Ben Leonard on buying back the brand he built

Ben Leonard built Beast Gear from nothing in Scotland, sold it to Thrasio in 2019, then watched it decline for years before buying it back.

In this episode, Sean Frank and Matt Bertulli sit down with Ben to unpack what went wrong, what he is doing to resurrect the brand, and why he is launching a new product at the same time. It is part founder story, part public coaching session on what it takes to win as a six and seven figure brand.

The conversation covers the rise and fall of the Amazon aggregator model, and how brutally the numbers stack up on an earnout when a buyer stops investing. Beast Gear fell from $6 million in revenue to barely $500k after Thrasio shut down the website, email marketing and social. Sean and Matt then walk Ben through their turnaround playbook: TikTok Shop, founder led content, and reclaiming damaged Amazon listings.