Jonathan is the founder of Indie Shops, an ops & tech platform for modernizing Main Street. Indie partners with independent Main Street owner/operators to expand our 'community hub' model around the country through operating partnerships & omnichannel tech enablement. Indie Shops function as a collective – independent brands in local markets, retaining local ownership, but implementing Indie's playbook: modern tech, membership, consolidated purchasing, local delivery & fulfillment, and access to capital. Shop #1, Little Professor Bookshop in Birmingham, AL, is a 50-year-old business purchased in 2020, and has since grown sales 4x alongside our custom tech stack and a Prime-like membership model with 2,000+ local members. Since, we've launched Little Professor Pepper Place as shop #2, Good Books in NY's Hudson Valley as #3, and Neighbor Books in McKinney, TX as #4. Jonathan previously founded FreeTextbooks, a campus commerce startup he built for nearly ten years until a surprising crash-landing in 2019. FTB built the country’s largest student rep network to buy & sell textbooks among their peers. One of Deloitte’s 500 fastest-growing companies from 2015-2018, FTB booked more than $20M in sales & raised $6M in non-dilutive capital. Jonathan’s primary skillset includes strategy, growth, product, and fundraising, with deep experience across both local & e-commerce, as well as navigating downturns, failure & turnarounds.