Julia Collins

It wasn't just that they bought the brand.

or they bought the revenue or they bought the doors.

They bought the whole supply chain, which is where the impact was.

Right.

And then the beautiful outcome is, of course, Patagonia becomes a customer of Planet Forward.

at the Patagonia Provisions business.

Oh, you are clever.

But also, you know, when you're playing a longer game, it influences how you show up in the transaction, right?

Yes.

So you can negotiate every deal point down to the studs.

And get your elbows all the way pointy and try to take every penny off the table.

And that, it wasn't my style in the negotiation because I was playing a longer game.

I wanted to make sure my employees were taken care of.

And I wanted Patagonia as a long-term relationship, which meant that my bearing and presence in the transaction, obviously I'm negotiating the best for my company, but I'm also doing it in a way that's going to increase the likelihood that Patagonia wants to roll with me in the future.

Yeah, there is that confidence that comes from having your first big win.

There's also just all the mistakes that I had made in the past.

I think in that time of overcompensation, I negotiated a lot of things way too hard.

I thought that that was the way to be successful.

I thought that being the hardest driving negotiator was proof that I was strong, proof that I was smart.

What have you learned?