What happens when you sell your company, buy it back, and get a second chance to scale it differently?

In this episode of The Next Nova Podcast, Matt Phillips sits down with John Roman of Battle Box to discuss entrepreneurship, e-commerce, subscription growth, live shopping, profitability, AI, and rebuilding a consumer brand for its next stage.

Battle Box started in 2015 as a subscription box focused on outdoor adventure, camping, hiking, and preparedness. Over time, it evolved into a broader brand built around content, community, and membership.

John shares how the company was acquired in 2021 and bought back by its original operators in 2023 at a significant discount. Since then, the team has invested in content, expanded Amazon, tested new channels, and pushed toward a more aggressive growth strategy.

A major focus is Whatnot. John explains how Battle Box tested live shopping, scaled it into a dedicated operation, and turned it into the company’s second-largest revenue channel behind its website. He also breaks down staffing, Shopify integration, fees, and why live shopping changes the customer acquisition equation.

Matt and John also discuss profitable growth, rising CAC, inventory risk, and how cash flow can become dangerous when demand slows.

The episode also explores how Battle Box uses AI internally. John shares how the team automates repetitive administrative work and built an AI agent that creates product detail pages using inventory data, images, SEO elements, metadata, and other product information.

In This Episode

• Selling Battle Box and buying it back
• What changed after reacquiring the business
• Content and community as a competitive moat
• Expanding through Amazon and new channels
• How Whatnot became the second-largest channel
• Building a scalable live-shopping team
• Shopify integration and live-commerce operations
• Growth vs. profitability
• CAC, inventory, and cash-flow risk
• Using AI for internal efficiency
• Building an AI product-page agent
• In-house AI capability vs. outside agencies

Chapters

00:00 Meet John Roman and Battle Box
01:36 Selling the Business
04:56 Buying Battle Box Back
05:40 What Changed After the Buyback
06:41 Finding New Growth Channels
08:59 Why Battle Box Bet on Live Shopping
10:46 Testing Whatnot
12:30 Scaling Live Commerce
14:28 How the Whatnot Operation Works
16:23 Fees and Shopify Integration
18:47 Growth vs. Profitability
19:15 Why Whatnot Changes the CAC Equation
20:24 Profitable Growth vs. Growth at All Costs
23:21 The AI Investment Boom
25:58 How Battle Box Uses AI
27:46 Automating Repetitive Work
27:59 Building an AI Product Page Agent
31:24 Building AI In-House or With an Agency
33:41 What the Next Stage of Battle Box Looks Like

Resources

Battle Box: https://www.battlbox.com/

The Next Nova Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0bb1zyABAchkIw75RpFy?si=b8771f6576804605
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-nova/id6813648765

Connect with John Roman
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-roman/

Vexnova: https://vexnova.com/

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to The Next Nova Podcast and share the episode with another founder, e-commerce operator, or business leader navigating growth.

What does it take to scale a luxury resale business when you have to win both the customer selling the product and the customer buying it?

In this episode of The Next Nova Podcast, Matt Phillips sits down with Andrew Brown of MyGemma to discuss how the company evolved from wholesale diamonds into a curated luxury resale platform focused on handbags and jewelry.

Andrew explains why MyGemma treats sourcing and selling as two distinct sides of the business, how years of SEO content generate leads from consumers looking to sell luxury goods, and why the company distributes inventory across MyGemma.com, more than 20 marketplaces, wholesale channels, and live shopping.

The conversation also explores how MyGemma prices inventory using historical transaction data and current market information, matches products to different marketplace audiences, and uses email, SMS, affiliates, paid search, and physical mail to acquire and retain customers.

On the operations side, Andrew shares how Salesforce became the company’s internal source of truth and how MyGemma is beginning to use Claude and AI to improve team efficiency rather than simply reduce headcount.

Matt and Andrew also discuss seasonality, access to capital, live shopping, product mix, inventory turn, gross margin, customer service, and why distribution matters in luxury resale.

Andrew closes with advice for founders: bootstrap as long as you can and retain as much ownership as possible without limiting the growth of the business.

In This Episode

• From diamond wholesale to luxury resale
• Managing sourcing and selling as two businesses in one
• Using SEO to acquire sellers
• Selling across MyGemma and 20+ marketplaces
• Pricing luxury inventory with market data
• Matching products to marketplace audiences
• Email, SMS, affiliates, paid search, and physical mail
• Repeat customers and retention
• Salesforce as an operational source of truth
• Using Claude and AI to improve efficiency
• Live shopping and reseller partnerships
• Customer service and bootstrapping

Chapters

00:00 Meet Andrew Brown
00:16 What Makes MyGemma Different
01:23 From Diamond Wholesale to Luxury Resale
02:38 Two Businesses in One
03:24 Expanding Distribution Across Marketplaces
04:15 Going Where the Customer Is
05:24 How MyGemma Prices Luxury Inventory
06:48 Moving Slow-Selling Inventory
07:23 The Brands and Products That Sell Fastest
08:10 Customer Acquisition Beyond SEO
09:39 Repeat Customers and Retention
10:11 Curating Inventory by Marketplace
11:03 Building the Salesforce Engine
12:01 Where AI Fits Into Operations
13:51 MyGemma’s Biggest Growth Challenges
15:19 Live Shopping and Reseller Partnerships
16:01 The Three-to-Five-Year Growth Strategy
16:49 What Is Driving Better Performance
17:45 Customer Service and Bootstrapping Advice

Resources

MyGemma: https://mygemma.com/

The Next Nova Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0bb1zyABAchkIw75RpFy?si=b8771f6576804605
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-nova/id6813648765

Vexnova: https://vexnova.com/

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to The Next Nova Podcast and share the episode with another founder or business leader working to scale.

What happens when a 97-year-old company has to rethink its brand, marketing, technology, and customer experience for the digital age?

In this episode of The Next Nova Podcast, Matt Phillips sits down with Leslie Leifer, Chief Marketing Officer at Gallery Collection, to discuss modernizing an established business while preserving what makes it unique.

After 18 years at 1-800-Flowers, Leslie joined Gallery Collection and saw the business differently: not simply as B2B, but as a company operating in a B2B world with a meaningful B2C component. That shift changed how she thought about customers, products, marketing, and use cases.

Leslie explains how Gallery Collection balances traditional print with digital marketing, using data analysis, holdback testing, sampling, and site-level analysis to measure performance. She also shares how the company is using AI for employee efficiency, creative review, development, coding, customer service, and information analysis.

The conversation also explores rebranding a 97-year-old company, moving beyond the idea of being only a greeting card business, and focusing on premium printed products that help customers communicate their own brands and values.

Matt and Leslie discuss customer-focused marketing, StoryBrand principles, replatforming a homegrown website, deciding what should remain custom, and balancing short-term improvements with long-term transformation.

Finally, Leslie shares advice for experienced leaders who feel stuck and explains why career growth sometimes requires taking a difficult step toward something new.

In This Episode

• B2B in a B2C world
• Print vs. digital marketing
• Measuring print performance
• How Gallery Collection uses AI
• Why physical communication still matters
• Rebranding a 97-year-old company
• Customer-focused marketing
• StoryBrand principles
• Replatforming a homegrown website
• Knowing what should stay custom
• Advice for leaders feeling stuck

Chapters

00:00 Meet Leslie Leifer and Gallery Collection
01:12 Leaving 1-800-Flowers After 18 Years
02:15 B2B in a B2C World
03:38 Understanding Customers Through Use Cases
04:26 How Gallery Collection Acquires Customers
06:01 Balancing Print and Digital Marketing
07:27 Measuring Print Marketing Performance
08:38 Prospecting vs. Customer Marketing
09:03 How Gallery Collection Uses AI
11:20 Why Physical Connections Still Matter
13:12 Changing Customer Communication
14:23 Rebranding a 97-Year-Old Company
16:04 Putting the Customer at the Center
17:44 The Challenge of Replatforming the Website
19:17 What Leslie Looks for in a New Platform
20:33 Why Not Everything Needs to Be Custom
21:30 Slowing Down to Speed Up
22:23 Advice for Leaders Feeling Stuck
24:08 Where to Find Gallery Collection

Resources

The Next Nova Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3T0bb1zyABAchkIw75RpFy?si=b8771f6576804605
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-next-nova/id6813648765

Connect with Leslie Leifer
Instagram: [INSERT LESLIE/GALLERY COLLECTION INSTAGRAM]
LinkedIn: [INSERT LESLIE LINKEDIN]

Vexnova: https://vexnova.com/

If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe to The Next Nova Podcast and share the episode with a leader or marketer navigating rebranding, technology, or change.