Episode Details

Main Takeaways:

• Grant Van Kirk, the Head of Finance at ROKA, joins Brian and Phillip in this episode of Step by Step.
• A single, all-encompassing tech solution is not always the best choice for your business and diversifying your tech stack can minimize integration demands.
• How do you decide when it is time to add a piece of software to your tech stack?
• Fulfillment expectations are higher than ever, but streamlining your operations can meet these demands and boost customer lifetime value.

The ROKA Story: A Quick Overview:

• ROKA started in 2013 when two former Stanford swimmers entered a triathlon to get back into shape but were disappointed with the options of gear available to them.
• They invented a wetsuit that didn't feel or perform like a traditional wetsuit and quickly became a staple in the triathlon community.
• The brand has expanded beyond just being triathlon gear and is now available for a large spectrum of sports.
• Triathalon gear is typically expensive so the average customer tends to be older and more affluent than other fitness consumers.

Some Background on Grant: The Journey So Far:

• Grant started out as a tax CPA and after a while decided that he wanted more from his career.
• He then went into the real estate industry in Dallas but had no company growth potential at his company, so he wanted to find somewhere that would allow him to grow and present him with more professional challenges.
• His search eventually led him to find ROKA where he was attracted to the infinite professional runway that came with the young, growing brand.
• Going beyond the responsibilities of a typical Head of Finance, Grant is additionally very involved with the operations side of ROKA.

An Evolving Position: Changing With the Times:

• How are senior finance roles evolving in the realm of retail?
• It is important to not only be an expert in what your position is but also to be knowledgeable about other positions within your company.
• You won't be able to fully understand if your financials are correct unless you understand all of the systems that are supporting them.
• From day one, Grant had to make sure that he was heavily involved in operations and logistics to make sure that the finances where correct and to be able to identify areas in which the company wasn't spending enough or could increase its expenditures.

Decoding the Attribution Model: From a Financial Perspective:

• Different platforms will highlight different numbers to present brands with the most positive spin on attribution costs.
• How do you translate different attribution data across disparate platforms?
• Aggregating your data across platforms for comparison will allow you to correctly assess if a marketing tool is effective.
• Once you have attracted customers to your site, the next steps are equally important to convert those visitors into customers.

Looking Under the Hood: Breaking Down ROKA's Tech Stack:

• For its eCommerce platform, ROKA is currently running on Shopify Plus and pretty much everything that the consumer sees is also run through the platform.
• To accommodate more features, ROKA is also using several custom modules such as a module that allows customers to design their own sunglasses.
• After the purchase, all data