CEO at FastGrowingTrees.com || 2x Returned 9-figures (7.4x, 2.5x) in Sustainable eCommerce

Phil Michaelson

Throughout his nearly 20-year career, Phil has focused on bringing technological innovation and online marketing solutions to established industries. 

He joined LiveAuctioneers in 2014, and as CEO guided LiveAuctioneers to profitably grow gross merchandise sales by $400M, delivering top quartile exit returns first for majority owner Bessemer Venture Partners in 2019, and again for majority owner Cove Hill Partners in 2021.  

Phil’s philosophy of challenging teams to seek a smarter, better way spurred the development of several impactful products and services for the LiveAuctioneers marketplace, including native advertising solutions, groundbreaking approaches to auction payments and shipping, and 5-star rated video streaming apps. 

The LiveAuctioneers team experienced great career development as LiveAuctioneers was a 4x winner of Crain's Best Places to Work in NYC, a winner of a Red Herring Top 100 North America Award, and a recipient of multiple Stevie® Awards for outstanding customer service. 

After the sale of LiveAuctioneers to a publicly traded technology firm for $540M, Phil led the accretive acquisition of EstateSales.NET (a resale classifieds platform) and integration of AuctionMobility (a resale SaaS ecommerce solution) 

Previously, Phil was Director of Product Management at 1stDibs. During that pivotal period, Phil’s initiatives transformed the online classifieds business to a luxury goods e-commerce marketplace, and shareholder value increased by 325%. 

You can find Phil: 
* Leading early, mid-stage and public company teams through strategic planning processes to prioritize product and marketing investments in marketplace, e-commerce, SaaS, classified, and risk management technologies. 

* Delivering digital experiences that delight users and grow revenues through user research and quantitative modeling. 

* Advocating for applying Agile and Kanban methodologies for keeping product delivery fast, progress transparent, and small teams motivated. 

Earlier in his career, Phil worked in strategy and innovation for Dun & Bradstreet and IBM. His educational credentials include an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was an Arthur C. Rock Entrepreneurial Fellow; and an AB from Princeton University.

Specialties: Marketplaces, eCommerce, Payments, Product & growth strategy, Product team management, Mobile, Search engine optimization (SEO), A/B Testing, SaaS, Acquisition, Conversion rate optimization, Circular economy, Resale, Auctions, Estate sales, Antique dealers, Furniture, Art, Interior design, Jewelry, Collectibles

Fast Growing Trees is America's #1 online nursery.

With our in-house plant experts directly caring for your tree before it ships and providing support after it arrives, you're guaranteed to have thriving plants.  With nearly two decades of experience shipping trees and shrubs nationwide, FastGrowingTrees.com now offers a 365-Day Alive and Thrive Guarantee!

Get 20% off privacy shrubs, fruit trees, perennials, grass seed, house plants and more with this referral link: https://fastgrowingtreesco.refr.cc/philipmichaelson

Fast Growing Trees is owned by top tier private equity investors Berkshire Partners and Cove Hill Partners.

Chief Executive Officer

Auction Technology Group (LSE: ATG) is a publicly traded operator of online auction marketplace software for the resale of arts & antiques, business & industrial equipment, and b-stock.  

After the sale of LiveAuctioneers to ATG for $540M, I was responsible for a $600M GMV and $30M EBITDA P&L with revenue lines including commissions, advertising, classifieds, and SaaS software.  

Select accomplishments include: 
* Leading a team post-acquisition that continued to deliver top and bottom line growth through pricing and product innovation during a challenging macroeconomic period
* Identifying and completing accretive $40M acquisition of classifieds business
* Consolidating a SaaS and marketplace business, eliminating 25% of the recurring costs

President, Arts & Antiques, North America

LiveAuctioneers is an online marketplace for live auctions of collectibles, jewelry, antiques and fine art.  In 2023, LiveAuctioneers processed $200 billion of bids by connecting over one million collectors and dealers from around the globe with thousands of professional sellers.  

Phil joined in 2014 when LiveAuctioneers was acquired by Bessemer Venture Partners.   He guided the business to a 2.5X MOIC with an exit to a financial sponsor.  He subsequently guided the business to it's current home with Auction Technology Group (LON: ATG), which returned a 7.4X MOIC to the financial sponsor.  During Phil's tenure, LiveAuctioneers created greater career opportunities and returns to investors than over a dozen peer venture and private equity backed re-sale businesses. 

Select accomplishments: 
* 4x Repeat winner of Crain's "Best Places to Work in NYC" after driving culture transformation
* Returned 100%+ IRR for Cove Hill Partners (2019-2021);= and 25%+ IRR fo rBessemerVentures(2014-2019)
* Grew marketplace GMV by $400M and EBITDA by $24M while exceeding ‘ruleof40’ for 7 years 
* Innovated Payment solution that fueled 20x acquisition multiple of LiveAuctioneers by ATG
* Rebuilt product, marketing and engineering teams that increased SEO and email traffic 500%+
* Reduced cost of operations by introducing new offshore capabilities that scaled to 100+FTEs
* Re-designed pricing, compensation, and go-to-market driving product adoption from 1,000+ clients 
* Initiated enterprise sales effort that added 3 top 5 clients within 18 months, including Christie’s

Previous Roles Include:
* President (2017)
* SVP Product & Marketing (2016)
* VP Product & Marketing (2015)
* VP Product & Strategy (2014)

* Managed online experience for a luxury marketplace with over $1B GMV growing 30% annually
* Led executive team through strategic planning of ecommerce initiatives that grew online orders from $1M to $50M and accelerated net annual revenue run rate growth to 50%
* Directed cross functional team of over 20 people to redesign product detail page and implement new checkout and post-checkout experience with best practices in conversion and search engine optimization, increasing online sales over 20x and organic traffic 100%
* Created pricing model, sales model, and editorial criteria for profitable incubated business line
* Designed and negotiated first of a kind shipping partnership and calculator for quoting white glove shipping anywhere in the U.S. instantly
* Promoted to lead a team of product managers and designers who oversee the homepage, search/browse, and ecommerce experiences across web, mobile, and tablet
* Used best practices in agile development to manage teams that improve web and mobile experiences regularly

Director of Product Management

Product Management Advisory empowers emerging technology companies to release better products faster. The result is a measurable increase in online conversions. We help clients with the end-to-end process of understanding their users and releasing improvements.  Activities include analyzing current metrics, designing metrics for product improvements, creating product wireframes, collaborating with design and development, improving current webpage layouts, conducting usability testing, and developing pricing models.

Clients included private technology companies (STELLAService.com, 1stdibs.com, LiveAuctioneers.com) funded by Benchmark Capital, Bessemer Ventures, Battery Ventures, RRE, and DFJ Gotham.

Principal

* Recruited and led team of four to launch KeepRecipes and KartMe websites and apps using Kanban
* Awarded Apple’s ‘Staff Pick’ and earned press in USA Today, Cosmopolitan, The Washington Post, NY1, Mashable, Yelp, GigaOm, and more
* Grew pageviews from 0 to 7,000,000+, bringing website to profitability through online advertising (CPM, CPA)
* Sold 6,000 digital recipes in “iTunes for Recipes” in partnership with HarperCollins, Harvard Common Press, Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Best Selling Author Mark Bittman, Top Chef All Star Anita Lo and more
* Implemented cohort measurement and A/B tests to improve conversions and average sales prices
* Pioneered concept of curating images and links in social collections with a click (i.e., Pinterest)
* Raised $300,000 from veteran angel investors and DreamIt Ventures
* Continuously improved revenue through partnerships with multiple ad networks, content syndication networks, and affiliates

Founder & CEO

Buyside analyst covering solar energy. Identified equity short that delivered an unlevered return of 30% in 3 months, and 90% in 12 months.

Summer Analyst

• Led 20+ person team to determine customer profitability, resulting in a reallocation of $20M
• Managed financing process for $50M in organic and inorganic growth initiatives
• Analyzed $250M software acquisition for the Board of Directors
• Created plan for customer data integration partnerships, which was implemented in 2007
• Conducted customer interviews to assess growth opportunities in marketing analytics
• Won award from the CFO for “Thought and Results Leadership”

Senior Business Analyst, Corporate Strategy & Business Development

• Managed post merger integration analyses of people, processes and technologies for clients
• Drove consulting sales of $3M by developing a strategic approach to operational risk management
• Designed and supervised the pilot of a web-based alerting and tracking tool with a global user base
• Facilitated workshops to define software requirements for 3rd party developers
• Promoted to Senior Consultant within 18 months of graduating from Princeton University
• Won a “Teaming Champion” award based on client work