Podcast Summary: Built Online

Episode: Founder Reveals the REAL Story Behind EverBee's Success | ft. Cody McGuffie
Date: December 2, 2025
Host: George (A)
Guest: Cody McGuffie, Founder of EverBee (B)

Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the real story behind the founding and rise of EverBee, a leading e-commerce tool, with its founder Cody McGuffie. Listeners gain insights into Cody’s entrepreneurial journey, the origins and meaning of the EverBee name, the importance of mindset and long-term vision for success, and an exclusive look at the recently launched EverBee Store, a new platform aiming to empower more online entrepreneurs. Both George and Cody discuss lessons from their failures, philosophy on business, the power of community, and their shared motivation to help others succeed in online commerce.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Real Story Behind EverBee’s Origins

• Entrepreneurial Spark

  • Cody’s entrepreneurial journey began long before EverBee, starting with real estate investing with his wife, buying, fixing, and selling houses ([01:44]).
  • A pivotal moment: Meeting someone at a real estate event who sold on Amazon FBA sparked Cody’s entry into e-commerce ([01:44]).

• Discovery of the Market Gap

  • After exploring Amazon FBA, then eBay and Shopify, Cody landed on Etsy and saw an unsophisticated marketplace lacking real business tools:

    "When I got to Etsy, it was this open land… all the sellers that were selling on Etsy were not sophisticated... I came at it like, how do I get this thing to scale?" — Cody ([02:50])

  • The ecosystem for Etsy sellers was sparse, lacking robust analytics and product research tools, leading Cody to manually build spreadsheets to track reviews, estimate demand, and identify market opportunities ([05:13]).
  • Desire to scale tools for others was born from this DIY approach.

2. The Meaning Behind the EverBee Name

• Not Just a Random Name
  • Cody emphasizes the importance of a business name being easy to say, spell, and personally meaningful ([21:29]).
  • Inspiration came from an experience with his son, who was afraid of bees:

    “I've always been preaching... bees are not... Bees are good. [...] For me, I think about sustainability, vegetation, abundance, reproduction, growth... I loved the idea of bees being in the name of my next company.” — Cody ([22:57])

  • “Ever” was added for its sense of longevity and to fit Cody’s long-term mindset, as well as domain availability ([24:05]).
  • The name embodies growth, community, and enduring value.

3. Mindset for Long-Term Success in Business

• Vision & Direction

  • Both agree on the necessity of thinking years ahead instead of week-to-week ([08:10]).

    “We're thinking years in advance so that we can build something...a lot of people fail...because they're not thinking long term.” — George ([08:10])

  • Cody: Hold tightly to your north/star goal, but loosely to the path it takes to get there ([07:04]).

• Importance of Clarity and Self-Awareness

  • Cody frequently encourages writing down what you want and being clear about your goals, otherwise you drift aimlessly:

    “Clarity...you need clarity in order to hit your goals. [...] Otherwise you're depending on luck, and luck is not something you should always bet on.” — Cody ([10:45])

  • On “luck” in entrepreneurship:

    “The harder I work, the luckier I get. [...] The more clear I am, the harder I work towards that clarity, luckier I seem to get.” — Cody ([13:06])

    • Both agree: Most "luck" is the result of clarity, consistent effort, and learning from failures.

• Working Hard and Smart

  • Success isn’t just about hard work; using your mind and working smart is critical ([13:35], [14:03]).

4. The Power—and Pain—of Failure

• Entrepreneurial Resilience
  • The journey is marked by numerous failures, not “overnight” success.
  • George shares a story about losing $36,000 when movers stole his cell phone accessories inventory, which nearly ruined his business and reputation. It took six months to recover mentally ([19:41]).
  • Cody encourages listeners to expect setbacks and not assign arbitrary time frames to success ([16:54]):

    “It's lessons that you learn along the way. It's pushing you.” — George ([16:54])

5. Community, Uniqueness, and the Power of Belief

• Embracing Uniqueness

  • George highlights how being different led to his eventual success, urging listeners not to hide their unique perspectives ([14:53]):

    “That non thinking like the rest of them...made me rich. So don't ever think like you're alone in this aspect.”

• Self-Belief

  • Having faith in eventual success is vital:

    “The reality is it will happen for you as long as you believe it will happen for you. As soon as you stop believing…that's when a dream dies.” — Cody ([16:04])

• Building & Supporting Community

  • Both find deep fulfillment in helping others and seeing their community members succeed, with success being cyclical: help leads to growth, which leads to more opportunity to help ([26:38], [27:30]).

6. Scaling the EverBee Team & Culture

• Team Building
  • EverBee now employs 45 full-time team members, 90% dedicated to engineering/product—a testament to their tech focus ([30:42]).
  • George praises EverBee’s unique, supportive culture, noting high responsiveness and shared values across the team ([31:17]).
  • Cody highlights the challenge and importance of putting the right people “in the right seats on the bus” ([33:33]).

7. The Launch of EverBee Store & Vision for the Future

• EverBee Store: The Next Chapter

  • New platform aims to provide a simpler, more accessible alternative to Shopify/Wix, democratizing e-commerce for all creators ([35:31]).

    "I want to be a platform people build their dreams on top of… The dream dying because of overwhelm is a terrible situation for any economy." — Cody ([36:24], [38:10])

  • Cody wants to remove technical hurdles that stop people before they start, allowing them to build sites effortlessly and focus on validating their ideas ([38:10]).

• "Find Your Beachhead"

  • Cody and George advocate starting on platforms like Etsy to learn the ropes, stressing the importance of foundations before scaling or expanding to owned platforms like EverBee Store ([40:39]).

8. Mission-Driven Aspirations

• 100 Million Businesses — and Beyond

  • Cody’s mission: Empower over 100 million businesses globally and play a part in eradicating global poverty by democratizing e-commerce opportunity ([43:36]).

    "Every single creator should own a business… If we can promote entrepreneurship at a high level, that would be the dream." — Cody ([45:34])

• Capitalism, Abundance, and Giving Back

  • Both discuss the abundance mindset, emphasizing entrepreneurship isn’t a zero-sum game ([50:35], [51:48]).
  • Giving and helping others accelerates everyone’s success.

9. Overcoming Naysayers and the Importance of Taking Action

• Dealing with Doubters

  • When starting out, expect skepticism from friends and family until you prove results ([61:19], [62:52]).

    “Go and start doing it and make the results speak for themselves. People understand actions and they understand results. That's what they want.” — Cody ([61:19])

• Finding Support and Community

  • Both hosts stress the importance of seeking (and building) positive communities to counter doubts and isolation inherent in entrepreneurship ([57:52], [59:21]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I tend to hold, I hold true, like my direction, like north, I'm going north. But I hold very loosely the trail and the path that it takes me to go north.” — Cody ([07:04])

• “Step one is to understand what you want out of life… If you're not clear on that, guess what? The wind will blow you around the ocean and you'll end up in the rocks.” — Cody ([10:45])

• “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” — Cody quoting an old adage ([13:06])

• “The non thinking like the rest of them...made me rich. So don't ever think like you're alone in this aspect. If you have a different thought process...you're unique and you have to hone in on that.” — George ([14:53])

• “I knew that it was going to be a tech company. I just didn’t think THIS was going to be it… it’s interesting how it worked out.” — Cody ([06:12])

• On customer obsession:
  “One of our first core values, number one, is be customer obsessed... If you're not listening to your customers, things are going to change around you…” — Cody ([28:51])

• “My mission is to help create over 100 million... I want EverBee to power over 100 million businesses eventually across the world, in every market.” — Cody ([43:36])

• “Go prove it to the world. Prove it.” — Cody ([63:36])

Important Timestamps & Topics

• [01:44] — How Cody discovered e-commerce and his first steps with Amazon FBA.
• [05:13] — The realization of tool gaps on Etsy, leading to EverBee’s concept.
• [13:06] — Conversation on 'luck' versus hard and smart work.
• [14:53] — Importance of creative/unique thinking in business success.
• [19:41] — George shares a major failure and its impact.
• [21:29] — The story and meaning behind the EverBee name.
• [24:05] — Why "Ever" and "Bee" specifically, and the value in meaningful naming.
• [30:42] — Behind the scenes: the EverBee team and culture.
• [35:31] — Why and how the EverBee Store was launched; long-term vision.
• [38:10] — Simplifying the e-commerce experience for aspiring entrepreneurs.
• [43:36] — Cody’s big-picture mission: 100 million businesses and global impact.
• [50:35] — Scarcity vs. abundance mindset in entrepreneurship.
• [61:19] — Advice to those experiencing doubt and criticism from loved ones.
• [63:36] — Focus on action and self-validation.

Final Thoughts

This episode is a candid, motivational, and highly practical conversation for anyone in e-commerce or aspiring to be. Cody McGuffie’s story demonstrates that great companies are built on identifying gaps, a drive for service, and a willingness to persist through setbacks. It also underscores that effective entrepreneurship relies as much on vision, community, and personal values as on technical or business skills.

If you’re looking to be inspired, understand the “why” and “how” behind a successful SaaS tool, or need practical wisdom to keep going in the lonely and uncertain journey of online business, this episode is essential listening.