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Ben Knepler

Co-Founder at True Places

Ben Knepler is the Co-Founder of True Places, a company that creates products and accessories for the modern outdoors.12 He founded True Places in late 2019 with Nelson Warley, with their first product being an innovative portable chair called the Emmett Chair.24

Prior to True Places, Ben had a diverse career in marketing and consulting:

  • Director of Brand Strategy and Head of Strategy at Bailey Brand Consulting (2013-2019)1
  • Brand Management & Innovation at Campbell Soup Company (2009-2013)1
  • Principal at EY-Parthenon (2004-2008)1

Ben has a strong educational background:

  • MBA in Marketing from the University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School1
  • MSc in Philosophy from The London School of Economics and Political Science1
  • BA/MA in Economics from the University of Cambridge, where he graduated with Double First Class Honors1

True Places, under Ben's leadership, focuses on creating high-quality outdoor products designed for comfort and style, with their flagship product being the Emmett Portable Chair.34 The company emphasizes innovation, design, and environmental consciousness in their approach to outdoor gear.2

Highlights

Aug 19 · linkedin

What have we done to deserve a former president and presidential nominee who has such little grasp of basic economics?

As an american business owner who literally just paid a huge tariff payment to the US government that is significantly harming our business, I can promise you tariffs most certainly "affect our country".

Whatever you think of tariffs as a policy, to state that "A tariff is a tax on a foreign country" is just completely false. And coming from a president it is not just nonsense, but also irresponsible, reckless, misleading and working towards making the country less educated.

https://lnkd.in/dj7m4Cfe

#tariff #false #trump

Jul 1 · linkedin

This is the fifth (and final) article in the short series of being a US startup caught in the middle of the current trade wars. Today: what has free trade done for us anyway?

This short series has been a tiny attempt to give some voice to the experiences of a small business being blown around by the unintended winds of tariffs and other trade policies. Why don't we hear directly about this from more small businesses? Because we're busy running our businesses, trying to grow them and in many cases trying to do everything we can for our business to survive! We don't really have time for this ;)

I'm just the founder of a small startup. I'm not a politician, journalist or professional economist. So this is all just my perspective; take it for what it is.

We mostly have to rely on serious journalists covering trade and economics to tell our stories and how they fit in to the broader economy. People like Callum Williams, Peter S. Goodman, Ana Swanson, Alan Rappeport, Rachel Slade, Loren Feldman and others.

And we rely on academic economists doing rigorous research with the best data to understand how trade affects us all. People like David Autor, André Kurmann, Ha-Joon Chang and others.

Finally it's up to the policy makers like Katherine Tai and the politicians who appoint them to make difficult trade-offs and actually implement sensible policies. It's not an exaggeration to say that billions of people are affected by the ripple effects of their decisions.

#trade #policy #tariff #founder #freetrade

Related Questions

What inspired Ben Knepler to co-found True Places?
How did Ben Knepler's experience at Campbell Soup Company influence his work at True Places?
What are some innovative products True Places has introduced?
How does True Places differentiate itself from other outdoor consumer brands?
What challenges did Ben Knepler face when launching True Places?
Ben Knepler
Ben Knepler, photo 1
Ben Knepler, photo 2
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Location

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States