Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos (Part 4)

Jason Robbins: Eventually, I took a little bit of what I knew from the promotional products business and a little bit of what I knew from catalogs and the website I wanted to build, and I started ePromos.com. That was a business that was designed to create a website with merchandise and start finding the new generation customer who would appreciate the ability to shop and look at products on the web instead of having to get a catalog or have a salesperson visit you. I knew the web was going to popular. I was able to develop a site that people would eventually want to come to.

Sramana Mitra: What year did you start ePromos?

Jason Robbins: That was around 1997 to 1998.

Sramana Mitra: What else that was similar or compatible in the industry at that time? Were there other things you were looking at?

Jason Robbins: I really was lost in terms of what I wanted to do. I knew the promo business. I knew that a lot of people were starting Internet companies or things related to the Internet. I didn’t know media so I did not start any of that stuff. I was going to do the Internet part of what I knew. So I did. I knew it wasn’t going to be crazy multiple kind of business or something like WhatsApp where you get bought for a billion dollars. I knew the business and I knew I was catching a general macro trend. I then raised some money.

Sramana Mitra: You said you raised money? This was bubble time.

Jason Robbins: Pre-bubble.

Sramana Mitra: You were based in New York?

Jason Robbins: Yes.

Sramana Mitra: What did you tell the investors that you were going to do with this money?

Jason Robbins: Isn’t it amazing if you think about it today what I was thinking of doing with the $1.2 million I raised? You had to hire people because you had to get more products on the website. You had to get branding and exposure. If you really did the math knowing what we know today, it was never going to be enough to build the brand.

A friend of mine who had built a brand before said,  “It could cost upwards of $100 million to build a brand.” He had a food product. Now, it’s on the shelf and it’s been on the shelf for a long time. It’s a well-known brand. I don’t know what we were thinking—that we could hire people, put products on the website, and then suddenly people would just come. It’s an obvious lesson. In a bubble, you don’t think about these things.

Sramana Mitra: What products were you thinking about putting online? You were going to do custom merchandise, right?

Jason Robbins: Yes, but remember the products I get are from that supplier network that my brother-in-law and I were in business for a year. Today, you wanted to get 1M/1M stress balls. I wouldn’t have the warehouse that had that in every color, shape, and size. I have to go to my network of suppliers who carry them.

This segment is part 4 in the series : Buying Control Back from VCs: Jason Robbins, CEO of ePromos
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