Proton podcast

In the Mind of a Distributor

Lessons from the front lines of distribution—one honest conversation at a time
E016

How to grow a distributor from $200K to $100M | Larry Cohen

Benco Dental's Larry Cohen tells his grandson Benj Cohen, founder and CEO of Proton.AI, how he grew the business from $200K to $100M: reinvesting in inventory, learning to delegate, and walking away from a buyer.

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E015

AI pays off when you redesign how the work gets done

In this episode, Benj Cohen lays out the three levels of AI adoption and why AI pays off when you redesign how the work gets down. What's distribution going to look like in ten years when everyone has remade their processes around AI?

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E014

Testing your way to better CAC, conversion, and industry turns | Kevin Weadick

In this episode, Kevin Weadick, President and CEO of TricorBraun, shares how he settled the oldest argument in distribution marketing: does any of it actually help the branches and the reps?

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E013

Running a master distributor | Kevin Short of ORS Nasco

In this episode, Kevin Short breaks down ORS Nasco's strategy as a master distributor including their PE journey, how they partner with distributors and manufacturers, and how they've sharpened their value prop.

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E012

Using data as your next competitive edge | Erik Gershwind

Erik Gershwind, former CEO of MSC Industrial, joins Benj to share how he repositioned one of the largest U.S. industrial distributors from a "spot buy" catalog supplier into a mission-critical partner on the manufacturing plant floor.

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E011

Future-proofing a 100-year old distribution business | Chuck Cohen

In this episode, Chuck Cohen breaks down Benco's recent restructuring and what it took to get there, including the lessons learned from years of early experiments in services before solutions became a core part of the business.

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