We're not built to stay. We're built to solve.
Some people advise. We get under the hood.
Ian Schwartz, Founder
Operator first. Merchant by trade. I built Solos Studio because most businesses don't have a strategy problem. They have a clarity problem. And the only way to fix it is to get inside the business and understand what's actually there.
My career has taken me through retail, wholesale, and e-commerce, from building merchandising foundations to stepping into broken businesses. Each one a restructure. Each one needing the same thing: someone willing to actually understand what was there before making decisions on top of it.
What I kept seeing was the same pattern: messy data, bloated assortments, misaligned planning, and teams making decisions off metrics nobody actually trusted. New platforms got evaluated. Consultants got hired. Decks got made. And the underlying problems stayed exactly where they were.
Solos was always the plan. Everything before it was proof.
THE SOLOS PRINCIPLES
Fix the inputs. Everything else follows.
If you don't trust the data, nothing downstream matters.
Bad inputs produce bad outputs. Garbage in, garbage out. No matter how good the system on top. We fix the source before anyone builds on it.
Measure twice. Cut once.
Understand the problem completely before touching anything. The work that looks slow at the start saves you from doing it twice.
Execution over theory.
Frameworks don't fix businesses. Getting inside the business and doing it does.
Solve it once. Solve it right.
We're not built to stay forever. We fix it properly so you don't need us again, and we don't leave until it holds.
WHAT CLIENTS SAY
"I worked with Ian when he served as Director of Merchandising and Business Development on my team. He strengthened our merchandising processes and drove improved sales performance through more disciplined assortment planning and execution. He created the processes and forecasting infrastructure the business had never had and helped drive nearly 50% revenue growth in under two years."
Jennifer Somer
CEO, A.L.C.
"Most merchants I've worked with see creative as a service. Ian saw it as a partnership. At Junkfood we built something together that neither of us could have built alone. He understood product at a level that made every conversation sharper and every assortment better. If you're looking for someone who can sit at the intersection of creative and commerce and actually make both sides better, that's Ian."
Mike Palermo
Co-founder / CCO, Loud House Group
"I've had the pleasure of working alongside Ian twice in my career spanning nearly a decade, and he remains one of the most supportive and collaborative partners I've worked with. He doesn't just manage a category. He genuinely champions the creative process and shows up as a true teammate every time. He has a sharp intuition for the market but more importantly he leads with a level of integrity and kindness that is hard to find. A powerhouse professional and, quite simply, good people."
Katy Jones
Vice President of Creative, Poppi
" Most of what I believe about this work I learned before I ever stepped into a boardroom.
My father ran his own business and had a few rules he lived by: measure twice, cut once. Don't cut corners. Do it right the first time. And the one I come back to most: different jobs require different tools. Find the right one before you start. I've never found better advice. "
— Ian Schwartz, Founder