Matt Drake · Founder

Retail experience. A builder’s way of working.

I’m Matt Drake, founder of Startup Success Lab and creator of Retail Reason. I connect retail judgment to the tools, decisions, and follow-through behind a stronger business.

The experience behind the work

I learned the work from inside the retailer.

At Sam’s Club, my career connected private brand, sourcing, member insight, technology and process, and merchandising product. I worked with the people responsible for turning a product decision into something members could buy and trust.

The recurring challenge was getting specialists, systems, and information to work together. I built tools and workflows, helped teams use evidence, and made complex processes easier to carry out.

That experience shapes how I work today: understand the decision, find the facts that matter, and build a practical way forward.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Startup Success Lab today

Working alongside the people doing the work.

For supplier teams.

I help suppliers with awarded Walmart and Sam’s Club business put the right execution, reporting, and operating habits in place. The work connects launch preparation, performance questions, merchant communication, and follow-through.

Explore supplier support

For Walmart suppliers investing in Scintilla Charter, I bring analytical tools and retail judgment to the capabilities they have available. The work can range from shopper and assortment investigations to digital shopping questions, research planning, and audience briefs, always connected to a business decision and practical next steps.

Explore Charter advisory

For the firms supporting them.

I work alongside brokers, advisors, and agents on Charter investigations, Retail Reason enablement, AI, private brand questions, and custom product builds. A partner’s clients stay their clients.

Explore working together

What carries through

Make the work clear, useful, and repeatable.

Start with the actual problem.

Understand the decision, the people involved, and the constraints before deciding what to change or build.

Be clear about the evidence.

Separate what the data shows, what needs investigation, and what depends on judgment.

Leave something people can use.

A clear recommendation, a useful report, a working tool, or a process the team can keep running.

What I’m building

Retail Reason brings that approach into products.

Retail Reason Intelligence makes maintained retail operating guidance available through supported AI assistants. Retail Reason Analytics is in development for Walmart first-party supplier and advisor workflows using authorized Scintilla Charter data.

Both come from the same practical question: how can the knowledge and information people need be easier to use in the work itself?

Meet Retail Reason

Start a conversation

Let’s start with the work in front of you.

Tell me what needs to improve, who is involved, and where your team could use help.

Talk to Matt hello@startupsuccesslab.com