Client: AeroPress
Position: CEO
AeroPress is a one-of-a-kind coffee press, loved around the world. Smart design and creativity have always been the heart of what they do, and along with their customers, partners, and the World AeroPress Championship, they are now focused on inspiring even more coffee lovers around the world to revolutionize their coffee routine!
Opportunity
The company started in 2004 when the founder, who now has 40 patents, began studying the brewing process with a simple goal in mind: brew a superior cup of coffee.
AeroPress needed a chief executive officer to replace the retiring president and original founder. This was a dream organization, but the business was severely under optimized with zero marketing and limited online sales at the time. As a category-defining product, a top brand in the world of coffee, they had lots of room to grow and add new offerings.
However, since they were operating as a wholesale business, they needed someone who could pivot the company to a D2C model and find opportunities to expand their e-commerce presence. They did not want a leader with a big ego–one who needed recognition and to be in the spotlight–just someone who would be a quiet, steady operator for growth.
Solution
They needed an innovative partner to find the founder’s successor as CEO. They needed someone who had run a profitable business and understood margins/optimizing for profits and growth. Someone who had proven experience running a D2C business at a $50-$100M topline, had directly managed large teams, and understood and respected coffee as well as the brand/story to carry on the legacy. They needed someone focused on numbers, who could reach revenue growth of >20% and keep margins steady for net profit. They did not need someone who would dream too big and try to do too much (big org experience, who would want to burn a lot of money on R&D, or to expand the team too much).
They wanted someone SCRAPPY.
Results
AeroPress didn’t just want any classic CPG CEO. They needed the person who would do the job right and unearth new channels and revenue streams. By partnering with srch for a specific, wartime CEO, AeroPress was able to enter into a new market. Since then they’ve been aggressively eating market share and winning new customers from existing legacy brands.
Since hiring a new CEO, the company has:
Completely revamped both their website and Amazon presence as a key focus.
Experienced explosive growth on all channels, including both DTC segments (Amazon and AeroPress.com), US wholesale (launched nationally at Walmart), and internationally.
In the last 12 months, launched two additional coffee presses and several accessories (previously only launched one new product in five years), with big plans to come in 2024 and 2025 to design, develop, and produce new products.
Expanded internationally in existing markets, seeing huge growth potential in China and India with a population moving from tea to coffee; signed strong distributors for anticipated growth.
Strategically expanded their retail footprint to double down on previous existing retail channels.
Thorough. Thoughtful. Customized. At srch, no two projects are the same. We carefully craft a strategy for SMBs to grow via a talented, ambitious leadership team that focuses on profitability.