Matt Edmundson:

Hello and welcome to the eCommerce Podcast with

Matt Edmundson:

me, your host, Matt Edmundson.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, the eCommerce Podcast is a show all about helping you deliver eCommerce wow.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, it is.

Matt Edmundson:

It's there to help.

Matt Edmundson:

It's here.

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It's part of the eCommerce life now to be a member, a

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regular subscriber of the show.

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And to help us today, we're going to be chatting with Leandro D'Elias from Eightx

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about numbers and strategy about bridging the two things together in such a way.

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That actually drives real eCommerce success, which let's

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face it, ladies and gentlemen, is what we're all interested in.

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Yes, it is.

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We all want a little bit of that.

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Don't we?

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At least I do now.

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So grab your notebooks, grab your pens.

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It's going to be fun.

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But of course, before we get into that, let me just take a few moments to say a

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big warm welcome to all our new listeners.

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If this is your first time with us on the eCommerce Podcast,

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Stoked you're here, man.

Matt Edmundson:

Really stoked.

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It's awesome that you've taken the time to listen to us and the show is

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growing and so if you'll keep coming back, also a big warm welcome to you.

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Really excited that you're here.

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You know what, every week I look at the numbers and I'm always super proud.

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They're going up and up.

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And I just, I love that.

Matt Edmundson:

I totally love that.

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So thank you for being part of the eCommerce Podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

Thank you for being with us.

Matt Edmundson:

Now today's show is brought to you by the eCommerce Cohort.

Matt Edmundson:

This is our monthly membership group where you can join us, come

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join in Some fun around eCommerce.

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We have expert workshops in there.

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We've got all kinds of weird and wonderful things going on.

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Like you get to watch the recording of a podcast live.

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So you can get to ask the guests your questions, all those kinds of cool things.

Matt Edmundson:

So do check out eCommerce Cohort if you haven't done so already, but great to

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see you in there at eCommerceCohort.

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com.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh yes, that's eCommerceCohort.

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com.

Matt Edmundson:

Now let's talk about today's guest then.

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Leandro.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh yes.

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He's from it's just let's just say he's in Argentina because that's where

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he actually is, which is surprised me a little bit, but I'm just loving the

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fact this is a global eCommerce podcast.

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Oh yes.

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So from guiding eCommerce ventures through financial minefields.

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We've all been in those minefields, let's face it.

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To crafting innovative financial blueprints, he is a charismatic

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finance professional reshaping narratives and turning clicks

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into legacy building revenue.

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With a knack for precision budgeting and strategic loan sourcing, Leandro's

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journey spans from multinational corporations to spearheading financial

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strategies for an array of pioneering companies like Alphapore and S E N E.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm not even sure what that company is, but I'm sure it's very good anyway.

Matt Edmundson:

It's great to have you on the show, Leandro.

Matt Edmundson:

How are we doing?

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Leandro D'Elias: Hi Matt, it's nice to meet you, thank you for having me here.

Matt Edmundson:

Thank you for the intro but I'm really glad to be sitting

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here and talking to you.

Matt Edmundson:

Super cool.

Matt Edmundson:

All the way from Argentina?

Matt Edmundson:

No doubt.

Matt Edmundson:

Whereabouts in Argentina?

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Leandro D'Elias: far away from you, I'm around 40 kilometers away

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from the capital of Buenos Aires

Matt Edmundson:

okay.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: living in the countryside,

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Living in the countryside of Argentina, it can't be a bad thing.

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I dare say that at the time of recording the weather is much better.

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It doesn't matter any time of the year, the weather's going to be always much

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better for you than it is for me in cold, dreary England right now, right?

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Leandro D'Elias: although it's raining today, but yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

It's raining but it's still 30 degrees outside, right?

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Leandro D'Elias: Yeah, it's amazing how hot it is.

Matt Edmundson:

I think it's 4 degrees here today or something crazy.

Matt Edmundson:

It's very different, so I'm slightly envious.

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You know what, in all my yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

In all my years of travelling, I've only ever traveled through Argentina.

Matt Edmundson:

I've never actually stayed there.

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And it's definitely on mine and my wife's bucket list to go back.

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We were, we traveled through Buenos Aires when we went to

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Uruguay for a little while.

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We went we went there to visit with some friends.

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And I'm just a big fan of South America.

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The whole continent, just amazing.

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Have you always

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Leandro D'Elias: sure to let me know when you're here.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, yeah, no

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Sorry?

Matt Edmundson:

Have you always been in Argentina?

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Are you, have you,

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Leandro D'Elias: yes.

Matt Edmundson:

Born and raised here but I like to travel around the world, so every time I can

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take a plane and go visit somewhere.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

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Why would you

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Leandro D'Elias: to London one time but yeah, definitely I

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need to go to Italy right now.

Matt Edmundson:

Oh, love Italy.

Matt Edmundson:

Love it.

Matt Edmundson:

Before we get into eCommerce, let's deal with the elephant in the room football.

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There's always a big thing.

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I don't know if it's the same in Argentina, but when England and

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Argentina play, it's always a big thing because there's a lot of

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fans in England who have very long memories with Maradona handballing

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calling the handball the hand of God.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

So you are familiar with the story.

Matt Edmundson:

Okay, good.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Yes,

Matt Edmundson:

I was just curious because obviously it's a big deal here,

Matt Edmundson:

that whole thing, from I think it was 1986, now I remember I was 13 at the

Matt Edmundson:

time but I just assumed it was an England thing, just England not getting over it.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: No, I think it's about the whole history

Matt Edmundson:

between the two countries.

Matt Edmundson:

You have the Malvinas War you have Maradona's goal, but I think every

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time that Argentina and England played, play it's going to be like

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a classic match where everyone think it's a war thing when at the end of

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the day, it's just a football game.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I definitely, it's one of our classic rivals and it's both of

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them are really good football teams.

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So the good thing is that we were.

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Champions, that's 2022, so it was since 1986, so it was a big day for us.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know if you saw the newspapers, but I think 5 million

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people were in the streets

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Yeah, it's crazy.

Matt Edmundson:

You guys know how to party when there's a big celebration.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: It's a religion here.

Matt Edmundson:

Football is the main thing here in Argentina.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's crazy, isn't it?

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You had Messi, didn't you, in the and winning the cup the World Cup and all

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that, the story behind that was all quite wonderful, and yeah, no, loved

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it, loved that whole season, obviously.

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Was never a big fan of the hand of God but what can you do?

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Leandro D'Elias: what usually what I say is I'm a big fan of the second goal,

Matt Edmundson:

which is probably one of the best goals in

Matt Edmundson:

Oh

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Leandro D'Elias: So I think he, he was able to say, okay,

Matt Edmundson:

I did the goal with one hand.

Matt Edmundson:

But then I did the best,

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the best goal

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: goal of the history.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I remember the run very well, you just you knew what

Matt Edmundson:

was coming, so yeah, no very good.

Matt Edmundson:

And when you said it's just football, I think half the audience that listens

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to the show would have gone, yes, you're right, and the other half of

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the audience would go, how dare you

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Probably wants to kill me,

Matt Edmundson:

Nah, I'm a big fan of football, don't get me wrong.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, it's, oddly, it's weird, or every time that I see these kind

Matt Edmundson:

of things, I'm shocked about how people react about a football game.

Matt Edmundson:

If my team loses here in Argentina, maybe people don't

Matt Edmundson:

even go to work, the next day.

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So it's crazy how we react to a football game.

Matt Edmundson:

And I probably that's coming from Italy and also from England, because I don't

Matt Edmundson:

know if there are too many countries that.

Matt Edmundson:

Leave football the way we do, England, Italy, probably Spain, France, but then

Matt Edmundson:

you don't see that on any other country.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, it's, to me, I like to watch football games and I shout and

Matt Edmundson:

I want my team to win, but sadly I'm not the other half that says.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, I cry and I go crazy if my team loses,

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, life still carries on.

Matt Edmundson:

It's okay.

Matt Edmundson:

We don't, we haven't given up the hope of living.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

No, I'm with you.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm with you.

Matt Edmundson:

It's one of those so let's talk about eCommerce.

Matt Edmundson:

It's the eCommerce Podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

We should probably talk about something to do with eCommerce, but

Matt Edmundson:

although football's very fascinating.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, we've had on the show, if you're a regular listener to the show, you

Matt Edmundson:

may remember Matt Putra was on the show a few months ago from Eightx,

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you and Matt worked together and have been working together in Eightx, and

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so you're both CFOs, you're both CFOs.

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Chief Finance Officers.

Matt Edmundson:

You're both finance whiz kids.

Matt Edmundson:

You both love numbers, spreadsheets, and almost as much as you

Matt Edmundson:

love football, I'm guessing.

Matt Edmundson:

But it's one of those things where for many people, yes.

Matt Edmundson:

Excellent.

Matt Edmundson:

I was going to say, it's one of those things where I think I spend

Matt Edmundson:

probably a quarter of my life in.

Matt Edmundson:

Looking at data, spreadsheets and numbers and things like that.

Matt Edmundson:

But I can't say as I've ever really enjoyed it.

Matt Edmundson:

And one of the things I've always struggled with what numbers to look at

Matt Edmundson:

and when Matt came on, he talked about creating a spreadsheet called The Blended

Matt Edmundson:

ROAS document and he talked through

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: yes,

Matt Edmundson:

how to create the blended ROAS and how it should

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be the one number you focus on.

Matt Edmundson:

And I have to be honest with you, since that show, I have created said

Matt Edmundson:

spreadsheet and I look at it religiously.

Matt Edmundson:

And shout out to Matt for that because it's been very helpful.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: He could help.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

It's been really good in some of our conversations as well, and

Matt Edmundson:

just in tracking, marketing, and how well we're doing and stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

So where did your love of numbers come from?

Matt Edmundson:

Was this from when you were a kid or did you get a bang on the head when

Matt Edmundson:

you were in your late teenage years?

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah,

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: No, since I was a kid, I was a big fan, or I

Matt Edmundson:

wouldn't say a big fan, but I find myself doing really good at math.

Matt Edmundson:

And it was easy for me to do calculations and stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

Then I went ahead and studied industrial engineer.

Matt Edmundson:

I know I'm talking about eCommerce and financing stuff.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm an industrial engineer.

Matt Edmundson:

So that's my calculation side of it.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, I like numbers, and usually, probably because I'm an engineer, I like

Matt Edmundson:

to understand my decisions based on facts.

Matt Edmundson:

And in this case, facts are numbers.

Matt Edmundson:

The numbers don't lie and we try to create a story out of what we're seeing.

Matt Edmundson:

I think that the answer to the question is I like to back my decisions on trends,

Matt Edmundson:

on data, on numbers, and that's why we do all this kind of analysis depending on the

Matt Edmundson:

roles and things like that because we want to understand not because of what we think

Matt Edmundson:

or you don't get me wrong, usually the gut feeling it's always or usually right, but

Matt Edmundson:

if we Say, okay I get the sense of we're going in this direction or that direction.

Matt Edmundson:

If we can look at the numbers and confirm that probably it's going to be way better

Matt Edmundson:

And you go and do the thing with much more confidence.

Matt Edmundson:

I think that's the main difference.

Matt Edmundson:

When you do something just because you think it's going to be a good or a bad

Matt Edmundson:

thing rather than when you do something knowing because you analyzed all the

Matt Edmundson:

information and you see the trends and things like that probably it's a

Matt Edmundson:

psychological thing, but I think that you do it with much more confidence.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, no, it's very true and I love that because I think

Matt Edmundson:

your industrial engineering background, engineers like to understand things,

Matt Edmundson:

don't they like to understand how things work, how to put things

Matt Edmundson:

together in a way that makes sense and,

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Since I was a little kid I was the kid standing

Matt Edmundson:

right next to the electrician in my house asking, why do you do this?

Matt Edmundson:

Why do you do that?

Matt Edmundson:

I'm that kind of person.

Matt Edmundson:

I love to ask why.

Matt Edmundson:

yeah,

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: I know that it's something, it's annoying, but yeah,

Matt Edmundson:

I'm usually asking why this, why that,

Matt Edmundson:

yeah, why

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: until I understand, I don't stop asking.

Matt Edmundson:

yeah, no, I think it's a great mind to have, actually,

Matt Edmundson:

the curious mind, I think if you're curious, you tend to do well, and

Matt Edmundson:

you just keep asking questions.

Matt Edmundson:

And whenever we stop being curious, I think that's when we get maybe a

Matt Edmundson:

little bit too judgmental or maybe just a little bit too sure of ourselves.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know.

Matt Edmundson:

I, either one.

Matt Edmundson:

So when we were talking before we hit the record button you mentioned how when you

Matt Edmundson:

sit down and talk with clients, there's a couple of common problems that they have

Matt Edmundson:

and the main one being, and I thought this was interesting coming from a CFO.

Matt Edmundson:

The main problem being that they don't know what they want

Matt Edmundson:

they dunno what the goal is.

Matt Edmundson:

What do you mean by that?

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Yeah, the thing about that is I know, but that being the

Matt Edmundson:

CFO, it's not usually the question that you get asked from a CFO, and probably

Matt Edmundson:

that's my engineering talking, but usually what I see is that we think we

Matt Edmundson:

know what we want to achieve or where we're going to want to get, but we don't

Matt Edmundson:

know how to get there, or we don't know what tools we need, what resources we

Matt Edmundson:

need, and that's usually one of my first talks when I'm onboarding a new client.

Matt Edmundson:

What I try to understand is, What do you want to achieve here?

Matt Edmundson:

I know that we are talking about a company selling something and all the first thing

Matt Edmundson:

that we should want is profitability.

Matt Edmundson:

You would be shocked about how many clients don't even say

Matt Edmundson:

the word profitability first.

Matt Edmundson:

Dunno.

Matt Edmundson:

What do they say first?

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: They want to achieve X amount of million dollars in revenue.

Matt Edmundson:

They want to sell X amount of units, they want to be the best ones selling

Matt Edmundson:

X service in the market, which I get it, it's great, but I think that the,

Matt Edmundson:

what I try to tell them or give them at the beginning is organization, let's

Matt Edmundson:

get your ideas organized and use any framework that you would like to use.

Matt Edmundson:

There, there's something called EOS.

Matt Edmundson:

There are a bunch of tools to understand strategy most for

Matt Edmundson:

eCommerce company or startups.

Matt Edmundson:

That's why I mentioned EOS.

Matt Edmundson:

It's one of the tools we use.

Matt Edmundson:

But the thing is let's get organized.

Matt Edmundson:

What do you want?

Matt Edmundson:

Of course, my goal is going to make you profitable and make

Matt Edmundson:

you profitable in a healthy way

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: So that you don't waste all your money But then let's say you want

Matt Edmundson:

to achieve a 10 million dollar revenue.

Matt Edmundson:

That's great.

Matt Edmundson:

Now my line of questioning is going to be how do you want to get there?

Matt Edmundson:

How many units do you need to sell?

Matt Edmundson:

to get there, to understand even if that's feasible, and then let me

Matt Edmundson:

worry about the numbers in terms of financing, in terms of how many how

Matt Edmundson:

much money do, should we spend on advertising based on that blended ROAS.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Because if you want to achieve 10 million and you want to spend

Matt Edmundson:

1, 000 in marketing, probably you're not going to get there unless you have

Matt Edmundson:

a super efficient marketing agency.

Matt Edmundson:

In which case we want them on the show, right?

Matt Edmundson:

We need to talk to these people.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: but yeah, that's when I come to the game and try

Matt Edmundson:

to align your goal with a proper strategy and make it feasible.

Matt Edmundson:

Why do you think it, just to clarify, you mentioned

Matt Edmundson:

EOS, which stands for, as long as I'm talking about the same EOS, the

Matt Edmundson:

Entrepreneurial Operating System which is based on a book, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

I can't remember the name of the book now.

Matt Edmundson:

But it's just a really

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: are a couple of them.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: One is called Traction, the other one is DOS

Matt Edmundson:

System, which is a book itself.

Matt Edmundson:

I love the system, and I think it's a good way to put a name to some of the things

Matt Edmundson:

that you probably are currently doing.

Matt Edmundson:

Like, all of us We have set up goals in the long term, in the short term and,

Matt Edmundson:

but we don't know why we're doing them,

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: or we don't have the proper framework to do it.

Matt Edmundson:

This system, what it does, mainly for small companies or companies that are

Matt Edmundson:

just starting or are not big companies, is that they, it gives them a tool to put a

Matt Edmundson:

name to everything that they need to do.

Matt Edmundson:

And to get them organized, like I said, let's set up the yearly goal, we

Matt Edmundson:

want to achieve this, but then let's set up quarterly goals, let's set up

Matt Edmundson:

KPIs, OKRs, so that you are aligned.

Matt Edmundson:

And you don't work for the yearly goal, you work to achieve the quarterly

Matt Edmundson:

goals that, if you achieve them, you're going to get closer to the yearly goal.

Matt Edmundson:

So I think it's a great tool to know what you're doing and put a name

Matt Edmundson:

to the things that you probably are doing right now, while you're mumbling

Matt Edmundson:

around and maybe you don't prioritize.

Matt Edmundson:

Things that you need to do to be aligned to the main goal.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, I've read the book.

Matt Edmundson:

I've read all of his books, actually.

Matt Edmundson:

The EOS books.

Matt Edmundson:

Great book.

Matt Edmundson:

Especially if you need some kind of framework for your

Matt Edmundson:

business to understand it.

Matt Edmundson:

It is a great

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: recommend.

Matt Edmundson:

And the name of the author will come back to me.

Matt Edmundson:

At some point, I've got it up on the screen here in front of me, actually

Matt Edmundson:

the actual model where he talks about vision people, data, issues, processes,

Matt Edmundson:

and then what he calls traction.

Matt Edmundson:

And that's the sort of the six elements he thinks about.

Matt Edmundson:

Why do you think, just going back to something you said earlier, why do you

Matt Edmundson:

think when you ask most people who run an online business, and I'm smiling because

Matt Edmundson:

I think this is probably a very true truism when you ask most people that run

Matt Edmundson:

an online business, what's your goal?

Matt Edmundson:

And the goal is always related to a turnover.

Matt Edmundson:

And usually that turnover figure is, I want to get to 100, 000, I want

Matt Edmundson:

to hit a million, I want to hit 5 million, I want to hit 10 million.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you know what I mean, there's sort of these standard numbers

Matt Edmundson:

that everybody wants to hit.

Matt Edmundson:

I've never really heard anybody come back and say, I want to make a million

Matt Edmundson:

pounds profit, or I've never really heard people say, I want to do 2.

Matt Edmundson:

376

Matt Edmundson:

million next year in turnover.

Matt Edmundson:

Do you know what I mean?

Matt Edmundson:

It's always, I want to grow by 20%, always these sort of random

Matt Edmundson:

numbers that people throw out.

Matt Edmundson:

Why is that?

Matt Edmundson:

Why are we so concerned about the big?

Matt Edmundson:

Turnover number

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: I think that if I have to give you my opinion

Matt Edmundson:

of that is that usually we tend to associate revenue to profit.

Matt Edmundson:

So if, and that's probably what we're hearing in the TV

Matt Edmundson:

or even when we hear about.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know, Apple just released their Q3 statements, and they don't say they

Matt Edmundson:

achieved this or that revenue or sorry, profit or this or that ratio or KPI.

Matt Edmundson:

Usually what they say is they increased revenue.

Matt Edmundson:

And for the non financial persons Anything that they can talk about when it comes

Matt Edmundson:

to numbers of any company, the first thing that you talk about is revenue.

Matt Edmundson:

How much money you sold.

Matt Edmundson:

So my guess is that tend to associate that to profit.

Matt Edmundson:

And the big difference about that is that you could be selling 10

Matt Edmundson:

million of any kind of product, you also could be spending 10, 000, 000.

Matt Edmundson:

So what's the point of having a business and saying out there I'm

Matt Edmundson:

selling 10, 000, 000 when you're actually not making any dime?

Matt Edmundson:

So I guess that the main to answer that is we tend to associate revenue with profit.

Matt Edmundson:

If you're selling 10 million, probably you're making a lot of money.

Matt Edmundson:

That's the usual thing that

Matt Edmundson:

that's the assumption, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

If I've got a 10m or 10m turnover, then yes, I'm going to hopefully

Matt Edmundson:

be making some kind of profit.

Matt Edmundson:

When you, and I appreciate this is going to vary from industry to industry, right?

Matt Edmundson:

But if I was starting out in eCommerce, and I'm thinking I'm going to set up an

Matt Edmundson:

online business, if I turned over say a million in revenue, what would be a

Matt Edmundson:

typical gross profit margin and what would be a typical net profit margin

Matt Edmundson:

that I should think about or aim for?

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: if you're just starting, probably you will want to,

Matt Edmundson:

all the money that you're making, probably you're going to reinvest

Matt Edmundson:

that money to grow the business.

Matt Edmundson:

I would aim first to break even.

Matt Edmundson:

There are many businesses that I know that in the first 20 years, six months,

Matt Edmundson:

they're not going to break even.

Matt Edmundson:

So you need to assume that probably in the first six months to 12 months, you're

Matt Edmundson:

going to need money to grow your business.

Matt Edmundson:

Then depending on the type of product, and like you said, it's

Matt Edmundson:

going to vary between each industry.

Matt Edmundson:

What I would try to aim for in eCommerce is at least have a more than 65 70

Matt Edmundson:

percent gross margin to begin with.

Matt Edmundson:

And when I say gross margin, I'm only talking about net

Matt Edmundson:

revenue, less cost of goods sold.

Matt Edmundson:

Right,

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: I'm not talking about how much money you're spending on advertising,

Matt Edmundson:

on payment processing fees, on commissions, on any other valuable costs.

Matt Edmundson:

Gross margin is just net revenue less cost of goods sold.

Matt Edmundson:

And then at least try to aim for a great net profit margin would be 20,

Matt Edmundson:

30% but knowing that at the beginning, you're going to grow, you're going

Matt Edmundson:

to want to grow your business.

Matt Edmundson:

I would say, try to 5, 10 percent so that at least you're making some money

Matt Edmundson:

and then reinvest everything into.

Matt Edmundson:

Growing your business.

Matt Edmundson:

How do you, I'm just thinking here as you're talking if

Matt Edmundson:

I was starting an eCommerce business today, which ironically I'm just

Matt Edmundson:

about to launch one but I appreciate I'm launching my next eCommerce

Matt Edmundson:

business from a very different place.

Matt Edmundson:

I already have staff, I have warehouses, do you know what I mean, we've got

Matt Edmundson:

a great team I appreciate, I'm not in a kitchen working a side hustle

Matt Edmundson:

here trying to figure out what's

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Let me know if you need a CFO.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah I will we've got a very good one, but I, if

Matt Edmundson:

that changes, I'll let you know.

Matt Edmundson:

But with someone who is starting out, I guess one of the big things

Matt Edmundson:

to think about, and maybe you can talk to this a little bit, how do I

Matt Edmundson:

know when I can pay myself, right?

Matt Edmundson:

How do I know when I can actually take money out of this?

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: To address that, what I would say is don't expect

Matt Edmundson:

to pay yourself 50k a month because you're starting an eCommerce company.

Matt Edmundson:

You're not starting at a Coca Cola company.

Matt Edmundson:

I know that you're going to be the CEO and that's a great name to, to say out there.

Matt Edmundson:

Like I'm the CEO of this company which is great.

Matt Edmundson:

And I'm pretty sure that if we, with a good.

Matt Edmundson:

Product, you're going to achieve the multimillion dollar or pound revenue,

Matt Edmundson:

but what I would say there is if you don't have a site work and you're putting

Matt Edmundson:

all your eggs in this company, which I wouldn't advise you to do it let's try to

Matt Edmundson:

pay yourself whatever you need to live.

Matt Edmundson:

Because this is going to be your child and you want your child to be, to succeed.

Matt Edmundson:

And expect at the beginning to put a bit more effort, money wise, to

Matt Edmundson:

your child instead of yourself.

Matt Edmundson:

So I would say, yes, you want to get paid a lot of money.

Matt Edmundson:

Because this is your company and you're the CEO, but going back

Matt Edmundson:

to what we took at the beginning, the main thing that you need to

Matt Edmundson:

worry first is about profitability.

Matt Edmundson:

If that means that you don't get paid, then you don't, you shouldn't get paid.

Matt Edmundson:

Why?

Matt Edmundson:

Because your main goal should be profitability.

Matt Edmundson:

Then we can talk about your salary.

Matt Edmundson:

And that's probably one of the main issues that I find with CEOs.

Matt Edmundson:

They get paid.

Matt Edmundson:

I have a bunch of clients that probably are making a couple of

Matt Edmundson:

million dollars yearly revenue.

Matt Edmundson:

They're not profitable, but that they get paid 30K a month.

Matt Edmundson:

Wow.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: and you're like, I don't understand.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, of course, everyone wants to get paid that monthly salary, but

Matt Edmundson:

that shouldn't be your first goal.

Matt Edmundson:

Your first goal should be.

Matt Edmundson:

Profitability, then scale the business, and then we can discuss about how

Matt Edmundson:

much money you want to get paid.

Matt Edmundson:

Because eventually, this is going to be your company.

Matt Edmundson:

So if you succeed, it's a ramp up.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Five years from now, probably you're going to

Matt Edmundson:

get paid more than 50k a month.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: But don't do it right now.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

There's always

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: the business.

Matt Edmundson:

there's always an interest in opportunity cost, isn't there,

Matt Edmundson:

where money is concerned, I find, that

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Totally.

Matt Edmundson:

We understand that if we have, say, a blended ROAS of, I'm going

Matt Edmundson:

to say five, because it's just easy math.

Matt Edmundson:

I know for every pound I leave, or every dollar I leave in the

Matt Edmundson:

business, I'm getting five back.

Matt Edmundson:

It's just the way it works.

Matt Edmundson:

There's an opportunity cost.

Matt Edmundson:

I was talking to this with our team the other day that when we

Matt Edmundson:

overspend on something over here, we think it's okay, but we're probably

Matt Edmundson:

spending a bit more money over here.

Matt Edmundson:

If I took that same money and invested it in new customer acquisition, I

Matt Edmundson:

would get, I think I worked out.

Matt Edmundson:

We would get an extra 700 new customers a month, which was

Matt Edmundson:

an extra 75 grand in revenue.

Matt Edmundson:

So it's a big deal.

Matt Edmundson:

I think, in terms of, especially when you start out, because it's a

Matt Edmundson:

bit like a pension fund, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

The sooner you start, the more money you make in the long run.

Matt Edmundson:

But the sooner you start, the sooner it starts to hurt.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think delaying financial gratification now

Matt Edmundson:

for the benefit of a future.

Matt Edmundson:

Payday.

Matt Edmundson:

The sooner you can do that in eCommerce, the better it is and understanding

Matt Edmundson:

the opportunity cost of the money.

Matt Edmundson:

So if I'm taking 10 grand out of the business that month, but I

Matt Edmundson:

only need three grand to live.

Matt Edmundson:

It's cool.

Matt Edmundson:

I've got an extra seven grand.

Matt Edmundson:

I can do whatever I want.

Matt Edmundson:

I can put it in the bank account and do whatever I like.

Matt Edmundson:

Give it away to charity, use all kinds of things that you can do with that money.

Matt Edmundson:

But the reality of it is, there's also an opportunity cost to that money.

Matt Edmundson:

So if you're in a thriving, or if you're in a business that's growing

Matt Edmundson:

and you can get new customers, new customer acquisition with seven

Matt Edmundson:

grand a month, we'll buy you.

Matt Edmundson:

A lot of new customers, right?

Matt Edmundson:

So if your cost of acquisition is 20 bucks, then, you're starting

Matt Edmundson:

to buy 300 odd clients or whatever it's going to be with that money.

Matt Edmundson:

So it's one of those where I totally get why people want to pay them large,

Matt Edmundson:

pay themselves large sums of money.

Matt Edmundson:

But I think as a business owner, there is this real tension, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

This is real opportunity cost, which you have to be aware of and

Matt Edmundson:

understanding what else that money would do if you didn't take it.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: I think that you said the most important word there.

Matt Edmundson:

Cost of opportunity.

Matt Edmundson:

Usually you don't see that.

Matt Edmundson:

It's a theoretical calculation.

Matt Edmundson:

Because if I have ten pounds And I put them in this place what people

Matt Edmundson:

usually don't know because it's a theoretical calculation is that

Matt Edmundson:

how much money am I not losing, I'm avoiding myself of winning.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: yes, if I can pay myself 10 and I only need three,

Matt Edmundson:

what's the cost of opportunity of the 7 that I'm overpaying myself?

Matt Edmundson:

If I put them on the business and maybe you can get, the thing is, maybe

Matt Edmundson:

I can get a better return, personally speaking but, again, going back to the

Matt Edmundson:

strategy, is what's your main goal?

Matt Edmundson:

Grow the business.

Matt Edmundson:

If you're getting a positive return on your company, and that 7 means that

Matt Edmundson:

you're going to get 700 customers.

Matt Edmundson:

More, that it's going to give you X amount of profit.

Matt Edmundson:

There's no reason for you to pay yourself 10, 10 pounds, pay yourself

Matt Edmundson:

three and reinvest the other seven.

Matt Edmundson:

And I think that's like you said, the cost of opportunity is usually what the

Matt Edmundson:

non financial people don't know how to calculate, don't know how to factor that

Matt Edmundson:

in whatever calculation they're making.

Matt Edmundson:

And usually that's the main goal.

Matt Edmundson:

What's the return that I'm getting?

Matt Edmundson:

Every penny that I have, reinvested.

Matt Edmundson:

That's why you want to understand your blended ROAS, because if your

Matt Edmundson:

current KPI is showing you that your ROAS is 6x, whatever money you have,

Matt Edmundson:

So if your salary, put it in that,

Matt Edmundson:

you totally would.

Matt Edmundson:

Geez.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: and whatever money you have, keep spending.

Matt Edmundson:

Until when?

Matt Edmundson:

Until you see that number going down.

Matt Edmundson:

If your ROAS is below five and that's your threshold, stop spending money because

Matt Edmundson:

you're not getting the return you need.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, that's I think that you said it perfectly.

Matt Edmundson:

Because of opportunity is what people usually don't know how to calculate.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

No it's good.

Matt Edmundson:

Let me go.

Matt Edmundson:

Maybe swing the pendulum the other way.

Matt Edmundson:

So we've talked about people who are starting out paying themselves.

Matt Edmundson:

Let's talk about people who are.

Matt Edmundson:

Maybe thinking of exiting their business, right?

Matt Edmundson:

So the business is, whatever, five years old.

Matt Edmundson:

They're turning over, I don't know, let's say, let's, easy maths.

Matt Edmundson:

Let's say they, they turn over a million bucks a year online and they make a profit

Matt Edmundson:

of 200, 000 a year or something like that.

Matt Edmundson:

One of the things that has intrigued me is it's a quote that I've heard

Matt Edmundson:

a couple of times recently where business sales are concerned.

Matt Edmundson:

And that is a lot of business owners run their accounts.

Matt Edmundson:

to reduce taxation rather than to increase value of the business.

Matt Edmundson:

Can you speak again, what does it mean and, I guess, what is

Matt Edmundson:

your understanding about that if I'm trying to sell the business?

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: When you try to reduce taxation, what you do usually is you try

Matt Edmundson:

to put as many expenses as you can on the business so that your net profit,

Matt Edmundson:

your net income is as low as possible.

Matt Edmundson:

Why?

Matt Edmundson:

Because with that, you're not going to pay a lot of taxes.

Matt Edmundson:

The thing is, if you want to sell the business, and usually in the

Matt Edmundson:

eCommerce world we try, we don't use discounted cash flow valuations.

Matt Edmundson:

We try to use either an EBITDA multiplier, a revenue multiplier, or any multiplier

Matt Edmundson:

that the potential buyer may want.

Matt Edmundson:

There are two kinds of strategies.

Matt Edmundson:

One is when you own the business, it's a legacy thing.

Matt Edmundson:

You're going to run the business forever.

Matt Edmundson:

What you want is to optimize.

Matt Edmundson:

And that is if I can put something this year to pay less taxes and move, push

Matt Edmundson:

them forward for next year, I can do it.

Matt Edmundson:

Whereas if you want to sell the business, you want to make sure that

Matt Edmundson:

your numbers are as high as possible.

Matt Edmundson:

And I'm not saying doing something illegal or weird it's just optimization

Matt Edmundson:

tactics that you can use to increase the value of your EBITDA or decrease it.

Matt Edmundson:

If you want to sell a business, it's a whole different strategy.

Matt Edmundson:

You shouldn't care about taxes because when you want, what you

Matt Edmundson:

want to show is high numbers and probably same as taxation.

Matt Edmundson:

You don't want to show high numbers just for the sake of it, and maybe

Matt Edmundson:

you're doing something weird.

Matt Edmundson:

Just to show high numbers, but yeah, definitely there are some things

Matt Edmundson:

that you can put in the business.

Matt Edmundson:

I don't know, I'm renting a car and maybe I can rent it on my

Matt Edmundson:

behalf instead of the business.

Matt Edmundson:

There are many things, but I think that it's two different strategies

Matt Edmundson:

that can be used depending on you wanting to sell the business or not.

Matt Edmundson:

It's a very good point, actually, that the value of

Matt Edmundson:

your business, one of the biggest determinators of it is EBITDA, Earnings

Matt Edmundson:

Before Interest Depreciation and Tax, or something it stands for, isn't it?

Matt Edmundson:

Amortization, I think, is the A.

Matt Edmundson:

So your pre tax profits, you're basically your net profit figure,

Matt Edmundson:

isn't it, with a few Added calculations for tax and so on and so forth.

Matt Edmundson:

The higher you can make that figure, the more valuable your business is.

Matt Edmundson:

And in e-commerce, at the moment, we're looking at multiples of, let's say on

Matt Edmundson:

average 3, 4, 5, somewhere around there.

Matt Edmundson:

So for every dollar you can add to the bottom line in profit gives you $5 maybe.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, in an extra sort of sales price.

Matt Edmundson:

The downside is, of course, you've got to pay tax on that figure, but

Matt Edmundson:

the tax you pay is whatever it is for your country, I don't know, 10, 20

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Yeah, and I usually, what I tell the clients is it's a good

Matt Edmundson:

problem to have, because if you're paying, if you're paying a lot of taxes, it

Matt Edmundson:

means that you're making a lot of money.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, of course we want to make sure that we can, I wouldn't

Matt Edmundson:

say reduce, rather than optimize taxation by changing a few things.

Matt Edmundson:

But yeah, that's usually a good a good problem to have because it

Matt Edmundson:

means that first you're profitable.

Matt Edmundson:

So that check on that box and then it means that probably you're going

Matt Edmundson:

to be able to pay yourself more.

Matt Edmundson:

So as you see, everything is aligned to what we started talking.

Matt Edmundson:

How do we strategize the business?

Matt Edmundson:

And most importantly, what's the main goal?

Matt Edmundson:

Other than profitability, of course,

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah.

Matt Edmundson:

Yeah, if you want to sell the business, you need it to be profitable.

Matt Edmundson:

If you want to pay yourself, you need the business to be profitable.

Matt Edmundson:

So it keeps coming back to this.

Matt Edmundson:

You've got to build a profitable business.

Matt Edmundson:

And to build the, build a profitable business is you've really got to

Matt Edmundson:

get your head around the numbers and don't just look at turnover.

Matt Edmundson:

You've got to look at some of the other metrics as well.

Matt Edmundson:

And including your blended rowers and understanding those numbers.

Matt Edmundson:

Which of course, if you want to know more about the Blended

Matt Edmundson:

Roast, check out the Matt Putra episode where he goes through that.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro, thank you man for coming on the show.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm aware of time.

Matt Edmundson:

So any final thoughts on all of this from, we've talked

Matt Edmundson:

about lots of different things.

Matt Edmundson:

I'm just curious.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: First of all, thanks again for the invitation.

Matt Edmundson:

It was.

Matt Edmundson:

Really nice talking to you.

Matt Edmundson:

Your podcast is amazing, so I really encourage everyone to come listen to

Matt Edmundson:

all of your podcast not just this one.

Matt Edmundson:

But start here, start on this one.

Matt Edmundson:

It won't get better, but it, they'll be

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: But probably the one final thought would be if

Matt Edmundson:

you're starting a business or if you want to achieve whatever you

Matt Edmundson:

want to achieve, make sure that.

Matt Edmundson:

At least that's my way of approaching this is make sure that you have fun

Matt Edmundson:

while doing it, because yeah, we're talking about numbers, we're talking

Matt Edmundson:

about money but in the end, if you're not having fun it doesn't make sense.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, I want to start my own company, I want to sell a lot of things, but if I'm

Matt Edmundson:

not having fun, then what's the point?

Matt Edmundson:

exactly.

Matt Edmundson:

Very good.

Matt Edmundson:

That's a mic drop moment.

Matt Edmundson:

I'll drop my pen because my mic's, I'm not, it's too expensive.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro, thanks for coming on the show, man.

Matt Edmundson:

Listen, if people want to connect with you, if they want to find out more about

Matt Edmundson:

you, about Matt, about Eightx, about all the stuff that you guys are doing.

Matt Edmundson:

What's the best way to do that?

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: You can find us through our website, that is aidx.

Matt Edmundson:

co, you can find me on LinkedIn, look for my name on LinkedIn and you'll find me.

Matt Edmundson:

Funny.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Sorry,

Matt Edmundson:

there we go.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: You're going to look for my LinkedIn name and you'll

Matt Edmundson:

find me there and Eightx website.

Matt Edmundson:

Awesome.

Matt Edmundson:

We will, of course, link to Leandro's information in the podcast show

Matt Edmundson:

notes as well, so do check those out.

Matt Edmundson:

Follow those links.

Matt Edmundson:

You can find them all at eCommercePodcast.

Matt Edmundson:

net.

Matt Edmundson:

We will link to Eightx, we will link to Leandro's LinkedIn stuff, and we'll

Matt Edmundson:

even LinkedIn, we'll even LinkedIn, we'll even link to Matt's episode

Matt Edmundson:

as well, so you get all of those.

Matt Edmundson:

in one go because that's just how kind we are and of course I'm assuming

Matt Edmundson:

that we actually remember to do this so hopefully the production team

Matt Edmundson:

are as good as I believe them to be and we get that all sorted out

Matt Edmundson:

but there are all the links there.

Matt Edmundson:

Andrew thanks for coming on the show super grateful thanks

Matt Edmundson:

for joining me from Argentina.

Matt Edmundson:

Thoroughly enjoyable conversation, man.

Matt Edmundson:

Really appreciate it.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro D'Elias: Thanks a lot.

Matt Edmundson:

the eCommerce Cohort.

Matt Edmundson:

Remember to check out that membership group at ecommercecohort.

Matt Edmundson:

com.

Matt Edmundson:

I'll see you in there cause we're just in there every month.

Matt Edmundson:

Awesome place to be.

Matt Edmundson:

And be sure to follow the eCommerce Podcast, wherever you get your

Matt Edmundson:

podcasts from, because it is great.

Matt Edmundson:

Like Andrew said, it's just such a great show.

Matt Edmundson:

Even if I do say so myself, not because of me, I hasten to add,

Matt Edmundson:

but because of the amazing guests.

Matt Edmundson:

That we have like Matt, like Leandro, like everyone else has coming on this show.

Matt Edmundson:

So you're not gonna wanna miss any of them, that's for sure.

Matt Edmundson:

And in case no one has told you yet today, let me be the first to tell you.

Matt Edmundson:

You are awesome.

Matt Edmundson:

Yes, you are created.

Matt Edmundson:

Awesome.

Matt Edmundson:

It's just a burden you've got to bear.

Matt Edmundson:

Leandro has to bear it.

Matt Edmundson:

I've gotta bear it.

Matt Edmundson:

You've gotta it Barrett as well.

Matt Edmundson:

Now, the eCommerce podcast is produced by Aurion Media.

Matt Edmundson:

You can find our entire archive of episodes on your favorite podcast app.

Matt Edmundson:

The team that makes this show possible is Sadaf Beynon and Tanya Hutsuliak.

Matt Edmundson:

Theme music was written by Josh Edmundson, and as I mentioned, if you would like to

Matt Edmundson:

read the show notes get all the links to transcripts and all that sort of stuff,

Matt Edmundson:

head over to the website, ecommerce.

Matt Edmundson:

podcast.

Matt Edmundson:

net where you can also sign up for the weekly newsletter if you haven't done so

Matt Edmundson:

already and all of this stuff just comes straight to your inbox automatically.

Matt Edmundson:

It's a brilliant thing.

Matt Edmundson:

So that's it from me.

Matt Edmundson:

That's it from Leandro.

Matt Edmundson:

Thank you so much for joining us.

Matt Edmundson:

Have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world.

Matt Edmundson:

I will see you next time.

Matt Edmundson:

Bye for now.