Define the “Perfect Lead” so you don’t waste time Since they want brands that sell at major retailers or on Shopify, here’s a tight ICP (ideal customer profile) you can use: Must-have Sells at Target, Costco, Nordstrom, Walmart, Whole Foods Market, etc. OR runs a real Shopify store Has a real brand site + clear product line Looks like a real business (not a tiny side hustle): team page, press, reviews, LinkedIn presence Nice-to-have signals Recently launched into retail / announced expansion Hiring finance/ops roles Mentioned “retail growth,” “profitability,” “supply chain,” “inventory,” “cash flow,” “margins,” etc. (these are pain signals) This makes your outreach more relevant and your response rate higher. 3) Where to find brands fast (without guessing) A) Retailer sources (fast manual research) Search each retailer’s site by category (beauty, snacks, beverages, baby, home, etc.) Look for “New arrivals”, “Top rated”, “Featured brands”, seasonal collections Build your list from product pages: brand → website → leadership Tip: pick 1–2 categories and go deep (ex: “better-for-you snacks” + “clean beauty”). You’ll get faster at recognizing “qualified” brands and writing relevant openers. B) Shopify brand discovery (big pipeline) Look for Shopify stores in your best categories: Google patterns like: site:myshopify.com "powered by Shopify" "protein" inurl:collections "powered by shopify" "snacks" Use Shopify tech/detection tools (Storeleads/BuiltWith-style tools) if your internship provides them C) “Retail-ready” lists (high quality) These sources often list the exact kinds of brands you want: “Stocked at Target/Costco/Whole Foods” pages on brand websites “As seen in” / press pages Incubators/accelerators (CPG and retail) portfolios 4) How to find the right person (Founder/CEO/CFO) quickly Best order Founder/CEO (best for vision + fast yes/no) COO / Head of Ops (if it’s operational/retail heavy) CFO / Finance lead (if your solution is financial/ROI-driven) Where to find them LinkedIn (company page → People) Brand website (“About”, “Team”, press kit) Crunchbase profiles (when available) For bigger brands: SEC filings / investor relations (public companies) 5) Outreach that gets replies (short + specific + retailer-personalized) The pattern that works: 1 personalized line (retailer/campaign/product) 1 sentence value hook (what you do in plain English) 1 easy CTA (15 min OR “worth routing to CFO?”

I have experience in financial sales, managing a bank call center, leading a team, and I have great customer service skills.

I drink energy drinks weekly and would be a great reviewer.