There are many ways to start and grow an E-commerce company. Drups Ventures has chosen to grow quickly by acquiring marketing and E-commerce brands that cover a large spectrum of products and offerings. Learn more about this unique business model in this week’s Small Business Spotlight.
What the Business Does
Managing marketing and E-commerce businesses.
Owner Joseph Drups told Small Business Trends, “We have many brands under our Drups Ventures umbrella. We really focus on providing quality lifestyle products. These range from seat cushions designed to ease muscle pain to gift boxes and jewelry.”
Business Niche
Growing quickly while maintaining excellence in E-commerce operations.
Drups says, “We have managed to purchase, merge, and scale our business through operational excellence across eight different businesses and over a dozen brands. In this process, we’ve made the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies in the U.S. multiple years.”
How the Business Got Started
As a digital marketing company.
Drups adds, “We began with digital marketing, and started buying smaller ecommerce brands. Then we continued to scale and went after larger and larger brands.”
Biggest Win
Closing a large deal.
Drups explains, “During COVID, we were working on our first deal above $2 million. Everything looked like it would be impossible to close the deal. We went through 8 banks to find funding and finally found a partner bank and closed the deal. That was a game changing acquisition for the business.”
Biggest Challenge
Navigating the pandemic with multiple brands.
Drups says, “COVID was a difficult 2 year period with some of our businesses spiking in sales and other businesses cratering. We didn’t almost go out of business, but we did have to take some of our sister businesses and put them on life support. In 2021, we went through a difficult transition with one of our businesses where we ended up having to replace 19 out of 22 employees. We made it through the storm, but it was a very difficult season.”
Lesson Learned
Go after companies that are already stable.
Drups explains, “Finding companies that were extremely stable requires less hustle, and could have taken a lot of stress out of five years of my life.”
How They’d Spend an Extra $100,000
A new venture.
Drups adds, “Launching new products, a new platform, or buying a new business. My favorite use of a growth budget is experimenting toward a moonshot project.”
Coolest Accomplishment
Being recognized by a major publication.
Drups says, “We made the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing businesses in the US two years in a row.”
Favorite Quote
“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” – Albert Einstein.
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Image: Drups Ventures, Joseph Drups
