BUFFALO, N.Y. – As a solopreneur for about five years, Corey D. Brown worked hard to develop a solid reputation for his Buffalo, N.Y.-based buffaBRAND. He had a knack for building and scaling brands in the Amazon space, and companies began to take notice.
Offers poured in to acquire buffaBRAND and Brown looked for a buyer who could help him expand the company. A private investment group from New York City ultimately fit the bill. “The group was led by an individual who I felt could further my mission and work directly with me,” Brown reports. “This person brought a lot of skills and was also somebody who I wanted to work with.”
Prosper Show Newsletter sat down with Brown to learn more about what the acquisition means for buffaBRAND, as well as the company’s current and future clients.
Prosper Show: What can you tell us about the group that acquired your company?
Corey D. Brown, founder and CEO, buffaBRAND: The group consists of a few individuals who are long-term players in the Ecom space. They’ve built and sold multiple agencies and helped brands on the enterprise side. The intention was to add more knowledge and investment into what we had built.
Prosper Show: How did Prosper Show help to foster the deal?
Brown: The final meeting with the group that ended up acquiring buffaBRAND happened just outside of the Prosper Show floor at the event. That was our final conversation before we sealed the deal. You can’t do those things over the phone, or at least you shouldn’t. You need to shake hands and feel the energy. In-person events such as Prosper Show can help further your journey a lot more than just staying at home.
Prosper Show: Will the buffaBRAND name remain the same?
Brown: Yes. buffaBRAND marketing will continue as is. All of the things that we built, and the goodwill that we built, will all maintain under that name moving forward.
Prosper Show: What will change?
Brown: We’re going to be able to offer more services. We already are offering additional services that were outside of our scope. We plan to deepen our abilities within certain marketplaces, such as Walmart, in addition to Amazon. There’s going to be a lot more in the pipeline and the goal is to be able to service all the way from someone who’s launching her first few products on Amazon to the enterprise level—and do that very well. That’s something that we weren’t able to necessarily do before, and now we can with the team that we have in place. As before, we will offer consulting and advertising all the way through account management and full creative. We are able to jump into an account and work directly with owners one-on-one with full service, and also offer one-on-one coaching.
Prosper Show: What would you say to sellers who are hesitant to get consulting help?
Brown: First and foremost, do it. But when you do it, make sure you’re speaking to someone who you trust and someone who you want to work with. There are a lot of really great resources out there, but conversely there are plenty of other options that maybe aren’t qualified or overreach within the market. Do some research, verify, and ask questions There are amazing people out there who have helped sellers launch their brands, and may save you thousands by avoiding mistakes.
Prosper Show: Why do you continue to go to trade shows?
Brown: It’s more important than ever to get to trade shows, because it’s so easy to detach in this digital world. People work from home and stay away from the industry—but that leads to a lack of growth. Going to events such as Prosper Show is a catalyst for energy and change. Going to shows is why I decided to make the acquisition deal, because I got into rooms with people and felt new energy and new intelligence—and realized it was something I needed to inject into my business.
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