Muscle Pharm Corporation (MSLPQ)

[turokman]

One Step Back, Many Steps Forward: How to Turn Tremendous Brand Equity Into a Profitable Business | My interview with MusclePharm CEO Ryan Drexler about restructuring a company with tremendous brand equity, and how less sales can create a stronger company.

If you work out and use nutritional supplements -- in my case, protein powder and creatine -- then you're familiar with MusclePharm. Unlike many supplement manufacturers, MusclePharm products seem to be everywhere: On the shelves of major brick-and-mortar stores like Costco, GNC, and Vitamin Shoppe, online at outlets like Bodybuilding.com... if you've ever purchased a nutritional supplement, chances are you've at least considered a MusclePharm product.

Yet until recently the company wasn't profitable -- in spite of enviable brand awareness and tremendous growth.

Sounds odd, right? Ryan Drexler thought so, too, but he also saw a great opportunity -- first as an investor, then as a board member, and starting last year, as the company's CEO.

Ryan leveraged his experience from building and selling Country Life, a successful sports nutrition and vitamin company, to build on the existing brand awareness and reach of MusclePharm, and make the company profitable. Along the way he's dramatically reduced expenses, eliminated dozens of unprofitable SKUs, terminated expensive celebrity endorsement deals, made a major international push... and recently launched a line of all-natural, organic products.

https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/one-step-back-many-steps-forward-how-to-turn-treme.html