Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands

I buy & operate DTC brands (@rayconglobal, @linjerco etc). I bootstrapped myself to 9 figures of revenue profitably.

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

We sold $200,000,000+ worth of earbuds in 3.5 years.

All bootstrapped with zero funding.

Here’s how we did it. 🧵

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@creedunbound Some issues with batteries as of not but we’ll sort it out soon. You might be put on the waitlist as a result

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

65 day update on Quince Logistics:

Our first client:

- Shipping ~1,000 orders/day from China to US customers

- 50% delivered in 4.5 calendar days.

- 90% within 6.2 calendar days (Sundays included).

They were averaging 14 days with Yun Express before.

Our pricing is the same if not better.

We’re now opening it up to brands of any size. No more volume minimums.

Sign up here → qls[dot]quince[dot]com

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

30 day update on Quince logistics:

$20,000,000+ ARR already 🤯
Pretty strong product market fit.

Opening up the waitlist again soon.

DM to be added with your URL, last 30 day shipping volume and average package dimensions.

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@ShinghiD Someone sent it to me but I have not had time to read it. Let me do it in the AM. What are the takeaways?

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

Depends on your product but for us it is cheaper door to door.
When you look at it fully loaded.

In particular if you take into account our financing cost for inventory and the reduction that comes with it.

I am biased as I am an advisor to the company and have a stake in it.

I think you should run a quote and do the math and please ping me if it’s not competitive, I’d love to understand why

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@thinborne Yes

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@allenwalton Amazing story. Been there too unfortunately. Not fun place to be. Glad it turned out well for you and your family

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

In NYC starting tomorrow.

I’m hosting a brunch for 10 people on the 7th.

I had a last minute cancellation. DM if you wanna take the slot.

Ideally you do $15M+ in TTM revenue and you're bootstrapped.

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

I will be in NYC from the 4th to the 11th of June.
I hope to see familiar faces. DM if you are in town.

On the 7th of June I'll be hosting a brunch somewhere in Nomad.

Just DM if you'd like to attend. Ideally you do $15M+ in TTM revenue and you're bootstrapped.

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

Google form here:

https://t.co/VB0yhI0ILp

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

The revenue number in this YT video I believe is a massive understatement.

More importantly, Angus is doing a fireside chat at my event in Shenzhen this October (15-18th). Sign up below 👇

https://t.co/Ac5rKn8dIi

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

I get physically stressed reading this as 40 year old dad of three

[Ramit Sethi @ramit]

This couple is weeks away from not being able to pay their rent

THE NUMBERS:
• Combined income: $143K/year (down from $250K — they changed nothing)
• Fixed costs: 102% of income, spending more than they make every month
• Credit card debt: $96K
• Savings: $0
• Investments: $180
• Net worth: -$91K
• Cashed out their 401(k) during the pandemic to cover monthly bills

WHERE THE MONEY GOES:
• $3K+/month on groceries
• $770/month in subscriptions before cuts
• $636/month car lease (electric)
• $1,000/month on dinners
• Still paying adult kids' phone bills (ages 22 and 26)
• $2,000 skiing trip they couldn't afford
• Tennis and dance lessons for kids while $96K in credit card debt

What would you do?

Continued in next tweet

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

$PETS story is comical and tragic at the same time.

Insanely mismanaged and can’t believe they rejected the offers that were on the table a while back

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@stevenborrelli Quince doesn’t own their manufacturing

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

Steph Curry’s deal is a M2C deal imo

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

It’s hard for me to be intellectually honest as a D2C operator and investor, especially with all my sunk costs.

But when I see Nano Banana Pro, all I can think is that my children will live in a world where M2C > D2C.

Complete vertical stacks where everything is made-to-order based on personalized AI recommendations and renderings.

The future of demand generation, IMO: contextual marketing ($META) merging with query ($GOOGL) in the top-right quadrant—basically Pinterest ($PINS) done right.

The future is Shein 2.0 for all categories: factories that don’t chase trends but fulfill personalized demand in real time, with Uber-like delivery for products made like meals.

Making stuff will be the real moat, not running Meta ads.

Who wins?

Demand platforms like Meta.
Factories that adapt to JIT localized production via robotics.
Robotics and drone delivery companies.

Who loses?

Marketplaces like Amazon ($AMZN) are at risk. Their moat is Prime, but companies like Jitsu and drone delivery may challenge current marketshare dominance for eCom.

I wonder if Shopify ($SHOP) will adapt and survive—it feels like everything will turn into TikTok Shop, with checkout embedded in the channel.

We’ve moved from content indexed against the social graph to interest-based graphs.

As query and contextual merge, being just a payment processor seems fragile at best, obsolete at worst.

The idea that LLMs will dominate commerce feels off because the form factor is query/speech-based. We’ve seen the limits with Google Shopping.

We’re still at version 1.0 of commerce via LLMs; the next 18 months will be crazy.

People like video.
People like speaking to humans.

Crazy world.

If you’re in eCom: stay lean, stay agile.

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@stevenborrelli Manufacturer to consumer
Li Ning set up is very unique vs Nike and the rest

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@moizali Sardinia has been on my bucket list for a long time.

I think Oslo is underrated. You have nice beaches, weather is incredible. Food is somewhat mediocre not gonna lie, but I’m out of touch with the restaurant scene so might be better now.

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@MatthewGattozzi I’m not on a US IP and I don’t watch streaming services with ads so I can’t judge

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

18 hours into my trip in SF and I’m blown away by how many OOH ads Vibe are running in the city

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@arun100s Fairly straightforward process if you have a working business or if you’re from one of the top universities globally (falls under something called the talent scheme)

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

Anyone who follows me know's I’m on a big mission to move 100 eCom founders to Hong Kong.

I’ve already convinced ~15 and I feel good about my pipeline.

My mantra for 2026 is:
“If you can’t change the world, you can at least impact your city.”

In that spirit, I’m hosting another event for eCom founders in mid October across the border in Shenzhen.

I just hosted one in April and it was a huge success:

• NPS score: 9.5+
• 90 attendees with 65 of them in eCom
• Billionaires and big YouTube influencers
• Average revenue per merchant > $50M
• All bootstrapped except for 2 companies
• Crazy amount of media spend in the room

If you’d like to attend, please fill out the Google Form below.

TTM revenue needs to be $15M+

Here is a video by @AskMichia showing what he got out of the event last month:

https://t.co/MBVOy0V0zY

[Roman Khan - Founder of Peak 21. We acquire brands @RomanEcom]

@Seanfrank LOOOL

Yeah. I mean for us it’s the same.

I did an analysis for Linjer - 40% of revenue last year came from new products launched that year

Raycon it was more like 60-65%

It’s all about products