How Acadia's Kiri Masters built a business out of selling on Amazon

If anyone knows the ins and outs of selling on Amazon, it’s Kiri Masters. A decade ago, she was working in corporate strategy at JPMorgan Chase and selling her own DIY lighting products on Amazon as a side hustle when she realized advising small businesses about how to sell their wares online could be a business all on its own. Soon after, she left her corporate job and founded Bobsled Marketing, consulting about Amazon for product companies. “The tide was really starting to shift for a lot of brands from a psychological standpoint on Amazon from being a secondhand bookstore to maybe people will buy lipstick there,” said the 35-year-old Australian native, noting the serendipity of founding Bobsled in 2015, the year Amazon debuted its popular Prime Day sales event. See all 40 Under 40 honorees here After a successful 2021 that included a 73% rise in revenue, Bobsled—which currently boasts 110 clients and 56 team members—was acquired in February by Acadia, the new digital agency. Masters already has a game plan mapped out for the future, where she expects to focus on advising brands on retail media. “If you’re a large DTC brand, you’ve now got upward of half a dozen retailer customers that are putting their hand out and saying, ‘Hey, we want you to start spending your ad dollars on our retail media platform,’ and that’s an emerging challenge and opportunity for brands,” said Masters. If you could have dinner with one person, alive or dead, who would it be and why? Martha Stewart. She is the OG influencer, Renaissance woman and master of reinvention. I would love to hear how she organizes her day and delegates her myriad professional projects. What are the top two social media sites you use on a regular basis? LinkedIn, which I love for the thoughtful professional conversations, and Amazon, which is trying its best to become a social media site. What’s currently on your bedside reading list? The American Sailing Association’s “Introduction to Sailing 101.” I am a newbie sailor and need all the help I can get around points of sail. What was the last show you binge-watched? “Succession,” and then obsessively following the Instagram account “Succession Fashion,” which breaks down the costume design, scene by scene. At what age do you hope to retire? I always want to be working on something that’s worthwhile, so hopefully never! See all 40 Under 40 honorees here

How Acadia's Kiri Masters built a business out of selling on Amazon

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