Know Your Ship

eHub
  • 5.0 (7)
  • Entrepreneurship
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Sharing stories of the e-commerce shippers, leaders, and entrepreneurs of the world. Powered by ehub.com.

  1. 5d ago

    From 10 Failed Startups to a $1.2M Shoe Brand

    Jose Montoya co-founded Otishi, a gym shoe brand that's grown from a $60K Kickstarter launch to $1.2M in annual revenue in just three years. Jose joins this episode of Know Your Ship to share how Otishi found its breakout moment through a single viral TikTok video, and what it took to turn that moment into a sustainable, growing brand. Jose breaks down the e-commerce fundamentals behind Otishi's growth: finding product-market fit, building manufacturing relationships in China and Peru, and dividing responsibilities across a three-person founding team based on each person's strengths. He also shares how a previous e-commerce venture built with his wife taught him one of the most important lessons of his career: knowing when to step back is just as valuable as knowing when to build, and how that lesson continues to shape the way he leads Otishi today.Key Discussion Markers[00:00] — Jose's mom asks if it's too late to go back to engineering[00:23] — Growing up with immigrant parents and a life-changing trip back to Peru[02:16] — Getting caught plagiarizing in high school, and the mindset shift that followed[07:07] — Failing calculus twice and leaving engineering behind[08:39] — Finding BYU's Rollins Center and the entrepreneurship community[12:16] — The plan to start 11 businesses, knowing 9 out of 10 fail[16:12] — The failed products: AirPod cases, lamps, baby blankets, and Magic: The Gathering[19:35] — Telling his dad he was leaving engineering for good[21:32] — Landing on baby shoes and hitting $200K in year one with his wife[25:46] — The challenges of building a business with a spouse[29:24] — Discovering "founder-market fit" and stepping back from the baby shoe brand[33:10] — Meeting his Otishi co-founders back at BYU[39:07] — The Photoshopped prototype that got 20 pre-orders[40:13] — The TikTok video that found Otishi's real market: gym-goers[44:16] — How Otishi got its name[52:29] — Otishi's growth: $60K on Kickstarter, to $910K, to $1.2M in three years[1:01:15] — Jose's advice to aspiring entrepreneurs📦 ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIPKnow Your Ship features conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders behind growing companies. Presented by eHub, a platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics.Optimize your shipping logistics: https://www.ehub.com👟 WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT OTISHIWebsite: https://otishi.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearotishi/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/otishi/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WearOtishi X: https://x.com/wearotishi Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Otishiwear/ Jose's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kingmonty/ Jose’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itskingmonty/

  2. Jul 17

    Why George Washington Warned Us About Partisanship

    Is modern education teaching kids how to think, or what to think? In this founder story, Balance of Nature CEO and Liberty Village founder Lex Howard explains why he is building a business with a massive physical purpose: constructing a 140-acre, full-scale replica of 1776 America to combat division and political partisanship.While Lex usually manages the complex global logistics, supply chain, and e-commerce shipping demands of running Balance of Nature, his true passion project is building a physical space designed to instill core historical values and teach the rising generation how to step into the crucial role of active citizenship. He shares how his childhood in Saint Petersburg, Russia, shaped his perspective on freedom, and why teaching true history—rather than memorizing dates and times—is the ultimate antidote to modern indoctrination.Key Discussion Markers[00:00] — Welcome to Know Your Ship: celebrating America's 250th anniversary [00:45] — Lex's childhood in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and a defining moment with his father [02:26] — Becoming "a product of your environment" and building Balance of Nature in New York City [05:07] — What Liberty Village is: 21 full-scale, 18th-century buildings on 140 acres [06:24] — Bringing Monticello, Mount Vernon, and Saint John's Church to life [08:00] — The letters between John and Abigail Adams, and the stories of Liberty Village [09:05] — Elizabeth Powell's influence and the "Office of Citizenship" [13:21] — "Edutainment": docents in character, teaching values instead of dates [14:09] — The Benedict Arnold story and why history is being lost on younger generations [17:18] — Why founders can't be replaced, and the challenge of funding a vision [19:24] — Visiting Liberty Village in Saint George, Utah [22:00] — United We Pledge, the Give Me Liberty program, and how to get involved 📦 ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIPKnow Your Ship features conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders behind growing companies. Presented by eHub, a platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics.Optimize your shipping logistics: https://www.ehub.com🇺🇸 WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LIBERTY VILLAGEWebsite: http://libertyvillage.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liberty_village_utah/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/libertyvillageutah/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@LibertyVillageUtah Lex's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lex-howard-4795732a/

  3. Jul 10

    Inside Balance of Nature's Path to Growth

    Some companies chase trends. Balance of Nature was built on the opposite bet — that people already knew what they needed to do, they just needed someone to make it possible. Lex Howard, CEO and owner of Balance of Nature, and Cedric Ebisch, Executive Vice President, unpack how they took that founding bet and built a company disciplined enough to scale it nationally, long after face-to-face selling alone could no longer support the company's growth, even as the founder himself pushed back on the shift. Lex and Cedric trace the shift from one doctor's direct relationships with his patients to a business run on radio ads, weekly staff meetings, and tracked statistics rather than instinct. They talk through the calculated risk of spinning off their shipping and warehousing arm into an independent company, ShipIt, without losing the culture that built the original brand, and what it actually takes to protect a founder's values as the business and the decisions get bigger.Key Discussion Markers [00:00] — Why the founder's continued presence still shapes the company [01:17] — The origin story: a chiropractor, Pavlov University, and lifestyle disease prevention [04:59] — Formulating 31 fruits and vegetables into a daily ratio [06:22] — From loyal patients to radio advertising: moving beyond face-to-face [09:06] — Weekly staff meetings and tracking statistics as a foundation for growth [11:11] — Building ownership among employees without micromanaging [12:30] — How the company's culture is shaped by who it hires [15:30] — Using data to manage a period of rapid growth [17:15] — The eShip spin-off and how shared core values carried over [22:23] — Letting employees go while preserving a sense of family [23:29] — What Lex and Cedric each found most meaningful in building the company📦 ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIP Know Your Ship features conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders behind growing companies. Presented by eHub, a platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics.Optimize your shipping logistics: https://www.ehub.com🌱 WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BALANCE OF NATUREWebsite: https://balanceofnature.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balanceofnature/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BalanceofNature/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@balanceofnature YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BalanceOfNatureSupplements LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/balanceofnature/ Lex’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lex-howard-4795732a/ Cedric’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cedric-ebisch-2967591b3/

  4. Jun 25

    Why Early Deliveries Are Worse Than Late Ones

    Why is fast shipping actually hurting your brand? Geoff Tamman (CFO & Operations at Shipium) breaks down why delivery predictability builds significantly more long-term value than raw speed in e-commerce shipping. Discover how nine seasons of commercial fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska, shaped the risk management, team alignment, and operational discipline needed to run a high-growth logistics technology company. In this builder story, we break down Geoff’s unique career transition from auditing Boeing’s 777 aircraft production line to managing tight capital allocation at an international relief nonprofit to spending 12 years inside Amazon’s hyper-growth culture of customer obsession. We deep-dive into a practical framework for balancing operational excellence with cross-functional collaboration, prioritizing internal team culture, and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to protect customer trust during rapid technology-driven growth. Key Discussion Markers [00:00] — Why an early delivery can be just as damaging to customer trust as a late one. [13:21] — Discovering accounting wasn't a back-office function, but a way to actually understand a business. [16:04] — Auditing Boeing's 777 production line and learning to see the full supply chain. [19:16] — Two years at a nonprofit, and what capital allocation looks like with no revenue stream. [22:54] — 12 years at Amazon: customer obsession, ownership, and a culture that's "always on." [31:07] — What it means to be a "finance partner" to a VP, and why that role shaped his leadership style. [36:38] — Why he left Amazon to help build something different, not just a faster version of what already existed. [43:31] — What sets Shipium apart: pairing technology with people who actually understand the customer's problem. [1:11:54] — Why Amazon's real innovation was training customers to expect predictability, not just speed. [1:17:18] — Where Shipium is headed in 2026 and 2027, and the role AI plays in the next era of supply chain. 🎧 WANT MORE FROM GEOFF? Connect with Geoff Tamman and learn more about Shipium: https://www.shipium.com📦 ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIP: Know Your Ship features raw conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders who turned "nothing" into "something." Hosted by eHub, the leading platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics. Optimize your shipping logistics: https://www.ehub.comShipium website: https://www.shipium.com/ Shipium LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/shipium/ Geoff Tamman's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geofftamman/

  5. Jun 18

    How a 12-Year Promise Breaks Generational Poverty

    In this episode of Know Your Ship, we return with the second edition of eHub Gives a Ship — our segment highlighting individuals and organizations working to do good in the world and create meaningful community impact.Host Frank Dolce, alongside co-host Preston Cochrane, sits down with Kelsey Lewis, Executive Director of Friends of the Children Utah. Kelsey breaks down how she built a fully operational Utah chapter from the ground up — launching in March of 2020, scaling to serve 62 youth, and managing a $1.6 million annual operating budget with a lean, high-performing team. They dig into what it actually takes to run a relationship-based nonprofit at scale, from building a referral network and managing staff retention, to sustaining a model that pairs at-risk youth with full-time paid professional mentors for 12 years straight.The data behind the model speaks for itself. Every dollar invested in Friends of the Children returns seven dollars in community savings. 85% of children in the program graduate from high school, 92% avoid the juvenile justice system, and 93% avoid teen parenting — outcomes that prove this is not just a social service but a strategic, long-term investment in breaking generational cycles of poverty. This episode is for anyone interested in nonprofit leadership, community impact, and organizations that are proving that betting on people early is one of the smartest investments a community can make.Powered by www.ehub.com Connect with us: linktr.ee/knowyourshipConnect with Kelsey Lewis: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-lewis-7473419/ Connect with Friends of the Children Utah:Website: https://www.friendsutah.org Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/friendsutah/ YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@friendsutah LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/friendsutah/

  6. Jun 11

    How Lissy Skincare Hit $1M on TikTok Shop

    This e-commerce founder story reveals how Lissy Skincare built a 7-figure brand with zero paid ads. Learn the realities of custom formulation logistics, organic influencer marketing, and transitioning from vibes-based marketing to data-driven business leadership when building a business from scratch.A million dollars in revenue. No ads. No investors. No formal business plan. Just a product that actually worked and an audience that needed it. Lissy Kotter, founder of Lissy Skincare, breaks down exactly how she built a thriving skincare brand from the ground up—and what she had to unlearn once the organic TikTok Shop era ended.In this clear breakdown, we go deep into the operational realities of launching a manufacturing brand without a traditional venture capital playbook. We analyze how Lissy identified an underserved ingredient (mandelic acid), navigated the scary transition from private label to custom contract manufacturing, scaled a highly localized affiliate network, and rode the TikTok viral wave to her first million before building a sustainable, metrics-driven company structure.Key Discussion Markers [00:00] — Hitting $1M with zero paid ads: the TikTok Shop era that changed everything. [01:54] — From one semester of college to esthetician school: how Lissy found her path. [05:09] — Why she became an esthetician: acne, self-employment, and checking every box. [10:46] — Building a community on Instagram by being honest about still struggling with acne. [13:18] — The failed class that accidentally became a $20K course business. [15:23] — Esthetician apparel, scarcity drops, and her first six-figure side hustle. [24:17] — Discovering mandelic acid and why it cleared her skin when nothing else did. [32:05] — Private label to custom formulation: how she built her product line without going into debt. [53:17] — Gut instinct vs. data: transitioning from "vibes-based" to metrics-driven decision making. [1:06:28] — The TikTok Shop bubble, influencer marketing, and what sustainable growth actually looks like.🎧 WANT MORE FROM LISSY? Follow Lissy Skincare on Instagram and TikTok to see the products, the before and afters, and the brand in action: https://lissyskincare.com/ 📦 ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIP: Know Your Ship features raw conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders who turned "nothing" into "something". Hosted by eHub, the leading platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics.Optimize your shipping logistics: https://www.ehub.comLissy Skincare website: https://lissyskincare.com/ Lissy Skincare Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lissyskincare/ Lissy Skincare YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LissySkincare Lissy Skincare TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lissyskincare Lissy’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyssa-kotter-b03b79201/ Lissy’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lissykotter/

  7. Jun 4

    The Strategy Behind Natural Life’s Hyper-Growth

    How do you scale a creative passion into a global, digital-first retail brand? The executive staff at Natural Life breaks down the backend mechanics, operational adjustments, and organizational culture required to sustain hyper-growth. For founders managing rapid digital expansion, this case study details how to align internal talent and protect brand integrity.In this customer story panel, we deep-dive into the logistics of an e-commerce infrastructure that has grown by leaps and bounds over the last five years. We break down the realities of transitioning from a rigid corporate environment to managing over 6,000 SKUs, onboarding talent outside core retail hubs, and navigating supply chain forecasting.Key Discussion Markers00:00:15 — Why traditional corporate structures restrict high-velocity startup culture.00:03:48 — Marketing Operations: Getting the right digital assets to the right people.00:07:02 — The Six-Month Test: Building processes that function without the founder.00:15:59 — Navigating international tariff uncertainties and legacy inventory stress.00:21:14 — Why typical corporate communication tools fail fast-moving e-commerce teams.00:32:37 — Sourcing and fulfillment: Aligning state-of-the-art warehouse teams with brand mission.🎧 WANT THE FULL STRATEGY? Watch our primary interview with Natural Life Founder & CEO Patti Hughes to see how she built a retail powerhouse by rejecting traditional logic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2a8-hyNFpk 📦 ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIP: Know Your Ship features raw conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders who turned "nothing" into "something". Hosted by eHub, the leading platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics.Natural Life website: https://www.naturallife.com Optimize your shipping logistics: https://www.ehub.com

  8. May 28

    Building Natural Life: How to Scale a Soulful DTC Brand

    How do you scale a creative passion from a kitchen table into a global, digital-first retail brand? Patti Hughes, Founder and CEO at Natural Life, explains how rejecting traditional retail logic and prioritizing an authentic, purpose-driven connection with consumers allowed her team to build a powerhouse business. For founders looking to navigate the competitive consumer goods market, this episode details how to transform unique product storytelling into long-term enterprise value and passionate customer loyalty. In this founder story, we break down Patti’s transition from a rigid corporate sales role at Hallmark to managing a tech-enabled e-commerce infrastructure with over 6,000 SKUs. We deep-dive into the "Live Happy" philosophy—a practical framework for balancing lean inventory management with creative risk-taking, prioritizing internal organizational culture, and protecting brand integrity during rapid digital expansion. Inside the Discussion: 00:00:15 – Corporate Structure: Why traditional titles restrict startup culture. 00:03:06 – Creative Spaces: Transforming physical offices into design inspiration rooms. 00:08:45 – Strategic Transition: Leaving a stable career to bootstrap a creative startup. 00:18:07 – Mission & Alignment: Formulating a brand mantra focused on the little things. 00:25:51 – Operational Friction: Navigating supply chain mishaps, inventory expirations, and barcode errors. 00:28:25 – Talent Stewardship: Cultivating internal community and growing leaders from within. 00:42:35 – Adaptive Evolution: Moving from wholesale showrooms to a 95% DTC digital platform. 00:45:02 – Experiential Retail: The architectural and land zoning vision for a massive community hub. 00:54:15 – Customer Centricity: Utilizing support inbox reviews to write high-converting copy. 01:12:06 – Purpose-Driven Products: How word-of-mouth adoption from chemo patients elevated a core accessory. 01:21:56 – Social Proof Pipelines: Using community analytics and engagement to choose new releases. 01:45:40 – Scaling Margins: The gutsy operational decision to remove sales reps and halt massive catalogs. ABOUT KNOW YOUR SHIP: Know Your Ship features conversations with the builders, founders, and leaders who turned "nothing" into "something." Hosted by eHub, the leading platform for e-commerce shipping and logistics. Connect with us: Optimize your shipping: https://www.ehub.com More episodes: https://linktr.ee/knowyourship Connect with Patti & Natural Life: Natural Life Website: https://www.naturallife.com Natural Life Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naturallife Natural Life YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NaturalLifeHappy Natural Life X: https://x.com/Natural_Life Natural Life LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/natural-life/ Patti’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patti-hughes-64b6351a/ Patti’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naturallifepatti/?hl=en

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Sharing stories of the e-commerce shippers, leaders, and entrepreneurs of the world. Powered by ehub.com.

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  • Creator
    eHub
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    97
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © eHub
  • Show Website
    Know Your Ship