Startup Squad

What Startup Squad does

Startup Squad is a private, founder-owned consulting and coaching venture operated by John Grech, a digital commerce executive with 25+ years of experience in the retail-technology startup ecosystem. The venture is headquartered out of a home office in a New Jersey suburb approximately 30 miles west of New York City, with operations concentrated in the Northeast US market. Public materials describe Startup Squad as a personal professional presence rather than a product company, with no disclosed technology stack, products, or services catalog.

The business leverages John Grech's industry network and prior executive track record to deliver go-to-market strategy, sales organization development, and commercial advisory services to enterprises navigating digital commerce transformation. His prior role as Chief Commercial Officer at GiftNow — where he built enterprise sales relationships with Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Tapestry (Coach, Kate Spade), The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, REI, Michael Kors, TaylorMade, evo, and Yankee Candle — culminated in GiftNow's acquisition by Synchrony Financial in 2018. Startup Squad monetizes this expertise through advisory engagements, while the founder maintains visibility via NRF Digital Council membership, CommerceNext speaking engagements, and LinkedIn presence.

There is no disclosed revenue model, pricing structure, headcount, or funding; the entity appears to be bootstrapped and operated as a solo practice. The primary assets are relational (executive network) and reputational (thought leadership in retail digital commerce), with no proprietary technology, recorded patents, or AI/ML capabilities referenced in the input data.

Name

Startup Squad

Legal name

Startup Squad

Website

https://startupsquad.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Startup Squad is a private, founder-owned consulting venture operated by John Grech that provides go-to-market, sales organization, and digital commerce advisory services to retail and consumer brand enterprises, leveraging his executive network and prior CCO experience at GiftNow.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Consulting Services

NAICS

Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Team & Group Executive Coaching (Leadership Teams) (EDABANAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sales Onboarding & Ramp Programs (EDABABAA), Manager & Team Leader Onboarding (EDABAOAC)

Keywords

• Retail consulting services
• Go-to-market strategy advisory
• Digital commerce consulting
• Sales organization building
• Retail technology advisory

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Startup Squad is a personal consulting/advisory practice led by John Grech that helps major enterprise retailers and consumer brands with go-to-market strategy, sales organization building, digital commerce transformation, gifting program implementation, and revenue growth. The offering is delivered through direct enterprise engagement rather than a productized SaaS, and clients include Target, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Tapestry, The Gap, Ralph Lauren, Walmart, REI, and similar brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Led GiftNow to successful acquisition by Synchrony Financial in 2018 after building relationships with major retailers
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers13 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NRF (National Retail Federation) Digital CouncilcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInvitation-only advisory council focused on digital retail transformation. John provides guidance to retailers and brands while contributing to industry initiatives. Active participation in shaping digital commerce strategies and best practices for the retail industry.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Direct peers

• Avionos: Commerce-focused consultancy delivering strategy, solutions, and managed services for B2B and B2C retailers. Directly comparable as a smaller specialist competing for similar digital commerce and GTM transformation budgets at large retailers.
• Bounteous: Digital experience and commerce consultancy that helps enterprise brands design, build, and scale digital commerce. Comparable because it pairs strategic GTM/roadmap advisory with execution capability for the same Fortune 1000 retail and brand clients John serves.
• Elogic Commerce: E-commerce consulting and development firm focused on retail and DTC brands, including strategy, platform selection, and go-to-market. Comparable as a peer consultancy addressing enterprise retail digital commerce priorities.
• Pattern: Global e-commerce acceleration and consultancy that helps brands and retailers grow across marketplaces and direct-to-consumer channels. Comparable because it sells enterprise retail-tech commercial growth services to many of the same brands in John's network.
• McFadyen Digital: Digital commerce strategy and managed services consultancy with a strong retail vertical. Closely comparable to Startup Squad because it sells enterprise retail transformation, marketplace, and digital commerce GTM guidance to many of the same retailer and brand buyers John targets.
• Boston Retail Partners (BRP): Retail-exclusive management and technology consulting firm serving large enterprise retailers and brands on POS, digital, and GTM initiatives. Directly comparable as another boutique consulting practice selling senior retail expertise to the same enterprise buyer universe.
• Fit For Commerce: Retail-only digital commerce consultancy advising enterprise retailers and brands on platform, GTM, and digital transformation. Directly comparable as a similarly sized boutique retail advisory practice competing in the same niche.
• LiveArea (by Merkle): Commerce and customer experience consultancy inside Merkle/Dentsu serving enterprise retail and consumer brands. Comparable as a peer commerce advisory practice targeting the same retailer C-suite buyer for digital transformation engagements.

Emerging players

• CommerceNext: Media, research, and events community for retail and DTC leaders. Comparable as an adjacent platform in the same retail-tech thought leadership space where John is a featured presenter and where Startup Squad's buyer audience is concentrated.

Broad incumbents

• Salesforce Commerce Cloud: Enterprise commerce platform vendor with embedded professional services and partner ecosystem for retail digital transformation. Comparable as a broad incumbent competing for the same retailer transformation budget, but at much larger scale with a packaged software offering.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/in/johngrech

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Startup Squad