Show notes
There’s a lot of stories around how the pandemic has changed and shifted business, our guest today Shaunak Amin is one of the biggest success stories. His startup Stadium was able to quickly pivot and grow a new business SnackMagic entirely during the lockdown and now is at $20M ARR.Shaunak’s Background: Shaunak Amin is co-founder and CEO of STADIUM and SnackMagic. He is an experienced entrepreneur and operator, and has helped launch and scale businesses in different industries.In addition to the entrepreneurial ventures, his career spans financial technology and investment management with senior roles at Novus - a fintech firm based in NYC, SAIL Advisors- a multi-billion dollar family office based out of Hong Kong, ING Investment Management and SEI InvestmentsShaunak also holds a BS from University of Pennsylvania. He started his first business, Tikka Foods, during his Sophomore year at PENN that initially started as a food truck and ultimately evolved into a wholesale delivery service of ready-to-eat, contemporary Indian food.For more on this story, check out this playlist:https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnuoDHNwT1mVI7wPP-kunbjLKgnSY5ZJPIn this episode we discuss:01:31 Shaunak’s early entrepreneurial experiences02:37 Lessons from those days that he’s applied to Stadium and SnackMagic03:27 The business model of Stadium05:23 How Covid pushed Stadium to pivot07:32 Mindset of the company in the early days of the pandemic10:04 The effect on the team size11:05 The decision to fully launch SnackMagic14:08 Research process to validate SnackMagic15:41 Timeline of idea to first order17:50 Why they didn;t choose to be subscription first20:00 How SnackMagic manages SKUs and helps consumers discover new snacks22:31 Getting access to brands24:10 The data around the purchase decisions25:00 How consumers use the platform to try and then buy in bulk26:06 The best sales channel for SnackMagic26:45 The biggest headache for scaling27:26 Network effect of treating it forward28:34 Customer experience tracking29:20 How they weed out weak snacks29:57 The hidden gem of data around what people want to eat31:03 Why Shaunak decided to take a large Series A32:17 The future of SnackMagic33:30 Moving beyond snacksBooks Shaunak recommends:The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. GoldrattInfluence: The Psychology of Persuation by Robert B Cialdini PhDThe Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail by Clayton M. ChristensenBlue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant by W. Chan KimFollow Matt Cohen and Tank Talks here!Podcast production support provided by Agentbee.Agency This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tanktalks.substack.com
