Ravi Kurani

Solving Water at MySutro.com | Forbes 30 Under 30 | TEDx

Water is an underinvested market, yet it’s one of the most crucial resources we have. But I believe that through better storytelling and innovation, we can shine a light on the water industry’s challenges and opportunities. 

In 2014, I founded Sutro, a robotic water diagnostics platform designed to improve water chemistry and safety. I sold Sutro to Sani Marc in 2019 and am currently leading day-to-day operations.

Today, as President of Sutro (a subsidiary of Sani Marc), I oversee the development, marketing, and sales of smart water monitoring devices. Our technology is trusted by some of the biggest brands in the industry, and we are the only NSF-certified autonomous device for water safety. 

I’m proud to lead our team in revolutionizing how people interact with water, ensuring it's clean, safe, and accessible. 

🌊 Host of “Liquid Assets: The Business of Water,” a podcast about water through the lens of business, technology, and policy. 
➡️ https://www.liquidassets.cc/

🌊 Co-author of “Story-Driven Smart Products,” a practical guide to launching smart hardware products. 
➡️ https://a.co/d/1Bbd11r

🌊 Delivered a TEDx Talk on leveraging technology to improve water safety.
➡️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwuJnr-iWcY

Other Ventures:
⚙️ Leading the “Street to Home” project to address working capital gaps for the Future Communities Institute.

⚙️ Founded ImpactSpace, later sold to ImpactAlpha (the TechCrunch for impact investing).

⚙️ Advisor to various startups, including a software development agency (Incodeks) and a health navigation company (Juniper).

⚙️ Engineer in Residence at Future Communities VC, focused on tools to track climate solutions through the IRA (Inflation Redux Act).

Founding Member

Hampton is a dedicated group of digital-first founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs of fast-growing startups who just get it – and make the crazy world of startup life a little easier to navigate.

I love Hampton dinners. Why? Because you meet some of the coolest people. It’s casual, it’s a dinner… we all need to eat dinner. 

I was sitting across Jeremy Johnson CEO of BoxHouse Co, who has sat in court for 86 federal indictements (an episode on this in the comments) to running a super successful prefab housing company. 

Many folks in the U.S. rent and don’t have the capacity to own a house, Jeremy is changing that. 

Making housing ownership accessible to all. 

To chatting with Tom Stefaniuk founder of SmallScreen, who understands YouTube and video to the tee. 

He’s built a successful influencer platform, and gave me some of the best advice for my water podcast, Liquid Assets: The Business of Water. 

Always good to see the rest of the crew, and thanks so much for hosting Elizabeth! 

I continue to say this. If you’re a founder. And you’re not getting out there. 

Do it. 

Meet folks in person, grab coffee, grab a beer.  Go for a walk, a run, whatever. 

Meeting over a table, in person, entirely changes the dynamic of connection. 

Humans are social creatures. 

Video conferencing is great for hacking out limited conversations but meeting IRL is a world in its own (it’s the one our ancestors used to live in).

President of Standard Water Corp | COO @ Poolify | Founder of Sutro (sold to Sani Marc) & ImpactSpace (sold to ImpactAlpha)

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We’ve been running a swimming pool route for more than a year. It’s had its “growing pains”, but we’ve learned a ton. 

2 things: 

(1) Pool owners are simple (we knew this from Sutro). They want to know that you’ve come, the work that you’ve done, and that the pool is clean (which for them, many times, means clear). Our motto: just do good work. 

(2) You need to build with the times. With agenticAI, how can we utilize clawdbot or other tools to increase our service level and take work off the hard working guys that are cleaning the pools. We’re coming at the business from a different lens. As product folks, just building a better experience. 

At the end of the day, we know it’s not rocket science. You’re cleaning a swimming pool, measuring and treating the chemistry, but how do you take an age old buisness - see it through a different light, and make the service better? 

We’re raising a small debt round with friends and family. If you’re interested shoot me a DM! 

Couldn’t be more excited to build Poolify  alongside Anthony, Rahul, and Partin.

Founder, CEO | Published Author | Podcast Host | Unlocking recurring revenue with subscription, and membership models.

I’m an entrepreneur, published author, speaker and podcast host.

I’m the Co-Founder of Axis Brands, an operating and investment partner for consumer brands scaling on Amazon and DTC, and the Founder & CEO of Scriberbase, a subscription strategy firm helping leadership teams make better decisions around acquisition, retention, loyalty, and lifetime value.

Over the past 15 years, I’ve worked as an operator, advisor, and investor, helping companies move from transactional volatility to predictable recurring revenue. My approach comes from building businesses and working with Fortune 500 teams and senior executives.

I’m the author of the best-selling book 'The Subscription Boom',  and podcast host of 'Shopify Masters' and 'Entrepreneurs Exposed', where I explore how modern brands are built, and scaled.

I also speak and lead executive sessions on the subscription economy and the future of commerce.

My work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, Axios, and others.

Current:

- Co-founder at Axis Brands
- Founder, CEO at Scriberbase
- Published Author: The Subscription Boom
- Media: NY Times, Washington Post, Axios, Forbes
- Podcast Host: Entrepreneurs Exposed + Shopify Masters

Hobbies: 

- Musician and vinyl collector. 
- Sports and health nut.
- Proud father of 3.

Adam Levinter

Canada lost Olympic gold.

So we responded.

Took it to the lake, and ran our own tourney. 
My boys secured the title.

I think we’re basically even?! 😆 🇨🇦

She didn’t pay herself for 8 years.

That part stuck with me. 

Before Beautyblender was in 6,000 retail doors…

Before it was selling every few seconds…
It was just Rea Ann Silva.  

Calling manufacturers.
Getting her patent rejected.
Figuring it out.

No investors to date. 
Totally bootstrapped. 
A global brand defining a category.  

If you’re in the middle of building something, this one will resonate.

----

EP of Shopify Masters now live. 👍

Shoptalk Spring 2026 is just around the corner and I can't wait to bring our "anti-agency" approach to Amazon growth to the Super Bowl of commerce conferences! 

Let me know if you plan to be there.  Would love to connect! 

#ShoptalkSpring #Shoptalk

We’ve audited a number of Amazon businesses.

Different brands, 
Different industry categories. 

Same patterns keep popping up 👇

1. Traffic disappears.

Brands think they have a conversion problem. 
In reality, organic traffic has been eroding for months, 
as cheaper competitors flood the category.

2. Returns are destroying margin.

Not because the product is bad. 
But, because the content and creative isn't good enough.  
Or, the listings don’t explain sizing, fit, or usage clearly. 
You can't run an eComm business with a 20% returns rate. 


3. Ad spend keeps rising.

ACOS climbs, brands panic, then budgets get cut.
The solution lies in fixing keyword structure, creative, and match type. 

4. Nobody owns the economics.

Most brands outsource Amazon to agencies that optimize for spend, 
not profitability. 
At the end of the day, Amazon is still a unit economics business.
Traditional agencies don't understand that.

If those 4 things aren’t working, 
revenue growth doesn't matter.

Margins won’t be there.

An incredible week in LA on set for Shopify Masters. 

Spent time with fellow founders who have built some amazing brands.

The ideas, stories, and lessons from these conversations were inspiring…

Huge thanks to Cinedept Studios, Matthew James Reilly , Shuang Esther Shan, and the entire team for another awesome production 🙏

Can’t wait for these to drop!

Nobody wants to wait anymore.

And companies are capitalizing on it. 

• Uber / Lyft (faster pickups)
• Amazon Prime (faster delivery)
• Clear / TSA Pre (skip security lines)
• Spotify Premium (early access to music)
• Airline loyalty programs (priority boarding)
• Instacart Express (groceries within an hour)

Different industries,
Same strategy.

Move customers to the front of the line,
and get them to pay for it. 

As they say,..
Time is money.

Brands want to build community.


It’s buzzy.
But very few understand how.

Some communities thrive.
Others don’t.

It’s not complicated.

You need one basic framework:
Member ↔ Member connection.

Brands assume if they start a community, it’ll take off.

So they offer;

Content, courses,
Perks, discounts,
Exclusive access,
Retreats, events, etc.

That’s a start.
But it’s not scalable
if members don’t want to connect with one another.

Real scale comes from Member ↔ Member engagement.

Walmart, for example, will never have a thriving community.
There’s nothing compelling about sharing how much you saved on toothpaste.

But, Tesla, Peloton Interactive, SEPHORA, Harley-Davidson Motor Company attract passionate buyers who rally around something bigger than the product itself (Elon, fitness, beauty, and lifestyle respectively). 

Company-to-member seeds engagement.

But the member-to-member connection is what creates scale.

COMMUNITY

Agencies get paid to spend client money.

Most take a % of the media buy.
So they’re incentivized to spend more $$$.

They don’t own margin.
They don’t own inventory.
They don’t own any downside.

The model is broken. 
The incentive structure makes no sense. 

If you don’t carry risk,
you don’t think like someone who does.

Brands typically don’t need to spend more on ads.
They just need the ads to be more efficient.
They need actual ROI.

In most cases, they need operators who think like owners.

That’s the gap.

We built Axis to close it. 👍

Amazon is a masterclass in business model design.

Jeff Bezos has one simple strategy:
Customer obsession.

The “how” is Amazon’s flywheel.
Here are the key pieces:


𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞

A psychological contract.
“Skin in the game”

Once customers pay for Prime, 
they spend on Amazon before going elsewhere.


𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚

Every search. Every purchase. Every show watched.
Each interaction trains the recommendation engine.


𝐒𝐮𝐛𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

Prime, Audible, Kindle Unlimited, Subscribe & Save.
Recurring revenue stabilizes cash flow and expands LTV.


𝐀𝐖𝐒

The $20B engine funding experimentation across 
logistics, media, and systems infrastructure.

→ more data,
→ better experience,
→ more engagement,
→ more revenue.

---

Full breakdown in The Subscription Boom 📖
Read it over your coffee today. 
Sharing it below!👇

Amazon 

$900, a pair of pliers, and vintage pendants.

That’s how Pia Mance started Heaven Mayhem.

Today it’s a $10M brand. 

Some lessons that stood out 👇:

1. Build community first. Product can follow,

2. Treat customers like insiders, 

3. Let creators distribute, and drive WOM.

The playbook for building brands is changing.

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taplio

The Battle

Ravi Kurani

Adam Levinter

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ravi Kurani's LinkedIn Performance

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