Kevin Hillstrom

"Cheap fabric and dim lighting, that's how you move merchandise." Morty Seinfeld, January 16, 1997

Great Moments in advertising history.

@MehtabKarta @Turnaroundartst KDP tells me I sold four units on May 1-2.

@minethatdata @Turnaroundartst did you get any sales from this 😂

Consumer brand operator reading list! My definition of a good book is that it can immediately improve margins or revenue. No academic garbage :) Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman Default operating system for the companies in our portfolio. Implementing EOS fixes most issues at most businesses. Never used a formal management system? Start here. It’s faster to deploy than Scaling Up and a better fit for companies with lower revenue per head. Scaling Up by Verne Harnish EOS is a simplified version of Scaling Up. I prefer Scaling Up for companies with higher revenue per head. It also makes sense for larger companies. In consumer…this probably means companies doing over ~$50m - $75m or so. Monetizing Innovation by Madhavan Ramanujam Pricing should be designed into the product from day one. The book walks through how to figure out what customers value, what they’ll pay, and how to package and tier accordingly. If you’ve never had a thoughtful approach to pricing, this is a great book. Topgrading by Bradford Smart Topgrading is a great step-by-step instruction manual on how to hire and not mess it up. Every time we implement it, our success rate with hires goes up. The only downside is that the book is poorly written and too long. I’m guessing to please the publishers.. Scaling Compensation by Verne Harnish Reduce churn. Attract the right talent. Align your team around what matters. You’ll cut compensation-related discussions by 80% after launching a comp philosophy, and this book is a step-by-step guide on how to do it. Pair it with whichever operating system you run so your values flow into how you pay people. The Purchasing Advantage by Omid Ghamami One of the best books ever written on supply chain! I mean just go and look at the cover of the book. You can tell it’s going to deliver tremendous value because of how ugly it is. The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt Lean manufacturing principles wrapped in a story. It is gimmicky. If you run any operation with throughput constraints... manufacturing, fulfillment, customer service... this will reframe how you think about bottlenecks. I don’t love how the book is written. What could’ve been 50 pages is 300. The core content is excellent though, and plenty of people enjoy the story format more than a textbook. To the author’s credit, I guess there are a lot of textbooks on this... Profit First by Mike Michalowicz We don’t use Profit First at any of our companies. The system is about idiotproofing a business more than running it well. That said... if you’re new to running a business, don’t have a financial background, or keep ending the year wondering where the money went, Profit First is a great way to idiot-proof things. You allocate revenue into separate buckets (profit, taxes, owner pay, opex) the moment it comes in, instead of paying yourself whatever’s left at the end. It forces discipline. The Kevin Hillstrom Books (Merchandising, Customer Development, Fix It) Three short, tactical books. You can read all three in a day or so. I like these books because they’re short and to the point. There’s no dumb filler. They’re extra relevant to you if you run a business with a lot of LTV or a lot of SKUs, especially something like apparel. Kevin’s blog is the OG e-commerce resource online. It’s full of gold. Financial Intelligence by Karen Berman and Joe Knight No financial background? Read this. Double Your Profits by Bob Fifer You’ll find at least one thing that saves an insane amount of money. This is what I recommend whenever someone asks me how to quickly improve margin without a massive overhaul. — Here are a few turnaround focused books. I am including them because I think a lot of the advice is applicable to early-stage brands with less than $100m in revenue as well. They’re about focusing on what matters, managing cash, and how to operate when you are very constrained. Corporate Turnaround Artistry by Jeff Sands Loaded with tactical advice you can implement immediately. I recommend it alongside Double Your Profits for anyone that wants to expand their margins. Corporate Turnaround by Donald Bibeault A foundational classic. Bibeault’s quotes about what makes a great turnaround manager are some of my favorites in business literature. With that said maybe some of this is kind of redundant if you’re reading the Jeff Sands book and I think Jeff’s book is better. Reversing the Slide by James Shein Good tidbits, especially around legal basics. Less tactical than Sands. Still worth the read. Turnaround Management Association textbooks Two solid primers. One on management and strategy. One on the law. Less tactical than I’d like. Still worth picking up for comprehensive coverage of the space.

@rogbennett @meninblazers Have you thought about interviewing @StuntPegg?

For those who enjoy pickleball metrics / statistics! I've launched a new endeavor #pickleball New Website: pickleballmathlete.com New Newsletter: pickleballmathlete.substack.com The newsletter is free … over time PPA / MLP match stats will go behind a paywall @ $30/year.

@htrnews He's done a spectacular job! Compare his resume to all other Wisconsin basketball coaches not named Bo Ryan.

Good thing Wisconsin AD ignored 'hot seat' narrative with Greg Gard | Lori Nickel htrnews.com/story/sports/c…

@SoftearsIEM Hi - I am Kevin Hillstrom. I purchased my Volume S on January 2 - the left iem appears to have a problem ... sounds quiet and just "off" (I checked the tuning switch and R/L connections). How do I go about getting them repaired/replaced? kevinh@minethatdata.com

@barryisthedon @DylanEveryday @CFBwSam I honestly wasn't a fan of this coaching regime through mid-2025 but my goodness the fight that staff and those kids had in the last five games warms the heart.

@DylanEveryday @CFBwSam 🖐

Not sure youll find 3 games in a row harder than this on any schedule

@TheKitchenPB Also in the point shown in the first 40 seconds of the video Megs hits 19 of 22 balls on the other side of the court.

@TheKitchenPB Didn't they say post-match that Tyra was sick and that Christian had to do all the work?

One of the most talked-about storylines this weekend was Christian Alshon and Tyra Black’s mixed doubles run. Mixed doubles is always one of the most debated formats in pickleball, with the common criticism being that it turns into “mixed singles,” where the man dominates the court. This case was no different. We saw posts claiming Christian took too much space, that Tyra looked unhappy, and that the match felt more like two-on-one. And yet, they won the entire tournament. So it raises the question: when money is on the line, is it acceptable for the man to take over? Or is it better to lose while keeping things more equitable? ⚖️

@TheKitchenPB Years ago I played in a PPA tournament in Mesa, on some random outer court on a day the pros weren't playing. I don't remember if I won or lost the point. As I walked back to serve, there was Vivienne David standing along the fence, smiling and clapping for me.

Vivienne David retired today and I’m sad. One of the kindest, most underrated players to ever do it. All class, all grace, pickleball is worse without her in it. Here she is with her best friend and doubles partner, Thomas Wilson (who I also miss), in one of my favorite pickleball points ever. Thank you, Vivienne David. We didn’t deserve you. 🥺 @PPAtour

You can complain about going for two and missing it (they should have taken the extra point blah blah blah). Remember, the Eagles already missed an extra point, it isn't guaranteed ... and the two point conversion you need at the end of the game isn't guaranteed either.

@barryisthedon Happy for you, the players, the coaching staff, and the fans who attended the last two home games! Those kids have been playing hard the past month.

WISCONSIN FOOTBALL IS SO BACK

@JimPolzinWSJ Really proud of those kids and coaching staff, and the fans who attended the last two home games. They deserve to be rewarded.

Thoughts on the win over Illinois, #Badgers fans?

@barryisthedon Our defense tried hard.

Ok, Badger fans everywhere Let's hear your thoughts on the loss to Ohio State 👇

@JimPolzinWSJ The defense tried hard.

Thoughts on the loss to Ohio State, #Badgers fans?

@barryisthedon @Tortured_Verse Look at Oregon 2016. Sure they needed 2 coaches to turn things around, but you can hit a low low (losing to Washington at home 70-21 is a low low) and be 12-2 just three years later. UW can be fixed. I'm not smart enough to judge if current/future coach does that.

@Tortured_Verse @minethatdata No. This is a shocking result and told you so dorks are exhausting

I don't think Luke Fickell wants to be at Wisconsin

@barryisthedon Hopefully things improve this winter into next year. QB injury luck makes life a lot harder.

@minethatdata High percentage and objectively so

@barryisthedon Ask your followers how many of them were happy when he was announced as head coach? Your followers never have a choice. Your followers always have an opinion. How many of your followers were happy with this choice vs. 67-26?

@minethatdata Fickell didn't take over for Chryst so that wasn't a choice fans had

@barryisthedon Take accountability, folks. You wanted this.

@barryisthedon Do you know how many of your followers wanted him over somebody who went 67-26? You've got it now.