Hey everyone! In today’s episode, I share the mic with Chad Rubin, CEO of ThinkCrucial and Co-Founder of Skubana.
Tune in to hear Chad share how he was able to build something to compete with Netsuite, how he manages to keep his remote employees organized and productive, and how he convinced his parents to create a website for their vacuum cleaner business.
Time-Stamped Show Notes:
- [00:38] Before we jump into today’s interview, please rate, review, and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast!
- [01:35] Chad has been in e-commerce for over a decade.
- [01:54] He studied finance at University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
- [02:05] He convinced his parents to create a website for their vacuum cleaner business.
- [02:20] He was let go during the recession and took that time to learn to code and design.
- [02:35] He then used those skills to help him build his future.
- [03:15] Skubana is an operation platform to run and operate your business.
- [03:25] He still runs Think Crucial, his e-commerce business.
- [04:41] Collectively, his businesses bring in eight figures in revenue.
- [04:48] The e-commerce business has one full-time employee in the U.S. and everything else is remote and outsourced work.
- [06:30] Chad uses Basecamp to manage the e-commerce team.
- [06:55] When they had their own warehouse, they had a mistake/return level of 10%.
- [07:25] Once they outsourced a lot of the work, they found their mistake/return levels got better.
- [08:01] Chad had a business coach who he has farmed out to other employees.
- [09:40] Skubana was about “disruption” and solving his own problems.
- [09:53] Chad couldn’t find one good piece of software to run his business; he had to use a bunch of different software programs and cobble them together. Skubana solved this issue.
- [11:49] Chad’s businesses have yearly subscriptions and they bill on a monthly basis.
- [12:15] Their minimum rate is $1,200/month on average.
- [12:45] They did a seed round of funding and raised nearly $1 million.
- [13:20] After they raised that money, there were able to build something to compete with Netsuite.
- [14:03] Podcasts and webinars have helped them grow their audience and gain new clients.
- [16:40] Think Crucial had two warehouses and the employees were “very difficult to deal with”.
- [17:10] He fired the warehouse manager for trying to unionize the employees.
- [17:14] In retaliation, the manager called OSHA and reported them for some violation.
- [17:40] Chad’s wife told him they needed to lose the warehouse and outsource this particular aspect of the job.
- [19:00] All Skubana account managers are based out of New York and are required to take assessment tests.
- [20:35] Chad started learning how to DJ on the weekends. He bought a turntable and just landed his first gig.
- [22:02] Chad recommends the books Shoe Dog and Letting Go.
Resources from the interview:
- Think Crucial
- Skubana
- Must-read books:
- Chad@skubana.com
- Chad on LinkedIn
- Chad on Instagram
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