Brendan Candon. He’s the co-founder and CEO of SidelineSwap, an online marketplace for athletes to buy and sell their sports gear. The company has over 100K users, participated in 500 startups and has raised $1.5M in venture funding.

Famous Five:
Favorite Book? – Leaders Eat Last
What CEO do you follow? – Jack Ma
Favorite online tool? — Slack and Appear
How many hours of sleep do you get?— 6-7
If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – Brendan wished he could have been more active in entrepreneurship while in school

Time Stamped Show Notes:
01:20 – Nathan introduces Brendan to the show
01:43 – Brendan was in Episode 359 of The Top
02:33 – Brendan believes that SidelineSwap will make $5-6M in sales by the end of 2017
02:43 – SidelineSwap just launched their iOs app
03:28 – SidelineSwap is where athletes list their items for free
03:35 – You can list any new or used sports equipment
03:43 – SidelineSwap takes a 12% cut
03:49 – Their top KPI is gross merchandise volume
03:53 – They look at the number of sales they drive to the platform
04:51 – SidelineSwap currently has 15K sellers and around 23K buyers
05:22 – There are 2 sides of a marketplace:
05:30 – SidelineSwap gets supplies from the sellers which drive traffic
05:35 – There should be a balance between supply and demand
05:45 – SidelineSwap started by their search to see how many people had sports gear lying around
05:58 – They went to former college athletes, professionals and others in the industry
06:35 – They got some highly desirable gear from former known athletes
06:39 – SidelineSwap started with social media to drive traffic to the website
06:45 – They now have around 70K Instagram and Facebook followers
07:34 – SidelineSwap has marketing ads highlighting some gear that can be considered collector’s items
08:25 – Total transaction volume since the launch of SidelineSwap is around $3.5M
08:35 – 70% happened in just the first 6 months
08:57 – Brendan thinks that getting the right supplies affects their growth significantly
09:08 – SidelineSwap also educates the buyers on the items that they’re getting
09:30 – SidelineSwap tries to avoid jockstraps
09:43 – There are also different accessories that target the younger buyers
10:28 – eBay started in a similar way as SidelineSwap
11:00 – “We want to be the resource for every sports family”
11:21 – SidelineSwap wants to build the best possible shopping experience
11:45 – Average order value is $80
11:56 – SidelineSwap focuses on the number of gear listed
12:23 – In May, there were 3K buyers and 1500 sellers
12:48 – SidelineSwap has recently $1.5M in summer
12:56 – Total will be around $3.5 including a current negotiation
13:23 – Brendan shares how he pitched SidelineSwap as a marketplace
13:45 – Brendan believes there will be a sporting goods marketplace
14:19 – SidelineSwap is currently growing 30%, month over month
14:43 – Current team size is 10, some are in Boston and some are in New York
17:10 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:
There will be a marketplace for sports equipment in the near future.
For every business, aim to achieve a balance with your supply and demand.
Research where you can find the BEST resources for your supply—this will attract your target market.

Resources Mentioned:
The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you’re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he’s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

760: This Site Has Sold $3m Worth of Athletes Old Gear

SaaS Interviews with CEOs, Startups, Founders