I'm 41 and did a $260M+ ecom exit. Copy my business in 50 steps: 1. Validate demand before spending a dollar on product — survey real people, pre-sell if possible 2. Target 80% gross margins from day one — if the category can't support it, find a different category...or at least a very high AOV category 3. Find a manufacturer with under 8 week lead times if possible — long lead times kill cash flow before you scale 4. Launch subscription only — no one-time purchases, ever 5. Price at premium — $10 signals $10 quality, always 6. Launch with 25-50 influencers in your niche — not 500, not 5 7. Expect 10% to convert profitably — kill the rest fast, no exceptions 8. Whitelist winning influencer creative as paid ads immediately 9. Run 20-40% of total paid budget behind influencer-sourced content 10. Drive all traffic directly to the product page or messaging optimized landing pages — no brand awareness detours 11. Text every new subscriber personally within 24 hours of their first order 12. Build post-purchase onboarding for the first 30 days — retention is won here 13. Survey customers before building any new product — know it won't fail before you make it 14. Don't launch product 2 until product 1 is undeniable — we waited 30 months 15. Hire a CFO before a head of growth — cash visibility is a growth function 16. Forecast cash 120 days out at all times and update it weekly — never get caught by a stockout 17. Build relationships with 3+ manufacturers — COVID taught us this the hard way 18. Don't raise institutional capital — every dollar of growth came from margins 19. Build reusable packaging customers display proudly — free organic content every month 20. Make every team member spend time in customer support — distance from customers creates bad decisions 21. Track your LTV by acquisition channel, not just overall — know which channels actually compound 22. Whitelist your top 3 influencers as paid ads before anything else 23. Build your influencer roster with intention — 50 long term partners over 3 years beats 500 one-offs 24. Never flash discount — every discount teaches your customer to wait 25. Run limited editions and surprise gifts instead of sales 26. Obsess over contribution margin after marketing and fulfilment costs — not just gross margin 27. Build your CAC payback period target before scaling spend — know when you get your money back 28. Hire people who've done the specific thing before — not people who are generally smart 29. Make every new employee start in customer support regardless of their role 30. Speed of decisions beats quality of decisions — always 31. Sell your business from a place of strength not desperation — we had $19M net income before exploring exit 32. Start the exit process earlier than feels necessary 33. Build your buyer universe yourself — don't wait for inbound acquisition interest 34. Assume strategic buyers understand ecom less than you'd expect — you're teaching, not just presenting 35. Get a top M&A advisor early — the fee is worth it 36. Know your EBITDA multiple target before entering conversations 37. Keep the team focused on the business during diligence — distraction kills deals 38. Negotiate earnouts carefully — understand exactly what you're agreeing to 39. Close day will feel quieter than you expect — that's normal 40. Invest the proceeds before you celebrate — the tax bill comes fast 41. Stay on post-acquisition if the terms are right — your equity in the acquirer can compound significantly 42. Document every system before the exit — buyers pay more for businesses that run without you 43. Build your personal brand while building the business — it compounds separately 44. Share what you learn publicly — the best operators are the most generous with knowledge 45. Find a co-founder with complementary skills 46. Protect the culture harder than you protect the margins 47. Obsess over what customers would genuinely miss if you disappeared tomorrow 48. Build something people would miss — not just something people buy 49. The goal isn't the exit. The exit is the byproduct of building something real. 50. Start now. The founders who win are the ones who started before they were ready. Comment "PLAYBOOK" and I'll DM you the full breakdown **Must be following + retweet to receive