#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Ryan Nicholson, Founder & CTO, Melon
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Helping Companies Develop Lasting, Transformative e-commerce Solutions
Melon is a Chicago-based company working to build and implement e-commerce solutions for an array of businesses that are increasingly relying on digital consumers, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ryan Nicholson—Founder and CTO—told us why he founded Melon, the ongoing impact he’s seeing of COVID-19 on the businesses they work with, and how startups are looking for certainty across an array of policy topics.
Tell us about your background. What led you to Melon?
I was at an e-commerce company for 10 years that started out fairly small, but over time grew quite a bit through acquisitions and organic growth. I ran the technology team and as we grew, we got more expensive, we got slower, all kinds of things that made the work less exciting. So I started Melon largely as a way to get back to being more nimble and customer-focused. A lot of the people on our team had found themselves in similar situations, working at companies where the work but also the culture had become more challenging. And people have been excited to come work at Melon, where we can keep focus on the work.
At the same time, over the last five years, we’ve seen a major gap open for mid-market companies and small businesses looking for e-commerce systems implementation services. For clients under a certain revenue threshold, it often doesn't make sense for them to work with the big consulting firms, and there are different e-commerce solutions for really small businesses. Melon sits in the middle, although we also do work for larger enterprise companies that want to work with a smaller firm. As a result, there has been a massive demand for companies like Melon who can be responsive, focused, and care about the mid and smaller markets. We work with a number of different providers to implement the solutions for the clients that we serve. We're not trying to just get a new client for the sake of getting a new client, we are very focused on customer satisfaction and long term partnerships.
What is the work you are doing at Melon?
We cover all aspects of the e-commerce experience—designing and developing customer-centric buying and selling experiences built on an array of B2C technical solutions. We dive into all aspects of the commerce experience, even tying into what our clients are doing in store for things such as operationalizing curbside pick up. The big word right now is omnichannel, meaning what you do in store translates into what you do online, creating a cross channel experience.
For us, it really starts with the strategy. We engage with our clients around questions like, “Why are you doing this? What is this going to get your business? Is this what you need to be doing right now?” From there, we build fully-custom online stores for our clients. Especially with COVID, getting an online shopping experience is a critical focus for a number of businesses today. But that is not the finish line. We also work with our clients on engagement and optimization, to understand how their customers are engaging with systems and if they have what they need. Are there things that they're doing that are surprising? And, if so, how can we adapt and continue to enhance this online shopping experience to give them a better experience?
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic e-commerce became a lifeline for many companies, particularly small businesses. As the economy continues to recover from the initial pandemic impacts, what do you think policymakers need to remember as we navigate through the next stage of this crisis?
We work with a wide range of companies and from what we hear the thing slowing down economic recovery is, number one, getting employees. People are stating that, financially, they are doing fine without that job, or, they like working from home. There is a real desire among a lot of employees to keep this model where they are fully remote or only go in a couple days a week. I think that a lot of the traditional ways that we have thought about and defined work will need to be reimagined.
The other thing is just uncertainty, for everyone from businesses to schools. Policy decisions right now feel unpredictable, and so much seems to change at the last minute, which impacts a business's ability to plan ahead and make decisions. This is something that is not going away, either, as there are new COVID variants that will continue to be a problem through the winter. Businesses and employees need to know what the mall is going to look like in Illinois in December, but the reality is those policy and public health decisions aren't going to be made until late November which means businesses will have to react and implement very quickly. Right now retailers are having to guess where to put their funds and what their staffing plan looks like. When they guess wrong, it's incredibly expensive.
There are a lot of conversations around user privacy these days. Working in the e-commerce space, do you have any thoughts on how policymakers could provide clearer legislation for Melon, the industry, or companies you work with?
User data is critically important to e-commerce. Many companies know that this is what both consumers and sellers care about and so they're kind of building around it on the fly. For example, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) creates a big struggle facing some in the industry right now. If you take Shopify as an example, it's all about third party extensions because third parties (like merchants who use Shopify to reach customers) require access to data. But in California, an end user needs to be able to delete all of his or her information with a click, and that’s a real challenge when the data lives in multiple systems. How does Shopify validate that said data is in fact deleted? Because ultimately they're going to be liable for it if company X says they deleted it, but they didn't really do it. If all of your user data lives in one system, on the other hand, it can be a bit easier to delete all of a user’s data.
The ideas behind CCPA make sense—users should be able to remove their data from other systems—but that doesn’t mean this isn’t a challenging and costly issue. And I think you’re going to continue to see trends towards these types of state privacy laws, especially if there is no national standard. That is very tough because I'm addressing a number of complicated considerations as I decide where Melon will go, and getting more consistency on user data could help. The cost for CCPA compliance is high if you want to do it right.
Are there other policy concerns on your radar?
Another area where we’ve seen a massive amount of ambiguity is with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the definition of a compliant website. ADA compliance can be very nebulous and poorly defined. Oftentimes, companies just have to hire a third party to validate their level of compliance with ADA, which is essentially just complying with their interpretation of the rules. Ninety percent of companies we talk to are in conversations around ADA compliance, and it’s not that they want to ignore website accessibility or skirt the rules. Rather, companies want clear guidelines on what compliance looks like so they can deliver.
What are your goals for Melon moving forward?
Melon wants to continue to push itself to be more efficient, more intelligent, and a better partner overall. For our customers, getting smarter with their investments in e-commerce continues to become more critical by the day. Getting visitors to your site costs more now than ever. It is vital that they make the most of every interaction. It is our responsibility to guide our partners down a path where they are able to leverage technology as a mechanism for growth, instead of an obstacle to success.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email ian@engine.is.
