How to Cultivate Creators

Our guest today is Kevin Espiritu. Kevin is the founder and CEO of the world’s most followed gardening brand and online garden store – Epic Gardening. Matt and I had been following Epic and Kevin’s journey for a while but when we met him in person at Capital Camp in May, we knew we had to get him on the show. Since going full time on Epic Gardening in 2013, Kevin has cracked all forms of media. The business has 3.6 million followers across social and YouTube, over 20 million podcast downloads, and some 50 million blog visits. He is the trusted voice for gardeners all across the US and while we could happily talk to Kevin all day about each of those properties, we wanted to go deep with him on something else. His acquisition of Botanical Interests, a 28-year old business that sells seed and garden products. As you’ll hear, Epic’s transition from content to commerce has been incredibly successful and today, it makes far more money from selling product than it generates from making content. We ask Kevin about raising money from The Chernin Group to make the acquisition, the process itself, and what second-order effects it’s had on Epic as a business. I hope you enjoy learning from Kevin as much as we do.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.

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Show Notes 

(00:03:15) - (First question) - His obsession with gardening and turning it into a success

(00:05:02) - How he maximized opportunity with his time playing poker

(00:07:31) - Events leading up to the acquisition on his many companies

(00:12:08) - Key people he worked with while growing his opportunities 

(00:13:01) - Raising capital to use directly as a use of proceeds for acquisitions 

(00:13:50) - The difference between acquiring acquisitions with and without investors

(00:16:05) - The length of time it took to complete the Botanical Interest deal

(00:17:47) - Potential competitors trying to acquire the business 

(00:19:55) - Possible disadvantages of going into a business deal as a video content creator

(00:21:13) - The synergy behind bringing more business into stores

(00:23:09) - Knowing when you should expanding into commerce as a content creator

(00:25:42) - Choosing the right investors to help build your company

(00:29:33) - How his mentality has changed over the years

(00:32:04) - Rules of thumb for using media correctly

(00:35:49) - Advice he has for bring new creators onto the team

(00:37:51) - His hands free approach to founding a business and creating a business multiverse 

(00:41:49) - A look into how he schedules his week

(00:43:11) - The future growth potential of his business

(00:45:15) - People he thinks are great to learn from

(00:49:20) - Debrief