5 Go-to-Market Lessons from Max Retail’s Evolution from Manual Operation to Tech Platform
When Melodie van der Baan drove a Sprinter van full of designer collections across the country, she wasn’t planning to build an e-commerce infrastructure company. But her experience manually matching excess inventory between retailers revealed a systemic problem that would eventually lead to Max Retail. In a recent Category Visionaries episode, she shared crucial go-to-market lessons that every B2B founder should consider.
- Build Solutions Around Observed Customer Behavior
Instead of starting with a technological solution, Max Retail began by observing and facilitating natural customer behavior. “If I was in Baltimore looking at a size run of striped dresses that were not performing well, but I knew they were blowing out in Birmingham, I would call that buyer in Birmingham,” Melodie recalls. This manual matching process validated the market need before any technology was built.
The lesson? Your initial MVP might not be software at all. By starting with manual operations, you can understand the nuances of customer needs and behavior patterns that would be impossible to glean from market research alone.
- Let Market Feedback Guide Your Category Definition
Max Retail initially positioned itself as an excess inventory solution, but customer behavior revealed a deeper opportunity. “We are actually e-commerce infrastructure,” Melodie explains. “The ability for an independent retailer or brand to be able to sell their excess inventory across a network of demand that would otherwise be too challenging for them to do on their own.”
This repositioning from marketplace to infrastructure platform came from understanding why customers couldn’t solve the problem themselves: “They don’t have the time or the know-how. They can’t do the taxonomy. Their data is too dirty, their inventory is too fragmented.”
- Use Crisis as a Catalyst for Business Model Innovation
When COVID hit just as they launched their B2B marketplace, the team was forced to rethink everything. Rather than doubling down on their original plan, they used the crisis to question core assumptions. This led to discovering new revenue streams through relationships with platforms like Poshmark, who came to them saying “we understand that you have access to brand name drop ship inventory… give us a product feed and let’s see what happens.”
- Pay Attention to Accidental Discoveries
Some of Max Retail’s most important insights came from mistakes. “We sent out an email to what we thought was all the independent retailers. It turns out we sent that email to both retailers and brands,” Melodie shares. This accident revealed crucial differences in unit economics between retailers and brands that would shape their future direction.
- Measure Impact in Customer Terms
Rather than focusing solely on traditional metrics, Max Retail measures success through their customers’ lens. “In the beginning of 2022, the average payout to our retailers was around $151. And as of today, it is an average of $1,200 per month,” Melodie notes. This represents meaningful revenue that allows retailers to “either pay utilities, pay for one of their employees, write themselves a check for the first time.”
Bonus Lesson: Recognize Your Blind Spots Early
Perhaps the most candid lesson for technical founders comes from Melodie’s admission about product management: “Learn what the hell product is. I didn’t even know that was a word until, like, two years in.” This highlights the importance of identifying and addressing knowledge gaps early in your startup journey.
The evolution of Max Retail demonstrates how deep customer understanding, combined with willingness to pivot and learn, can lead to building infrastructure-level solutions that transform markets. As Melodie advises: “Don’t go looking for a problem to solve. Solve the problem that haunts you day and night, and you will never want to remove yourself from it.”
For B2B founders, the key takeaway is clear: your go-to-market strategy should evolve based on customer behavior and market feedback, not just your initial vision. Sometimes the most valuable insights come from what you discover while executing Plan A, even if they lead you to Plan B or C.