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Candy shopkeeper @ The Sweet Spot.
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot March '26 Recap --------------- Even though we missed on overall rev, I've never been more bullish on what's to come. We're making a number of improvements (cosmetic, process & inventory) in Highland in preparation of the summer. We're welcoming a boutique in our other retail space in May and will be opening one of our 2nd floor candy-themed Airbnbs at the end of the month. Hillsboro focus on restocking in preparation of summer break. In addition to Golden Ticket Program, planning to launch two significant experimental programs in Q2/Q3 (B2B bulk order offering for parades, events, etc and grocery store kiosk). Highlights. 1. Wash U Golden Ticket campaign has been a great success. Operating team is thrilled with results so far (should ~5x their annual profit), wholesale partners have sold out and reordered multiple times, strong business prize participation & buzz/WOM is strong on campus. Great initial campaign to turn this into an annual tradition. 2. With strong GTP traction so far, this year is pretty well set. We should have 8-10 GTP partners run campaigns this year and we will not try to exceed that so we can execute well and learn from each one. We have started developing plans to scale our count in '27 (separate LLC, set up website, sponsoring chamber conference, etc). Lots of potential here we plan to pursue it thoughtfully. 3. While technically in April, we launched our first April Fool's joke with a Facebook/email announcing our transition to a fresh vegetable market. Very fun, lots of great reactions and only a handful of people believed us 😂 . Eat More Candy! 4. In an effort for our social strategy to better reflect our community-oriented mission, we started a "Sweet Stories" series highlighting the customers that come in the shop every day. Kids getting to buy candy as a reward for achieving a reading goal, parents buying nostalgic candy as a birthday gift their parents - the stories are endless and we'll be incorporating more of them into our social pages moving forward.
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot Special Update: Had to give a special shoutout to the Bear-y Sweet Shoppe team at Washington University in St. Louis who launched their Golden Ticket chocolate bar today. This is a student owned small candy store business on campus. Over the past few months, I had the opportunity to partner with them to bring the golden ticket magic to my alma mater. Despite a full class load, athletics, running the day to day business, holiday breaks and the fact that they’re still in school(!), they were able to design and execute the inaugural Bear Bar (Wash U Bears) campaign featuring: • 25 golden ticket prizes provided by Wash U / STL business staples ($3,000+ in value!) • 4 beautifully designed custom Wash U chocolate bars in 4 flavors • Multiple wholesale distribution partnerships so bars can be purchased in stores all over campus (with meal points!) in addition to their shop / website • An awesome launch video & multiple new creative launch marketing initiatives that we’ll be able to learn from & build on in the future Couldn’t think of a better group to be our second Golden Ticket Program partner. I’ve been so impressed with the team and I’m so excited to see how the Wash U community reacts! Amy Beanblossom Olivia Dobrenko Riana Grable & Andy Du. For all my Wash U people out there, if you’re not in STL, check out their page and order some bars before they’re all gone —> www.bear-ysweetshoppe.com
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot Feb. '26 Recap --------------- Things picked up in Feb with a rare overall revenue beat driven by our first Golden Ticket Program (GTP) partner. We've packaged our annual Golden Ticket campaign into a turnkey marketing program that other groups (e.g. Chamber of Commerce) can launch for their community / members. We handle the heavy lifting providing our playbook, guidance & aggregate their custom chocolate bar order with our own to secure better unit pricing. Interest has been remarkably strong making this one of our big bets this year (more below). Both stores saw solid MoM growth with Valentine's Day even with the short month. Highlights below: 1. Last year, we piloted the GTP program with nearby Greenville Chamber of Commerce. Our first GTP partner this year is a special one that I'm really excited about. Katie and I met at Washington University in St. Louis and they just so happen to have a student run candy store on campus that will be launching their own Golden Ticket "Bear Bars" this month! I've been so impressed with the students & their creativity + ability the execute. Can't wait for their launch! Shoutout Amy Beanblossom, Riana Grable, Olivia Dobrenko & Andy Du! 2. We're in discussions with 10+ regional Chambers of Commerce as well to launch their own Golden Ticket program so hopefully there's much more to come here! We've shared our quick pitch overview in the images & have drafted (very rough draft!) a site to help prospective partners learn more: https://lnkd.in/gcStzsTG. 3. We hosted our local Gateway CEO high school group at our Highland locations. CEO programs are groups of high school kids who spend the semester waking up at 6am most days to tour local businesses, listen to guest speakers and work on their own class + individual businesses. Consistently impressed with these students & their questions! 4. While we're not sure how much opportunity exists, we were invited to set up a 'candy concessions' table at a youth wrestling match this month and it was a big success surpassing what we typically do in a few days worth of sales. We'll be trying to identify more opportunities like this where we can bring something a bit different/unique to a large, captive audience! Until next time!
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot Jan. '26 Recap --------------- January was our lowest total sales month since we've been operating two stores 😵💫. Not completely surprising with the winter storms causing a few store closures and limiting traffic & an ~$8K deficit from pausing our Virtual Storefront (DoorDash) channel. Regardless, we need to drive some growth! We put a number of initiatives in motion last month that should help the rest of Q1 & beyond. Looking forward to some warmer weather & seeing the impact of these initiatives in Feb! January Highlights: 1. We 'retired' the penny at The Sweet Spot. With the penny production being discontinued and limited availability, we took the opportunity to make a big change to our pricing. Our previous scheme had all prices end in .99 or .49 and sales tax was traditionally added on top. We updated all prices to end in .00 or .50 & included sales tax in the price. Most items only increased by 1¢ but overall price will be cheaper for the customer given sales tax is included. We're hoping this will a) make shopping easier for kids, b) reduce the need for change and c) shift more transactions from card to cash decreasing processing fees. 2. We launched specialty holiday preorders for heart shaped cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries sourced from our retail partners (Hank's Cheesecakes & Bobby's Frozen Custard) respectively. 3. We planned our next Candy Tasting Events with a pop culture themed tasting done in collaboration with an annual local fundraising event (Stamp Out Cancer). We'll have candy from or inspired by: Stranger Things, Kpop Demon Hunter, Bridgerton & Taylor Swift! 4. We executed three off premise 'concessions' events setting up tables at basketball tournaments & wrestling matches with some of our more unique candy - youth sports / events are a huge opportunity for us that we hope to find and execute more of this year. 5. We're close to finishing renovations in our Highland building for a) ground floor retail space where we have an awesome local boutique moving in next month and b) 2nd/3rd floor short term rental apartments. We're hoping that finishing construction, welcoming the additional tenant and launching the new rental properties will help bring additional interest and traffic to our area of the downtown square. We also brought on a new weekday teammate in Highland with great experience and ideas who should quickly help up operate the day to day & improve the store soon!
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot '25 Recap + '26 Strategic Plan --------------- '25 was an incredibly valuable learning year for us. With a full year of operating two stores under our belt, we now have a strong understanding of the process improvements required to run multiple locations, top/bottom line drivers of financial performance, biggest opportunities for growth & a fresh set of experiments for '26. While we missed on most rev. goals, we finally set up clean P&Ls for each store revealing an encouraging view of the opportunity ahead. We'll spend '26 developing replicable processes for managing day to day operations (inventory, scheduling, etc), testing new growth hypotheses, improving the cx experience and having some fun with eyes on a potential 3rd location in '27. In lieu of a dense post of updates, here's a few fun numbers to recap '25. Commentary on the year & '26 plan is included in the attachments. In 2025 we: • 🛍️ Rang up over 20,000 transactions from ~7K customers • 🍬 Devoured 6,000+ pounds of bulk bin candy • 🍫 Searched for 150+ Golden Tickets worth $15K in prize value • 🎫 Welcomed 200 guests to their first Candy Tasting Event • ⭐ Surpassed 300 Google Reviews (with 100% 5-star ratings) • 👷♀️ Employed 9 kind, inspiring, hard working individuals • 🇦🇪 Enjoyed 1,000+ Dubai Chocolate Bars, our top selling international candy • 📓 Contributed $3,800 to our Sweet Scholars Funds (& deployed $11K) Thank you for the support, encouragement, advice & following along! I'd be remiss not to mention writing this at 4am while our five month old (Lenny) is sleeping on my lap because he's a garbage sleeper and it's a good time to get stuff done :). Here's to a sweet, successful & hopefully more sleep-filled 2026!
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot '25 Experiment Recap ----------- In advance of our end of year summary + '26 strategic plan update, we took some time to summarize the main experiments we executed this year. 50% of them failed! We learned from the ones that flopped and the successful ones have provided some strong investment opportunities for next year. Wanted to share in case these might be helpful or spark an idea. Hope you have a Happy New Year!
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Dylan Richter shared thisMid month update: 1. We have 1.5 weeks until we close the shop for a week between Christmas and New Years. We just launched our Holiday Gift Guide so in a purely self-serving move, I wanted to publish it for the LinkedIn Monthly Update crew in case anyone is struggling with gift ideas. We’ll throw a couple surprise goodies in any shipping orders —> https://lnkd.in/gFtDeHa2 2. We’ll post a full year recap + 2026 plan after the new year. When you run your own small business, there’s no one to answer to (outside of customers & staff) so accountability has to be self imposed. I’ve always viewed the monthly updates as a form of that (can’t be showing up with huge misses and no progress each month!). I also receive a few DMs each month with a variety of questions about the experience so if there are any questions about the year you’d be interested in, I’d like to address those. Just comment or DM me and I’ll include a little Q&A section in the ‘26 plan. In the meantime, happy holidays and hope you have a great rest of the year!
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot Nov. '25 Recap --------------- November was our biggest month so far this year and first over $50K+. We launched our 3rd annual Golden Ticket Chocolate Bar promotion earning strong TV & print PR (links below). Our Black Friday 20% off sale beat last year's performance & given the increased foot traffic, we surpassed our EOY Loyalty membership goal (4K). While Dec. is a short month for us since we close for the year on Christmas Eve, the holiday shopping season is our busiest. We're unlikely to close our revenue gap for the year but should finish strong and have learned some valuable lessons we'll take into '26 planning. Nov. Highlights: 1. 3rd Annual Golden Ticket launch was a hit with 80K+ views of our launch announcement videos, strong TV & print coverage (TV: https://lnkd.in/gNfEnHhG, front page of STL Newspaper's Business Section: https://lnkd.in/g3FyZmg4), 15K+ wholesale bars sold (participating biz selling bars at their stores) & a successful pilot helping a nearby chamber of commerce execute the campaign locally for their members. Not to mention tons of excited customers unwrapping Golden Ticket! 2. Black Friday has become our largest single sales day each year with 20% off & our local communities eager to shop & support local. Unfortunately, Small Business Saturday was virtually snowed out with 8-10" of snow but we extended the discount & captured some online sales with the weekend turning out to be our largest to-date. 3. We finalized a solid holiday/EOY calendar across both stores with events, Candy Tastings, photos with Santa and extended shopping hours for the holidays. Though we close the week between Dec. 24 & New Years, we should see consistent holiday shopping traffic to help close out the year strong. 4. With our rate of experimentation, we're bound to have some misses and we absolutely had some (costly!) air balls this year. These fails deserve their own dedicated post so we'll highlight the most glaring ones + learnings toward the end of Dec before we post our EOY recap + '26 plan. Have a wonderful end of year & holiday season!
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Dylan Richter shared thisThe Sweet Spot mid-month update: Last week, we launched our 3rd annual hunt for Golden Tickets with a press release & announcement video on social media (Highland's version below) featuring two very special guests - my son, Lenny and my partner, Kevin ‘Ryan’ Kirby's son, Nolan who stole the show! Coordinating this was months in the making and we're quite proud and excited to see the impact it will have on the shop, community and participating businesses. We'll share more on that in November's recap but few details for now: • We hid Golden Tickets in custom chocolate bars (8 flavors) where each ticket corresponds with a prize from us or a participating local business. • In total across both stores, we got 100+ local businesses to participate contributing 150+ Golden Tickets representing $15,000+ in prizes. • Participants could purchase bars at wholesale prices to sell at their stores to capitalize on traffic & drive revenue - prelaunch, 35+ participants purchased ~$40K in wholesale bars including 5 big box retail / grocery stores. • The wholesale business included a pilot program with the Greenville IL Chamber of Commerce (~20 minutes away from our stores) where we helped them package & execute the promotion for their community & members. We've already had additional groups/communities inquire about executing this type of campaign next year [message me if interested!]. If you'd like to test your luck & see if you'll unwrap a Golden Ticket, shipping is available! https://lnkd.in/e54rNQ7H See you in a few weeks!
Dylan Richter commented on a post
1d
Heck yeah!! Good luck and have fun Chelsea Steckel Hendler!!
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1mo
Jacob Fisher you’re the best J - I appreciate that!! Keep hustling! Excited to see what you build / tackle next!
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1mo
Andrew Skalman what else you gonna do with all those extra points at the end of the year?!?
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Dylan Richter liked thisDylan Richter liked thisAfter five unforgettable years at DoorDash, I’m closing a chapter that pushed me, stretched me, and shaped me in all the best ways. I had the chance to grow from product marketing into leading B2B Marketing—building, rebuilding, and navigating a whole lot of change along the way. It wasn’t always easy, but it was incredibly meaningful. I’m especially grateful to Kofi Amoo-Gottfried for believing in me and consistently pushing me to step into more. A special shoutout to the B2B Marketing team—past and present—and all the incredible leaders along the way. You are truly the heart and soul of DoorDash. Getting to build alongside you was one of the greatest privileges of my career. Bittersweet to leave—but very excited for what’s next. I’ve joined HALO Branded Solutions as Vice President of Marketing, leading category, brand, and go-to-market strategy. Halo is the global leader in branded merchandise, company uniforms, and employee recognition and incentive programs—and I’m joining at a transformative moment. What’s most exciting to me is how brand experience is evolving. It’s no longer just online—it’s how people experience a brand out in the wild. What they wear, use, and keep. Halo is helping companies build that full, 360° offline brand experience—and the opportunity there is massive. Huge thank you to Jim Hilt for the opportunity and trust. Excited to get started. Onward🚀 P.S. If you need swag, I’m your girl 😉
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Dylan Richter liked thisDylan Richter liked thisAs I return to work this week, I wanted to share a life update that's both very, very big and so small (physically). A couple months ago, our first child, Isabel, was born. From middle of the night feedings to downloading (and mostly reading) every parenting book I could find from the Libby app, I'm incredibly grateful I had this time to begin learning how to be a father. As every parent probably knows, it has been the most exhausting and rewarding time of our lives. I'm especially thankful to Neo4j (Emil Eifrem) for offering paternity leave and making it possible to be fully present at home in these early months. It shouldn't really feel like a privilege to have the time that every parent and newborn deserves, but for many in the U.S. today, paid parental leave isn't a thing. Also, a big thank you to my team for everything they handled while I was out. It meant a lot to be able to step away knowing things were in good hands! Looking forward to jumping back into our work. John Coulston Julian Busch Nathalie Febre James S. Sakuranna Chen Frank Patmon
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Dylan Richter liked thisA post i wasn't expecting to write anytime soon. After 6.5 years, I'm closing my chapter at DoorDash - and crikey it's a hard one to close. So 'scuse the incoming cheese. I came in thinking I knew what good looked like. I leave having had that standard completely rewritten by the people around me, and having grown more than i could've imagined. The talent, intensity, and care from this team is remarkable and rare. Watching and learning from people operate with that level of ownership and speed, and being pushed to match it, changed how I operate. About what i thought was possible...it's not something you can manufacture, and it's not something I'll take for granted. The late nights, the chaos, the moments that felt impossible and the ones that felt like breakthroughs.... all of it was made by the people in the room. I leave with a deep respect for what this team has built, and a lot of gratitude for having been part of it. Leaving wasn't easy. It had to be something truly special to pull me away. I'm heading into a space I care deeply about, with a chance to build in a new way. I cannot wait. More on that soon. But first, a whole lot of thank yous. Special thanks to Shanna Prevé for being an inspiring leader, and manager. ❤️ To SLab for being the best team i've ever been a part of. Y'all are tuly special. And to every person who challenged me, backed me, and raised the bar..becoming life long friends along the way. Christina Abrams Debbie Litow Jack Momeyer Nick Hecht Jennifer King Unnati Silverman Dass KC Fox Tanya Jarmarwala Annette Wong Andy Simmons Elaina Atallah Hasan Muhammad Eric Reynolds Raven Dominique Shupe Jazmine Gaona Noah Steinhardt Abigail Gonzalez-Pishevar Casi Shimizu Manali Patel Katie Ruesterholz and many many more!
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Dylan Richter liked thisAfter an incredible 8+ years of leading Product and Design and helping build this world-class company into what it is today, I have decided to leave DoorDash. This will be the last summer with a kid at home full-time, and I know it’s time I want to spend with my daughter before she heads off to college. My last day will be May 22nd, and what comes after that will include downtime, tinkering, and planning for my next play. My journey at DoorDash was shaped by many moments: Building a product customers use every day: DoorDash's customer-obsession culture is world-class. From diagnosing “disaster deliveries” to spending time each month working at merchant counters and making deliveries, the product we built learned from every interaction and stayed focused on one goal - solving our customers' problems. Assembling a team that hustles and delivers: Culture is shaped by the people you hire. Early on, we created a value of never compromising on our bar or the principles that we wanted to uphold with the builders we bring on-board. I am incredibly proud of everyone I got to build with, learn from, and ship meaningful work alongside. Shipping impactful things: Keeping DoorDash operating for our users during the pandemic, building one of largest subscription networks, innovating new ways to work with local businesses, launching the market-leading grocery service, creating a category-defining advertising product, and expanding globally, to name a few. I want to thank Tony Xu for trusting me to be part of this journey. His optimism and high expectations have shaped me forever. Thank you as well to Ryan Sokol, Prabir Adarkar, Ravi Inukonda, Mariana G., Keith Yandell, Tia Sherringham, Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Christopher Payne, and Miki Kuusi for being incredible teammates. A final shoutout to the amazing Product and Design teams we built from scratch into what I can confidently say are among the best in the industry. I am privileged and honored to have worked with you all. While I will remain connected as an advisor at the company, to each and every Doordasher, I am so proud of what we have accomplished and built and will be a proud cheerleader forever.
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Dylan Richter liked thisTime to build. 4/2 deadlineDylan Richter liked thisWe've funded 48 startups on LeapYear so far. Funding 7 more in April. 4/2 application deadline.
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Dylan Richter liked thisGrateful and excited to share some personal news! I’ve been named Partner at the firm and we are now operating under the name Law Offices of West & Ginos, LLC. I’m incredibly thankful for the mentors, colleagues, clients, friends, and family who have trusted and supported me along the way. This milestone means a lot but I’m going to keep working hard, keep learning, and continue delivering the level of service our clients deserve. Looking forward to what’s ahead and proud to be part of a team that cares deeply about the work we do and the people we serve.Dylan Richter liked thisThe Law Offices of Glenn & West, LLC, is proud to announce a new chapter as we become the Law Offices of West & Ginos, LLC, with the promotion of Attorney Michael Ginos to Partner. Michael, continuing a family legacy of legal service dating back to 1948, has distinguished himself as a driven, results-focused Attorney, with a proven ability to deliver for his clients. This transition represents more than a name change – it is a renewed commitment to providing premium, high-level legal representation with the dedication and personal attention our clients deserve. Since joining the firm in 2021, Michael has focused his practice on personal injury, criminal and traffic defense, estate planning, and a variety of civil matters—and he’ll continue serving clients in those areas. Managing Partner Trent West will continue focusing on personal injury, estate planning, bankruptcy, and probate. Michael Glenn has been retired since 2018, and although his last name will no longer be part of the firm name, we will be forever grateful for his unwavering dedication, mentorship, and the positive difference he made in the lives of our clients and colleagues. We are excited for what is ahead and grateful to continue serving our community with the same trusted representation - now with a new name and an even stronger future. Please join us in congratulating Michael on his accomplishment!
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Dylan Richter liked thisDylan Richter liked thisMy AI prototype caught a $15,000 tax error this week. It flagged a 2024 1099 I'd accidentally uploaded — $30K in capital gains that would've been double-reported. TurboTax didn't catch it. My prototype did. So now I'm building Simple Money — a modern tax and wealth management platform for tech workers. Here's where I'm at: 1/ Ran 100+ free financial coaching sessions with high-income tech professionals. 3 out of 4 were leaving $10K+/year on the table. The need is real. 2/ Built a fully functional product (Claude Code FTW!) — connects to your accounts, imports your docs, finds what humans miss. 3/ Passed my Series 65. SEC approvals for the RIA license are in progress. I'm looking for a CPA or CFP co-founder. If you've worked with HNW tech clients and geek out about ISOs, AMT, QSBS, and mega backdoor Roths — DM me. If you know someone who fits, tag them. And if we know each other and you're building (or want to build) in this space — DM me too. A like or comment helps this reach the right person. 🙏
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Dylan Richter liked thisDylan Richter liked thisMost AI helps you do the same work faster. Convey takes the work off your plate entirely. In this demo, we show how a single operator can train an AI teammate simply by doing their job once and letting it learn. What happens next is where it gets even more interesting: - Thousands of tasks processed autonomously - Agents handling edge cases, learning, and improving over time - Over 900,000 hours of work already completed across customers With its own computer and credentials, Convey’s AI teammates can take over entire workflows and handle hundreds of thousands of executions without supervision. Instead of guessing, the AI teammate asks questions when something is unclear, learns how you do the work, and executes it the same way every time. The future belongs to the 100x operator. Feel free to DM if you’re interested to learn more.
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