ๐—š๐—˜: ๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ผ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ ๐—”๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ Most shareholder letters today read like a stream of PR chest-thumping milestones wrapped in endless layers of โ€œawesomeness.โ€ Not this one. This letter is a candid reflection on what went wrong in our first chapter (ECOM 1.0) as a public company, the difficult but necessary decisions made to execute a multi-year turnaround (ECOM 2.0), and what must go right in our next phase (ECOM 3.0) for EMERGE to truly re-emerge. I also share 10 valuable lessons from my experience building, buying, restructuring and selling e-commerce brands. I spent my holidays writing this letter so if you find value in it, I ask that you take 10 seconds to share it with investors, operators/ teams, and aspiring entrepreneurs. Thank you to everyone who believed in us to execute this multi-year turnaround. The road ahead is a road we can finally see again. Onwards.. @EMERGE_ECOM $ECOM.v (Link to shareholder letter below ๐Ÿ‘‡๐Ÿ‘‡ )
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