a16z Podcast

a16z Podcast: Building Brands and Running Retail

Tristan Walker

Posted September 4, 2014

 

“Unfortunately we are in a period where [physical] stores will become increasingly less important in the total distribution mix for brands,” says Ron Johnson, the man who built arguably the world’s most successful physical retail outlet — the Apple Store. Given that physical retail is expensive, what’s the right mix for startups here?

In this podcast with Tristan Walker (who is building health and beauty brand Walker & Company from scratch), Johnson shares lessons learned from Apple (and other parts of his career) on the challenges of brand and retail in a multichannel world, and Walker shares why the black barbershop will never go away.