Paul Chambers is the Co-Founder of SubSummit, the world’s largest conference dedicated to subscription, membership, and recurring revenue models in the direct-to-consumer space. With over 20 years of experience in subscription commerce, including launching Gentleman's Box in the early 2000s, Paul brings a rare blend of operator insight and community-building expertise to the challenges of scaling retention-first brands.
Driven by the belief that subscriptions are more than a billing model, Paul helped transform SubSummit from a small founder meetup into a global ecosystem, connecting thousands of brands each year. The event fuses tactical content with curated networking and is designed to help ecommerce teams grow beyond one-off purchases and into long-lasting customer relationships.
Each year, Paul and his lean team develop a thematic roadmap for the event, guiding DTC operators through the shifting landscape of loyalty, retention, and membership. From Walmart+ to Amazon Prime to True Classic’s hybrid models, Paul studies the movements of top brands and distills them into actionable lessons for growing recurring revenue.
In This Conversation We Discuss:
- [00:42] Intro
- [00:54] Navigating business partner dynamics
- [02:31] Connecting DTC brands through events
- [03:08] Starting with a founder-first vision
- [04:30] Learning big lessons from small niches
- [06:05] Rebranding to reflect the vision
- [06:59] Investing upfront in long-term value
- [10:15] Improving how people connect
- [12:42] Balancing virtual and in-person events
- [14:17] Designing curated table conversations
- [15:48] Making events affordable for founders
Resources:
- Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube
- Leading subscription commerce conference subsummit.com/
- Follow Paul Chambers linkedin.com/in/paulcchambers
If you’re enjoying the show, we’d love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com