Listen to GHOGH with Jamarlin Martin | Episode 04: Detavio Samuels

Jamarlin talks to Detavio Samuels, president of Interactive One, the largest independent digital media platform focused on urban culture. Samuels leads a $30M digital media business that in 2017 acquired Bossip, Madamenoire, and HiphopWired. They discuss Richelieu Dennis’ acquisition of Essence, Facebook’s recent fumbles, and whether Complex Media is a culture vulture.

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This is one in a Moguldom original series that shines the light on the founders featured on MogulWatch, a comprehensive list of startups that have received venture capitalist funding. Find out how much money they have received from whom, and news and data about their company. 

Ordering a burger, renting a movie or finding relief from high-heel shoes can all be accomplished in unmanned retail spaces, also known as kiosks — the new names for an old idea: vending machines.

Buying comfortable shoes from a vending machine at an airport or nightclub became an actual thing in 2013 thanks to serial entrepreneur Dawn Dickson.

Dickson’s latest enterprises are Flat Out of Heels — ballet flat shoes that can roll up and fit into a purse — and PopCom, the kiosk hardware and software to support selling and buying these items from vending machines.

“We want to be like Shopify analytics for self-service retail, penetrating the market as the primary operating system for vending machines and kiosks. Then, building a business that’s very, very attractive for an exit, to the point where several companies are in a bidding war over who can buy PopCom. That’s what I’m working towards.” — — Dawn Dickson, founder and CEO of PopCom and Flat Out of Heels.

Based in Columbus, Ohio, 39-year-old Dickson has helped to revolutionize the vending machine industry while finding an avenue to distribute her flat shoes. The kiosks which PopCom produces allow consumers to pay with credit cards, digital wallets, cryptocurrency and will also allow for facial recognition during the shopping process.

The automated retail space is drawing more attention in the U.S. with retail giants like Amazon planning to open up to 3,000 cashierless stores (Amazon Go) and global company Jabil announcing it will help expand the vending solutions market.

“We want people to open up their minds to the fact that multiple products can be sold in vending machines, because we have really redesigned the machines,” Dickson said in an interview for the Kiosk and Retail Report. “These new designs can be very attractive and engaging.”

Dickson talked with Moguldom about growing and innovating in this space.

“I take vacations on a regular basis … I believe that’s an important part of keeping me personally motivated. Same thing with the team. We don’t have vacation days. You can take a vacation whenever you want. We don’t have sick days. You get paid every day. Period. We don’t have that culture where we’re counting hours and clocking in. We’re a team of entrepreneurs. Everybody is motivated and accountable. There’s no micro-managing.” — Dawn Dickson, founder and CEO of PopCom and Flat Out of Heels.

Moguldom: What is it like in juggling two companies, PopCom, and Flat Out Heels, that are profitable?

Dawn Dickson: I don’t. I don’t juggle two companies. I have people that manage Flat Out. I have a great team for PopCom. My primary focus is PopCom. I put all my energy and effort into (it). Flat Out is a customer of PopCom, but I don’t juggle them. That’s the key, not to juggle.

Moguldom: What are your thoughts on building a good team, so that you can have two thriving companies?

Dawn Dickson: I think the hardest part of building a business is building a team. There’s no formula to it. It took me years to do it, to find people that were committed and believed in the vision of the company. Also, knowing your business needs. Flat Out is a B2B business as we primarily do wholesale although we do utilize e-commerce for individual sales. Flat Out doesn’t require a large staff to manage those orders. However, with PopCom, we have 20 team members with our extended team members and our contractors.

Moguldom: What do you look for when you’re hiring for your team?

Dawn Dickson: Every position is different. First, you hire for culture. We have a very specific company culture, and we hire for that. We want to know if they can blend in with our team and the way we do things. Every position is very specific, so we hire for the skill sets needed. Some roles you must hire for what they call gray hairs, which means a lot of experience. I’m not an expert in hiring or anything because it took me a long time to find a team.

Moguldom: What do you think your team would say about your leadership style in the organization?

Dawn Dickson: They think I’m a great leader. They talk about it all the time. They say they are grateful to work with me, which is an honor for me. My leadership style is very transparent and inclusive. I involve the team in all significant decisions. Ultimately, of course, I have the final say of everything, as the largest shareholder of the company, as the CEO, as the founder, as the chairman of the board. However, I talk to everybody involved, all the investors, all the advisors, all the team members, before I make decisions that affect everyone. There are never any surprises. I’m very transparent about everything that’s going on, good and bad. Everyone feels very included as an owner. I don’t say I have employees; I have a team. Everybody has a significant role, and they’re all equally important, and they contribute to the big picture, so I treat them that way.

Moguldom: How do you keep the creativity flowing to make the best product or services for your clients?

Dawn Dickson: Really, I wouldn’t say creativity is involved at all for PopCom. We have a software product and a hardware product. Both meet a specific need. It’s not creativity that we rely on in our business, it’s more about being agile in our development, building a product customers want, not making assumptions, but talking to them and building a product that fits the market’s need. Many founders build what they want, or what they think is best, but we’re very agile, and we build and test and build and test until we get the right product.

Moguldom: How do you keep your teams motivated?

Dawn Dickson: I take vacations on a regular basis and I will take days away from work because I believe that’s an important part of keeping me personally motivated. That’s also the same thing with the team. We don’t have vacation days. You can take a vacation whenever you want. We don’t have sick days. You get paid every day. Period. If you’re on vacation, you still get paid. If you’re sick, you still get paid. We don’t have that culture where we’re counting hours and clocking in. I think allowing them to have freedom and live their life and be who they are and work at their own pace and schedule, while still being a part of a team, keeps them motivated. They are not stifled by the business. If they need to do something during the day like go to an appointment, they just go and make sure everything is handled. Really, we’re a team of entrepreneurs. Everybody is motivated and accountable. There’s no micro-managing going on.

Moguldom: If you still have your company in 20 years, do you still see keeping that type of self-accountability culture?

Dawn Dickson: I won’t have this business in 20 years, but I don’t know. I have a small company, and I don’t know how scalable our culture is for a larger business. It would seem once you have hundreds or thousands of employees, everybody can’t handle the flexibility of not having vacation days but getting paid every day. I know that’s the only environment I can work in. Once the organization gets too big where it’s not possible to do so, then that is something I will have to re-evaluate. However, I know for me, that’s the only culture I prefer.

Moguldom: Do you see your PopCom being acquired before then?

Dawn Dickson: Oh, yes. Without a doubt.

Moguldom: How much capital have you raised for both companies?

Dawn Dickson: I raised $1.3 million total — $900,000 for PopCom, the rest for Flat Out. For Flat Out, I have angels. I have the support of accelerators, Angels, VCs and I won several pitch competitions that kept Flat Out funded in the early years. I think it was like $350,000 I raised for Flat Out, and the rest came from prize money.

“It doesn’t matter how good of an idea I have, my intellectual property, or anything. If I don’t have a team, I can’t do anything. It’s them that allow me to live my dreams. That’s my biggest win. It took me a long time to find the right people.” — — Dawn Dickson, founder and CEO of PopCom and Flat Out of Heels.

Moguldom: What do you think are some of your notable wins for both Flat Out and PopCom?

Dawn Dickson: I think just being the first to market with the product and being very competitive in the space — those were big wins for us. For Flat Out, it was being the first vending machine with shoes in any airport in the United States. The first shoes in the nightclub, which was a big one. I had many celebrities wearing them and received a lot of TV placement. The brand went viral during a period of a couple of years. It was great. Then, to be able to develop our hardware. I’ve invented both the software and the hardware, and I have patents pending on both. That’s a win for PopCom. I think my team is my biggest win because I think I wouldn’t be able to do it without them. It doesn’t matter how good of an idea I have, my intellectual property, or anything. If I don’t have a team, I can’t do anything. It’s them that allow me to live my dreams. That’s my biggest win. It took me a long time, like I said, to find the right people.

Moguldom: What do the next five years look like for PopCom and Flat Out?

Dawn Dickson: Scaling, being in more locations, bringing the PopShop to airports and college campuses and shopping centers to having our software integrated into vending machines and kiosks. We want to be like Shopify analytics for self-service retail, penetrating the market as the primary operating system for vending machines and kiosks. Then, building a business that’s very, very attractive for an exit, to the point where several companies are in a bidding war over who can buy PopCom. That’s what I’m working towards for PopCom. I’ll probably always keep Flat Out as it is a very easy business model.