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One brand is preparing for a regulatory shakeup. Another just landed in Target with $24 million in fresh capital. The Taste Radio hosts discuss BRĒZ's bet on a future beyond THC, Stars & Honey's leap from DTC success to a nationwide Target launch, and how brands are reinventing Shirley Temples, protein bars, and Rice Krispie treats for a new generation of consumers. Show notes: 0:20: Fancy Talk. Strategizing For A Ban. E-Comm Insights. Why Buy? Shirley A Hot Trend. Aye, Captain. – Ray highlights the upcoming Summer Fancy Food Show and Taste Radio's Elevator Talk series before the hosts shift to a conversation about the challenges facing cannabis beverage brand BRĒZ. They discuss looming federal regulations that could severely restrict THC products and the company's efforts to expand with non-infused adaptogen beverages. The conversation then turns to protein bar brand Stars & Honey, which secured a nationwide Target launch and a $24 million investment from VMG Partners after spending years refining its direct-to-consumer business. The hosts discuss the brand's growth strategy, product positioning, and the broader appeal of flavor-forward protein bars. They also sample protein bar brand Samsara, praising its South Asian-inspired flavors, clean ingredient profile, and emphasis on taste over traditional nutrition-focused messaging. The hosts then discuss GT's Synergy Shirley Temple kombucha collaboration with Cheribundi, spotlight Lil' Bucks' buckwheat-based snack bars and note the rise of better-for-you alternatives to classic Rice Krispie treats. The episode wraps with a look at Protein Pints' new Protein Pops and a lighthearted farewell to longtime BevNET team member and "Sample Captain" Colin Segrue as he relocates from Boston to the New York area. Brands in this episode: BRĒZ, Stars & Honey, Neutonic, Cann, Trip, Celsius, Olipop, Samsara, Mezcla, MOSH, GT's Living Foods, Cheribundi, Lil' Bucks, BTR Nation, Protein Pints
How do you actually scale without losing yourself or your team in the chaos?In this conversation, Sivana Brewer sits down with Mara Castro, COO at Twentyeight Health and former Warby Parker trailblazer, to dissect what it takes to build, lead, and sustain high-performing teams in brutally demanding, mission-driven environments. Expect raw takes on leadership, the dangerous myth of “just do more,” and what it really means to earn trust as a COO.If you've ever wondered why some leaders quietly burn out while others keep their team charging ahead, you cannot afford to miss this episode. Hear exclusive, battle-tested insights you won't find in any COO playbook. Don't settle for “what everyone does” and listen now before these lessons become your competitors' next unfair advantage.Sponsored byGenius Network - An exclusive community for highly successful entrepreneurs, connecting you with top-tier leaders, strategic insights, and powerful relationships to help you grow your business faster and smarter.Learn more: https://www.geniusnetwork.com/Timestamped Highlights00:22 – The unexpected journey from nonprofit roots to COO02:37 – Why a career break fueled a powerhouse comeback05:34 – The untold value of prior relationships for landing big roles09:14 – Networking for introverts: How authentic connections really win10:15 – The counterintuitive 90-day blueprint every new COO must follow13:06 – The art of KPI clarity and not getting sucked into the weeds17:50 – The hidden trap of too much complexity in health tech33:23 – Why guiding, not micromanaging, unlocks leadership at scale39:30 – The radical power of raising the white flag earlyAbout the GuestMara Castro is the COO at Twentyeight Health, where she leads product, engineering, clinical operations, and pharmacy for a fast-scaling women's telehealth platform. Previously, the first employee at Warby Parker, she helped build and scale one of the most celebrated brands in DTC history, before driving expansion at Evolve in hospitality tech. Her results-driven, human-focused approach makes her a standout leader in growth and transformation.
Ryan Duey was living in an RV with his float spas closed and no backup plan when he and Michael Garrett built their first cold plunge from a retrofitted $100 bathtub in a garage. They turned their Shopify store on with zero marketing—and got a sale. What followed was one of the most unlikely scaling stories in DTC history: $30 million to $80 million in a single year, $250 million in cumulative revenue, four sharks bidding on Shark Tank, and a category they essentially created from scratch—all bootstrapped, all assembled in-house in California. In this interview, the co-founders of Plunge break down the real cost of scaling a high-ticket inventory business, why they lost an estimated $20 million in revenue from lead times alone, and the organic influencer strategy that built the brand before they ever ran a paid ad. What you'll learn in this interview: • How they got their first sale with zero marketing—and the Black Friday that showed them how big this could get • The cash flow trap every inventory-heavy founder hits: why a great P&L and an empty bank account can exist at the same time • How customer prepayments funded growth for years—and what forced the switch to holding inventory • Why long lead times cost Plunge an estimated $20 million in lost sales • From buying parts on Amazon to co-designing a custom chiller in China—the full supply chain evolution • How a single Instagram comment to Aubrey Marcus started a chain of organic gifting to Huberman, Tony Hawk, and Rich Roll • The Shark Tank deal that never closed—and why they still got the PR, the airing, and the exposure • How they bought plunge.com from a New Orleans jazz band for $250K—and why the trademark was the bigger win • Why nearly half of all orders close through a phone call or SMS, not a checkout button • How they raised $1.3 million from their own customers in under two weeks via Wefunder If you're building a high-ticket DTC brand, navigating the brutal cash flow realities of an inventory-heavy business, or trying to grow without burning cash on paid ads before you're ready, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about scaling, supply chain, and what it actually takes to build a category from a garage. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to https://your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started. WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application → Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/ CONNECT WITH RYAN DUEY Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/ryanaduey/ Website → https://plunge.com/ CONNECT WITH MICHAEL GARRETT Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/michaelrgarrett/ Website → https://plunge.com/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt Website → https://www.foundr.com Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/ Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast
Most brands are approaching TikTok Shop the wrong way.They treat it like another social channel.Or another influencer program.Or another paid media tactic.But TikTok Shop is different.It is a discovery engine, a creator revenue channel, a marketplace, and a content machine all working together.In this workshop, Jordan West and Brywinn Travers break down what actually helps brands move from zero to meaningful TikTok Shop revenue as fast as possible.They cover how to choose the right hero SKU, why visual demo value matters, how creator economics impact performance, why inventory depth can make or break your launch, and how TikTok Shop content should connect back into your broader paid media and DTC strategy.They also talk about one of the biggest mistakes brands make after launch:Getting a flood of creator content, but having no system for usage rights, whitelisting, approvals, landing pages, or paid amplification.Topics covered:How to choose a TikTok Shop hero productWhy creator content ability matters more than price pointWhat makes a product work on cameraWhy inventory depth matters before a blitzHow reviews and shop health affect performanceWhy TikTok Shop should not live in a siloHow creator content can fuel Meta, DTC, and AmazonWhy usage rights and whitelisting need to be planned earlyHow to use comments, reviews, and creator feedback as market intelligenceWhy brands need real creators, not AI-generated humansThe big takeaway:TikTok Shop is not just about going viral.It is about building the right operating system around creators, products, content, paid media, inventory, and conversion.If your brand is serious about TikTok Shop, this is the foundation you need before trying to scale.MASTERMINDhttps://socialcommerceclub.com/pages/tiktok-shop-os-mastermindSCC https://socialcommerceclub.com/pages/contact
Shopify just dropped its biggest update of the year — and if you're in ecom, this one actually matters. In this latest episode of Limited Supply, Nik breaks down the five Shopify announcements that are going to change how brands build, sell, and scale in the age of AI commerce. From making your entire product catalog readable by LLMs to a massive affiliate play that could reshape the publisher ecosystem, Shopify isn't just keeping up with AI — they're betting the whole roadmap on it. Nik covers the vibe coding integration that finally makes one-shot landing pages a reality inside your main Shopify store, why Sidekick is actually worth your attention now, and how the Shop app is positioning itself to become the default shopping agent across every AI surface you use. Plus: the smaller updates that quietly matter — A/B testing on live themes, scheduled go-lives, WhatsApp as a native marketing channel, and what checkout intelligence actually means for conversion. If you've been watching the agentic commerce wave from the sidelines, this is your signal to start paying attention. --- What's Instant? It's the secret weapon to triple your email revenue with AI-powered flows and campaigns. Instead of sending the same cart reminders to everyone, Instant gives every shopper a personalized email experience: Copy, products, and offers that adapt to your shopper's behavior and purchase history in real time. Emails sent at the exact moment each shopper is most likely to buy. 11+ abandonment flows and smart multi-step campaigns live in minutes. Built for DTC marketers. Made for revenue growth. See why brands are replacing their ESP with Instant: instant.one/sharma. --- Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips. And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts. Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter Follow Nik on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma
App Masters - App Marketing & App Store Optimization with Steve P. Young
Want better results and ROI from your Apple Search Ads?In this video, I break down the exact Apple Ads campaign structure we use to manage over $70,000 per month in ad spend across mobile apps.You'll learn the two core campaigns we recommend starting with, how to structure your account for scale, and the common mistakes that waste budget and limit growth.Whether you're launching your first app or managing an established portfolio, this Apple Search Ads tutorial will help you build a stronger paid acquisition strategy in 2026.You'll learn:✅ The 2 Apple Ads campaigns every app should start with✅ How we structure accounts managing $70K+ monthly spend✅ Campaign setup best practices for 2026✅ Common Apple Search Ads mistakes to avoid✅ How to improve efficiency and scale profitable growth✅ When to expand beyond the initial campaign structureIndustry Report Mentioned:AppsFlyer Performance Index:https://www.appsflyer.com/resources/reports/performance-index/Need help growing your app?Visit App Masters for app growth consulting, ASO, Apple Ads, and monetization strategies:https://www.appmasters.comYou can also watch this video here: https://youtu.be/q3JuNLUKL1U*********************************************SPONSORSThe app growth playbook is changing fast.AppsFlyer's State of eCommerce App Marketing Report 2026 breaks down the latest trends, benchmarks, fraud insights, and market-by-market data every app marketer should know before planning Q4.Download it free from the link below: https://bit.ly/4uvoHGM*********************************************Tired of handing 30% of every in-game sale to iOS and Android billing systems? Appcharge is the DTC monetization platform trusted by King, Huuuge, Tripledot, and SciPlay – giving studios a direct line to their players, and up to 95% of every transaction. Web stores, payment links, and a full Merchant of Record service covering taxes, compliance, and global payments – all in one platform. Visit appcharge.com to learn more*********************************************Yango Ads is offering 20% revenue boost bonus, sign up here: https://yango-ads.com/adnetwork/bonus20?utm_source=yt&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bonus. This special offer is valid before June 30th, 2026. Don't miss your chance to monetize your apps smarter!*********************************************Follow us:YouTube: AppMasters.com/YouTubeInstagram: @App MastersTwitter: @App MastersTikTok: @stevepyoungFacebook: App Masters*********************************************
Phillip and Brian run the docket: why "proof of work" is the new luxury signal, what the AI export-control fight shares with a brand guarding its trade secrets, and how AI is flooding the patent office while quietly favoring incumbents. But perhaps the most profound part of the conversation lies in two trends taking internet culture by storm. "Tasteslop" and Korea's "dopamine sites" appear as distinct ideas, but they're actually two faces of the same impulse: consumption stripped down to pure signal. Key takeaways: AI slop makes "proof of work" the new status signal. Brands win by showing the process and the discards, not hiding them. Software isn't the moat… chips, power, and craft are. AI patent tools favor incumbents, widening the gap with upstarts. "Tasteslop" and "dopamine sites": consumption as pure signal, minus the object. Key quotes: [~06:45] "When people aren't making up the machine, we start to question everything now." — Brian [~10:00] "It's the entire PR campaign around it that shows you all of the discarded drawings that weren't used." — Phillip [~36:00] "AI does not make this more of a level playing field. If anything… they can box the small guys out even more effectively." — Phillip [~39:29] "You can't trademark taste." — Brian In-Show Mentions: "The Process Is the Product" – Insiders piece by Sophia Epstein James Bridle – Ways of Being: Beyond Human Intelligence and New Dark Age AI & Agentic Commerce hub Emily Segal on "Tasteslop" STRATA: 10 Aesthetics Shaping Culture and Commerce Associated Links: Check out Future Commerce on YouTube Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Shopify Masters | The ecommerce business and marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs
Sara Sugarman turned her family's rug business into Lulu and Georgia, a home brand that grows 20% to 30% a year, with no debt and a repeat-purchase rate double the industry average. She breaks down the inventory bets, infrastructure mistakes, and financial discipline behind building it all herself. For more on Lulu and Georgia and show notes click here Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.
Michael Kleinmann is the Founder and CEO of Michael Kleinmann Consulting, a bespoke consultancy helping DTC e-commerce and subscription brands grow. He is also the Founder and CEO of Underwear Expert, a men's underwear platform that evolved from a digital media brand into a leading curated subscription service. As a seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur, Michael spent a decade as the President of Freshpair, where he helped build one of the largest online retailers in the underwear category. With over two decades of experience scaling e-commerce and subscription brands, he focuses on brand building, subscriptions, operations, marketing, technology, and customer experience. In this episode… When growth stalls, most brands immediately reach for a new agency, a better campaign, or a larger ad budget. Before pouring more money into an acquisition, leaders have to ask themselves, is the business actually built to scale? The answer is to diagnose the foundation before trying to scale what sits on top of it. E-commerce operations and subscription expert Michael Kleinmann advises brands to validate their data, focus on gross profit over ROAS alone, and audit their systems for issues with sizing, product structure, COGS, and inventory forecasting. He suggests fixing low-hanging operational problems first, not training customers to expect deep discounts, using 3PLs when fulfillment distracts from growth, and ensuring subscription models have the right infrastructure before launching. Sustainable growth comes from strengthening the systems that support marketing, not simply spending more on acquisition. In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris sits down with Michael Kleinmann, Founder and CEO of Michael Kleinmann Consulting and Underwear Expert, to discuss fixing the hidden cracks that stop DTC brands from scaling. Michael shares lessons from early e-commerce, subscription complexity, AI opportunities, inventory forecasting, 3PLs, discounting mistakes, and operational audits.
“We used to try to win every day. Now we're willing to sacrifice entire months.” What does it mean to optimize ad spend when there's no universal answer? Michael Ting (GM of DTC, JAXXON) joins Connor Rolain (Head of Growth, HexClad) and Connor MacDonald (CMO, Ridge) to challenge one of the most common assumptions in ecommerce email marketing and paid media: that there is a single optimized ad spend. There isn't. The better question is what you're trying to achieve and over what time horizon. Michael walks through how JAXXON uses cost per email signup to make confident budget decisions, spending aggressively into slow seasons and monetizing that list when it matters most. The conversation also covers decision quality frameworks, doubling AB testing velocity, and how daily performance reporting builds operator instinct over time. Powered By Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026 https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel Aftersellhttps://9ops.co/aftersell-mops Haushttps://www.haus.io/operators Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/
Angela Clark - Mubarak is a senior digital and eCommerce executive with 30 years of experience building and transforming digital businesses at some of the world's most recognized consumer brands — including Patagonia, Levi Strauss, eBay, elf Cosmetics, Williams-Sonoma, True Religion, and Eddie Bauer. Most recently VP of Digital at Patagonia, Angela now leads Eclipse Advisory Group, a consultancy focused on helping PE-backed brands, legacy retailers, and DTC startups unlock digital growth. She serves on the board of the California State Park Foundation, is an incoming Fellow at the Graham School at the University of Chicago, sits on the Total Retail Advisory Board, and has been recognized as a Direct 60 Honoree and CommerceNext 2024 Leader to Watch. She is based in LA, where is an avid cycler and dog mom to Maximus and Chloe and super auntie to her 12 yr nephew Evan. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:00] Intro [02:31] Adapting old strategies to new mediums [07:33] Sponsor: Klaviyo [09:39] Measuring success beyond simple revenue [14:23] Sponsor: Intelligems [16:24] Resisting trends that mismatch your brand [19:14] Sponsor: Electric Eye [20:19] Investing resources where they matter most [24:25] Moving away from the promotional drug [29:27] Callouts [29:37] Defining your target market sweet spot Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Retail Legacy Meets Digital Disruption eclipsemedia365.com/ Follow Angela Clark - Mubarak linkedin.com/in/angclrk/ Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ Get your free demo klaviyo.com/honest Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
Most brands expand into the US and treat it like the same business with a different shipping label. Outway learned it is not.Taylor Fraser is the Chief Growth Officer at Outway, the Canadian performance sock brand. In this episode he breaks down why Outway now runs Canada and the US as two distinct businesses, why he dropped retargeting on Meta entirely, and why a sub eight-figure brand cannot optimize its website to growth.What you'll learn:Why Outway swapped the CMO role for a Chief Growth Officer and split growth into performance, retention, and e-commerceWhy Canadian and US customers buy so differently, and how Outway split the two businesses on the backend and frontendWhy the team runs no retargeting and lets the algorithm handle itWhy simple store-wide discounts beat clever BOGO offers, and why the mystery pair became a "golden handcuffs" attachWhy you cannot CRO your way to growth under a certain revenue line, and what to do insteadWhy Outway rides external moments like Mother's Day and Prime Day instead of manufacturing its own salesHow the team uses AI daily for reporting, data pulls, and custom dashboardsWho this is for: DTC operators, growth and performance marketers, and founders selling across more than one country.What to steal: the two-businesses framework for cross-border selling, and the decision to stop manufacturing fake sales and ride moments customers already care about.Timestamps:00:00 Meta Doesn't Need Retargeting Campaigns13:06 How Andromeda Changed Meta Ads18:11 The Creative Volume Debate21:08 Why Scaling in the U.S. Is Harder Than Canada35:20 Why More Ads Beat CRO for GrowthSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video
The US military's Operation “Epic Fury” highlighted the devastating cost of using artificial intelligence for rapid military planning. Thomas Adamkiewicz, associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Zulfiqar Bhutta, Robert Harding Inaugural Chair in Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, to discuss why international humanitarian law is lagging dangerously behind technology, and why we urgently need a new era of legal frameworks to govern AI use in war. Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising of prescription medicines is strictly illegal everywhere in the world except for the United States and New Zealand. Deborah Cohen, investigative journalist, joins us to explain how global social media platforms are making borders porous, allowing Hollywood celebrities and high-profile influencers to broadcast drug endorsements directly into the feeds of UK citizens. Finally, Between 2020 and 2023, the UK government allocated £1.7 billion specifically intended for frontline doctor training. However, a deep-dive investigation has revealed that a staggering £400 million of that funding is completely unaccounted for - David Hutchison, paediatrics registrar, and Jonathan De Oliveira, GP trainee, join us to describe what they found. Reading List AI warfare demands a new era of humanitarian law Bad influencers: How social media imported US-style drug advertising to the UK “Black hole” of medical student funding
App Masters - App Marketing & App Store Optimization with Steve P. Young
What does it really take to raise money, find product-market fit, and build a startup worth acquiring in 2026?In this episode, we are joined by Susan Ho, an entrepreneur, startup advisor, and former founder who built and exited travel-tech startup Journy to Hopper. shares the lessons she learned building Journy from the ground up, raising capital, navigating the founder journey, and ultimately selling the company to Hopper.We dive into the realities of startup fundraising, why founders get stuck in the "need traction to raise money, need money to get traction" cycle, and how today's founders can leverage personal branding and social media to accelerate growth.If you're a founder struggling with growth, fundraising, or the emotional rollercoaster of building a business, this is a must-watch.A candid conversation filled with real lessons, mindset shifts, and the kind of "mental therapy" every entrepreneur needs from time to time.
Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupBraydon from Pilothouse joins for a fast AI check-in on what the team is actually shipping right now. Not theory. The exact tools, prompts, and workflows behind their current creative output.If you run growth or creative at a DTC brand or agency, this is a look at how one team is collapsing production time on landing pages, video ads, and founder content using AI.The sub-agent "council" prompt: rewrite a landing page eight ways, with each sub-agent playing a role (copywriter, CEO, customer, CRO expert), then have the council rate the versions and a final decision maker pick the winner.How to keep Claude fast on long projects: ask the chat to summarize itself into a markdown file, then carry that into a fresh chat instead of letting one thread balloon.Higgsfield as a model aggregator: one place to run VO3, Kling, ElevenLabs, and image models, with one-click image-to-video and multiple aspect ratios.The founder avatar workflow: build a 30-second explainer with B-roll and slow zooms, clone the founder's voice in ElevenLabs, and ship it the same afternoon.Why Braydon leans into obviously-AI creative (claymation, Pixar-style) instead of trying to pass synthetic people as real.How Meta's Andromeda rewards ads that improve the scroll, and why social boosting organic winners is finding new scale.Who this is for:DTC operators, growth marketers, and agency creative leads who want a current, practical AI workflow rather than a hype reel.What to steal:The sub-agent council prompt, the Higgsfield image-to-video and voice-clone pipeline, and the social boosting approach to finding ad winners.Timestamps:00:29 Fable AI and One-Shot Development06:54 Higgsfield for AI Creative Production10:33 New AI Advertising Disclosure Rules13:15 AI Search, SEO, and Answer Engines14:33 How Andromeda Rewards Better Ad ExperiencesSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF621Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video
Demi Marchese started with $800, no investors, and no fashion background—just a clothing rack in the back of her car and 30 sororities to pitch in 30 days. She made $40,000 in her first month dressing girls for Coachella out of her living room, turned $800 into $40K, and never took a dollar from investors. Ten years later, 12th Tribe does close to $50 million a year with $250 million in lifetime revenue—fully founder-owned, profitable, and competing head-to-head with VC-backed brands like Fashion Nova and Revolve that have raised over $100 million. In this interview, Demi breaks down the contrarian playbook she calls "living in the group chat," the mass micro-influencer strategy that turned free product into serious revenue, and what it actually looks like to build a fashion brand from the ground up with no money, no partner, and no safety net. What you'll learn in this interview: • How she made $40K in 30 days dressing girls for Coachella out of her car and living room • Why vintage thrifting at 90–95% margins funded her first $1–2 million—and when it became impossible to scale • The "living in the group chat" strategy: how she anticipates what customers want before they know they want it • Why founder-led content has consistently outperformed every other ad format at 12th Tribe • The mass micro-influencer playbook: how to reverse-engineer gifting volume from revenue goals and posting rate • How she balances one big six-figure creator launch per month with mass micro gifting—and what actually converts • Why she's leaning offline as everyone else leans into AI—and the Tribe Table dinner series building real community • What a warehouse crisis during peak season taught her about crisis communication and customer retention • The imposter syndrome of being a 24-year-old solo founder running eight figures—and what finally made it go away • Why she competes on soul, storytelling, and founder personality—not ad spend—against brands with 100x her funding If you're building a DTC fashion or lifestyle brand, trying to grow profitably without outside capital, or looking for the real story behind what founder-led marketing actually looks like at scale, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about community, content, and what it means to build a brand with genuine soul. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to https://your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started. WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application → Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/ CONNECT WITH DEMI MARCHESE Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/demimarchese/ LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/demimarchese/ Website → https://www.12thtribe.com/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt Website → https://www.foundr.com Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/ Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast
In this episode of The Unofficial TikTok Shop Podcast, Jordan West sits down with Andy Allaway, CEO of Empire Flippers, to break down what buyers are really looking for when they evaluate ecommerce businesses.They get into clean financials, SDE multiples, channel diversification, founder dependence, TikTok Shop, Amazon, retail contracts, organic social, paid media, and the biggest landmines founders need to fix before going to market.Jordan also shares lessons from building, buying, selling, and losing ecommerce brands, including why founders should start preparing for an exit 12 to 24 months before they actually want to sell.If you run a DTC, Amazon, Shopify, or TikTok Shop brand and want to understand what makes your business more valuable to a buyer, this episode is a must-watch.In this episode:• What ecommerce multiples look like in 2026• Why clean financials matter so much• How buyers evaluate founder-led brands• What makes a brand SBA-financeable• Why TikTok Shop may become a core exit channel• The scorecard Andy uses to judge sellability• How to prepare 12 to 24 months before sellingGuest:Andy Allaway, CEO of Empire Flippershttps://empireflippers.comHost:Jordan West, Founder of Social Commerce Clubhttps://jordanwest.caSubscribe for more conversations on TikTok Shop, DTC growth, ecommerce strategy, and the future of social commerce.
Vira Sadlak is a Retention Marketing Strategist at Flowium, a retention-focused agency and Klaviyo Platinum Partner specializing in email, SMS, and lifecycle marketing for e-commerce brands. She works with DTC brands across categories to build the automated systems that turn one-time buyers into long-term customers.Most brands pour their budget into acquisition and go quiet the moment a customer converts. That silence is expensive. This episode gets into exactly what brands are leaving on the table and how to fix it.Eitan and Vira cover the nine foundational flows every brand should have in place, why segmented lists often outperform full sends revenue-wise, and how to build customer journeys that branch based on behavior rather than treating every buyer the same. They also get into the mechanics of growing and identifying your subscriber list, including identity resolution tools and zero-party data collection through quizzes.The conversation goes deep on KPIs that actually matter (open rates are no longer one of them), when and how to layer in SMS, the deliverability mistakes that land you in spam, and where AI fits into retention strategy today. Listeners will walk away with a clear framework for building retention programs that generate consistent revenue without relying on one-off campaigns.Website: https://www.vimmi.netEmail us: info@vimmi.netPodcast website: https://vimmi.net/commerce-untold/Eitan Koter's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eitankoter/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VimmiVideoCommerce/featuredGuest: Vira Sadlak, Retention Marketing Strategist, FlowiumVira Sadlak's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/virasadlak/Flowium: https://flowium.comKey Takeaways:• A significant share of second purchases happen within 24 to 48 hours of the first order, before the package even arrives. Not messaging customers in that window is one of the most common and costly retention mistakes.• Open rates are no longer a reliable performance signal. Click rates and conversion by segment tell you far more about whether your emails are actually working.• Sending the same message to your entire list hurts deliverability. Segmented sends consistently produce equal or better revenue while protecting your sender reputation.• Plain text emails outperform designed HTML templates on engagement and inbox placement because email providers do not flag them as promotional material.• Klaviyo and similar platforms function as data collection and analytics tools, not just communication channels. The segment-level insights they produce can inform your broader marketing strategy across every channel.• Identity resolution tools can identify anonymous website visitors and add them to your flows, but they require healthy deliverability and meaningful traffic volume (50,000 or more monthly visits) to be effective.Chapters:[01:20] About Vira Sadlak and Flowium[02:40] The Nine Foundational Retention Flows[07:27] Segmentation and Branching: Why 50 Journeys Is Not Too Many[10:04] What Retention Actually Means[11:05] Growing Your Subscriber List and Identity Resolution[14:11] How to Nurture Leads Who Have Not Purchased Yet[16:05] Why Email and SMS Still Drive 25-30% of Shopify Revenue[17:53] The KPIs That Actually Matter (Open Rates Are Not One of Them)[21:11] Email Cadence, Educational vs. Sales Content, and Preference Pages[24:25] When to Add SMS and How Often to Send[25:34] WhatsApp, Telegram, and RCS: Emerging Channels[27:36] Deliverability: How to Stay Out of Spam[29:26] How Flowium Serves Clients and Where AI Fits In
Are you scaling your e-commerce brand in revenue, but not in profit? Are you flying blind on CAC, LTV, fulfillment costs, and ad performance, hoping the numbers work out later? Many founders grow to low 7-figures on hustle and luck, only to hit a painful ceiling of chaos, cash-flow problems, and agency fatigue. In this episode of Marketer of the Day, growth partner Cem Atik of Harucon Ventures shows you what it really takes to move from low 7-figures of chaotic growth to predictable, profitable scale. With 13+ years in e-commerce and a track record of stepping into DTC brands “stuck between traction and chaos,” Cem doesn't just run ads, he and his team take equity and full control of marketing, perform deep finance and marketing due diligence, and rebuild growth systems from the inside out. Cem reveals the three bottlenecks he sees in almost every 7- and 8-figure brand: founders who don't know their true CAC and LTV, broken or non-existent third-party tracking and attribution, and a lack of real control over fulfillment, taxes, and operational costs. He explains how, by building a single source of truth for numbers and cohorts, brands can finally make confident decisions about where to cut spend, where to double down, and how aggressively they can acquire new customers. Instead of guessing, you start steering your business with clarity. https://youtu.be/3fHMwV8W1tE?si=WS6EZKQnCQ77GEYj You'll also hear a powerful case study of a brand doing $10M/month that boosted revenue while cutting marketing spend by 20–25% just by fixing structure and supply chain inefficiencies, saving 9% on fulfillment alone. Cem calls his model “marketing for adults”: performance-based, numbers-first, and designed so both sides win only when the business truly grows profitably. Along the way, he shares why humility beats ego when hiring marketers and operators, and why, if you truly control your numbers, you can afford to move fast and even be a little chaotic everywhere else. If you're tired of agency fatigue, unclear profitability, and growth that feels like a gamble instead of a strategy, this conversation will give you a concrete blueprint. You'll discover how to get a grip on your metrics, clean up your ad accounts, and build a team and system that take you from “winging it” at $1–5M to scaling like a pro toward $50M and beyond, without losing your sanity or your margins. Quotes: “Brands that grow from five to fifty million don't do it because they run better marketing; they do it because they did the groundwork that allows them to grow safely.” “If you have control over your numbers, you can be chaotic in everything else, and as long as your execution speed is great, you will still succeed.” “You could be the best email, WhatsApp, Google Ads, or Meta guy, but the only thing that will always win is a good team that's working proactively together.” Contact Details: Connect with Cem Atik on LinkedIn Explore Harucon Ventures Official Website
Most brands spend thousands driving traffic but send visitors to the wrong pages. In this solo episode, Nik breaks down his complete process for creating high-converting landing pages and listicles that turn paid traffic into customers. From research and copywriting to UX, design, and testing, Nik shares the exact framework he uses to build pages that consistently outperform traditional product pages and homepages. You'll learn: Why AI can sometimes hurt the research process How to uncover customer insights that actually matter How to structure landing pages that keep visitors engaged from click to conversion Whether you're running paid social, optimizing conversion rates, or building your next campaign, this episode is packed with practical strategies you can implement immediately. And be sure to check out the links below to see the listicle examples Nik shares during the episode Bioroot labs listicle - nik.co/pod-lp-1Bioroot labs PDP - nik.co/pod-lp-2Hydroh listicle - nik.co/pod-lp-3Hydroh PDP - nik.co/pod-lp-4Koriderm listicle - nik.co/pod-lp-5Purestrike listicle - nik.co/pod-lp-6IM8 8 Reasons Why - nik.co/pod-lp-7Gruns collab - nik.co/pod-lp-8Gruns 7 reasons - nik.co/pod-lp-9Gruns 6 reasons - nik.co/pod-lp-10 --- What's Instant? It's the secret weapon to triple your email revenue with AI-powered flows and campaigns. Instead of sending the same cart reminders to everyone, Instant gives every shopper a personalized email experience: Copy, products, and offers that adapt to your shopper's behavior and purchase history in real time. Emails sent at the exact moment each shopper is most likely to buy. 11+ abandonment flows and smart multi-step campaigns live in minutes. Built for DTC marketers. Made for revenue growth. See why brands are replacing their ESP with Instant: instant.one/sharma. --- Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips. And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts. Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter Follow Nik on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma
Resale is forcing brands to rethink product design, pricing, and customer acquisition from the ground up. Ryan Rowe (Archive) and Alison Buchanan (Lululemon) join Brian and Alicia to unpack how lululemon's Like New evolved from a sustainability pilot into a meaningful commercial channel. We unpack messy reverse logistics, the AI agents now quietly running warehouse decisions, and the organizational vision required to make circular commerce work across a vertically structured enterprise. When the Future of Commerce Is Circular, Every Brand Is A Secondhand Brand Key takeaways: Resale has shifted from a sustainability gesture to a commercial channel with P&L accountability. Branded resale wins where third-party marketplaces can't: data integrity, trust, and brand language. Like New must operate to tackle a fundamentally different eCommerce problem — one-of-one inventory breaks mainline systems. AI is moving from assisting warehouse operators to serving as autonomous agents that optimize pricing and routing. Circular commerce is an acquisition engine; roughly half of resale shoppers are new to the lululemon brand. Key quotes: [02:41] "It's a very technical problem. It's a large-scale platform problem that touches virtually every piece of a brand's business." — Ryan Rowe [06:12] "Commerce is, is obviously just a space that we are starting to realize is a strong commercial lever… Like New for our business is really sitting at this intersection of business and impact." — Alison Buchanan [08:40] "Resale of lululemon was happening at scale already all around us. And it was either let it happen without us… or uphold our brand standards." — Alison Buchanan [26:26] "A lot of customers are actually trying brands for the first time with a used item… because it's a way for them to test things like fit and material and quality at a much lower barrier to entry." — Ryan Rowe In-Show Mentions: Archive Like New by Lululemon Associated Links: Check out Future Commerce on YouTube Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
What does Ridge's annual revenue growth 2025–2026 look like when you launch three new categories at once? Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) joins Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) to get into what it looks like when a founder goes all-in on ecommerce product expansion while navigating new fatherhood, a tough M&A market, and a company that had to reinvent its growth story. Sean breaks down the Shark Ninja model. Ship fast, cut losers, never wait on a five-year roadmap. He walks through what made the Marques Brownlee (MKBHD) partnership succeed where a $4 million celebrity deal would have failed. Finally, he gets candid about fatherhood and the DTC acquisition market, where over 70% of deals since 2022 drew zero bids. Powered ByFulfilhttps://9ops.co/fulfil Saras Analyticshttps://bit.ly/4a3gzVvAftersellhttps://9ops.co/4i3bb5Richpanelhttps://9ops.co/richpanelNorthbeamhttps://www.northbeam.io/Postscripthttps://9ops.co/postscriptOperators Newsletterhttps://9operators.com/
Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupThis episode, Kemberly Gong, VP of Marketing at Contentful, joins Eric to walk through what some marketing leaders are calling “The Great Content Collapse”, and what marketers can actually do about it.The setup: 60% of Google searches now result in zero click-through, and replaced by GenAI models like AI overviews. LLMs already account for 5% of traffic and climbing. Marketing budgets are flat or shrinking. Companies are flooding consumers with AI slop to hit KPIs. And consumers can smell it. 50% lose trust in a brand when they think the content was written by AI.Explore Contentful: https://www.contentful.com/?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=fy27-q2-global-tl_awareness&utm_content=gcc What you'll learn:What is the "great content collapse" and why traditional content strategy is breakingAEO vs SEO: where they overlap and where they divergeWhy agentic agents prefer structured, query-aligned content with third-party validationHow buyer behavior is changing and what marketing teams can do to stay aheadWhere brands over-rely on AI and how to keep the human voiceThe 30-day content audit for the agentic webThe Pets Deli case: 50% conversion lift from one personalization changeThe Ruggable BFCM case: 7x CTR and 25% conversion lift from personalized hero banners + homepagesHow Bossard scaled its content across 18 languages and 38 countries with AI workflows using personalization softwareWhat On Running does to drive 40% of sales onlinePlus: Kemberly Gong's 30-day content audit checklist for the agentic web.Timestamps:00:00 The Great Content Collapse05:38 AEO vs SEO Explained10:08 Why Personalization Wins in 202613:27 Where AI Actually Helps Marketing Teams22:23 Building Brand Trust Across ChannelsSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video
New day, same great conversations. Catch new episodes of SUPERLATIVE every Wednesday!In this episode of SUPERLATIVE, aBlogtoWatch founder and our host Ariel Adams sits down with Becca Florence Davis, founder of CHP Caliber, to explore the rapidly changing world of independent watch brands and what it really takes to succeed in the U.S. market. Drawing on her years of experience in luxury goods and as a former Shinola account executive, Becca explains why many promising watch brands struggle to break into retail, the hidden value of independent jewelers, and why relationships still matter more than hype in the watch industry.Becca also shares how CHP Caliber helps emerging brands navigate wholesale, why operations and after sales support can make or break success, and what retailers are actually looking for when deciding which watches deserve case space. From the realities of direct to consumer business models to the importance of storytelling, trust, and long term growth, this conversation offers an insightful look at the business side of modern watchmaking and what separates brands that last from those that disappear.Learn more about Becca and CHP Caliber:- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/chpcaliber/ - LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beccafdavis/ - Website - https://www.chpcaliber.com/ SUPERLATIVE IS NOW ON YOUTUBE! To check out Superlative on Youtube as well as other ABTW content:- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@ablogtowatch To check out the ABTW Shop where you can see our products inspired by our love of Horology:- Shop ABTW - https://store.ablogtowatch.com/To keep updated with everything Superlative, aBlogtoWatch Weekly, and aBlogtoWatch, check us out on:- Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/ablogtowatch/- Twitter/X - https://twitter.com/ABLOGTOWATCH- Website - https://www.ablogtowatch.com/If you enjoy the show please Subscribe, Rate, and Review!Key Timestamps:[00:35] Intro & Becca's Watch Industry Background[02:50] Why Becca Created CHP Caliber[08:39] How Independent Watches Actually Get Sold[16:29] What U.S. Retailers Really Want From Watch Brands[23:45] DTC vs Retail: Why Brands Hit A Growth Ceiling[31:15] Inside CHP Caliber & The Access Lab[37:04] Which Watch Brands Are Ready For The U.S. Market[1:00:29] Who Should Work With CHP Caliber & How To Connect
Shopify Masters | The ecommerce business and marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs
Dr. Jason Wersland turned a 3 a.m. garage experiment into the number one percussive therapy brand in the world, with more than 6.5 million Theragun massage devices sold. In this episode, he breaks down the unglamorous eight-year grind behind that overnight success: five prototypes, three bad partners, and a one-to-one credibility-building strategy that eventually landed him in Cristiano Ronaldo''s training room. For more on Therabody and show notes click here Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.
Episode 304 reunites The Analysts — Remarkable Retail's celebrated panel of Forrester's Sucharita Kodali, Guggenheim's Simeon Siegel, and GlobalData's Neil Saunders — to take stock of retail coming out of earnings season. Steve Dennis and Michael LeBlanc open on the paradox of 2026: results are largely strong, sentiment is dismal. Simeon argues the link between the two is "tenuous at best" — people talk one way and spend another. Neil has the data: roughly 60% of shoppers who expect the economy to worsen still spent more than a year ago, propped up by spring tax refunds that won't repeat. Then the K-shaped economy. Higher-income households drive most of the real volume growth; middle-income shoppers prop up value growth mainly because prices are higher. Sucharita revisits "peak ambiguity" and the "vibe session," noting record sales barely outrun stubborn inflation. The panel unpacks the standouts — Ross's 17% comp, Victoria's Secret up 15% — and debates GLP-1's role in surging apparel and beauty: wardrobe replacement, new confidence, trading up to statement pieces. On turnarounds, Simeon lands the episode's sharpest thesis: brands "ubiquitize" and peak around $3–4 billion in the US. Lululemon got too big, over-distributed, and over-earning — so the bad sales have to "walk out the door" before the brand can re-elevate, the same lens that frames Nike's long reset. He and Sucharita draw the Gap parallel ahead of Simeon's on-stage interview with Mickey Drexler, noting Old Navy now dwarfs Gap itself. Neil makes the case for Macy's under Tony Spring — basics fixed first, satisfaction and visitation improving — while Steve stays skeptical of the pace. Next, the DTC reckoning. Simeon reframes his old "DTC is not all it's cracked up to be" call as "anti-anti-wholesale": outside high-margin luxury, nearly every brand needs a healthy wholesale business — and stores remain the best channel because "the customer is your employee." Sucharita pushes back on the AI narrative, reminding everyone it's far more than generative hype, as the panel digs into why scaled players — Amazon, Walmart, Costco, off-price — keep compounding through retail media, marketplaces, and flywheel economics. It closes on the wealth effect, trillion-dollar market caps, and whether a market correction could rattle high-end spending — then rapid-fire hot takes: brands to watch (Cozey, Ross Stores, Goyard) and what's on each analyst's radar, from inflation and surging oil prices to a quiet "middle of the doughnut" news lull and an election year's hunt for stability. Join us at the CommerceNext Growth Show in New York June 23rd and 24th with this exclusive discount code for 10% off general admission tickets and FREE retail tickets: Your code is "REMARKABLE" . See you in the Big Apple! About UsSteve Dennis is a strategic advisor and keynote speaker focused on growth and innovation, who has also been named one of the world's top retail influencers. He is the bestselling author of two books: Leaders Leap: Transforming Your Company at the Speed of Disruption and Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior retail contributor and on social media.Michael LeBlanc is a senior retail advisor, keynote speaker and media entrepreneur. Michael has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions hosted senior retail executive on-stage in 1:1 interviews worldwide. Michael produces and hosts a network of leading retail trade podcasts, including The Remarkable Retail Podcast, The Voice of Retail The Food Professor, The FEED powered by Loblaw and the Global eCommerce Leaders podcast. He has been recognized by the NRF as a global Top Retail Voice for 2025 and 2025 and continues to be a ReThink Retail Top Retail Expert for the fifth year in a row.
Why the Recruitment Model Is Broken (And What We're Doing About It)OverviewIn this season opener, George digs into a real conversation with a friend who's trying to hire an Amazon Operations Manager — and uses it to expose a fundamental flaw in how traditional recruitment is structured. The incentives are pointing in the wrong direction, and it's costing brands more than they realise.What We CoverThe Amazon Pyramid — George revisits the three-pillar framework: Operations → Brand & Conversion → Advertising. Why you can't skip the foundation, and why each layer depends on the one below it.The recruiter conversation — A specialist Philippines-based recruiter quotes $2,500–$3,000/month for an Operations Manager. George pushes back — and explains exactly why that number doesn't hold up.The incentive problem — Why even the most honest, specialist recruiter is structurally incentivised to place candidates at higher salaries. Nobody's being dishonest. The model just rewards the wrong outcome.The Pare difference — No margin on salary. No big upfront placement fee. Contracts and payroll handled. And crucially — candidates join a Wednesday community of senior Amazon professionals, so they keep getting better after day one.The agency experience, rebuilt — What agencies gave clients (knowledge density, peer learning, cross-account exposure) and how the Pare community model recreates it — but with everyone at the senior table.The question left open — Did his friend make the right call going direct? And should Pare expand beyond Amazon Ads Managers into Operations?Key TakeawayPaying fairly, vetting rigorously, and removing the upfront fee structure isn't just a nicer model — over a four-month horizon, it's a cheaper one too.Pare places senior Amazon Advertising Managers with DTC brands and agencies globally. Find out more at pare.soRESOURCESVault: Ai Cheater PlaybookMessage George.
Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupOrigin owns its entire supply chain. The thread, the brass, the leather, the denim, all of it made or sourced in America, in their own factories. That sounds like a constraint. Justin Parker explains why it is actually the brand's biggest growth lever.Justin runs e-commerce at Origin, the American-made apparel brand born in jiu-jitsu gear and now backed in part by Jocko Willink. He sits at the intersection of marketing, ops, and manufacturing, and that vantage point is exactly what makes the AI stack so powerful for him.What you will learn:How owning manufacturing let Origin pull a planned-for-June product into the line overnight when a hoodie went viral in JanuaryWhy Origin uploaded its 20-page production tech packs into Moby, and how that turned a marketing tool into something that diagnoses manufacturing defectsHow they run 100% internal media buying through an agentic media buyer, and the one question Justin asks it: "what in your context made you decide to pause this ad?"Why branded search spend got flagged as non-incremental, and how goal-setting changes what the AI doesHow the e-commerce team stopped hiring internally while the rest of the business keeps net hiringWhere Justin thinks the role is going next: agent orchestration and one centralized goal pushed down to every business unitWho this is for: DTC founders and operators, e-commerce and growth leads, anyone figuring out how to actually deploy AI agents inside a real business.What to steal: Justin's approach to context loading. The output you get from any AI tool is capped by the context you feed it. He spent an afternoon uploading product blueprints one PDF at a time, and it changed what the tool could do.Timestamps:0:00 Origin's Unexpected Maduro Viral Moment2:01 Building an American-Made Supply Chain7:00 Pricing Premium Products in a Competitive Market15:02 How Vertical Integration Creates a Growth Advantage22:18 Inside Moby AI and Agentic Media BuyingSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video
Christopher Roach, CEO of Better For Butchery, discusses the company's acquisition of a 27,000‑square‑foot USDA‑inspected processing facility in Princeton, Ky. The move transforms Better For Butchery from a DTC‑focused meat business into a platform‑scale processing, co‑packing, cold‑storage, and fulfillment hub built to support independent farmers and regional meat brands.
Do you have a warm weather uniform — or are you starting from scratch every time the temperature rises? Image consultant and stylist Mikara Reid of MIIEN Consultancy defines the warm weather uniform and what it means to have a go-to formula that works for your body, your lifestyle, and the heat you're dressing in. Plus the fabrics that make it work: linen, silk, chambray, and lightweight cotton.#WarmWeatherUniform #SummerStyle #SummerWardrobe #WardrobeFormula #DressWithIntention #ImageConsultant #PersonalStylist #MikaraReid #MIIEN #SummerFashion #LinenStyle #SummerEssentials #PersonalStyle #FashionIdentity #IntentionalDressing
Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupMost brands are quietly killing themselves with growth hacks. Swapping button colors, chasing this week's ROI, discounting to hit the number.Duncan, Strategy Lead at Pilothouse, makes the case that this is the worst creative strategy there is, and walks through what actually builds a brand that lasts.Duncan runs strategy at Pilothouse, where brand and performance are treated as one system instead of warring departments. He explains why Meta's Andromeda shift is quietly ending the era of high-volume AI slop creative, and what replaces it.What you will learn:Why the growth-hack mentality leads to a discount death spiral and erodes brand valueWhat Meta's Andromeda infrastructure changed, and why it forces advertisers toward thoughtful creative over high-frequency iterationHow to integrate brand and performance instead of picking oneWhy siloed agencies fight over attribution while the customer journey falls through the cracksThe one question to ask any agency before you hire them: "Where will growth come from this year?"Who this is for: DTC founders, brand and growth leads, and anyone choosing between agencies or trying to make brand and performance work together.What to steal: the agency-selection test. If a partner can only answer with optimizations, they are a vendor. If they can tell you where growth comes from this year, they are a strategist.Timestamps:00:00 Why Growth Hacking Is Breaking Brands03:00 Meta Andromeda Changed Creative Strategy06:00 The Problem With Optimizing Only for ROAS12:00 Building Customer Journeys Beyond Attribution20:00 Measuring Channels by Their Actual JobSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://www.pilothouse.co/?utm_source=AKNF619Follow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video
While every brand was raising prices during inflation, Elina Wang cut hers—and nearly tripled revenue. The co-founder of ESW Beauty turned a juice bar epiphany and a $25,000 bank loan into a $20 million business across 10,000 retail doors, fully bootstrapped and profitable from day one. She did it by making the contrarian bet on retail-first when every founder around her was chasing DTC—then survived Covid wiping out every purchase order overnight while going through a co-founder breakup at the same time. In this interview, Elina breaks down the real cost of getting into major retail, why she deliberately chose wholesale over DTC from day one, and the pricing move that took ESW Beauty from $4 million to $11 million in revenue. What you'll learn in this interview: • Why she bet on retail over DTC from day one—with just $5,000 left after her first trade show • How a $25,000 SBA loan, a scrappy juice bar booth, and aggressive hallway pitching landed $250K in purchase orders • The contrarian pricing move: why cutting price from $6 to $4.99 per mask nearly tripled revenue • How Covid wiped out every PO overnight—and how Faire and gifting programs kept the business alive • Why 95% wholesale requires 70%+ gross margins—and the hidden retail fees most founders discover too late • The in-store promotional math: clip strips, end caps, and PDQ displays that cost $25–75K each but drive real velocity • How she navigated building a business with her co-founder after they broke up—and why they kept going anyway • Why it took three years of persistence to crack Target—and what metrics finally convinced the buyer • The leadership shift every founder dreads: how she learned to let go and trust a team after running everything herself • What she'd tell founders about choosing a co-founder before anything else If you're building a CPG or beauty brand, trying to crack retail without burning through cash, or wondering what profitable bootstrapped growth at eight figures actually looks like, this conversation will fundamentally change how you think about distribution, pricing strategy, and what it takes to survive the moments that would end most companies. SAVE 50% ON OMNISEND FOR 3 MONTHS Get 50% off your first 3 months of email and SMS marketing with Omnisend with the code FOUNDR50. Just head to https://your.omnisend.com/foundr to get started. WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application → Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/ CONNECT WITH ELINA WANG Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/esw.beauty/ Website → https://eswbeauty.com/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt Website → https://www.foundr.com Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/ Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast
Shopify Masters | The ecommerce business and marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs
Hyla Nayeri co-founded 437, a bootstrapped activewear brand, into an eight-figure business— and she did it by simplifying ruthlessly, betting on organic social and influencer marketing, and protecting a culture that includes a four-day workweek. For more on 437 and show notes click here Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.
Most brands think GMV Max is just another ad campaign. It is not. GMV Max rewards better inputs.Better creator partnersBetter content systemsBetter shop operationsBetter product pagesBetter internal alignment between TikTok Shop, paid media, creative, and DTC.In this workshop, Jordan West and Brywinn Travers break down what actually happens once a brand starts scaling on TikTok Shop and why so many brands plateau around the $50K/month GMV mark.They cover why creator relationships matter more than micromanaging campaigns, how to improve signal quality, why more videos per creator matters, when to invest in your top creators, and why GMV Max should be managed like a business system instead of a traditional media buying channel.You'll learn:• Why GMV Max rewards signal quality over manual control• Why the best creators need coaching, not just samples• How many videos per creator brands should be aiming for• Why hero SKUs matter before scaling into more products• How to think about creator testing instead of audience testing• Why boosting individual creatives usually does not beat the algorithm• How to use creator content across TikTok Shop, Meta, Amazon, DTC, YouTube, and CTV• Why retainers are risky before a creator has proven they can sell• What brands need to review weekly to keep GMV Max healthyIf you are running TikTok Shop, scaling GMV Max, or trying to figure out why your creator content is not turning into revenue, this session will help you understand what the real levers are.Social Commerce Club works with brands to build TikTok Shop into a real growth channel through creators, content, ads, operations, and measurement.Book a call with Social Commerce Club:https://socialcommerceclub.com/pages/contact
Your landing page is good…but AI can make it great! In this latest episode of Limited Supply, Nik explores the transformative impact of AI on landing pages, creative content, and e-commerce strategies. Listen as ne discusses how AI accelerates page creation, enhances ad creative, and enables hyper-targeted merchandising, while also warning about potential pitfalls of AI-generated garbage if not managed properly. Nik also talks about: The explosion of ad creative and its impact on marketing AI shopping agents transforming consumer discovery Landing pages as AI merchandising tools Whether you're an AI skeptic or a seasoned DTC pro looking to make some improvements, this solo episode is packed with ideas you can use today. --- What's Instant? It's the secret weapon to triple your email revenue with AI-powered flows and campaigns. Instead of sending the same cart reminders to everyone, Instant gives every shopper a personalized email experience: Copy, products, and offers that adapt to your shopper's behavior and purchase history in real time. Emails sent at the exact moment each shopper is most likely to buy. 11+ abandonment flows and smart multi-step campaigns live in minutes. Built for DTC marketers. Made for revenue growth. See why brands are replacing their ESP with Instant: instant.one/sharma. --- Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips. And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts. Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter Follow Nik on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma
Dr. Mark Grether, SVP and General Manager of PayPal Ads, joins Phillip from PayPal's Manhattan offices to argue that the merchant storefront is migrating off owned websites and into LLMs. This may make the mechanics of customer experience and loyalty a bit murky, but Mark explains how PayPal's "transaction graph,” built on real purchases across 30 million merchants and 400 million consumers, acts as the deterministic identity layer that the post-cookie ad world has been missing. We also cover the evolving world of commerce media, from zero-click commerce and CTV attribution to PayPal Ads' newest product, Storefront Ads, which transforms the creative into the checkout. The Cart Cartographer Key takeaways: Consumers now start product discovery on LLMs, not search engines or merchant sites. PayPal's transaction graph spans 30M merchants and 400M consumers, representing real purchases, not just clicks. Deterministic payment identity beats cookies and probabilistic IDs for cross-channel attribution. Storefront Ads turn any ad into a one-click, pre-populated checkout. Creators run two businesses: generating consumer data, then monetizing it. [00:04:03] "We're not just seeing behavior, we're actually seeing the real transactions. We know what people are purchasing — not whether they search for something or browse for something. We actually see what they are buying." – Mark Grether [00:11:00] "The trick about our identity is it was built from a finance perspective, meaning I need to understand that you are you and not your twin brother. Our identity has to clear a much higher bar compared to probabilistic IDs or cookies." – Mark Grether [00:13:40] "The idea of Storefront Ads is that the creative itself becomes the shop. You're getting exposed to the sneakers, and with one click, you can actually make the purchase. We already know who you are, we know your bank account, we know your address — everything is pre-populated. From a consumer perspective, it becomes super easy to finish a transaction." In-Show Mentions: PayPal's Storefront Ads Learn more about PayPal Ads Associated Links: Check out Future Commerce on YouTube Check out Future Commerce Plus for exclusive content and save on merch and print Subscribe to Insiders and The Senses to read more about what we are witnessing in the commerce world Listen to our other episodes of Future Commerce Have any questions or comments about the show? Let us know on futurecommerce.com, or reach out to us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. We love hearing from our listeners! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Subscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupRecorded live at The Whalies.Enterprise brands are past the prompt-and-generate phase of AI. The conversation has moved to connected data, agentic media buying, personalization, attribution, and the quiet operational wins that actually move the P&L.Eric Dyck sits down with Justin Parker (Origin), Ashley Kick (DÔEN), and Martha Ann Pavoni (Universal Ads) to unpack how leading ecommerce brands are embedding AI across the commerce stack — without losing trust, measurement, or human judgment.This episode is brought to you by Triple Whale. Much of the panel centers on Moby 2, Triple Whale's agentic operator for insights and media buying — Justin Parker runs all but three of his Meta campaigns through it and has been in the beta since the start.Learn more: Triple WhaleIn this episode:Why business context — not the model — is the missing ingredient in most AI implementationsHow DÔEN rolls out AI one workflow at a time to measure real incremental liftWhat happens when AI runs all but three of your Meta campaignsWhy connected TV and incrementality are eclipsing the clickThe retargeting decision where AI flatly contradicted itself a week laterWhere human oversight still matters most — and how to size it to riskWhat to steal:Build a trusted source of truth before you layer AI on topTest AI one workflow at a time so you can actually attribute the liftPoint AI at analysis and reporting first; hand it bigger decisions laterScale human-in-the-loop in proportion to dollars and customer exposureFor DTC operators managing multi-channel growth who need more output without adding headcount.Timestamps:0:00 AI Is Only As Good As The Data Behind It2:03 How Enterprise Brands Roll Out AI Without Breaking Things8:16 Why Some Brands Refuse To Use AI Creative18:28 Inside Agentic Media Buying And AI-Powered Marketing Teams30:03 The Biggest AI Opportunity Most Brands Are MissingSubscribe to DTC Newsletter - https://dtcnews.link/signupAdvertise on DTC - https://dtcnews.link/advertiseWork with Pilothouse - https://dtcnews.link/pilothouseFollow us on Instagram & Twitter - @dtcnewsletterWatch this interview on YouTube - https://dtcnews.link/video
Shopify Masters | The ecommerce business and marketing podcast for ambitious entrepreneurs
Sean Reyes noticed that every shock absorber looks identical from the outside—and none of the automotive brands detail what's actually inside. So he built ShockSurplus, an education-first automotive parts company that turned that information gap into a bootstrapped, eight-figure business. For more on Shock Surplus and show notes click here Subscribe and watch Shopify Masters on YouTube!Sign up for your FREE Shopify Trial here.
After retiring twice, Chris Baker, President of Brassfield Estate, was lured back in by a unique opportunity to build one of the world's largest monopoles in the High Valley AVA of Lake County, California. Its unique volcanic terroir is now being scaled nationally with a 10 year contract and national alignment with Southern Glazers. Chris describes the best practices in working with distributors and partnering together to create a successful brand, built on trusted relationships. Detailed Show Notes: Chris' background: hospitality, distribution, ran wineries, has tried to retire twice and come back due to his love of wineBrassfield overviewHigh Valley AVA, in Lake County CA100% estate grown and produced 5,000 acre property, 500 acres planted, up to 2,000 plantable65k sf cave, only 15% utilizedGrows 17 varietals (10 in distribution), best known from Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot NoirRetail price points - $16-17 whites, $25-30 redsNational partnership with Southern GlazersWas in 14 states, now in 45Perks to being nationally aligned - a little more attention, assigned trade development managerHave a 10 year contract (normal is 2-3 years) w/ automatic renewalSouthern chose Brassfield because of its scalability (potential to be biggest monopole in the world) and they didn't have a national product for Lake CountySales team being built out9 division managers, 1 national accounts on-premisePicked up experienced people (e.g. - from Vintage, others) who know a lot of accounts and not afraid to put a bag on their shouldersTeam needs to know distributors feet on the street all the way to state leadersKPIs to drive velocity (getting several products in the right accounts, volume goal, rate of sales, accounts sold goal, 50/50 on- and off-premise split)Small, medium wineries need to do more DTC, social media in new distribution environmentNeed to identify brand's uniquenessDistributors and accounts want to know what brand will do to create pullFocus on top moving accounts: top 250 restaurants, top retailers, share accounts b/w distributor and winery, need to understand what brands are important for the distributors (to not cannibalize sales)“We're in the relationship business”National account restaurants - often have 3rd party agencies (e.g. - Patrick Henry, IMI) to work through, hard to get direct contact, can meet some people at Vibe conference, trade conferences, Aspen Food & WineNeed to learn about customers and get to know each otherBest practice: being present, everyone is trying to get mindshare of distributors, can't only go once every 6 months, need frequent communications, involvement, and call on accounts direct w/ or w/o distributorDistributors have big notebooks of incentives (some suppliers have big ones), they cherry pick what they think will be easiest to accomplishThe top down approach can work, if distributor leads push down priorities to teamCreating consumer awareness (marketing, social, PR) can get attention w/o incentive programs, Brassfield hired a PR agency in NY and a marketing company in NapaBiggest success stories: Lazy Dog - national account w/ Eruption Red Blend, participates in their annual summitSugarfish Sushi - Sauvignon Blanc is in all 17-18 locationsAnnual Volcano Camp (started 2025)Brassfield responsible for High Valley AVAPartnered w/ SommJournal to bring somms from around the countryDug soil pitsInvestment in education builds brand ambassadors, believes it is high ROI Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jess Chan is the Founder and Executive Chair of Longplay Brands, a full-service retention and lifecycle marketing agency for DTC e-commerce brands. She is also the Founder and CEO of Backbone, an email strategy automation tool. As a former CMO of a multimillion-dollar DTC e-commerce company, Jess bootstrapped Longplay to seven figures in revenue within the first 18 months. She is a sought-after speaker, podcast guest, product developer, and consultant on topics like retention, lifecycle marketing, and progressive agency business modeling. Rachyl Neidecker is the CEO and Partner at Longplay Brands. She specializes in turning complex or broken business operations into scalable systems. Previously, Rachyl served as the COO and interim CEO of an eight-figure e-commerce brand, the Director of Operations at COO Alliance, and has consulted for companies with $10M–$100M+ in revenue. In this episode… E-commerce brands often chase stronger channels, faster tactics, or higher revenue goals without identifying whether the company's foundation can support the growth. When trust, profitability, and operations are misaligned, even strong marketing can amplify the wrong problems. So how can founders diagnose what's holding their business back? With expertise in lifecycle marketing and operational leadership, Jess Chan and Rachyl Neidecker point to a more disciplined way to scale. They recommend looking beyond surface metrics to identify root causes, such as brand inconsistency, product-market fit issues, over-discounting, weak customer education, bloated org structures, and hidden logistics costs. Instead of moving fast on foundational decisions, brands should slow down, inspect the full customer journey, build trust at every touchpoint, and optimize for profit and enterprise value — not just revenue. Sustainable growth comes from diagnosing the system before prescribing the tactic. In this episode of the Up Arrow Podcast, William Harris sits down with Jess Chan and Rachyl Neidecker of Longplay Brands to discuss diagnosing e-commerce growth problems. They cover DTC brands' costly misdiagnoses, lifecycle metrics that reveal root causes, and the difference between scaling revenue, profit, and enterprise value.
If Amazon deleted your account tomorrow, how many of your customers would you actually be able to contact? Spoiler: the answer is zero. And that's the problem we're tackling today. Neil Twa breaks down why relying solely on Amazon is a risky move for any operator. This isn't about diversifying channels or building a DTC brand from scratch. It's about securing your customer relationships beyond Amazon's reach. Neil shares a real-world example of a home and kitchen brand doing $60,000 to $80,000 a month on Amazon, with good reviews and decent margins, yet vulnerable due to a lack of direct customer contact. He outlines three actionable moves you can implement this week, starting with buying your brand domain and setting up a basic Shopify store. Whether you're launching your first product or managing a $1M+ operation, these steps are crucial. The High Voltage Business Builders Podcast is here to help you build a sustainable business. Ready to audit your AI readiness? Take the free 5-question assessment: voltagedm.com/aiquiz?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=show_notes&utm_campaign=ep292
You focus on building strategies that start with understanding the consumer. How has putting the consumer at the center of your decisions shaped your most successful digital initiatives?Brands today operate across retail, pure-play eCommerce, and DTC channels. What are the biggest challenges in creating a seamless experience, and how do you approach solving them?With your experience in performance marketing and advanced measurement, how do you blend data insights with creative strategy to drive meaningful growth?From launching high-converting storefronts to testing new digital platforms, what have been the most important lessons in scaling digital initiatives effectively?If viewers remember one key insight or piece of advice from this conversation, what would you want it to be?
Jason Kutasi is the founder and CEO of SkyHouse, a performance marketing agency that managed $50M in ad spend for 2025 - its first full year of business. He's driven roughly $500M in advertising over his career and built a children's book publisher acquired by Scholastic and a digital marketing platform acquired by Capital One. Jason specializes in copywriting, funnel analytics, and scaling high-growth DTC and telemedicine brands.Highlight Bullets> Here's a glimpse of what you would learn…. E-commerce growth strategies and challenges.Comparison of selling on Amazon versus Shopify.Importance of average order value (AOV) in scaling advertising.Strategies to increase AOV, such as product bundling and premium versions.The role of TikTok and other platforms in e-commerce marketing.Managing advertising campaigns and the balance between creative volume and quality.The significance of agency versus in-house marketing teams.The impact of AI on marketing and the importance of human expertise.Insights on effective copywriting and video content in advertising.The future of e-commerce marketing and the evolving landscape of digital advertising.In this episode of the E-comm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley speaks with Jason Kutasi, CEO of Skyhouse, about scaling e-commerce brands. They discuss the importance of average order value (AOV), emphasizing that brands need at least $60 in margin to run profitable paid ads. Jason contrasts Amazon-first versus Shopify-first strategies, recommends bundling and subscriptions to boost AOV, and advises starting with freelancers before scaling with agencies and in-house teams. They also explore Meta advertising, creative quality versus volume, and how AI augments—but doesn't replace—skilled marketers and copywriters.Here are the 3 action items that Josh identified from this episode:Fix Your AOV Before Scaling Ads Don't run paid ads until your average order value and margins can support CAC. Aim for $60+ margin per order using bundles, upsells, or subscriptions.Build on Shopify, Use Amazon as a Bonus Channel Prioritize DTC (Shopify) to control pricing, data, and AOV—then layer Amazon as an incremental revenue stream, not your foundation.Test Creatives Broadly, Then Double Down on Winners Launch multiple ad variations quickly, identify what works, and scale only high-performing creatives with better production and audience targeting.Timestamps:00:00:00 Introduction to the AOV ProblemJason Kutasi explains that Amazon sellers often struggle to scale on other platforms due to a low Average Order Value.00:00:34 Host & Guest IntroductionHost Josh Hadley introduces the episode's topic and guest Jason Kutasi, founder and CEO of performance marketing agency Skyhouse.00:02:26 Amazon vs. Shopify MindsetA discussion on the two primary approaches to starting an e-commerce business and the challenges faced by Amazon-first brands.00:03:39 The $60 Margin RuleJason explains why brands need at least $60 in margin to profitably acquire customers on paid ad platforms like Meta.00:04:37 Strategies to Increase AOVActionable ways to increase Average Order Value, including creating sister brands, bundling products, and offering aggressive subscription models.00:07:56 The "Shopify First" AdvantageThe benefits of a higher AOV, which provides more margin to scale advertising across multiple channels beyond Amazon PPC.00:10:30 Why You Must Be OmnichannelJason argues that Shopify brands should sell on Amazon to avoid losing customers who prefer to purchase there.00:14:01 Case Study: A Massive Meta Ad WinJason details a recent successful video ad campaign that scaled to thousands of orders in a single weekend.00:20:04 Navigating Meta's Andromeda UpdateA discussion on Meta's shift to creative-driven campaigns and the strategy of slicing avatars for better, more stable performance.00:23:34 Agency vs. In-House TeamsJason breaks down when to hire a freelancer, an agency, or build an in-house team for your marketing efforts.00:29:13 Why Most Marketing Agencies FailJason shares his experience with underperforming agencies and what brand owners should look for when hiring one.00:33:28 Building an In-House Team Alongside an AgencyThe importance of building an internal team to de-risk your business and test new offers before scaling with an agency.00:36:38 The Future of E-commerce and AIJason predicts AI will commoditize ad creation, making predictive modeling and data-driven rules the new competitive edge.00:41:42 AI as a Human AmplifierAI won't replace skilled marketers but will augment their abilities, allowing them to perform at a much higher level.00:44:43 Three Actionable TakeawaysThe host summarizes the episode's key lessons: fix your AOV, build in-house, and leverage AI with smart people.00:49:33 Jason's Final RecommendationsJason shares his most influential book, favorite AI tool (Claude Code), and a respected figure in the e-commerce space.Resources mentioned in this episode:Josh Hadley on LinkedIneComm Breakthrough ConsultingeComm Breakthrough PodcastEmail Josh Hadley: Josh@eCommBreakthrough.comTools and Websites"Amazon": "00:02:26""Shopify": "00:02:26""Meta (Facebook/Instagram Ads)": "00:02:56""Google Ads": "00:02:56""YouTube Ads": "00:02:56""TikTok": "00:06:23""PayPal": "00:11:49""Apple Pay": "00:11:49""Google Pay": "00:11:49""Shop Pay": "00:11:49""Claude Code": "00:50:05""Meta": "00:38:16"Books"The E-Myth by Michael E. Gerber": "00:00:56""Cash Flow": "00:49:36"Videos"Video Ads": "00:14:01"Notable Mentions / People"Skyhouse (Jason Kutasi's performan...
Catherine Hayden is the Chief Marketing Officer at Kate Farms, the #1 doctor-recommended plant-based nutrition brand. Since joining the company in 2018, she has helped scale Kate Farms through rapid growth, multiple funding rounds, and its acquisition by Danone, while building an omnichannel business spanning healthcare, direct-to-consumer, subscription, Amazon, and retail. Catherine began her career as a Registered Dietitian, giving her a unique perspective at the intersection of healthcare, nutrition, and consumer behavior. Today, she leads brand strategy, commercial growth, innovation, and integration across both healthcare and consumer channels. Kate Farms was founded to solve a deeply personal problem. After being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at age five, Kate struggled to tolerate existing nutrition formulas and relied on a feeding tube for nourishment. What began as a solution for one child has since grown into a company that has nourished more than 600,000 people. In this episode, Catherine shares how Kate Farms evolved from a healthcare-focused company into a high-growth Ecommerce and omnichannel brand, including lessons on building DTC alongside Amazon, uncovering customer insights that reshaped the business, and expanding awareness and access without sacrificing growth. In This Conversation We Discuss: [00:29] Intro [01:42] Serving customers across every life stage [02:02] Scaling impact from one success story [03:36] Validating demand before scaling [05:48] Episode Sponsor: Klaviyo [07:55] Learning complex channels through partnerships [10:36] Balancing trust with Ecommerce growth [12:32] Episode Sponsor: Intelligems [14:32] Using customer insights to guide strategy [17:40] Connecting brand awareness to conversions [19:13] Expanding reach while maintaining growth [22:13] Episode Sponsor: Electric Eye [23:20] Creating loyalty beyond product discounts [26:45] Winning customers through better products [27:17] Callout [27:27] Making great products easier to access Resources: Subscribe to Honest Ecommerce on Youtube Plant-based tube feeding formulas and shakes katefarms.com/ Follow Catherine Hayden linkedin.com/in/catherine-hayden-28233816 Migrate and grow more klaviyo.com/honest Schedule an intro call with one of our experts electriceye.io/connect Book a demo today at intelligems.io/ If you're enjoying the show, we'd love it if you left Honest Ecommerce a review on Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge impact on the success of the podcast, and we love reading every one of your reviews!
Entrepreneur, author, and podcaster Tim Ferriss joins Guy on the Advice Line to answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Tim shares the inspiration behind his latest venture, Coyote—a 10-minute card game that encourages time spent with friends and family.First, Lauryn from San Francisco asks about the best way to scale her biodegradable ear plugs in two very different directions. Then Emily from Kansas City weighs whether DTC or wholesale is where to focus her accessory brand after Taylor Swift wore one of her rings and sales exploded. And finally, Kimberly in Woolwich, Maine wonders how to incentivize her customers to pre-order her high-quality, sustainable, clothing. Thank you to the founders of GOB, EB & Co, and K. Becker Designs for being a part of our show.If you'd like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you'd like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.And be sure to listen to Tim Ferriss's founding story as told by Tim on the show in 2020. This episode was produced by Noor Gill with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineer was Cena Loffredo.You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com and on Substack.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Cats are 40% of the pet market, but are somehow still chronically overlooked. Every innovation goes to dogs first. Even your vet's office is built for dogs first. Matt Michaelson, cofounder and CEO of Smalls, and his team have built an incredible cat-first brand precisely because of that blind spot.In this episode, I sit down with Matt to break down:• Why the cat industry is structurally underinvested (which includes VCs simply saying "I don't really like cats")• What "human-grade" actually means for pet food — and the sustainability trade-offs nobody talks about• Ingredient splitting: the regulatory hack that lets pet brands disguise what's actually in the bag• "Wrestling in the mud": a feedback culture where every hire is expected to disagree• Founders Pledge, and why committing 5% early changes the giving conversation laterBig thanks to Matt for coming on the pod and sharing the playbook behind Smalls.⏱️ Chapter Markers:00:00 — Why cats keep getting overlooked01:05 — What is Smalls? Cat-first brand, human-grade nutrition02:09 — What "human-grade" actually means (and the sustainability trade-off)04:26 — Health impact: allergies, ingredient splitting, and the regulatory hack06:31 — Why Matt chose cats: the market psychology nobody's pricing in07:20 — Why every VC and pet brand defaults to dogs first09:21 — From growth marketing to founder: building demand in a commoditized stack11:48 — Emerging channels worth watching (and why DTC is just a channel, not a model)13:17 — AI-native orgs: how the team uses AI without becoming a tech company16:01 — Human-supervised AI teams and what entry-level jobs look like now17:26 — "Wrestling in the mud": the air-grievances feedback culture19:39 — Founders Pledge: committing 5% early changes the whole conversation21:05 — Ingredient transparency: percentages on the label, fixing the labeling game23:32 — MPD's closing thoughts on the cat opportunityLinks:Matt Michaelson: LinkedIn Smalls: Website, LinkedIn, X Interplay: Website, LinkedIn, XMPD: LinkedIn, X
AI is everywhere…but what's actually working for brands today? In this latest episode of Limited Supply, we're jumping into a panel discussion from last year's Ecom AI Summit, featuring leaders from DTC powerhouses like Unilever, True Classic, Jones Road Beauty, and Athena. This session cuts through the hype and shares how these market leaders are putting AI tools to work across marketing, ecommerce, customer experience, operations, and search. From AI-powered personalization and creative testing to AI search optimization, autonomous agents, and team-wide AI adoption, this conversation explores the practical applications brands are implementing right now and where the technology is heading next. Whether you're overwhelmed by the pace of AI innovation or looking for actionable ideas you can bring back to your team, this episode is packed with real-world insights from operators on the front lines. And don't miss your chance to sign up for this year's Ecom AI Summit, taking place on June 25 at Webster Hall in NYC: https://ecomfounders.com/pages/ai-summit What's Instant? It's the secret weapon to triple your email revenue with AI-powered flows and campaigns. Instead of sending the same cart reminders to everyone, Instant gives every shopper a personalized email experience: Copy, products, and offers that adapt to your shopper's behavior and purchase history in real time. Emails sent at the exact moment each shopper is most likely to buy. 11+ abandonment flows and smart multi-step campaigns live in minutes. Built for DTC marketers. Made for revenue growth. See why brands are replacing their ESP with Instant: instant.one/sharma. --- Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips. And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts. Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter Follow Nik on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma
"You would probably prefer to take money from Tony Soprano." Jeremy Horowitz has spent a decade in the Shopify ecosystem, scaled brands at Gorgias, and now runs a PE fund that's reviewed nearly 500 deals. He acquired a WhatsApp marketing app called Coco AI and he's still hunting for his next Shopify brand in the $10-100M range. We get into what actually makes a business sellable (and what kills a deal instantly), how earnouts and seller notes really work, why DTC as we knew it is dead, and his scorching take on why Shopify Capital loans are worse than credit card debt at 40% effective interest. SPONSORS Swym - Wishlists, Back in Stock alerts, & more getswym.com/kurt Zipify - Build high-converting sales funnels zipify.com/KURT LINKS Jeremy Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremyhorowitz1/ Coco AI (WhatsApp Marketing for Shopify): https://my-coco.ai/ WORK WITH KURT Apply for Shopify Help ethercycle.com/apply See Our Results ethercycle.com/work Free Newsletter kurtelster.com The Unofficial Shopify Podcast is hosted by Kurt Elster and explores the stories behind successful Shopify stores. Get actionable insights, practical strategies, and proven tactics from entrepreneurs who've built thriving ecommerce businesses.
Most founders think their product is different. But if your marketing sounds like everyone else's — better ingredients, better results, better formula — your customer hears nothing. Because when everything sounds the same, nothing stands out. Here's the problem: customers don't just buy outcomes. They buy belief that your way of getting there is different. And without a unique mechanism, you're leaving that belief on the table — and handing the sale to whoever communicates their difference more clearly. In this episode, I break down the concept of unique mechanisms — what they are, why the fastest growing DTC brands all have one, and how to find and articulate yours even if you think you don't have one yet. Here's what you'll take away: What a unique mechanism actually is — and why naming the process, not just the outcome, is what makes a product feel proprietary How IMAÉ's "90-plus clinically dosed ingredients across nine organ systems" turns a supplement into a category of one Why Instant Hydration's Sel Gris sourcing and Pillar Performance's triple magnesium are textbook examples of mechanism done right How WHOOP repositioned from fitness tracker to "recovery-based performance system" — and why that framing is the whole game The four questions to ask yourself right now to uncover the unique mechanism you already have but aren't communicating Why most founders already have something differentiated — they just can't articulate it clearly enough to make customers believe it If your ads aren't converting the way they should, or your product feels like it's competing on price instead of value, this episode will show you exactly what's missing — and how to fix it before your next campaign. If you're loving this solo series, I'd love to hear your feedback. Email me directly at nathan@foundr.com — I read every reply. Hope you enjoy it. WANT TO GROW YOUR BRAND WITH META ADS? Join the Foundr Operators Waitlist → https://foundr.com/operators HOW WE CAN HELP YOU SCALE YOUR BUSINESS FASTER Learn directly from 7, 8 & 9-figure founders inside Foundr+ Start your $1 trial → https://www.foundr.com/startdollartrial PREFER A CUSTOM ROADMAP AND 1-ON-1 COACHING? → Starting from scratch? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-start-application → Already have a store? Apply here → https://foundr.com/pages/coaching-growth-application CONNECT WITH NATHAN CHAN Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/nathanchan LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhchan/ FOLLOW FOUNDR FOR MORE BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES YouTube → https://bit.ly/2uyvzdt Website → https://www.foundr.com Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/foundr/ Facebook → https://www.facebook.com/foundr Twitter → https://www.twitter.com/foundr LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/company/foundr/ Podcast → https://www.foundr.com/podcast