248: The Secret to Fixing Businesses like Expedia, Rosetta Stone, & PetMeds | Matt Hulett (aka The Startup Whisperer)

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Background on Matt Hulett of PetMeds:

Matt Hulett is the CEO and President of PetMeds. Matt is a seasoned technology executive leading world-class public and private companies and working closely with Boards and investors in organizations that include Rosetta Stone, RealNetworks, Expedia and many more. He has had multiple turnaround successes as a public company president as well as a private company CEO. He has a proven track record raising venture capital from blue chip firms (Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Allen and Company, Intel Capital) with multiple liquidity events. Also, Matt is regularly featured in technology and business podcasts and media outlets, such as Recode, Forbes, Entrepreneur and others.

Matt is a team igniter who shapes organizational culture and communicates effectively, achieving the balance of financial results and employee success. Being known as an innovator, strategist, and rainmaker, he excels in startup to growth, multi-stage and multi-business model enterprises.

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

  • [1:43] Matt Hulett is the CEO and President of PetMeds, which is an online pet pharmacy in the US. They provide both medication and non-medication products for pets.
  • [2:34] PetMeds is a small cap public company with close to $300 million in revenue. Their ticker symbol on NASDAQ is PETS.
  • [3:55] Matt has a book called Unlock: 5 Questions to Unleash Your Company’s Hidden Power. Its website is StartupWhisperer.com.
  • [6:13] Austin shares an interesting fact about the Rosetta Stone.
  • [7:50] In the early 90s in Seattle, Matt was going to the University of Washington and he had an opportunity to be an intern at a software company. This experience got him into software, and eventually the internet.
  • [15:12] During the early stages of the internet in the 90s, Matt saw great opportunities and he wanted to get involved.
  • [17:16] Matt talks about the first company where he started working in the 90s.
  • [20:55] During the battle between RealNetworks and Microsoft in the 90s, Matt decided to have a career shift.
  • [24:21] Matt shares his story of starting an entertainment company on the internet in the 90s called Atom Entertainment. They focused on short video clips and short video content or byte-sized content.
  • [29:26] Building and scaling his startup entertainment company taught Matt and important lesson in business.
  • [34:48] Firing hundreds of employees en masse in Atom Entertainment, Matt felt depressed and defeated.
  • [37:00] After Atom Entertainment, Matt was offered a job at Expedia.
  • [45:20] Matt talks about his experience in Expedia.
  • [51:11] Going through a divorce and changes in the company were some of the factors that led Matt to leave Expedia.
  • [55:22] After the messy divorce and leaving Expedia, Matt joined a company, which is an eBay seller tool business.
  • [57:57] Running a digital advertising solutions business, Matt encountered problems with scams, fraud, spam, and bots.
  • [1:04:44] Matt learned an important lesson throughout his career.
  • [1:07:15] A friend called Matt to offer him the perfect turnaround business, which is the iconic Rosetta Stone company. This was a satisfying turnaround experience for Matt.
  • [1:13:09] PetMeds is a business that Matt is very comfortable at managing and running.
  • [1:16:00] Focus and being mindful of where you spend your time are just some of the things that Matt emphasizes in order to succeed.

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The Fabulous 4 Questions:

  1. 📖📚 Favorite Books? The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
  2. 🙌😎 Favorite Amazon.com purchase? Solo Stove Bonfire
  3. 🌱💸 Favorite Tool that's GROWN your Business? Northbeam
  4. 💭💡 BIGGEST Challenge keeping your Business from GROWING? New customer acquisition.

Key Point from Our Episode with Matt Hulett:

  • “When I was younger, I’d be like, I don’t know why I’m doing these things, I don’t know if this is the right career move, is this good for my brand, at the end of the day I’m like, who gives a shit. I don’t give a shit, I don’t give a shit about what people think about me, except for my mom, that matters, my wife, my kids, but I don’t give a shit. This is what I want to do, I want to be the half marathoner, I don’t want to run the marathon and I don’t care if you judge me or not, it doesn’t matter to me. It only matters what I want to do.”

Resources Mentioned:

 

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