🏰 Everyday Empires: From a Tweet to Tidalwave - How Matt Built a Thriving "Operations House"
Matt’s remarkable journey building Tidalwave: From pandemic-driven pivot to a serendipitous Twitter connection that changed everything
Welcome back to Everyday Empires, your weekly interview series spotlighting the real-life journeys of everyday founders.
I’ve been blown away by the reception I’ve received since sending issue 1 last week. In fact, today, one week in, we’ve crossed 100 subscribers! Many thanks to you all for reading, liking, and sharing. I’m thrilled to have y’all here!
Today, we set our sights on Matt, the force behind Tidalwave 🌊.
Emerging from the aftermath of COVID, Matt transformed challenge into opportunity. What began as an effort to subsidize costs for his brand soon evolved into Tidalwave, an "operations house" that aids brands in everything from product creation and warehousing/fulfillment to brand management. Within a relatively short period, this venture wasn't just about survival; it was thriving and expanding at a rapid pace.
But how did Matt, initially set back by unforeseen challenges, pivot and establish a new, flourishing venture?
Let’s dive into the conversation (6 min read):
Start us off with a brief description of your business: what is Tidalwave, who is it for, and what sparked the idea?
Succinctly put, Tidalwave is an "operations house". We help brands and creators bring their ideas to life through thoughtful operations management. A few avenues we handle:
Product creation: we do large scale screen printing for apparel, embellishment for other garments/wearables, and laser engraving.
Warehousing/fulfillment: We ship tens of thousands of orders a month for about 25 clients
Marketing/brand management: For select clients (mainly online creators like Youtubers), we handle their ecommerce operation A to Z. Website management, design, marketing, strategy, etc.
Can you share what your mindset was like before launching Tidalwave? Were you considering other business ideas?
Tidalwave was launched out of necessity. COVID hit our brand pretty hard, and we had excess warehouse space, and excess bandwidth on our printing equipment. We began offering warehousing + printing services as a way to subsidize costs, but it ended up becoming a standalone business over time.
💡Note from Ken: The brand Matt mentions is Shelly Cove, where he sells a variety of printed t-shirts, apparel, and accessories. His experience with Shelly Cove meant he was well-versed in logistics, printing, and fulfillment, enabling him to swiftly make the pivot to an “operations house.”
At what point did you feel confident that Tidalwave was a promising idea worth pursuing? Was there a specific “aha” moment or sign that you were onto something?
About 6 months in, we landed a client that would triple our monthly revenue (due to them utilizing both print+fulfillment). At that point, we had a couple warehouse employees splitting their time between Shelly Cove (my brand) and Tidalwave. This allowed us to transition them to full-time Tidalwave, and certainly instilled confidence that we could take this thing farther than we initially thought.
Can you outline the main steps you took to get Tidalwave off the ground and the timeline from decision to launch or first customer?
Ha, this is a weird answer, but my first customer came from a Twitter reply. We had considered offering 3PL services but never fleshed out a plan. I saw a peer on Twitter was looking for a 3PL, and decided to answer and say that we could do it. After 1 call, he said yes and the deal was done. Our first client - totally lucky. I think the lack of planning worked in our favor to a degree. Down and dirty gaining clients from the Twitter timeline.
💡Note from Ken: 3PL stands for “third-party logistics.” 3PL businesses house a brand’s inventory, then pick, pack, and ship products to their customers as orders come in. Finding a 3PL you trust is a big decision and can be quite challenging. Having experienced this first-hand, it makes this Twitter story from Matt even more compelling.
What does a typical day look like for you at Tidalwave, and how do you manage work-life balance?
No day is the same, but my time is split between managing long term vision (6+ month decisions), managing people (hiring + meetings with manager level staff), or improving current processes - which usually means me being on the warehouse floor packing orders, and looking for things to improve. Work life has gotten better. I have 2 kids, and my day usually ends a little after 5, where I rarely have to be plugged in until 9 the next morning. For years this was not the case, so I am thankful this has become my new reality.
How long has Tidalwave been live? How do you envision success, and what significant milestones are on the horizon?
2.5 years now. Success to me is building a healthy, profitable business, where my team enjoys work, and we provide top notch service to our clients. Revenue is just a number, as is headcount. By focusing on our main objectives, those 2 (I call them vanity metrics) should follow. Internal business health comes first.
Is there anything keeping you up at night at Tidalwave? Any big hurdles or concerns?
As our business grows, so does the severity of any bad decision I make. The ripple effect could be dozens of people's livelihoods, and expensive leases/equipment that me and my business partner are on the hook for. More money, more problems as they say. It's not one thing in particular, just a healthy amount of reservation I think. Head on a swivel as we are currently moving upwards.
Would you be comfortable sharing any key financial indicators or customer metrics that underscore Tidalwave’s performance?
Without sharing revenue numbers, I can say that we have grown profitably about 5x year over year, with 30+ people on payroll. We have had a good year, which in am very thankful for. I am confident that we can continue to grow, but also know that the rate of growth is generally unsustainable. So this next year will likely not be as rapid.
What’s the best piece of advice you could give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Focus on what moves the needle. It is so easy to be distracted by the 1 million things that founders can focus on. But a massive skill is identifying the 3-5 things that can truly multiply your business. Before going down some long rabbit hole… ask yourself if this can double your revenue. If it can't it likely isn't worth spending hours exploring (unless it's just necessary).
Finally, where should my readers go to learn more about Tidalwave or connect with you?
If you want to get in touch, reach out to me at twitter.com/schroedsbiz. I spend too much time on there, and try to be pretty good at answering DM's.
That’s a wrap
A massive shoutout to Matt for sharing his journey! I'm in awe of how he turned the COVID setback into an entirely new venture, spotted an opportunity in a casual Twitter conversation, and doubled down. I don’t know whether to applaud, cheer, take notes, or all of the above. Go get ‘em Matt!
Follow him on X/Twitter at SchroedsBiz – he’s a great follow if you’re interested in e-com, logistics, or entrepreneurship:
Additionally, in his newsletter, Building Wide, Matt gives a behind-the-scenes look building and scaling his businesses:
👉 Read Matt's Newsletter: Building Wide
Questions or feedback?
Thanks for reading! If you have a question for Matt that I didn’t cover, please ask it in the comments, reply to this email, or DM me on X/Twitter.
If you know someone (or are someone!) whose journey could encourage others to launch a venture, please let me know. I’m always on the lookout for relatable and inspiring stories.
Until next week,
Another great piece, Ken.
"Focus on what moves the needle. It is so easy to be distracted by the 1 million things that founders can focus on. But a massive skill is identifying the 3-5 things that can truly multiply your business."
This can sound counter-intuitive but it's indeed the way businesses work: 80/20 principle at play.
Enjoyed this story!