Enterprenuer
Lyde Spann is the founder and CEO of Netamorphosis. She is passionate about helping entrepreneurs and companies realize their full potential in a digital economy.
Netamorphosis was founded on Lyde Spann’s collective 18 years of experience as the head of digital and omnichannel operations for such innovators as Zara (one of the largest fashion retailers in the world, best known for disrupting the supply chain), MoMA, where she triangulated the visitor-member-shopper experience following the museum’s acclaimed Manhattan re-opening, and west elm, where she conceived of westelm.com’s go-to-market eCommerce strategy and speared the launch of westelm.com, which in the words of west elm’s president, “…revolutionized eCommerce at Williams-Sonoma Inc,” driving nearly 60% of total brand revenues following its first year online.
Lyde started her career in web technologies in San Francisco in the late ’90s.
She helped lease web application development services for Fortune 500 companies like JP Morgan Chase and Morgan Stanley.
She was awarded the Stevie Silver Award for Female Entrepreneur of The Year – Business Services in 2016.
Lyde Spann studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, earning a BA degree in European History, Art History, and International Relations.
She has lived in Spain, Japan, London, Italy, and San Francisco.
What is the story of netamorphosis?
What is the point of a name? You create branded platforms to make a living.
A company focused on digital transformation and navigating change, net income, and internet technologies in 2009, 20 years after the invention of the world wide web, means that netamorphosis is destined to do exactly what it does.
How do you stay productive?
My work week is a lot more freeing because I am an early riser and a creature to routine.
My A.M. routine helps me prepare for the day ahead.
This includes 20+ client meetings, sprint-style meetings, and 10-12 hour workdays.
Netamorphosis was my first venture in my career.
I put a priority on daily morning yoga/meditation.
I still follow this practice for about eight years.
This healthy approach to daily contemplative exercises and a regular healthy diet (fruits and vegetables, protein, fish, etc.) have led to more balanced and productive workdays in a stressful work environment.
How do you bring ideas to life?
netamorphosis believes in a collaborative model in the creative process.
This could be developing a financial model, devising a digital brand, or launching a mission-driven social campaign.
Our Strategy phase is where collaboration begins.
This involves deep discovery group Q&As, ideation sessions, a comparable deep comp analysis of direct competitors, and benchmarking criteria for aspirational brands/digital platforms.
KPI forecasts are used to support any creative UX/product design.
We vote collectively on our preferences if we make a clever decision such as a logo or new web page design.
The vote that wins determines which side will be finalized.
Finally, because we are all in a digital, real-world environment, with almost everything we bring to life we can learn and iterate, our ideas never cease to come to life.
What’s your favorite trend?
If I’m being honest, there’s no one trend I’m particularly excited about.
Because I am a digital pioneer and our business grew by +40% last fiscal year, and we continue to grow as we move to a predominantly virtual workforce, I can say that we are in the right place.
However, it is also difficult to understand how a serial entrepreneur, who is self-starting, feels this way.
While we’re still experiencing a global pandemic and a downtrodden economic system, I know that there’s a lot to be done to reverse the current trends.
This excites me as an entrepreneur who has built a career around change and transformation.
It is the possibility of a brighter future.
What habits make you productive?
I’ve always been disciplined. My mom says that my mother didn’t know when I took a test in high school because I studied after school until I went back to bed each night.
Similar to my experience in launching brands into unknown markets and during the early days of netamorphosis when I was self-doubting, my mantra was, “I’ll bag the entrepreneurial venture once I’ve done everything I know.”
It’s a relief to report that that road doesn’t seem to be ending eleven years later.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
In almost every aspect of my life, I have always held high standards.
To save the relationship or avoid being uncomfortable, I would sometimes relax my standards in professional associations, whether with clients, team members, or employees.
Clearer communication, agreements, and alignment on goals and objectives are all things I wish I had learned.
This has led to less successful situations, which ultimately put my work product at risk.
Now that I am a member of a management team, I can offer advice on how to handle those more complex situations.
However, when I was 25 years old and headed westelm.com, I didn’t have the skills or knowledge necessary to navigate complicated interpersonal and professional dynamics.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
My family and I laugh that Covid taught me that I am not skilled or talented at cooking or housekeeping.
My family loves to tell me that this is a lot of nonsense because I don’t get to do the dishes.
I’m not the only one who agrees with me on this one.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Even if you are busy or don’t believe you can, take vacations.
I discovered this while I was considering a job as a CEO at a fashion company.
I didn’t take the job. The Chairman of Private Equity suggested that I take a vacation one time per quarter to get away from daily stress and pressure.
I have switched from taking quarterly breaks to taking longer breaks twice a year in my own business.
I am more explicit about strategic objectives, more inspired, and a better manager.
What’s your rich strategy?
Entrepreneurship is all about learning how to pivot and continue to satisfy customers’ needs, regardless of your product/service offerings.
Netamorphosis was founded as a Strategy company.
I advised entrepreneurs on their investments to launch or replatform a digital channel/brand.
As I realized that entrepreneurs and organizations often couldn’t implement those initiatives, I started retaining contractors to help me execute.
I would bring those tactics and initiatives to life in what would have been a traditional agency model.
I would also design and develop websites before helping clients transition to in-house management.
We evolved to be a dynamic, agile, and incentivized CMO resource.
I saw how KPIs were being degraded, and creative integrity was compromised.
We were able to provide seven technical resources to pay the salary of a Director of Ecommerce or marketing, who often relies on vendor relationships.
This allowed us to offer the benefit of solid implementation skills and a comparable salary.
This looks like a Director of Marketing/Strategist, UX Designer, Dev Manager, SEO specialist, Creative/Social Manager, Project Manager, Data Analyst.
This structure has the advantages of a swiss-army knife resource structure and low employee costs.
We also combine this structure with a quarterly incentivization or bi-annual incentive.
We have not missed an accelerated growth projection since we implemented this model 4 years ago.
Both our agency and client businesses, often start-ups, have seen new heights in their success.
How do you overcome Failure?
At this point in my entrepreneurial journey, there have been many.
Netamorphosis is a different story. In my early days as a solo consultant, I relied on vendor relationships that were either not vetted or inherited.
This meant that my client had a relationship with a friend or was recommended by a friend.
One example is that even though I had thoroughly vetted the development company, I didn’t do enough due diligence to ensure the quality development of a video streaming platform.
This was very problematic from a bandwidth/host perspective.
It was a live streaming platform for global fashion weeks.
The forum was delivered one week before New York Fashion Week.
It barely went live in time for the Paris finals, even though it was completed four weeks later after the Milan and London fashion shows were over.
It was the worst experience of my professional career.
Although I encountered other challenges initially, when key partners weren’t solidified, we were able to test and learn on smaller projects.
Today, we have an incredible resource structure where we are grateful that we haven’t missed deadlines nor delivered high-quality website platforms in recent years.
Can you share a business idea?
For good measure, I will provide 2:
We are animal lovers – an app that connects people who want to adopt a pet from a shelter with those who can’t afford it.
Either volunteer your time or help with a service that transports the pets to people who want to spend some quality time with them.
A brand of apparel and goods that creates products from local waste using the Precious Metal Machine.
People can throw away their plastic cups and walk away with a unique, helpful phone case or other valuable item.
What’s your recent best buy?
Sparkling Cider and Milk Bar truffles for my upcoming maid-of-honor (and future 12-year old stepdaughter).
It’s always rewarding to give someone else joy/delight when they least expect it.
This goes for clients, team members, and partners as well.
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
It’s a tie between Google Calendar, which I use to stay focused, and Slack, which our team uses for communication and has been our virtual office during the pandemic.
Which book would you recommend?
The E-Myth Mastery: I was unsure where and how to start netamorphosis, my self-financed business.
It took me 311ft. NYC apartment. It was overwhelming and daunting to think of creating a business plan.
I read various books, including Jack – Straight From the Gut by Jack Welsh (the former CEO at GE).
The E-Myth Mastery was the best way to get one foot in front of the other, especially as I tried to build my business model.
What’s your favorite quote?
“To achieve greatness, you need a plan and not enough time.”
Steve Jobs
TL;DR by Lyde Spann
- Effective communication is possible through collaboration. Both from an ideation and execution perspective. Group thinking is more effective than pure autonomy, especially when it comes to creative IP/products before A/B testing. Our deliverables often go ‘off-track’ due to poor communication between our client and our internal teams.
- You can do your best work when you take care of yourself.
- Entrepreneurialism is not a sprint. It’s a marathon. It is important to be consistent. It is better to work at 80% more than at 120% all the time. Prioritization in a digital environment is crucial.
- Mentorship is important. Invest in management to offer expertise in key functional areas.
