Ecomdash is a software company that automates inventory for small businesses selling online. For those who follow the startup scene, the Ecomdash story is a familiar one. Two friends, burned out on the corporate ladder but bursting with creative energy and sharp business acumen think of a great idea, and within a couple of years that great idea is in the pockets of thousands.
Ecomdash CEO Nick Maglosky lays out how it all came to be for StartCharlotte.
In 2012, while still both working fulltime at a large financial institution in Charlotte, Ecomdash cofounders Kevin Loomis and Darrin Kidd thought up an idea for a software that could help streamline inventory automation for online retailers. The ecommerce scene was burgeoning at the time, and Loomis and Kidd saw an opening in the market for something useful to a growing population of online retailers.
In 2013 they posted on an Amazon forum to gauge interest in their inventory management tool. Within a couple of hours they had enough customers to launch the beta test run of the app that would become Ecomdash. Over the next six months, the founders perfected the software based on user feedback and began looking to create a functioning company. They connected with local entrepreneur T.J. Eberle. Eberle had previously founded, ran and exited a technology consulting company called NouvEON. Eberle took an interest in Ecomdash and became the company’s first investor. Maglosky came with the investment as the budding company’s new VP, Operations, and months later became the CEO.
“That was to some extent contingent on me coming with them to protect TJ’s investment,” Maglosky said. “But also, they really needed an ops person; they had no one to raise money, no one to hire people; they didn’t have business insurance. They really just needed to give the company life.”
While the founders focused on product development, Maglosky took on the challenge of setting up the company’s infrastructure creating a budget, hiring people, engaging with an attorney and CPA, setting up payroll, setting a fundraising plan. Maglosky became much more than the traditional CEO for Ecomdash.
“No day is average,” Maglosky said. “I’m over marketing, accounting, finance, legal, investor relations, raising capital, hiring people, HR, general office management. I water plants. I buy pizza for the office. I get coffee whatever needs to be done.”
Transparency is a key driving principle for the company, strengthened by Monday team meetings.
“Our entire team knows how many customers we’re at, how much traffic we’re getting, what our conversion rates are, what our revenues are, etc.” Maglosky said.
“Everyone’s marching to the same beat. Everyone knows where we’re at and why we’re doing what we’re doing.”
As with any startup, much of the job includes thinking big. Maglosky, Loomis and Kidd have “wishlist” strategy meetings based on the premise, “If we had $2 million in the bank today, what would we spend it on?”
Today, Ecomdash isn’t far from their dreams.
The company has raised over $2MM in funding, has 12 full time employees plus a couple of interns. Revenues continue to climb, the company grew by 500% last year and is on pace for a stellar 2016.
“When we had about 10 customers from the beta program, every time we got a new customer I’d send out an email saying, ‘Hey we got a new customer!’,” Maglosky said. “Now we’re getting customers on a daily basis and are in a really great rhythm.”
He chalks a lot of his team’s success up to great internal communication.
Creating a tech company in Charlotte comes with its challenges, Maglosky acknowledges, including fundraising difficulties and relatively few research facilities compared to similar cities. However, as a midsized city slower to the startup scene, hiring talent is easier, he said startups still have the ‘sex appeal’ factor of exciting new ventures, and talented employees become ambassadors for the company.
“Trying to find the right people for the team is always hard,” he said. “Our turnover has been very minimal. A lot of them have been here since the beginning and they want to see how the story’s going to end. We’re processing millions of dollars in sales orders a month for our customers now. It’s pretty cool for all of us to see the growth.”
