#217: Kelcey Lehrich (365 Holdings) — Building the Forever Home for E-Commerce Companies

Kelcey Lehrich is the Co-Founder and CEO of 365 Holdings, based in Akron, Ohio. 365 Holdings acquires and operates consumer products companies, with a focus on eCommerce and a goal of long-term ownership.

In our conversation, Kelcey shares his path to entrepreneurship and his evolution from making his first acquisition to becoming a seasoned operator. He weaves in lessons from challenging ventures, unconventional acquisitions, and the earned wisdom of building durable businesses in the competitive world of e-commerce.

We unpack how Kelcey thinks about demand creation versus demand capture, what it takes to build a resilient holding company, the tradeoffs between a centralized shared-services model and a decentralized structure, and how to create the best long-term home for brands. He also shares wisdom on what makes a company worth buying in the first place, lessons learned from organizing the HoldCo Conference — the un-conference of Micro Private Equity — here in Cleveland, and much more.

Kelcey offers valuable insight for anyone exploring entrepreneurship through acquisition — or simply curious about how to thoughtfully scale something of quality over time. Please enjoy!

00:00:00 - The Entrepreneurial Spirit Unlocked  
00:05:32 - Navigating Early Entrepreneurial Ventures  
00:08:28 - The Birth of 365 Holdings  
00:11:18 - E-Commerce Evolution and Insights  
00:14:36 - Acquisition Strategies and Lessons Learned  
00:17:37 - Understanding Distressed M&A  
00:20:13 - The Rise of Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition  
00:35:33 - Evolving Business Strategies  
00:38:30 - Defining Success in Business  
00:39:46 - Core Values and Company Culture  
00:40:58 - Raising the Quality Bar  
00:42:59 - The HoldCo Conference  
00:45:20 - The Mindset of a HoldCo Entrepreneur  
00:47:01 - Incentives and Profit Sharing  
00:49:30 - Inspirations and Aspirations  
00:50:16 - The Future of E-Commerce  
00:52:12 - Opportunistic Acquisitions  
00:53:19 - Building in Northeast Ohio  
00:55:00 - Hidden Gem

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LINKS:
https://365-holdings.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelceylehrich/

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Past guests include Justin Bibb (Mayor of Cleveland), Pat Conway (Great Lakes Brewing), Steve Potash (OverDrive), Umberto P. Fedeli (The Fedeli Group), Lila Mills (Signal Cleveland), Stewart Kohl (The Riverside Company), Mitch Kroll (Findaway — Acquired by Spotify), and over 200 other Cleveland Entrepreneurs.

Connect with Jeffrey Stern on LinkedIn — https://www.linkedin.com/in/j