Podcast Summary: Slate Money – "From What’s Your Problem?: Becoming a Dog Ramp Mogul"

Original Air Date: May 12, 2022
Host: Jacob Goldstein (from the podcast "What's Your Problem?")
Guest: Ramon Van Meer (Entrepreneur, Owner of AlphaPaw)

Episode Overview

This episode is a crossover preview featuring Jacob Goldstein’s new podcast, "What's Your Problem?", and centers on the entrepreneurial journey of Ramon Van Meer. Ramon is the owner of AlphaPaw, a company that became highly successful selling dog ramps for dachshunds. The episode delves into the challenges of running an e-commerce business, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and explores how Ramon navigated supply chain crises, digital marketing upheavals, and the necessity of strategic pivots to ensure business sustainability.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Ramon's Entrepreneurial Background

• Diverse Ventures: Ramon outlines the eclectic array of businesses he's started since being expelled from high school in the Netherlands, including a construction company, an online Piada website, a soap opera blog, a YouTube channel, Vegas festivals, and an online travel business.
  • Quote: "A construction company, online Piada website, soap Opera blog, a YouTube channel, festivals in Vegas. What else? Oh, I did an online travel company." – Ramon (02:13)

2. Acquisition and Growth of the Dog Ramp Business

• Business Origins: Ramon bought an existing company ("Sausage Dog Central") for about $300,000, recognizing untapped marketing and product potential.
  • Quote: "I bought this business instead of starting it and the previous owners built an amazing product but they were not Internet marketers. So there was a lot of low hanging fruit." – Ramon (02:58)
• Improvements: Immediate upgrades involved redesigning the website, improving copywriting, and migrating the store’s backend to Shopify for scalability and ease of management.
  • Quote: "We can just redesign it for fairly cheap. Hire copywriter to make the copy and make better pictures. That will for sure increase the conversion rate." – Ramon (03:42)
  • Tech Backbone: Ramon highlights Shopify’s accessibility, enabling anyone to rapidly launch a store. (04:18–05:12)

3. The Pandemic Supply Chain Crisis

• Global Disruption: The COVID-19 pandemic caused massive shipping delays, with shipping costs skyrocketing from $2,500 to $29,000 per container.
  • Quote: "We used to pay 2,500 to get one container from Asia to the United States. We got quoted 29,000." – Ramon (06:03)
• Business Impact: These delays and costs threatened their ability to maintain inventory and serve customers.
• Solution: AlphaPaw moved manufacturing from China and Vietnam to Mexico to reduce shipping time and costs.
  • Quote: "We moved our manufacturing to Mexico." – Ramon (06:59)
  • Major Tipping Point: Explored at [07:04–07:29]

4. The Digital Advertising Shake-Up (iOS 14)

• Apple's Privacy Update: The iOS 14 update limited consumer targeting for advertisers, affecting platforms like Facebook and making digital ad spending less efficient for e-commerce businesses.
  • Quote: "Apple does some update, and it basically makes it easier for me to opt out of being tracked so intensely by, like, Facebook. But we also know that that iOS update...wound up costing Facebook billions of dollars in lost ad revenue." – Jacob (07:49)
• Marketing Response: AlphaPaw diversified ad spend into platforms like YouTube and TikTok and began working with online influencers, particularly "dogfluencers" on Instagram.
  • Quote: "We're allocating some of our ad budget to influencers. That's been working well for us." – Ramon (08:35)
  • Influencer Marketing: They worked with over 400 dog accounts, as opposed to human influencers.
    • "The majority of them are actually not a person, but it's actually a dog. And some of them have over million million followers." – Ramon (09:21)

5. Product Ceiling and Strategic Pivot

• Single-Product Limitation: The dog ramp market, while successful, has a finite number of customers.
  • Quote: "There is technically going to be a day where I sold all the ramps. Every wiener dog will have a ramp in the house." – Ramon (10:00)
• Pivot to Dog Food: To ensure recurring revenue and higher customer lifetime value, Ramon started expanding AlphaPaw into the dog food business.
  • Quote: "The lifetime value of a dog food customer is so much higher, meaning it's thousands of dollars." – Ramon (10:31)
• Sustainability: Dog food sales provide ongoing revenue, as pet owners continually purchase food across the lifespan of multiple pets.
  • Quote: "If I buy dog food from you and I live for another 40 years, I'm worth tens of thousands of dollars in dog food sales to you." – Jacob (11:05)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Business Opportunity:
  • "I love the idea because it really solves an actual problem for a targeted audience." – Ramon (02:58)
• On Pandemic Supply Chain Issues:
  • "We were not able to get inventory, or if we ever got inventory, huge delays...most importantly, the prices...went up...we got quoted $29,000." – Ramon (06:03)
• On Influencer Marketing:
  • "Well, we have a lot, I think we're working with...400 influencers and the majority...are actually not a person, but it's actually a dog." – Ramon (09:21)
  • "Is there one dogfluencer that's like killing it for you?" – Jacob (09:44)
  • "No, it does well in the beginning but after a couple times...their audience have seen our ads and then that goes down." – Ramon (09:49)
• On Business Pivots:
  • "The big problem with the ramps, it’s like...there is a ceiling. There is technically going to be a day where I sold all the ramps." – Ramon (10:00)
  • "If I do all this work and focus more on food, the return on my time and return on investment is so much higher." – Ramon (11:27)

Timestamps for Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment & Key Points | |--------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------| | 01:26–02:13 | Ramon's Background: Overview of varied businesses | | 02:50–03:42 | Buying and upgrading the dog ramp business | | 04:16–05:12 | Migrating to Shopify, scalability of modern e-commerce | | 05:29–06:39 | COVID-19 impact on supply chain and skyrocketing costs | | 06:59–07:29 | Transitioning manufacturing to Mexico | | 07:29–08:35 | Impact of Apple's iOS 14 update on targeted advertising | | 08:57–09:44 | Shift to influencer/dogfluencer marketing strategy | | 10:00–10:59 | Strategic pivot: from single-purchase ramps to recurring dog food | | 11:05–11:58 | Importance of customer lifetime value in e-commerce |

Conclusion

This episode offers a candid look into the adaptive mindset required for modern entrepreneurship. Through Ramon Van Meer’s journey from quirky business owner to dog ramp mogul, listeners learn how real-world crises (like global shipping disruptions or changes to digital advertising) can quickly upend even thriving businesses. The conversation is filled with humor, genuine insights, and actionable takeaways for founders who may also need to pivot for survival and growth.

For the full story—including how Ramon once built and sold a soap opera blog for $9 million—check out the full episode of "What's Your Problem?" wherever you get your podcasts.