who ranked #5 – Tinyme co-owner and director Ben Hare.  The strategic genius A lot has changed since Ben Hare first entered the e-commerce industry to join Tinyme, a mass-customisation brand that makes personalised kids’ products, in 2010. “My very first day, I actually went to the Online Retailer Conference in Sydney. I hadn’t even set foot in the office,” Hare told Inside Retail.   Compared with his previous line of work – he spent nearly eight years at Goldman Sachs – most people in e-commerce were surprisingly unconcerned with traditional markers of success, such as profitability.  “I was staggered at the lack of focus below the top line at that point in time,” Hare recalled. “Everyone was very focused on revenue, sometimes not even that – traffic or vanity metrics.”  Nowadays, e-commerce leaders are much more aware of their cash flow and the strength of their underlying business model, and less likely to raise funds in the hope of growing into their cost base.  Fortunately, that’s never been a problem for Tinyme, which has been profitable since day one and has always used its cash flow to grow. The brand has an online presence in 10 markets – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, the UK, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates – and recently opened its first overseas production facility in the UK.  “It’s the biggest project and biggest investment we’ve ever made in the business,” said Hare, who oversaw the factory build and launch in the first half of 2022.  “I headed over in February to select the premises, and we shipped our first order in May, which was a massive effort from the team, to be able to pull that together.”  Hare is optimistic about what the new factory means for the brand’s growth potential in the UK, which is its second-biggest market after Australia. As a made-to-order business, Tinyme is even more concerned with fast delivery than most online retailers, so anything it can do to shorten the lead-time is crucial.  In addition to growing overseas, Tinyme is also targeting category expansion in 2023. After 16 years in the kids’ space, the brand recently made a foray into products for adults with the launch of a new brand, Opiqo, last year.  The brand currently sells customisable photo panels and magnets, jigsaw puzzles, diaries and calendars, but there are plans to add many more products in the months and years ahead.    “It’s a big part of our history, it’s a big part of our future, so new products are something we’ll be doing a lot more of,” he said.  This is one of the main reasons Hare loves working at Tinyme – where he has been since becoming a director and co-owner along with co-founders Mike Wilson and Nick McLennan – the business has never stopped innovating and improving.  “It’s a pretty cool combination of manufacturing, retailing, technology and design. There are so many levers that we can pull to get better. I love that challenge of continually improving,” he said. “When I’m hiring, I say, ‘Our business is totally different to what it was 12 months ago, and will be totally different in 12 months’ time – if you can’t cope with that, you probably won’t like it here.’ ” Over the years, Hare has learned the importance of valuing people who are a good fit for the company’s culture and values over those with just technical skills and experience. He has also learned the importance of saying no to some opportunities.  “We have thousands of ideas that we could work on, so knowing what to say no to is probably one of the biggest learnings,” he said.   But while he has grown a lot as a leader, in one way he has stayed the same: He still loves attending industry events and engaging with his peers.  “I love the collegiality of our industry,” Ben said. “You meet up with people from a whole range of different businesses – very successful, motivated people – and they’re all happy to talk. I love that.”