Founder Friday: Kyle Bertin & Evan Stalter, Co-Founders of Two Boxes 📦
Issue #40
Founder Friday is a content series from SuperAngel.Fund that highlights companies across our portfolio and the inspiring founders behind them.
In our 40th edition we are featuring Kyle Bertin & Evan Stalter, Co-Founders of Two Boxes, a SaaS platform that enables brands to process customer returns faster, minimizing waste, and enabling merchants to resell more of their returned inventory.
Co-founders Kyle Bertin and Evan Stalter previously worked together at Outrider, a venture-backed supply-chain and logistics company before starting Two Boxes. Kyle began his career at Deloitte with stints at Flexport and DeepScale, the latter of which was acquired by Tesla. He received a BA from Northwestern and MBA from Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Evan is a former Product Manager and Computer Engineer, with experience at BMW’s electric vehicle division. The pair are joined by other early team members with expertise in eCommerce, shipping, and fulfillment.
Two Boxes’s mission is to build the world’s leading returns processing solutions to maximize the value of eCommerce returns and minimize the negative effects they impose on our planet.
According to the National Retail Federation, nearly 20% of all retail purchases are returned, representing more than $800 billion in merchandise each year! Worst of all, most of it ends up in landfills leading to enormous waste and inefficiencies. While retailers strive to make returns as easy and cost-effective as possible for customers, they bear the brunt of lost time, money, and goods. For every $1 billion in sales, the average retailer incurs $165 million in returns, attacking profit margins and threatening many businesses.
Two Boxes software allows brands and their 3PL partners to process returns quicker and in a more streamlined process. It gives warehouse workers step-by-step instructions, leading them through the product inspection process and helping them determine if an item should be resold as new or offered at a discount. Workers can process one returned item per minute, down from an average of three minutes. Meanwhile, they collect enormous amounts of data which informs key product, quality and inventory decisions, improving back to stock times and eliminating other costs and emissions.
After spending the past year in deep research and development, Two Boxes has finally exited stealth and is proud to announce its recent funding round with Bloomberg covering the news yesterday. You can connect with their team to learn more here.
H/T @ TJ and Travis at Vinyl Capital for the intro
Describe your company in 5 words or less.
Kyle: We make returns an asset.
Evan: Returns for the better.
What was your primary motivation for starting your business?
Kyle: I’ve spent most of my career in supply chain and logistics and have always been attracted to the many complicated problems that you get to solve in the industry. After about the third time I was in a fulfillment center and realized how inefficient, unintelligent, and incredibly wasteful the state of return processing was, I felt that we had to try to fix it. Evan and I are both passionate about the problem and think it’s the opportunity of a lifetime for us to be a part of the solution.
Evan: In addition to always wanting to be a founder, I think we saw a significant opportunity to build new products to improve the efficiency and transparency of returns operations. I have always had an interest in building products that can really improve the work of and benefit end users who are often overlooked.
What piece of advice would you give an entrepreneur starting a business today?
Kyle: First - fall in love with the problem. It will help you get through the ups and downs. Also, it really helps if it’s a real problem, because your customers will often be cheering you on. Second - a lot of life is like compound interest. Consistent effort is rewarded handsomely, but nothing happens overnight. There is a certain blend of impatience and patience that can be really helpful to achieve as you’re starting a company. You have to be impatient to improve, but patient enough to understand outsized outcomes are created over years, not quarters. Third - make peace with the fact that you cannot know everything and do everything. Be open to bringing in support, particularly from other founders or advisors who can bring an outside and experience perspective.
Evan: Find and make sure that your co-founder is someone you can really work with. I’ve spent more time talking to Kyle this year than anyone else. You’ll constantly be refining your pitch and understanding your problem better and better, but the one constant is your co-founder will always be there. You’ll get a lot of advice and hear lots of opinions during your journey. I’ve found it really helpful to occasionally step back and reflect on the value you’re placing on different opinions or advice, and when in doubt trust your intuition.
What do you love to do in your free time?
Kyle: Skiing, hiking, playing music, and being with my wife and dog.
Evan: I really enjoy playing music, hiking with my wife and playing games with friends!
What is the most interesting place you’ve visited recently and why?
Kyle: Recently most of my travel has been to visit warehouses, so it’s not that exciting. I did go to Italy last summer and that was an incredible trip. The food, drink, and culture are just amazing.
Evan: My wife and I visited Japan in October 2022 shortly after the country reopened for tourism. We love going there for the rich culture, stunning nature and of course the food.
What is your favorite app or tool in your work life and in your personal life?
Kyle: At work it’s probably just my Apple notes app. I write a lot down and document ideas / questions. It’s basic, but powerful. In my personal life, I would have to admit that it’s Peloton. I am learning that some of my best decisions are made after I’ve had a chance to sweat.
Evan: Currently, I’m in love with Framer. I think it’s the best no code tool for websites out there, sorry Webflow. In my personal life, I’ve been blown away by Shapr3D. Super easy 3D modeling on an iPad with an Apple Pencil 🤯.
What do you believe is the most important skill or attribute of a successful founder?
Kyle: Perseverance. Even if you’re an incredible founder with a good idea, you will hear the word no a LOT more than yes (I hope that’s not just me!), especially when you’re starting out. There will be times where it feels like you’re the only one who believes in what you’re doing. Keep going.
Evan: Resourcefulness.
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