Bryant Jaquez chose a hell of a time to become CEO. A longtime CMO for direct-to-consumer brands, Jaquez accepted the CEO position earlier this year for BuddyLove, a Dallas-based women’s clothing company emerging from a pandemic-fueled boom and a dismal year 2023.
“Overhead costs and debt service caught up with them,” he told me. “My work so far has involved a lot of restructuring, evaluating expenses and making significant cuts – some have been painful, like layoffs. »
He and I recently discussed his journey – from marketing executive to CEO – including decision-making, stress, compensation, stock holdings, and much more.
Our entire audio conversation is embedded below. The transcript is edited for length and clarity.
Eric Bandholz: Give our listeners a recap of who you are.
Bryant Jaquez: I’m a serial marketing executive turned CEO of BuddyLove, a women’s clothing company based in Dallas, Texas. My background is in direct-to-consumer e-commerce. I have been working in the industry for 10 years. Until about seven weeks ago, I was leading marketing teams. I joined BuddyLove, my first CEO role, in early January.
A CEO of a DTC company must also be an entrepreneur. And I’ve always been entrepreneurial. You have to be obsessed with your work and love it. You also need to be prepared to take on all the stress and responsibility that comes with running an entire business.
BuddyLove was started in 2010 by a husband-wife team, Buddy and Grayson DeFonso. Grayson designs all of our clothing. Buddy was running operations but had had enough. He approached me and asked if I would be interested in joining the team.
I was ready for a change. There are limits to a CMO’s professional growth. You are either working towards an exit or trying to increase your income. I realized I needed to start a business myself or run one. So it was good timing.
Bandholz: Does the work meet your expectations after two months?
Jacques: BuddyLove did $14 million in revenue last year – a bit lower than the brands I come from, but big enough to have money for rapid growth.
BuddyLove is in a similar position to many DTC brands after the pandemic and low interest rates. The company took on a lot of debt. They made big bets on inventory and cash flow. It worked as long as sales doubled year after year.
Then they had a much slower year in 2023. Overhead costs and debt service caught up with them. So now we’re cleaning up the balance sheet. Our goal is to make a profit and return to a lean business. My work so far has involved a lot of restructuring, cost review and significant reductions – some have been painful, like layoffs.
I thought I was good at handling pressure. I jumped on board and started digging into the numbers. I realized we needed to restructure. It took me a few weeks to catch my breath.
I’m happy to report that it works. We are rebuilding the brand from the inside out. We keep the soul intact – Grayson’s designs don’t change – but we reimagine the way things work.
Bandholz: How do you gain the trust of the team as a new boss who is laying off staff?
Jacques: The day we made layoffs was one of the most difficult days of my career. I believe in honesty. I am a caring and very honest communicator. After spending a few days digging through the books, I gathered the whole team together. I told everyone about the situation. I said, “This is where we are. This is the path that awaits us. It’s going to be painful. We have to make cuts. We must become profitable. We must spend less than we bring in.
I’ve tried to fire people like I would if the roles were reversed. This meant trying to help them find opportunities as quickly as possible. So that day, I posted on X: “These are the positions we are giving up. Does anyone need these roles? » In 24 hours, I had opportunities for everyone who wanted them. A few didn’t respond to my attempts to connect them.
We were around forty employees. We are now at about 24.
Bandholz: Many founders want to hire a CEO to grow the business. What is a CEO candidate looking for?
Jacques: For me, it’s equity, skin in the game. I was inspired by Elon Musk’s story about creating out-of-the-box results and structuring an equity deal to achieve them. This is what we did at BuddyLove. Every time we hit a milestone, it unlocks more equity for me. From the start, I was in a better position than the one I left. So, the simple answer for a contractor is to know the compensation of the person you are trying to recruit and significantly improve your offering.
This is enough to pique their interest. Next, you need to make sure you’re aligned with an exit plan and long-term goals. What kind of business do you want? What do you sell? Hiring a CEO is one of the riskiest things you can do.
The CEO of a fast-growing DTC brand likely earns several to six-figures a year plus equity. But here’s what founders need to hear about equity. I had a stock option at my former employer, the clothing brand Caden Lane, that would only execute upon a liquidation event. However, the founder was the sole shareholder and controlled when this event would occur, if at all.
In 2021, she turned down an offer to sell for $100 million. My equity was essentially monopoly money because it meant nothing unless we sold, and I had no control over whether we sold or not.
Thus, founders and CEOs must agree on when and how an equity stake can be monetized.
Bandholz: Where can people follow you and buy your clothes?
Jacques: Buy women’s clothing at BuddyLove.com. Follow me on @BryantJaquez.