Welcome to the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with CommerceNext and presented by Bloomreach.CSC Generation has mastered the craft of transforming challenged retail brands at the brink of liquidation into high performance, ‘digital-first’ operations.By using their fine-tuned omni-channel technology platform, CSC Generation has a data-driven recipe for retail operations which is undoubtedly the driving force behind the company’s rapid expansion.Today on Conversations with CommerceNext, my co-host Scott Silverman and I sit down with the founder and CEO behind it all - Justin Yoshimura. Justin opens the hood and shares with us how his youth shaped his approach to business as well as the inner workings of CSC’s success. Together, we talk about the business of retail acquisition, entrepreneurial grit and how to prioritize company culture when scaling up your business.Thanks for tuning into this episode of Conversations with CommerceNext.  Please follow us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music or your favorite podcast platform where we’ll be sharing career advice and marketing strategies from eCommerce and digital marketing leaders at retailers and direct-to-consumer brands each and every episode.   CommerceNext is a community, event series and conference for marketers at retail and direct-to-consumer brands. Through our online forums, interviews, webinars, summits and other in-person events, we harness the collective wisdom of our community to help marketers grow their businesses and advance their careers. Join CommerceNext events to meet other industry leaders and learn the latest ecommerce and marketing strategies. You can find upcoming events at CommerceNext.comAboutI am currently the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of CSC Generation Holdings, one of the dime a dozen "unicorn" start-ups.*After being told that nobody would ever hire me, I quit the bureaucracy and negativity of Palos Verdes High School to start a marketplace for unlocked cell phones, which was acquired by a family office when I was 19 years old. More recently, I founded 500friends, the leading loyalty and retention marketing platform for retailers, which merged with Merkle in 2014, and was eventually acquired by Dentsu Aegis in 2016.I also invest between $50k and $1M in interesting companies run by interesting people, eg:*Consumer Internet Companies (excluding social networking): Hipmunk (seed, acquired by Concur), Dropoff (seed), Next Force Technology (seed), Dave (seed), Macro Ventures (seed), Imperfect Produce (seed), Flowclub (seed), Network Eyecare (seed)*SaaS/b2b Companies: Firebase (seed - acquired by GOOG), Zencoder (seed - acquired by BCOV), BounceX (seed, co-lead Series A), Mux (seed), BigFinite (seed).*Funds: Bling Capital, Ovo Fund, Luma Capital Partners, Dundee Venture Capital, Crown Capital Management.Besides business and things I shouldn't be discussing on LinkedIn, I love animals, especially dogs, (many) cats (but especially Persian and Himalayan breeds), dolphins, whales, capybaras, platypus, manatees and turtles. Despite this, I am not a vegetarian, primarily because I lack self discipline. However, I do want to clarify that I do not eat any of the animals listed above, and would judge you for doing so, especially considering the prevalent belief that eating wild animals purchased at "Wet Markets" is what caused COVID (https://wildaid.org/protectwildlife/)I've also been included in vanity lists such as the Forbes 30 under 30, Inc 500, AlwaysOn top 100, DM News 40 under 40, etc, but thankfully, I stopped advertising this in my LinkedIn headline when I was 19 after realizing I was being a DB. For a formal bio, please go here -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_YoshimuraABOUT US: Scott SilvermanAn ecommerce veteran, Scott Silverman has been active in the industry since 1999 and is passionate about digital retail and the innovation driving the industry. Scott Silverman is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. Previously, he spent 10 years as Executive Director of Shop.org where he launched the Shop.org Annual Summit. Scott co-invented “Cyber Monday” in 2005 and was the founder of Cybermonday.com in 2006, a shopping site that has generated more than $2.5 million for Shop.org’s scholarship fund.Veronika SonsevVeronika Sonsev is the Co-Founder of CommerceNext. She also leads the retail practice for Chameleon Collective and is a contributor for Forbes on how to grow retail and ecommerce in the age of Amazon. Having spent the last 10+ years working with some of the largest retailers and direct-to-consumer brands, Veronika has intimate knowledge of the challenges facing retail and ecommerce today. She is also an advocate for women in business and founded the global non-profit mBolden, which is now part of SheRunsit. Michael LeBlanc  is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice.   He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career.  Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast,       The Voice of Retail, plus        Global E-Commerce Tech Talks  and       The Food Professor  with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.  You can learn more about Michael       here  or on       LinkedIn. 
About UsJennifer MarloHead of Content, CommerceNextJennifer Marlo drives industry-leading programming at CommerceNext, drawing on experience from Ascendant Network and iMedia Connection, where she spearheaded content strategies to inspire retail, brand and agency marketing leaders. Guided by the belief that “a rising tide lifts all boats,” Jennifer uses in-person and digital platforms to educate and foster industry collaboration. Steve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling authro of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is the president and founder of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc, a senior retail advisor, top retail influencer, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur.  Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including the award-winning No.1 independent retail industry podcast in America, Remarkable Retail with his partner, Dallas-based best-selling author Steve Dennis; Canada's top retail industry podcast The Voice of Retail and Canada's top food industry and one of the top Canadian-produced management independent podcasts in the country, The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University in Halifax.

Ver todos los episodios