2025 review, 1/2 way through
We've made some significant traction, but still have a long ways to go
Appleton Electronics Group
Last year our second acquisition did $236,000 in gross sales.
That was down from >$700k the year prior.
It sucked. The first full year taking over the business left me in turmoil.
I’ve never felt so stuck.
That feeling of having no idea where to go or what to do was exhausting.
It still somewhat feels that way.
But we’re gaining some momentum.
We’ve just crossed 1/2 way through 2025.
We’re already at $477k in bookings.
A much better start to the year.
Still cash strapped but it’s solid momentum.
As a tiny team (myself, my wife and our very part time operator) we met to align on the 2H of 2025 and what needed to happen.
Here’s what we discussed:
YoY renewal rate - did customers that bought in 2024 buy again this year so far?
We’re at 63% renewal rate of last years customers. Goal is 100%
Net new Customers - Our book of business has been pretty small. I didn’t realize how small it was until the first full year taking it over. There simply wasn’t ENOUGH customers that bought from us on the regular.
Goal is to add 12 net new customers this year (previous owner hadn’t added a net new customer in over 5 years). We’re sitting at 3/12 right now. We’re behind schedule but our operator has spent the last 5 months getting up to speed. We’re heads down on this goal in 2H
Transition the book to our operator - This will free up my time and focus on our handful of largest customers + authorized line of distribution which is where the biggest opportunity and re-occurring revenue comes from
Stocked Vending Co.
I’ve done almost nothing with vending for 18 months while I’ve been heads down on Appleton & Consulting.
The biggest wakeup call?
It’s done the exact same monthly reoccurring revenue in 1H of 2024 as 1H of 2025 within the same locations.
It’s truly monthly reoccuring revenue. Just with snacks.
The business has growth 40% organically since we’ve taken it over just 2 years ago.
As we looked as these numbers we’ve decided to lean in here.
Why?
We already have an amazing operator that manages all purchasing, warehouse filling & restocking machines. It could be mostly passive if we get it to some revenue goals
We have room to run - if we can scale it, it could spit off a lot of cashflow to help fuel growth in other areas or reinvest if we want
We’ve started treating it like a real business instead of a random side hustle.
We’re re-branded it from StocknSnack to Stocked Vending Co.
We’ve began transitioning all our machines to newer technology including AI fridges. Check these out:
We’re already seen a 70%+ lift in sales from these existing locations.
I just ordered 7 more of these machines.
We’ve spent money on some resources that were limiting factors in scaling for us including an enclosed trailer and updated micro-market partners to build an upscale vending experience.
We’ve developed some new partners to help build micro-markets with custom branding at scale.
Within the last 45 days we’ve receive some massive inbound opportunities and are on pace to add another $2-4k MRR bringing us to >$15k/month.
We have $20k MRR in sights by end of the year.
Our 3 year target is to get vending to >$500k a year. We could do this with 1 full time operator and 1 part time running 95% of the business.
We have a long ways to go but are going to double down here.
Blake Harber Consulting
I’ve narrowed my focus down on consulting and am taking very few clients at a time.
This has allowed me to go deeper with customers (which I’m enjoying) and scratching an itch of ‘being part of a team’ to some extent.
It’s also allowed me to focus on other efforts as I break up my days.
I don’t measure revenue on this business much as it’s not a focus to scale.
It simply pays the bills and keeps me close to whats going on in GTM within tech and allows me to stay on the edge of AI GTM efforts.
Thanks for following a long.
I’m grateful you’re willing to read through this.
A few ways you can help:
I’m always open to meeting founders that are building GTM motions out or trying to. I help build repeatable, scalable playbooks and help founders utilize AI to build these GTM teams lean & profitably
If you know anyone in the tech space that is building electronics (medical devices, drones, industrial robotics, etc) and are likely part of designing or buying these products with industrial grade SSD or Memory devices I’d love to meet them. I’m continuing to learn this industry and hoping to expand conversations
As always, reply here or email me: me@blakeharber.com
Happy to chat.