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by Tim McLain on October 1, 2026
Meghann Butcher entered the golf industry 19 years ago with a psychology degree and, by her own account, without a single collared shirt to her name. Today she is the Founder and CEO of RepSpark, the B2B wholesale commerce platform that 250 brands and 100,000 retailers use to buy and sell.
On episode 229 of the ModGolf podcast, Meghann sat down with host Colin Weston, founder of ModSport Media, to talk about how that unlikely start shaped the company, the problems golf wholesale still has to solve, and where AI is taking the way brands and retailers place orders. Here is what stood out from the conversation.
An outsider's view of a disconnected industry
Golf has always been a relationship business, but the tools behind those relationships have not kept up. Brands, sales reps and green grass shops have each held one piece of the picture, and the work of connecting those pieces has fallen on people. Meghann described that disconnected ecosystem as the core problem RepSpark was built to solve.
The goal is simple to say and hard to build. Give brands and retailers one place to see product, check live inventory, place orders and keep relationships moving between rep appointments. As Meghann put it when RepSpark and the PGA of America formalized their strategic alignment this summer, "Leading and emerging golf brands choose RepSpark because we understand how green grass wholesale actually works."
Two sides of the same marketplace
RepSpark serves both sides of wholesale. Brands get a platform built for how they sell, and retailers get a single place to buy from the brands they already carry and discover the ones they have not found yet. Colin and Meghann spent time on that discovery side, and on how it changes the odds for emerging brands that cannot put a large rep team in every market.
The results show up in the numbers. Turtleson reached more than 40,000 retailers through the RepSpark Community, built more than 200 new shopping relationships and generated more than $114,000 in Community driven revenue. "We felt like we had to be in the Community to be relevant," said Andy Plate, President of Turtleson.
The hard part nobody sees, mass customization
A green grass order is rarely just a quantity and a style number. One order can mean 50 polos across 10 colorways, each with a club logo placed exactly where the buyer wants it. Multiply that by every shop, every season and every reorder, and it becomes clear why logo customization is one of the most complex parts of golf wholesale.
Meghann pointed to johnnie-O as an example of what happens when that complexity is handled by the platform instead of by spreadsheets and email threads. On RepSpark, johnnie-O grew its retailer base by 102 percent, increased B2B order volume by 744 percent and grew custom embroidery by more than 500 percent. "We couldn't operate without RepSpark," said Katie Daly-Benjamin, COO of johnnie-O.
Psychology as a founder's advantage
When Colin asked how a liberal arts background prepared her to build a technology company, Meghann did not hesitate. Psychology, she said, has helped her more than anything else.
Great software starts with understanding what people are struggling with, sometimes before they can name it themselves. A rep who loses an evening to order entry, an operations lead who cannot tell a buyer when product will ship, a shop owner who has to call three people to check stock. Each of those is a human problem first and a software problem second. The same lens applies inside the company, where building a team that is aligned on the customer matters as much as anything on the product roadmap.
AI and predictive ordering
The conversation turned to what comes next. Meghann sees AI changing both how retailers order and how they discover new product, with predictive tools that help buyers make smarter decisions and help brands plan with more confidence.
That thinking is already part of RepSpark Flow, the newest release of the RepSpark platform, which pairs a modern buying experience with embedded AI. In RepSpark's 2026 State of Wholesale report, Meghann wrote, "When wholesale runs clean, relationships strengthen, reorders and revenue come faster, and your team gets hours back each week."
Advice for anyone building something new
Meghann closed with advice for entrepreneurs. Be gritty enough that setbacks do not stop you, and humble enough to keep listening. Learn to tune out the noise once you are moving. And do not be afraid of risk.
It is the same approach that has carried RepSpark to the Inc. 5000 list five years in a row, while keeping the platform built on enterprise grade security with SOC 2 Type II and GDPR compliance.
Listen to the full episode
The full conversation covers much more, including how women's golf apparel has evolved, how RepSpark connects with brand ERP systems and where Meghann sees golf commerce heading. Listen to episode 229 of the ModGolf podcast.
Want to see how RepSpark can simplify wholesale for your brand or your shop? Visit repspark.com to learn more and schedule a demo.
