DTC POD: How The Best Brands Are Built

Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop.On this episode of DTC Pod, Athan joins Blaine for a deep dive in what it takes to launch one of the fastest growing travel brands. Here's a few of the questions we answer on the show:1. How did July create the world's lightest carry-on luggage?2. How did they find market validation before even talking to one customer?3. What is July's biggest secret to rapid growth?4. How is retail driving the brand forward in 2023?5. How many product iterations have they gone through in 4 years?0:00 - 1:30 - Introduction to July00:02:32 - Partnered to enter mobile market dominated by Samsonite.00:05:39 - Entered luggage market, opened store, faced 2020 slowdown.00:12:57 - Founders Club presold products, leather tags popular, containers sold quickly.00:21:11 - Started with no 3PL, shipped product ourselves, nurtured early stages.00:22:51- Customer feedback key, world's lightest double wheel created.00:29:04 - Investment in physical retail, China launch during COVID, lux & lightweight luggage.00:36:42 - Two new polycarbonates created for US and Australian, expanding to Europe.00:41:00 - Richard helped company sell in China, built international personalization engine.00:47:23 - Remote US launch, UK launch with physical presence from day one.00:53:15 - UK launch, experimenting with new products, creatively fulfilling category.Shownotes powered by Castmagic Episode brought to you by Finaloop, the real-time accounting service trusted by hundreds of DTC Brands. Try Finaloop free - no credit card required. Visit finaloop.com/dtcpod and get 14 days free and a 2-month P&L within 24 hours.Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokAthan Didaskalou - Founder of JulyRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop.On this episode of DTC POD, we delve into the world of product development and supply chain management. We look at the success story of Canopy, a company that created a beauty-focused category-defining humidifier. We also cover the challenges faced in bringing new products to market, the value of validating demand, and the importance of a shored-up supply chain.Here's 5 key questions we'll answer on this episode:1. What is the pain point with traditional ultrasonic humidifiers, and how did Canopy solve it?2. How did Canopy successfully promote their product with a limited budget?3. What are the pitfalls to avoid when building a new product and brand from scratch?4. How did Canopy position their humidifier as a beauty tool and what experts did they bring in to do so?5. What are the key differences between starting from scratch and building a custom product, versus starting with an existing product and customizing it for your needs?Timestamps:[00:03:36] Working & Factories In Asia[00:08:07] DorisDev for startups: supply chain & branding.[00:12:24] Validate demand before investing.[00:17:06] Two paths: custom or off-the-shelf.[00:19:35] Incubating products: humidifiers for beauty.[00:24:42] Canopy solves "white dust" problem.[00:27:18] Product positioned as beauty tool.[00:32:17] Limited budget, invested in beauty media.[00:36:37] Supply chain software manages quality control.[00:42:17] Factored quality platform for single solution QC. Shownotes powered by castmagic Episode brought to you by Finaloop, the real-time accounting service trusted by hundreds of DTC Brands. Try Finaloop free - no credit card required. Visit finaloop.com/dtcpod and get 14 days free and a 2-month P&L within 24 hours.Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJustin Seidenfeld - Founder of Doris DevRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop.On this episode of DTC POD, Marshall joins Blaine to dive into the world of affiliate marketing. Here's what you'll learn:Strategies in setting up an effective affiliate program, including identifying target customers, partners, and commission rates and networking options.Common mistakes made in affiliate marketing, the right partner mix, and low-value publishers who can negatively impact the program.The role of influencers in affiliate marketing, how to find them, and how they can drive interest and promote brands.How affiliate marketing has evolved over the years, from being deal and coupon-focused to including content production and influencers, and how tech has expanded its reach.How affiliate marketing is a cost-effective and performance-based way for brands to connect with third-party partners and drive sales, & how multiple affiliates can influence a single sale.Creating an Effective Affiliate Strategy:"We want to try to get in those articles because if you're looking for maybe best betting and you type in what is the best betting to Google, that first article is going to get a lot of traffic. And if you are able to be in that article, you're going to get a lot of traffic to your site in return." — Marhsall Nyman 00:10:09Performance PR: Forging Relationships and Getting Editors Interested:"It really takes a lot more than just setting it up in the platform. I think that's probably the biggest misconception that I get from people when I talk to them that have an affiliate program. We set it up, nothing's happening. Yeah, nothing's happening because you haven't gone out and done anything. You have to go out, you have to forge relationships with these publishers and get them interested and excited about your brand." — Marhsall Nyman 00:15:09Shownotes powered by castmagic Episode brought to you by Finaloop, the real-time accounting service trusted by hundreds of DTC Brands. Try Finaloop free - no credit card required. Visit finaloop.com/dtcpod and get 14 days free and a 2-month P&L within 24 hours. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokMarshall Nyman - Founder of NYMO & Co.Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop.On this episode of DTC POD, Celia Lewis and Stephanie Kimmel discuss how they identified a market gap in the cannabis industry and built a brand around their innovative product that preserves and locks cannabis in a home decor piece. They reveal how they launched their product with a grassroots approach due to limited funds for marketing and discuss their successful product launch strategy. They touch on the challenges they faced due to federal regulations around cannabis and how they continue to adapt and grow.3:00 - Stephanie and Celia Background7:45 - The story behind Tulip's founding12:50 - Branding and identity for Tulip16:30 - Launch strategy and early traction23:15 - Unique color strategy for Tulip28:45 - Fulfillment and inventory management32:30 - Adapting to sudden increase in demand37:40 - Partnership with manufacturer43:00 - Navigating federal regulations around cannabis48:20 - Social media strategy for TikTok and Instagram54:00 - Two-way dialog with customers59:30 - Upcoming content series from TulipHere's some questions we answer on the show1. How did the founders of Tulip identify a market gap in the cannabis industry, and what inspired them to create a product that preserves cannabis and also doubles as home decor?2. What was the process behind developing the Tulip product, and what were some of the challenges faced along the way?3. How did the founders build the Tulip brand around the authentic nature of how they got started with the product for personal use?4. What were some of the early traction and product-market fit indicators that helped drive growth for Tulip in its early days?5. What was the launch strategy for Tulip, and how did the company leverage personal networks to drive initial sales?6. How has the company adapted to sudden increases in demand, such as those caused by viral social media videos?7. How does Tulip approach manufacturing and production, and what role do personal relationships play in these processes?8. What challenges has Tulip faced with marketing and social media due to federal regulations around cannabis, and how has the company adapted its content strategy?9. What are the content pillars and upcoming content series for Tulip, and how does the company value customer feedback and participation?10. How does Tulip's mission involve social change and awareness around the injustices that still exist today, and how does the company seek to destigmatize cannabis use?Shownotes powered by CastmagicEpisode brought to you by Finaloop, the real-time accounting service trusted by hundreds of DTC Brands. Try Finaloop free - no credit card required. Visit finaloop.com/dtcpod and get 14 days free and a 2-month P&L within 24 hours. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokCelia Lewis - Cofounder of TulipStephanie Kimmel - Cofounder of TulipRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop.On this episode of DTC Pod, Jonathan joins blaine to talk about Automating fulfillment process with 3PL, Specialized Shopify developers, Starting a Shopify store, Balancing presence on, Shopify and Amazon, Customizing Shopify apps, Local delivery/pickup, Customizing Shopify Plus, Headless Shopify, Shopify's features, and more.[00:03:09] Start Shopify store with no code; buy theme, get product design on Fiverr; focus on sales and marketing.[00:05:19] Automate fulfillment process with 3PL (Third Party Logistics).[00:08:33] Brand owners fear Amazon taking their business, so they are balancing presence on Shopify and Amazon to avoid being cannibalized.[00:12:03] Customizing Shopify apps requires cost analysis and potential development for desired automation, branding and functionality.[00:14:43] Specialized Shopify developers understand the ecosystem and can avoid costly custom development.[00:18:31] Shopify allows customization of themes and blocks to make it look unique, but headless is not typically the best option because it requires custom technical work and breaks data tracking.[00:26:04] Apps to help businesses run local delivery/pickup for physical items.[00:27:36] Local businesses thriving in Miami due to increased support from customers.[00:32:07] Shopify releases new features quarterly or every six months, similar to "hype drops", including AI-generated product descriptions.[00:35:35] Shopify Plus now allows customizing and adding blocks to Checkout, increasing options for merchants to increase conversions and create apps in the Checkout ecosystem.\Shownotes powered by castmagic Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJohnathan Solorzano - Founder & CEO of Solo Media GroupRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

When she and her colleague Melissa Duren Conner hit a crossroads in their careers, they decided to join forces and create their own agency, Jennifer Bett Communications (JBC). Jennifer and Melissa wanted to create an agency that approached media relations in a strategic and creative way, focusing on meaningful storytelling and more intellectual PR. Since then, JBC has helped launch some of the top names in consumer brands, including Parachute, Magic Spoon, Recess, Cuyana, Andie, Knix, July, M.Gemi, Cuup, and more just to name a few.[00:00:41] Two friends start PR agency after realizing traditional agencies were ill-equipped for the shift in media landscape.[00:08:21] PR is essential for brand launch; many options and partners available to fit any budget.[00:15:55] PR should not be an afterthought; time should be invested to ensure messaging is communicated across all platforms and that the PR partner understands the brand.[00:21:24] Positioning Ben for success in food and beverage beyond CBD.[00:23:10] Helping brands reach their goals over time with targeted press.[00:27:27] Empowering women in healthcare, particularly in fertility, is important to Melissa and the agency. Nodal is an example of a brand doing this.[00:30:23] Food & beverage division works with innovative brands in climate tech and sustainability, particularly small, independently owned brands, with increasing presence of women.[00:33:06] Passionate founders, mission-oriented brands, and innovation.[00:35:02] Innovation and fresh ideas excite people and make them want to be involved.[00:38:44] Launched affiliate division and executive speaking division, hiring experienced talent, launching brands in various industries.PR Is Essential for Brand Launches: "I can't stress the importance of PR. I think there's a lot of brands that we've talked to and they'll come to us and they're like, listen, we decided to just launch with influencer, or we're just launching with digital marketing. And they come back three months later and they're like, Shit, we needed PR."— Jennifer Bett"The Power of PR: "We firmly believe that it is the most scalable investment you can make in your brand 100%. Because the stories that are told exist in real time, all the time. It is truly something you can repurpose for paid media. It impacts how hard or easy it is to work with influencers. It makes it much easier when you want to work with other brands for strategic partnerships. It helps with investors."— Melissa ConnerShownotes powered by Castmagic Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJennifer Meyer - Founder of Jennifer Bett Communications (JBC)Melissa Duren Conner - Co-Founder of Jennifer Bett Communications (JBC)Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Nathan joins Blaine to talk about how to work with manufacturing partners to bring a product to life. They cover lessons from working with over 1000s of factories in several countries, avoiding the biggest pitfalls of manufacturing, building software to streamline the process, moving from CEO to the board, frameworks for building companies, new projects he's excited about, AI and it's application to CX, finding scale, and more.Timestamps:[00:03:01] Bringing a product to life requires many details; choosing the right factory is essential for successful ecommerce.[00:05:59] COVID has prevented travel to Asia, alibaba is pay to play, communication via WeChat, verify factory capacity and history, specs detailed in tech pack, test production run, third party inspection.[00:11:03] Factories typically produce same products in same city; forecasting and transparency important; visit factory to understand how product is made; consider potential defect areas.[00:14:15] Few ask how product costs are determined.[00:16:03] Started in 2016 with flat fee product sourcing, raised seed round, built software, SaaS revenue plus commission on production, saved customers 10% of unit costs, worked with/outgrown by customers, new deal with isba, hired CEO, reinvest in technology/team/customers.[00:20:05] Building relationships with suppliers and expanding sourcing team to source globally for better terms and pricing.[00:23:28] China remains the world's manufacturing hub due to low cost of labor, electricity and nuclear energy. America is providing incentives to bring manufacturing back to the US, but it is difficult to compete with China.[00:26:54] Never be single-sourced; have backup supplier; consider cost and lead time when exploring outside of China.[00:29:38] AI used for faster iteration in marketing and customer service with Caffeinated CX for improved efficiency.[00:32:19] Using AI to increase brand impressions by clipping and reposting ads on YouTube Shorts, TikToks, etc., and looking at blended ROAS for success."Bringing Products to Life: "There's so many nuances to it, even this hat, there's so many different materials that go into a simple hat like this. A lot of people come to us and say, hey, we want to produce a T shirt, right? But there's so many cuts and trims and fabrics that go into a shirt that you really have to dial in exactly what you want."— Nathan Resnick 03:01"Third-Party Inspections: "When you receive product and it's not what you expected, it's a horrible position to be in - so get third-party inspections done, even at the scale of sourceify, we always do them, because it's just insurance for your product."— Nathan Resnick 05:59Shownotes powered by Castmagic Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokNathan Resnick - Founder of SourcifyRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC POD, Ramon & Jenn dive into the ins and outs of content creation. They discuss the categories and pillars of content creation, common mistakes brands make when creating a brief and how to provide specific instructions to avoid frustration. They also cover revisions, the cost of additional assets and how to handle it.Timestamps[00:01:13] California native transitions from healthcare to creating content for CPG brands, using Trend for UGC content.[00:05:17] Filming weddings is unpredictable and requires flexibility and creativity to create beautiful content.[00:14:30] Create brand brief by analyzing content performance and consider environment, lighting, aesthetic, and clothing.[00:18:01] Creative instructions needed for different platforms; content, technical, audio, clothing and lighting details; hook ideas, features, benefits and CTA.[00:21:10] Provide creators with voiceover clips to prevent frustration and save time.[00:25:15] Evaluate content usage, quality, and brand consistency.[00:27:31] Cost depends on level of effort.[00:29:58] Rates for photo assets range from $50 to $200, video assets from $100-$250+, additional fees for props and set design.[00:35:06] Creating content for brands streamlined with Trend, less time spent in pre-production, brands come to creators ready to work.Adaptability in Creative Situations: "I think that was like the best first experience as a creative because I got to kind of just get thrown into the craziest lighting situations, location situations, timeline situations, too. Sometimes you're running from one place to the other. And so I think that's what kind of gave me that foundation to be super flexible, that I can look at any environment and say, okay, I know I'm going to shoot this. I know I'm going to set the lighting. I know how I'm going to put my angles, like, exactly how I want it to look that kind of gave me that foundation to be able to do that."— Jenn Jennings 00:05:17-00:06:22The Power of Content Creation: "It's really what it takes is spending some time understanding what it is that you want as a brand and why. And that is like taking a really hard look at your current content and what's performing. Because sometimes the things that do really well are not things that seem that obvious to someone who maybe doesn't come from a creative background."— Jenn Jennings 00:14:30-00:16:43The Power of Specificity: "I like very specific instructions and I would think most people probably do appreciate that. So I kind of like to have a breakdown of, number one, where's this content going? Is it going to be on TikTok, Instagram? Is it going to be for paid ads?"— Jenn Jennings 00:18:0100:19:52Setting Expectations for Content Creation "The best thing you can do is really share examples of what you're thinking so that they can look at that and say, okay, how long is this going to take me? Do I need to purchase any props? Do I need to travel? What is that going to look like? Because they can then give you a proposal that's going to make sense to them for the level of effort that it's going to take."— Jenn Jennings 00:27:31-00:29:09Streamlining the Content Creation Process: "I want to create, I want to get a product, I want to get a brief, and I want to go execute on that. And so the fact that it is sort of taken out that beginning portion and you guys are basically doing all the pitching for us right at Trend. And I love that."— Jenn Jennings 00:35:06-00:36:52Shownotes powered by Castmagic Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJenn Jennings - Creative director of Nosh MediaRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC POD, we discuss the key factors that investors look for in a business, such as product excellence, differentiation and the ability to manage capital responsibly. We cover benchmarks for what it takes to be successful at each stage of raising capital for your brand. We discuss the best types of businesses to launch, what VCs look for in a crowded space, and the importance of retail margins and unit economics when launching a business. Timestamps[00:03:58] Networking and pattern recognition in CPG industry vital for success in BD; takes 6 years to know if VC is successful.[00:08:47] Austin is an excellent city for CPG, supportive culture, helpful community, and over a third of portfolio companies are based there.[00:11:11] Portfolio companies doing well; 15x markup, 300%-200% growth, 98% retention rate, 8-9x growth[00:17:24] Investing in pre-revenue businesses requires special conditions such as high retention rate, LTV to CAC ratio, high AOV, and other metrics.[00:23:04] Founders need to manage capital responsibly, focus on break even and not overhire; gaps between funding rounds are getting longer.[00:26:04] Need resources, plan, and know-how to succeed; don't forget freight costs; raise money sooner; treat retailers like laboratories.[00:31:55] Valuations have been compressed, but there are still some companies that can get high valuations if they have strong metrics and a compelling founder. Some companies are being undervalued and some are being overvalued.[00:36:52] Exploring a variety of categories, looking for something special and unique.[00:45:31] Get advice from experts and understand your product's channel and unit economics to find the path of least resistance. VC Investments are Paying Off:"Within 18 months, one of our portfolio companies just had a 15x markup, another is growing 300-200% every year, and Jolie Skincare is doing unbelievable on a monthly basis." — Ryan Springer 11:11Metrics for Pre Revenue Success:"If you're under 20% on retention and customers order twice or more in a year, it's going to be tough for us to get interested. You have to be like a couch that's a little outside of where we would normally invest." — Ryan Springer 21:43Valuation Compression:"We've seen valuation compression. It's definitely real, but it's not the same. We use projections to see whether or not you have a realistic understanding of how the business works, not what weight to value a company. We don't do trailing twelve months either, necessarily."— Ryan Springer 31:57Shownotes powered by www.castmagic.io Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokRyan Springer - Founding partner of MidnightVP & Founder of High Desert Cactus VodkaRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, CMO Julia Perez chats with Blaine about everything related to OmniChannel growth. They talk about the importance of understanding the customer on a deeper level, the attention to detail of the Red Bull team, and the need for solid processes. They also cover topics like content marketing, retail strategy, unified brand messaging, field marketing, positioning, creator briefs, finding ad arbitrages, building new product lines, and more. [00:01:00] Plant-based nutrition company, known for ready-to-drink protein shakes, top 8-allergy free, mission to clean up protein space, transparency and healthier products.[00:04:10] Addressing medical needs and cultural space simultaneously with cool, delicious flavors.[00:07:17] Career journey in beverage, CPG, digital, wellness, and fitness marketing, culminating in successful business exit.[00:12:41] Have a team that understands the brand. Stay focused and understand your customer. Building team and understanding brand, customer, and strengths; focus and not adapting to competitors.[00:21:37] Focus on brand mission, understand customer needs and habits, invest in retail and train sales associates.[00:26:26] Red Bull gear was restricted to Wings team members and education pamphlets were required with every can. Two team members were required on a mission and gifts had to be given with one hand in the pamphlet and one hand in the bottle.[00:34:18] Testing field marketing programs in New York and South Florida.[00:38:38] Switch influencer budget to TikTok for more impressions and reach right customer with right message.[00:43:13] Approved by registered dietitian; empowering consumers; unified messaging.[00:47:49] Innovating new product line, investing in medical marketing and retail, growing subscription base.Building Something from Nothing:"Creating a brand and a personality out of this beautiful water bottle and telling a story"— Julia Perez 00:07:17Team and Understanding Are Paramount:"Right away I'm thinking about the team. It's really all about the team and understanding. It's really important to have someone in the content position who deeply understands the brand and the lifestyle you're trying to convey. Know your strengths as a CMO and build a team that can fill the things you're not so good at. Focus on your own brand and how your customers use it, rather than trying to fit a square peg into a round hole."— Julia Perez 00:12:41Staying Focused on Your Brand:"Going back to staying focused on what your brand is delivering and what your brand's mission and purpose is, because it's really easy to see what other peers are doing in the space that might be more D to C or might be more Amazon, and you might want to try things and test things out. But again, going back to the customer's position is that we are not a deed to C exclusive brand, and nor is that where the majority of our growth is coming from. So while it might be fun to do all these fun D to See tech implementations all the time, it's not necessarily what Owen needs to be doing. So, again, like, staying focused on what's driving your business and not getting distracted with what competitors are doing is key."— Julia Perez 00:21:37Data-Driven Field Marketing:"We're very data driven. We're still a startup, so we're not just going to build out a whole field marketing team and go from there. We have a DTC business, we have an Amazon business. We have so many other focuses we need to focus on. So we're going to be doing testing over time."— Julia Perez 00:34:18Leveraging Nano Influencers on TikTok:"We decided, well, I looked at it. I said, let's just switch all of our influencer budget to TikTok, everything, and let's just spend there and we can get a lot more for our money. And we can work with Nano influencers and have you know, for an example, instead of having three influencers talk about you for the month of February, you could have 30 for the same price and you still have the same number of impressions. Make more impressions."— Julia Perez 00:38:38Shownotes powered by CastmagicPast guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow u

On this episode of DTC POD, Pontus joins Blaine to take an in-depth look at the world of ecommerce platforms and the players driving these marketplaces. We discuss the pros and cons of starting a brand, solving for inventory management, distributed sales and more. We also explore the potential of creating a platform-agnostic approach to creator led commerce, existing infrastructure, legacy solutions, opportunities for brands to leverage creator distribution, simplifying collaborations for creators, and more on where the industry is headed.Timestamps[00:02:39] Creator commerce rapidly growing; enablers of starting own brands; marketplace builders and enablers; decentralization, social curation, transparency, financial rewards.[00:07:20] Social-centric commerce enabled through Shopify, dropshipping of modern retail products.[00:11:08] Drop shipping, marketplaces, and curated marketplaces are terms used to describe online retailing.[00:13:35] Pontus started with interest in retail, studied Business and Business of Fashion, then worked in management consulting and start up accelerator incubator, Anther, leading to current project, Offscript.[00:16:06] Started with scrappy ecommerce for influencers, built integrations for ecommerce platforms, focused on working with creators to build marketplaces.[00:21:13] Build marketplace with decentralized user acquisition and existing integration to supply side or brands for network effects; single platform for storefront and marketplace technology for virality.[00:23:07] Marketplace Connectors: connect brands to other ecommerce platforms, such as Miracle and Walmart, or building one platform with checkout powered by Stripe.[00:28:37] Shopify and enablers enabling marketplace and distributed salesforce for creators, brands, and collaborative conversations.[00:35:17] Onboarding relevant brands for creators to sell through multiple creators using a simple app.[00:39:42] Creators with a niche can use their existing traffic to increase their revenue by introducing readers to a curated marketplace.Quotes00:07:20-00:10:19 The Rise of Decentralized, Social-Centric CommerceThe end customer is kind of struggling to say, find the product that someone has recommended and just as you're on to here, you can obviously use affiliate links and then you're directed away. But then that product gets out of stock or the link dies or the tracking has some issues and whatever it might be, So then the insight was like, why can't I just basically buy this product from the person that has inspired me to buy the product?"00:02:39- 00:05:49 Creator CommerceI think that ecommerce has still some innovation to tap into, especially in the west. If you compare to how the behaviors look in east, in the Asia and so on, it's much more catered around kind of individuals curation and trusting other peoples and recommendations and so on.Some Key takeaways from the show:1/ Starting out as a scrappy operation, Off Script has become a sophisticated platform that allows influencers to build their own marketplaces and sell products from brands they already have relationships with. The platform supports many of the world's most prominent ecommerce platforms and makes it easy for entrepreneurs, creators, curators and other communities to sell relevant products. Offscript has a niche focus, allowing them to work closely with creators and build the marketplaces for them. They also have a unique go to market approach to acquiring brands and creators for their platform.2/ Creator commerce is a rapidly growing industry, with enablers such as Pietra helping people to start their own brands. Poosh and Goop have paved the way for creating strong, community-centric ecommerce destinations. In the future, shopping is expected to be more decentralized and social, with shorter conversion funnels so customers can buy products they see on social media platforms quickly. Additionally, creators will likely receive more financial rewards, and customers will be able to find brands that match their values and preferences.Shownotes powered by castmagic---Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands-----Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you.Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our n

On this episode of DTC Pod, Stefany joins us to dive deep into the world of commerce, content, regulation, and go to market as it pertains to the functional mushroom and psychedelic space. They cover the details of their formula which does not contain psilocybin, the patenting process, tailwinds around psychedelics, promising academic studies, the roadmap towards potential decriminalization, how things are unfolding globally, building infrastructure ahead of regulation, the overlap between the two lines and the distinct differences, brand voice, taking mojo into retail, and much more.[00:02:04] Psychedelic Renaissance spurred by pandemic leading to popularity of functional mushrooms which improve health and immunity.[00:03:34] Stefany found new purpose in career in psychedelics after pandemic hit and previous work in greenhouses in Arctic.[00:06:27] Psychedelics gaining research and attention; legalization uncertain; cautious optimism.[00:08:52] Many creative people using psychedelics to improve health, lifestyle and consumer brands.[00:11:14] Gwella and Mojo created to provide guides and tools for exploring psychedelics and microdosing, and to make it more accessible.[00:14:00] Psychedelics are hallucinogenics such as psilocybin, LSD, DMT, etc. with different strengths and experiences, and can be bred similarly to fruits or vegetables.[00:17:11] Mojo is legal, contains no psilocybin, and includes functional ingredients, nootropics and adaptogens.[00:18:42] Different retail locations require different verbiage depending on consumer understanding. Use of "microdose" versus "brain boosting" may be better suited for different stores.[00:21:17] Patenting formula to protect product from copying; focus on building brand and community to deter copying.[00:28:44] Psychedelics to be used medically, with potential for personal use, to help with mental health; brands to create micro doses for recurring revenue; offshoots like guides, clinicians, clinics, events, retreats to grow with or without legalization.powered by castmagic---Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more. Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokStefany Nieto - Founder & COO of GwellaRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Zawwar joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about the intersection of creators and commerce and how the most successful creator brands are built. We cover brand management at P&G, developing brand strategies, the three types of creator archetypes, how each creator type lends it self to brand creation, aligning products with a creator, how to create buzz around a product, different outlets for creators to monetize, creator owned brands versus endorsements, successful outcomes, where the creator economy is moving, hot takes, predictions for 2023, and more. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more. Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokZawwar Khan - Founder of Rel BrandsRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Anders and Andy join Blaine & Ramon to discuss the next wave of creators and commerce. They talk about social commerce, creators as a performance channel, innovation happening in the space, what personalized storefronts mean, the opportunity for creators as key brand affiliates, the current funding landscape, when to bootstrap versus raise venture, and more.[00:01:37] Andy and Anders have co-founded companies previously, with experience in building in both the bootstrapping and vc frameworks.[00:03:40] Commerce merchant needs assessed and personalized landing page created with custom features; minimal customer/creator work needed.[00:20:37] Both paths of bootstrapping and fundraising can be beneficial depending on business, market, timing and other factors.[00:23:51] Evaluate exit potential and acquirers to determine future success.[00:26:34] Engage with brand, understand community, incentivize customers and creators, focus on performance, recruit, activate and educate customers and creators, focus on top 5-20%.[00:29:59] Social commerce is affiliate links to product pages and microcommerce experiences, with fully contextualized experiences tailored to traffic source.[00:36:22] Shift to service-based ecommerce, embedding commerce into organic posts, medium shift to AR needed for new social commerce platform.[00:41:54] Merchants define subcategories, hire in-house; ideal customer >$5 million, shareable product, find champion, 300-500 influencers to double down on 10-20.[00:45:02] Merchants build basic landing page and add content from Trend, influencers, creators. Customers and creators select content, upload own content. Merchants recommend doing most of the work. Activation levers to get more success.[00:47:55] Create best mobile video storefronts for marketers to test and find their top customers/creators. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more. Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokAndy Cloyd - Co-founder of SuperfiliateAnders Bill - Co-founder of SuperfiliateRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Megan joins Blaine and Ramon to talk about how brands can better leverage consumer insights to validate ideas, develop new products, build more powerful brands, increase revenue and purchases, build better wholistic customer experiences, mitigate risk, find exciting opportunities, build off flagship products, and much more. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokMegan O'Brien - Founder of Arch InsightsRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Adam joins Blaine to discuss building and formulating products from the ground up. They talk about identifying a problem, coming up with a unique formulation, what you need to take the product to market, navigating restrictions and FDA, positioning yourself to sell in other markets downstream, patents, ingredient licensing, launching Paris Hilton's line, the pros, and cons of working with celebrity talent, navigating managers and other involved parties, leveraging talent for retail distribution, and much more. 35:48 - The Formulation Behind Paris Hilton's Skincare LineLaunching a product line with a celebrity, it's just exciting because you can immediately get an interested consumer. There's instant, recognition of your brand because you're tying it to and someone like Paris, I think you said it earlier, she did a lot of things first. And being a celebrity that wanted her own skincare line yeah, she was one of the first. And the way she wanted to do it was different, I think, than most celebrities. She wanted to own it.40:30 - The Reality of Partnering With Celebrity TalentEspecially when you get into bigger influencers or bigger celebrities. And that's the challenge. Developing a working relationship and a business structure that satisfies everybody. You have to take into consideration maybe not a lot of celebrities understand the difference between royalties and owning a business. Maybe a business manager has never done a deal where there's equity in a company. Maybe they're only used to royalty checks.27:00 - Save These Q's For Your Next BrandYou have to decide your brand position in the market. Are you the cost leader? Are you prestige? How are you going to price it? what is your brand position? What's on the box? What colors are we going to use for not just the logo, but everything to develop the brand feel. Is this going to look clinical, or should we take it the other way and make it look super high end? Like you'd buy in a, blue Mercury or a Sephora? Where are we going to put this? Is it ultimately going to be in a drugstore? Or are we going to sell it in Nordstrom? Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokAdam Xavier - President of XG FormulationsRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Jack joins Blaine to talk about how to build a brand in today's landscape. They talk about identifying a problem, bootstrapping, which channels to start on, how to think about capital, working with suppliers, building at the right pace for your business, speeding up cash conversion, subscription & retention from the customer's pov, the importance of unified data, the power of layering brand at the right time, and much more. More info on the Duradry brand here. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJack Benzaquen - Founder & CEO of DuradryRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Victoria joins Blaine to talk about building marketplaces from the ground up. They explore topics like getting your first customers, how to build out the supply side of the marketplace, building early demand, challenges matching supply to demand, how to launch new markets, starting a marketplace in NYC, keeping the flywheel going, transformation through company growth, and much more. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokVictoria Eisner - Co-founder of GlamsquadRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Roy joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about building one of the largest e-commerce platforms, closing down his services business and betting everything on the Magento opportunity, leveraging open source for early growth, building a community that lives & breathes your product, the ethos around building an amazing product, market timing, building developer first, startup vs. corporate culture, navigating an acquisition, looking back at Shopify vs. Magento, investing at R2, exciting technology trends, building companies again, and more. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokRoy Rubin - Was the Co-founder and CEO of MagentoRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Dae joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about the process of launching a successful fashion label. They talk about the inspiration for Sundae School, leaning into taboos & counterculture, the importance of aligning narrative and motifs with brand, the power of creative, what makes creative pop, getting picked up as a staple by Hypebeast, featuring in New York Fashion Week, building challenges to grow community, building campaigns that have done 100M+ views, cross selling across categories, launching DTC channels after going wholesale, and much more. Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokDae Lim - Founder & Creative Director of Sundae SchoolRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Ben joins Blaine to give an overview of how to generate cash as a DTC brand. They talk about everything from first financial decisions as a founder, to inventory management, financing options, how to think about equity vs. debt financing options, raising a round, speeding up cash conversion, raising the right amount of capital for your business, going omni-channel, tools like revolvers, asset backed loans, factoring, what the macro environment means for DTC businesses, and more. 7:00 Speed This Metric UP!!The cash conversion cycle is literally you buy, inventory, you pay for your suppliers, you put money out, and then there's this period of time when it comes into you, and then you sell it. And then when you sell it, that's the end of the cash conversion cycle. And oftentimes people don't think through that well enough. And the problem is, you have ever increasing money going out before you can generate it yourself.9:50 - The Overlooked SECRET to AMAZON's SuccessWell, the all time hero of this is Amazon, right? Which was able to pull off a negative cash conversion cycle. And so what that means is that they were getting paid in advance of having to buy the inventory. And so when you think about, Amazon, I'm old enough to kind of remember when they sold books, that's all they sold. But, that was like, why they could drive the prices down so low. Because, in effect, they had this cash flywheel and they didn't have to worry about it.34:30 - MATCHING (finance not fashion)The key is matching. That's the thing that's often overlooked. Everybody wants to jump into interest rates and the cost of capital, but you really want to focus on the matching. So what matching means is like, the use of the capital that you're borrowing matches your ability to I said this wrong. The term in which you have to repay it matches your ability to use it. So the way to think about this is like, if you were to go get a bank term loan, and it's like a three year loan, right? You close it and then the next day they wire you that million dollars, and guess what? You start paying interest on it and sitting on your balance sheet.45:30 - Turn Your PO's into $$$And because it's Walmart credit, they're like, oh, well, it could be, like, $0.95 on the dollar or some really high rate on it, because they're basically just taking Walmart credit risk at that point. So factoring can be a terrific way, as you build your, omnichannel business, to find that growth, because everybody faces that problem, right? I got an order from Target. We're going to kill it. And it's like, Holy shit, I got to come up with, like, $2 million of inventory. Now what do I do? ---Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Karls, Midday Squares - Turning Your Brand Into The Influencer With Content• #205 Kasey Stewart: Suckerz- - Powering Your Launch With 300 Million Organic Views• #219 JT Barnett: The TikTok Masterclass For Brands• #223 Lauren Kleinman: The PR & Affiliate Marketing Playbook• ​​​​#243 Kian Golzari - Source & Develop Products Like The World's Best Brands----- This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokBen Tregoe - CEO and Co-Founder of Bainbridge GrowthRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

Adii Pienaar is the Founder & CEO of Cogsy, the operations & inventory optimization platform for e-commerce. Prior to starting Cogsy, he was the Co-founder & CEO of WooCommerce - the e-commerce solution for WordPress, and CM Commerce, both of which resulted in multi-million dollar exits.On this episode of DTC Pod, Adii joins Blaine & Ramon to chat about getting your inventory and operations right from the get go, brands going multi-channel, optimizing across all your sales channels, the importance of data, how to match inventory to demand, automating manual processes away from spreadsheets, building the modern day ERP with ops in mind, major brands winning on Cogsy, the evolution of e-commerce tech, how WooCommerce took off during the WordPress era, founder experience from building several successful companies, thoughts about life, fatherhood, and fulfillment as an entrepreneur. 5:30 - Simple Solution = Big BusinessAnd they kept asking us, hey guys, how do I add a shopping cart to this? And at the time, it just wasn't, there were other plugins for WordPress available, but none of them could essentially meet our very high standards for what we would want to do on the design side of things. So we effectively kind of went, I think we went through three different projects to try and build this ourselves. outsource it multiple configurations before we ultimately, launched WooCommerce. 6:00 - On When Woo Took Off!So the context there is that we were already doing multiple millions in revenue by, the time WooCommerce launched. We were a significant business. I think we were about 15, 16, 17 people on the team at the time. And then WooCommerce became 90% of our revenue within a single year thereafter. So that's a longwinded answer, I hope what everyone hears here is oftentimes the idea or the project or the business that's really successful is not something that was perfectly planned to the end degree from the start. 14:00 - On Why Cogsy, Why Now?Anything from inventory to logistics, to kind of your accounting rate of things, like anything your back office wasn't as sexy. All the money went into email and SMS marketing and marketing attribution, et cetera. So I figured that ecommerce, I'm bullish on ecommerce, and just broadly digital commerce. So what's opportunity there and I figured this was blue ocean. 21:30 - On Over/Understocking As A Business KillerWe help you understand, hey, if shopify is your main warehouse attached to shopify, this is the cadence at which you need to replenish to Amazon to not sell out. The thesis there is that you are to optimally sell. You need to ensure that you've got inventory on both those locations. And again, you can't just like, no one has all the capital to make sure that you just stock millions of units in every single location. That's not it, right? So we try and help you figure out that optimal inventory level for every location already. 26:00 - On Surprising Retail TrendsOne of the most interesting learnings there, Blaine, is that, we're definitely seeing your brands trying to sell in multiple channels much sooner, including retail, right? That's probably one of the biggest surprises beyond that fragmented tech stack, I always thought you would need multiple millions of dollars to even think about selling into, even nationwide chains retail, not just independent retailers. So that's something happening sooner. 45:00 - On *LIFE* ProfitabilityBut the idea was, how can I structure my life so that it creates energy, it creates things like that I can reinvest into other things. So, the way I now talk about that is I think about a, life portfolio in the same way that you think about a stock portfolio, and in the same way that you balance investments in different stocks to get to whatever outcome you want, that's what you should be doing for life. For me, for example, my life portfolio definitely includes my work, but it also includes my family. It includes, my thirst for learning, which is kind of a soft skill. If I'm not learning enough, within any time period, I know I'm not happy. Right. it includes exercising. I know if I don't exercise mostly every day, like, I'm probably going to be grumpy. Right. it includes being able to kind of geek out about wine every now and again. 46:00 - On LifeThere's a quote from Henry Thoreau that says, the cost of anything we do in life is just life itself. And I think that's often what we kind of neglect when we think about our daily lives. And we maybe don't go through it with some kind of element of mindfulness, but anything we do in life has a cost, even if it's just an opportunity cost. ---Past guests & brands on DTC Pod include Gilt, PopSugar, Glossier, MadeIN, Prose, Bala, P.volve, Ritual, Bite, Oura, Levels, General Mills, Mid Day Squares, Prose, Arrae, Olipop, Ghia, Rosaluna, Form, Uncle Studios & many more.Additional episodes you might like:• #175 Ariel Vaisbort - How OLIPOP Runs Influencer, Community, & Affiliate Growth• #184 Jake Kar

On this episode of DTC Pod, Dov joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about the early days at Yotpo, the feature that built Yotpo's growth flywheel, inspiration for Tolstoy, the power of video in conversion, the video infrastructure that needed to be served, the success of founder videos for DTC brands, building out video into web, sms, email, and multi-platform customer journeys, the analytics component for iteration, successful brand adoption, why not all video is created equal, and more.Want to try it for free? Check out how brands are converting more with Tolstoy here This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokDov Kaufmann - Co-founder & CEO of TolstoyRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Chelsea joins Blaine & Ramon for a crash course on growth. They talk about setting up your growth engine, working from a source of truth, picking the right channels for your brand, how to think about metrics, google ads & shopping, important updates coming to google analytics (GA4), keeping acquisition & retention in lock step, ad performance across channels, podcast advertising, generating content for organic growth & ad platforms, and more.Wanna try out Ettitude sheets?Use code: 'DTCPOD' for 15% your first order of $150+, now until end of the yearThis episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokChelsea Schulz - Director of Acquisition & Growth for EttitudeRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Benjamin joins Blaine and Ramon to talk about the future of commerce, how brands can build better customer experiences, why removing friction is key, the challenges of selling online versus in retail, thinking in terms of LTV, brands thriving on TryNow, raising capital, founder perspectives, the technical challenges of building the platform, solving for fraud, financing, complex corner cases, and what's next for Try Now. 16:00 - Brands That Do This WinThe challenging part of e-commerce also the most beautiful part of e-commerce, which is that shoppers are never satisfied, they always want more. And so it's this asymptote relationship where you can always get closer to a perfect customer experience, but you will never arrive there. And if you are, and that's why like the greatest force for driving enterprise value is just focusing on the customer.16:45 - Do It For Your Customer's CustomerMost companies will say that they care about the customer, but very few actually do that at every single step of their process. And so I think like that, that to us was paramount because as we think about our two stakeholders, merchants and shoppers, merchants are our main, who we interact with the most, right? Day, day in, day out, we're constantly focused on driving value from merchants. But at the end of the day, like stoppers are, the most important part to both of our businesses18:50 - What Businesses Need To Know About RiskAll businesses are in the business of de-risking their business, de-risking elements of their business. No matter what stage you're at, as you grow, you have a new set of risks and focus, focus on de-risking, is key. It's actually how we manage our annual planning process, so it's very opportune. 30:10 - This Is Karma In BusinessThere is no separation between what's best for the shopper and what's best for the merchant in the long run, in the very long run. But ultimately customer centricity is how you win. This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokBenjamin Davis - Founder & CEO of TryNowRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Kian joins Blaine & Ramon to discuss the playbook for working with manufacturers to bring products to life. They cover identifying manufacturing partners, how to vet a factories quality, how to establish buying credibility, getting product samples, building your spec sheet, negotiating price and volume, building relationships with your manufacturing partner, pre-shipment samples, tips for your manufacturing agreement, sharing costs, production cadence, avoiding shipping disasters, scaling supply chain, and tips & tricks from a life time working with the biggest names in the sourcing and manufacturing world.Highlights:6:35 - Face-To-Face boosts salesAnd like to your point, doing it in person face to face forces you to build relationships. And honestly, like if anyone's listened to much of my content before, I always preach the importance of you get the best results in this business from building relationships, right? Because as a result of a better relationship, you get a better price, you get a better credit terms, they offer you new products that you're working on, they give you good information about what your competitors are doing.7:30 - What not to do when sourcingAnd where people have really made mistakes is if they just go, they're looking for a product, let's say blue light blocking glasses, they go into alibaba.com and on the website all the products look the same and they'll see it for like, $3 and $4 50 and $7 and $1 80. And they're like, what's the difference here? Because this looks like the exact same product. This is $1 80 that was $7, right? Let me go for like the cheaper one. But in actual fact, like when you're using alibaba.com, the purpose of it is to find the best suppliers, not to find the lowest price. And once you find the best suppliers, then you can start to negotiate the price down.This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokKian Golzari - Global leader in product sourcing & development, manufacturing, and supply chainRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Julie joins Blaine to talk about building one of the fastest growing fitness brands. They talk about starting P.volve in the early days, her background in the entertainment industry and how that experience translated to content development for p.volve, why content is the north star of their brand, building a new market around functional fitness, the first product they took to market (the p.ball), launching products that complement their content, how physical studios play into their growth strategy, scaling studios and programming through franchising, building wholistic customer journeys, and much more. 8:05 - NEVER Get Left In The DustYou have to be able to change with the market. Like, I wasn't gonna be holding onto VHS while the entire industry was moving to DVD and then into digital and talk about a learning curve. But you have to just like stay ahead of all of that8:30 - Content is KING. It Always Has Been.The bigger lesson that I've learned, and it's really helped me here at Pvolve too, is that content is king, period. Like everyone tried to start a streaming service. Everyone, all the major studios, which we're trying to get into it, and at the heart of it, what always wins is content. It's gotta be really great compelling content.28:48 - Marketer? Get Really Good At ThisIt's not easy just to get somebody that's hearing one little snippet about who we are through paid channels, to come in and convert and to understand. I mean, we're really building a brand new modality and so like, we're so proud of it, we're doing it all the right ways. But like, it takes a combination of storytelling and a really, really multi-channel approach.36:00 - Franchising - The Ultimate Hack For ScaleYou have to start sort of slow in franchising because once you're able to make those first seven to 10 locations successful, they become, sort of, this credibility in order to then scale like these guys got it down. So we took the same approach as it related to our own owned and operated. This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptionsPeel Insights- Visit https://peelinsights.com/dtcpod to uncover actionable data insights to drive your brand's growth Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJulie Cartwright - President of P.volveRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Oren joins Ramon to discuss what it takes to build a product and take it to market. They cover topics including product development, pros and cons of dropshipping, getting started as an entrepreneur, building around niche audiences, testing market demand for products, pre-sale, validating through Tik Tok and IG organic, building vs. buying your business, dealing with manufacturers, nailing unit-economics, and much more. 5:31 - The fastest way to get started in E-CommerceDrop shipping is great for people who first want to get into just general entrepreneurship. Cause you don't have to actually make or develop a product. You take something that already exists and, and you sell it and you don't even have to have the factory that's shipped right from it. That's the name drop shipping.6:00 - The Dark-side of Drop ShippingBut the downside of that is that usually it ends up being pretty low margin cuz you're making something that a hundred other people could also be selling. and then also you're not making anything that has any real future branded value, right?10:00 - Business Hack: Validating your idea on TikTokBut I think the real indicator, this is why I love kind of TikTok for this, and you can also do similar things on reels and YouTube now, at least for the time being, is if you just post variations of a handful of the same videos that will perform that showcase your product kind of again and again, and continue to tweak it. And you'll see accounts like this that have those where it's like 10 very similar video, they're kind of testing to hit it, and you consistently start getting, okay, if I post something like this, I'm getting five figures of TikTok views and then I'm getting, starting to get tens of subscribers per that, then you're, you have a product that I, that I can you, you, you can say is, is validated enough to consider expanding it.14:00 - When you should buy, *not build* a businessMy friend's wife did this and she bought an existing business for I think it was 40 or $50,000, which you could finance and things like that. And it was existing, it was doing a couple thousand dollars a month, and she didn't wanna build it, she just wanted to run something and grow it. She didn't wanna have to have the initial idea and go through what we talked about of validating it. And so they spent that money, that's not a crazy amount of money. And then now it makes significantly more. I think they're doing, nine, 10 k a month off of it. This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptions Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokOren Schauble - DTC Product & Brand Advisor of Consensus HoldingsRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Sanya joins Blaine to talk about what it means to be an effective brand marketer. They discuss frameworks for building ironclad brand, how brand marketing evolves with scale, how to tell an effective brand story, brand purpose, figuring out what you stand for, layering performance on top of brand, building a cohesive funnel, increasing points of connection, content programming & initiatives, partnerships, collabing with Gucci, and much more.5:15I think it's just really about, what types of, not necessarily needs you're trying to solve, but really what types of communications you're, you're putting out into the world and, and what you hope to gain out of your consumer. whether it's really sort of telling them what you're about at the highest level. I sort of see that as, almost like a bit of a speed date with the consumer. Like here's what I'm about as a brand. Here's what I stand for, here's my purpose. And then really leading them, all the way through, and giving them a reason to buy.8:10I personally am a huge fan of Patagonia. I think, they've been around for so many years, but every single piece of brand advertising that they do communicates the value of, of why they exist. So I think that, we, we hear, we hear this so much, but attention economy, we're losing people three second attention span. but I think it's more important than ever to remind people why you exist. So even if you are a household name, even if you are a mainstream, I think giving consumers more, points of connection and, deepening their understanding of what you bring to their life on.11:30You shouldn't be thinking of like, okay, from one campaign, I'm going to go now go to another campaign to do my third or fourth campaign in your, from, from quarter to quarter or for your full year. But it's really sort of thinking like showrunners in terms of like seasons, right. And in what your, the types of stories you're, you're telling your consumers, through, through your campaigns. And I think those messages need not be extremely different.16:00So really understanding, like who are we solving for, right. Whether it's a meeting with the product marketing team meeting with product supply, chain operations, really understanding sort of what is that experience that we're delivering to our end user? and for me, the challenge has been like, not thinking about it, just in terms of like a purchase journey where it's like, okay, this is awareness, this is consideration, this is conversion, but really breaking those silos, and understanding, okay, from a human experience standpoint, like what do we want people to hear at this point? What do they need to, what's going to offer them reassurance, when they're trying to troubleshoot, with customer service, like what's going to offer them reassurance, when they're coming on, coming onto our website and learning more about our features.This episode is brought to you by:OpenStore- Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours.Recharge- Visit https://rechargepayments.com/dtcpod to see how over 15,000 commerce brands power their subscriptions Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokSanya Deshpande - Brand Marketing Lead at ŌURARamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Carter joins Blaine to discuss how General Mills is starting to compete in the DTC arena and launch DTC channels for their brand portfolio. They discuss the learnings about what performs well, which brands to prioritize, how they think about building tech stacks, how DTC plays into the bigger strategy, how to think about positioning yourself as a new brands, fighting for retail shelf space, finding scale, and much more. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokCarter Jensen - Senior Manager of Global Commerce (DTC) at General MillsRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of the pod, Clayton joins Blaine to discuss everything from starting a newsletter, building a community, getting into menswear, how big retailers approach buying merchandise, the intersection of retail and e-commerce, creator led brands, winning growth strategies in apparel, positioning in fashion, successful collabs & drops, branded community partnerships, and much more. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokClayton Chambers - Founder of SprezzaRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Allegra and Shirin join Blaine & Ramon to talk about building one of the first creator led brands, before the recent wave of influencer led brands started to take over. They talk about getting started as a creator, building a community, starting in apparel from the ground up, working together as co-founders, identifying a market gap, tips for sourcing products, optimizing ops, building a brand greater than the individual creator, creative strategy, aesthetic development, and much more. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokAllegra Shaw - Creator & CoFounder of Uncle StudiosShirin Soltani - CoFounder of Uncle StudiosRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Patrick joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about frameworks for building successful businesses. We talk about his background, taking the leap to start, evaluating risk, bootstrapping SaaS, developing an MVP, taking a product to market, how customers think about pricing, willingness to pay, pricing strategies, scaling, navigating an exit, and much more. His Lightbulb Moment To Become A Founder (5:00)And then all of a sudden just jumped in and was like, I'm gonna start a company. This was the hardest thing I realized I could always find a job. Like, I had so much insecurity about that, but then I was like, Wait a minute, this doesn't make sense. Worst case, like I'm living poor, I can go get a job as a barista. I can go get a job on a construction crew. Like I, I can find those skills. and that gave me the confidence to be like, Well, let's try this for nine months and see what happens.The Secret To Pricing (8:00)Like what is value based pricing? Oh, it's like figuring out what your customer's willing to pay and then charging that rather than, like most eCommerce people do is they look at their costs and they're like, well the VC said I gotta get to 40% margin, let's just slap 40% margin on top of it, right? And it's like, yeah, but if your customer's only willing to pay like less than your cost, you're don't force it like you have a problem, you have a wrong customer, a wrong product, like something right or bad cost depending on what it is.This Business Sold for $200 MILLION (13:15)Basically started with a little app that you could send a survey to your target customers, your email list, your current customers. And we would say, Great for this group that you surveyed, your price should be a hundred dollars and here's kind of your curve. So if your price went up, like here's how many people you'd expect to lose if your price went down, here's how many people you'd expect to win or lose, and so on and so forth. And that was the mvp. And then we eventually put service on top of it. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokPatrick Campbell - CEO of ProfitWell (now Paddle)Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Alexandra joins Blaine and Ramon to talk about company building. They cover the creation of Gilt, building early demand, sourcing supply, creating a marketplace, the evolving commerce landscape, team building, the overlap between commerce and services marketplaces, understanding your ICP and working backward, how she invests, why she loves Miami, and much more.49:00We were not a big company. We were just kind getting going and pulled this off. So I think startups, sometimes I hear founders be like, well, I don't really have budgets to do creative things. And you can be guerilla marketing, tactical, boots on the streets doing clever things with fewer dollars than one thinks they might need.55:00 I smile because I'm like, yeah, I've been there. I I remember when I had migraines every day for six months in the early days of GILT because I was so stressed. Yes, I remember that. it's very, it's very real. And so I think founders appreciate that I've spent more time in my career on their side than the current side. But that also sometimes makes me tougher because I'm like, wait what do you mean you're going on vacation all the time? Or what do you mean you're turning your phone off or you're not hustling?60:00 So I don't know how to do something not as part of a team. I think it's super important where nobody's good at everything, and it's so important to know what are your superpowers? What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? And, and answer that question for every co-founder or your early team members. And one of the reasons Gilt worked really well, and all my partnerships, I think because there was clarity. It was just obvious who does what and, and who's in charge of what. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokAlexandra Wilkis Wilson - Co-founder of the Gilt, GlamSquad, and ClerisyRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of the pod, Matt joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about building a successful CPG brand from his dorm room, finding product market fit, discovering the companies ideal customer, using tech as part of the companies DNA, iterating with product feedback, raising capital, scaling up, and much more. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokMatt Czarnecki - Co-Founder & CEO of Verb EnergyRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Lee joins Blaine to talk about the crossover between growth marketing and performance editorial. They talk about how ritual grew to a 9 figure brand, the power of affiliate, the importance of search intent, new media models, audience targeting, first party data, team building, and much more. 3:00 Performance x Press 🚀What ultimately changed the trajectory for Ritual was a few bespoke content partnerships with a handful of top-tier publishers. Like BuzzFeed was one of the standout ones, and we worked with them in ways that had never really been done before, leveraging their press and leveraging their editorial in paid acquisition, paid advertising in new and novel ways. It was, at the time, really groundbreaking and really, really changed the trajectory for ritual.7:30 Start With Intent & Work Backwards 🔁Google's really a strong place to be this really strong search intent. People are very specifically looking for, whether it's a prenatal vitamin or a multivitamin, or a postmenopause, or whatever it may be, people are searching for what they need. So it was almost like, crazy to not be showing up there, and it became very quickly a really big channel for Ritual.8:15 Podcasts & Higher LTV 📈As a subscription business, we had visibility into, where our best customers were coming from. And podcast customers were always at the top of that list. I think those are the customers that really, took the time to educate themselves, were really, not making impulse decisions on like seeing a cute Instagram ad. And, that more educated consumer really stuck around and became that really high LTV customer that we were trying to acquire. So then we kind of became obsessed, like, where else can we find, this type of customer? This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokLee Joselowitz - Co-Founder of The Quality EditRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Ben joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about the importance of experimentation in growth for startups. They talk about demand gen, building a waitlist, content production, GTM strategy, marketing personas, educational marketing, UGC, in-house content programming, and much more. 8:10 Great Products Make A StatementWe call it levels in the wild. Someone sees the patch on someone else and you give the like head nod, you're like, Hey, you're one of us, right? Because you feel like you're part of this club and it still happens to this day. And so there was a lot of UGC and a lot of earned media that we would get out of that where people just wanted to show others like, I'm trying to take agency over my own health and like here's what I'm doing about it.9:10 Fill Your Funnel First 🚰And we grew at roughly 7% month over month over the course of two years. So when we launched, like our wait list was at 265,000 people, it's like that's a significant number of people if they're actually engaged. It's not about trying to target them for conversions. It's about how can we start to educate them about metabolic health so that they can change their behavior without needing to buy levels to feel like they're, they're making behavior changes in their life.11:00 Let Your Process Compound 💰But he ran this ninja process of we're gonna get the founders on every podcast possible and ramp up to be higher and higher tiers. Like would the material they talk about, would the education they provide be interesting enough for someone like Tim Ferris to say, Hey, come on my podcast. If you start to do that, you get the right partners on board. Now Tim is a partner of ours where he's got the levels out link slash Tim Reads, right? And that's an amazing thing.22:00 Every Partnership Needs THIS ✨So with thought leaders, they all work on social proof, right? It's like who else is showing up to the party? No one wants to be the first of the party, but if they know that, like if, what's the probability that somebody that would be at Tim Ferris's level is also interested? If Tim is interested and their friends well, a lot higher than if Tim feels like he's on an island by himself and he is like, none of my friends are at this party, right? This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokBen Grynol - Head of Growth at LevelsRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of the pod, Vasa joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about how brand building and product positioning. They also cover topics including creative direction, the role of content in growth initiatives, how to nail a creative brief, how to design content for different parts of the marketing funnel, learnings from working with some of the top brands in CPG, and much more. 5:05It started with content creation and the why behind content creation. I like to say, content within context, something along those lines. You can't just post pictures of your product. It's gotta balance information and entertainment and a bunch of other things. And there has to be a goal behind it. And it's not just like a shot in the dark, let's go viral type thing, which a lot of founders kind of think can happen, especially that don't have the, um, experience in CPG or in marketing in general.10:30But I think where people fail is in the creative creative brief process. So part of a creative brief is where is it going, the exhibition of it. But they don't really like chime into what problem are we solving, what's the goal? And most importantly, what part of the funnel are we in? So from a creative perspective, if you're running certain ads, top funnel, middle funnel and bottom funnel, you're saying different things. The top funnel might be a, this is why we exist, here's some cool things about our product, this is a problem we solve. You might be saying different things down further in the funnel.15:00 I speak always in the lens of food and beverage and for me the foundational element of creativity is how do you set up your positioning statement To me that is the Rosetta Stone of any brand. And there is a positive correlation between brands that know that like the back of their hand and how well they do and the brands that are figuring it. Like everyone's figuring it out. I figured it out for a period of time for Perfy, but the faster you can get to that, there it is, the better chance of success that you have. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokVasa Martinez - Founder & CEO of PerfyRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Nigel joins Blaine to break down the foundational building blocks for brands that want to build profitable businesses. They cover topics like how to build solid unit economics, types of content that perform, optimizing customer journeys, understanding attribution, copywriting, landing pages, as well as benchmarks to hit to build a successful brand. 6:35The first one, and we'll get back to this in a second, because it's the most important is unit economics by what are unit economics. The second thing is the content. Again, you can't turn water into wine. If we don't have good enough content to work with, we add need to get that content from the brands, or we need to go out there and use one of our content partners and just get really good content. The third one is the customer journey. At the end of the day, if you've got the best starts in the world, it doesn't matter if the customer journey CRO isn't in place and obviously the retention and it all connects congruently. The fourth area is attribution.10:00 It doesn't matter how good your creative is. It doesn't matter how good your copy is. At the end of the day, if you've got the stronger economics in the backend, you'll always win. Now, add on top of that. Great copy, great customer journey, great creative. Then that's a house on fire.13:30So average order value must be above $50. And again, maybe we can work them to get it above $50 by changing the landing page, but $50, especially at scale, you need that these days, you really do need that. Then the other thing is the CPA to lifetime value ratio, needs to ideally be one to three. I'm saying, ideally within even a 60, 90 day period.21:20 This landing page is built to do one thing. It's built to sell products. There's no light areas for them to click out into the homepage or anything else. All the friction was removed. And we're talking, one of the things that most people don't understand is copywriting. It's all about the headline. That's where most of the people are going to bounce off. It needs of course, beyond brand, but it also needs to hit real deep on the emotions and pain points. David Ogilvy says, they spend 80% of the time researching, 20% of the time writing. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokNigel Thomas - CEO of Alpha InboudRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Rob joins Blaine to talk about how to operate a consumer brand and think like a seasoned executive. They talk about what channels to focus on to grow, how to tap into existing infrastructure, deciding what to prioritize, how to nail a rebrand, finding quick wins for your brand, ins and outs of the beverage and wellness space, bringing a new concept to market, the similarities between marketplace and DTC as a consumer executive, positioning TaskRabbit in a competitive landscape, taking a wholistic approach to marketing, solving issues at their root cause, and much more. 6:40 First, Stop Bad Spend 🚦 And so after kind of understanding the business and understanding the consumer, which I think any good executive needs to do, I don't care what department or what sort of team you lead you, then for me it was kinda like, okay, I, I actually start to try to diagnose what's wrong, you know? And because usually those are the places where you gotta stop spending first. And in my career, I'll be honest with you, people have brought me in because they need something fixed. And so that's usually the case with executives. Turnover happens, particularly at this CMO level because something's not going right.7:30 The Price Of Being Unremarkable 💵 Marketing is the tax you pay for being unremarkable. And as a marketer, right, early in my career, I found that sort of offensive, you know, one of the executives at Task Rabbits said that to me. And at first it kind of like, sort of hurt my feelings. I was like, Wow, is that really how marketing is, you know, perceived? But then as I started thinking about it, I, it's true. You know, the more, the, the less remarkable you are as a company, as a brand, as a product, the more expensive it is to convince people to use it.10:30 What the best Startups Get Right 💯 Every good young startup does a couple things. Well, if they wanna be successful, paid social is one of them. Generally PR is one of the other ones, right? Search marketing is part of that. Uh, and then ultimately you have to drive email or retention. And if you can get those systems in place early on, usually at least have some revenue. You have some retention, you have some ltv, right? Your LTV c a ratio starts to like at least look a little healthy and you got something to go on. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokRob Willey - CMO of CheribundiRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Jesse joins Blaine to talk about the future of commerce. They discuss mobile commerce, moving from agency to brand owner, increasing conversion, bootstrapping, fundraising, testing out MVPs, getting customer buy in, developing product roadmaps, and much more. 1:17 The Future of Mobile CommerceSo the best way to think about Kahani is ask the question if Shopify or Squarespace or any of the big Ecom, website builders were to build today, what would they use? Would they use a website? Our answer is no. We think that what they would use is something that looks a lot more like TikTok and Instagram. So that's what we're building with Kahani. The vision is in three or five years, you won't go to a URL where you'll start scrolling and tapping around. You'll land on a video or really a picture that sort of takes over your phone. And from there, you'll start to swipe, tap and use all the mobile features that we're used to using in apps. You'll use those on an ECom URL. So that's kind of the big vision. 4:00 Startups Are Like Video GamesI will say entrepreneurship is like a video game. You know, you, you gotta beat the boss on level one before you get to level two. You know, I dunno if you're a big gamer, but when I was a kid, you'd put the cheat code in, you'd go to level five and you'd get crushed. Because even if you could cheat your way to level five, you didn't even know what to do at level five, because you had to have beaten level three and level four to, to figure it out. So I think the same is true for building businesses. 16:00 Save These Strategies for Day 1I think affiliate and email are day one strategies because you get someone else to send you traffic for free, right? So even if you don't have product, of course they're not gonna like it, but I think affiliate you can treat it like they're early customers. If you're a brand, you call them, you build a relationship with them. Hey, this is Jesse, I'm trying to sell a new type of iPhone charger. Here's why I think it's a winner. I'd love for you to place it on there, but look, I'm early. It's funny how much people hide that in the early days. And in my experience in my career, even as an experienced entrepreneur, I've found that sharing that truth and that vulnerability people wanna take a bet on you. You know?18:30It's my number one piece of advice for, for DTC entrepreneurs or even CMOs at bigger companies is when you complain about your CPA relative to your CPM, all you're saying is that I'm not a very good marketer and you go, well, what do you mean by that? I was like, well, other people are somehow making their business work for a $20 CPM. It's your job as the marketer to figure out the click-through rate and conversion rate needed to be able to compete in the market because somebody else is willing to pay $20. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJesse Pujji - Founder of Kahani & AmpushRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Seated

On this episode of DTC Pod, Gretchen joins Blaine to talk about wholesale as a massive competitive edge as a go-to-market strategy for consumer products. They talk about starting paddywax, scaling a business over a career, leveraging wholesale early on, merchandising strategy, selling into big retailers, the inspiration for Ink & Alloy, business building as a 2nd time founder, and much more. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokGretchen Hollingsworth - CEO & Funder of INK + ALLOY Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, Courtney joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about leveraging a niche audience to find scale in apparel. They cover topics including finding your market, your first production run, starting limited but focused, seasonal vs. season-less products, subtleties of niche markets, bootstrapping & growth, affiliates & influencer channels, influencer management tools, tiktok strategy, and more.2:30More children are being born to women over 30 than ever before in American history. When women give birth later and stay in the workforce longer, they have more money to spend because their incomes are usually higher. Also they have different needs when you're having a baby in your 30s you're established and you're in the workforce. When you're younger and in your 20s, those are totally different needs. So as we started digging into it, I realized there was a real market opportunity to address what we now call millennials5:00And so, unlike a lot of companies that are seasonal, we really strive to be season-less. And so, we put out into the market like, okay, here are the four things we're going to get really good at selling these four things. And that's what we did for the first three years of the business was just get really good at selling pregnant people, those four things. And then from there we expanded the product line once we got good at selling those things.35:00And with Tik TOK, what we found is most of the people we work with on TikTok, they don't even ever mention us. They're just creating like 10 pieces of content a day. And they happen to be wearing like our nursing bra in all 10 of those pieces. And in every TikTok, someone will say, where'd you get that? But they know it's not like “hi, I'm here to tell you about Storq”. It's off the cuff. It's just in the background and someone is subtly seeing this bra over and over and over again. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokCourtney Klein - Founder & CEO of StorqRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, Max joins Blaine to talk about starting the brand as a side project, getting early conviction, bootstrapping to launch, landing a major shark tank deal, product positioning, brand design, form factors & digital amplification, early retail strategies, fundraising, go to market point of entry, market disruption, and much more. 10:35 The Best Ideas Are SimpleI think that, like, given this simplicity of the idea, it was hard to have a real conviction about it, right? Like when you think of something novel and new, it's like, God, that's the world's best idea. But when you think about reprising something sort of old and tired, like wrist and ankle weights- like it felt viable and there were like some good aspects of the idea going for it, but it was hard to sort of like bet the farm on this idea. Would people be interested? Would they fundamentally care? So there wasn't like a bravado at the outset about like, we're gonna change the world. I think we've had some of those revelations since in terms of disrupting this ultra serious industry. But at the time we were like, how do we both test the idea and raise the $40,000 we needed to fund the first production run. And Kickstarter was kind of the perfect solution for that.29:20 *8Xing* after Hottest Shark Tank Deal EVERAnd so I think we came in looking for 400 K investment and left with 900K. We've given up more of the company, but I will say that there's so many intangibles associated with that deal. Like Maria's been in photo shoots for us. Mark spoke with us at a South by Southwest panel earlier this year. Obviously there's incredible media value associated with the show. So it really sort of propelled us to the next level. So where in 2019, we did 2 million in sales in 2020, we did 16! So it was like kind of an 8X relative to the prior year.38:00 Disrupting Fitness AccessoriesLike let's invent new products, but let's also introduce meaningful improvements on existing products. And that was the paradigm shift from a single products company to we can be the Lululemon of fitness equipment and accessories, right? Like we can bring a Glossier sensibility to this super serious like CrossFit centric, fitness space. And we can do it through a beautiful product and a playful brand.42:00 Why Point of Entry Is Key for StartupsWe didn't realize how massive the opportunity was kind of hiding in plain sight. We sort of tripped over it, but we really do think that, fitness, accessories, and equipment and the products you're actually working out with should be as beautiful and elevated as the environment or what you're wearing whilst doing those activities. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokMax Kislevitz - Cofounder of BalaRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, Haris joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about how he built Miracle Brand into a profitable 8 figure brand. They discuss best practices in performance marketing, breaking through the 5M revenue ceiling, the dos/don'ts of working with agencies, incentives of ad networks, a crash course in affiliate networks, why affiliate & retail networks are so effective at scale, how to build with a big exit in mind, how to capitalize (and not capitalize) your business, and much more. 20:102 to 3 years ago, it was probably 80% Facebook. these days it's a third because, Facebook for us and everyone in the world was definitely easier three years ago. And I don't mean that just because of iOS 14 and everything going on in the world, just in general, like traffic networks are always going to get more expensive as time passes. CPMs are always gonna rise. Inventory is decreasing and demand is increasing. So at the end of the day, the advertiser and the ad inventory available is always gonna get more expensive year over year.23:00Most CPG strategics, the reason they actually buy brands that are already scaling in brick and mortar retail is because that's showing them data at scale. That's proving that you can reach mass market America, that you can outpace the legacy players on the shelves. And that you've already proven a level of turnover at scale at the, and at the most important retailers in the country. So that's why most of the big exits you've seen a hundred, 300, 500 million plus are brands that have substantial retail distribution.26:30I can look at a brand and a product and understand whether or not Walmart target CVS into those guys will pick it up. A lot of times, it's it's price point, it's category, it's audience. like, look, you can go to Walmart and go on, a shelf of any category you wanna look at and you can look at their maximum price point. Walmart's not putting a $5 drink in their stores. They're not putting $300 comforters in their stores55:00Why Too Much $$ Can Be A DisasterI think one of the biggest challenges we face in this space is everybody raises too much money. and I don't mean that in a traditional tech way of like, oh, you've burned a hundred million. I just mean that more from like, look a lot of really, really great brands can be amazing 50 to a hundred million exits. but they've raised capital to the point where only a 250 million exit is of success. and you've kind of shot yourself in the foot because look D to C and CPG is not a category with a lot of billion dollar outcomes. It's also not a category with a lot of 500 million outcomes. It's a lot of hundred million outcomes. And if you've raised a 25 million series B, you're gonna have a really tough time getting your board to approve that $75 million acquisition offer. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokHaris Memon - Founder of Nameless Ventures & Miracle BrandRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of the pod, Lauren joins Blaine and Ramon to talk about her experience running marketing & affiliate at Ritual, how her performance-minded approach to marketing led her to Dreamday, lessons from the best-in-class brands, the affiliate marketing landscape, why affiliate is such an important channel, the tie between affiliate and PR, how to be competitive when securing press, the editorial landscape, inspiration for the quality edit, how to scale a content team, and much more. 16:00 What Is Performance PR? The Future. 🤩I think what we aim to do as an agency is kind of hit the four KPIs around, we're going to get you the most, press pieces that we can per month. We're going to get you the highest quality press pieces that we can per month. We're going to drive increased traffic through the affiliate channel, and we're going to drive increase revenue through the affiliate channels month over month.20:00 How The Best Brands Keep It FreshWe specifically seek out brands that are, excellent at marketing and excellent at launching new campaigns, launching new collaborations, working with new celebrities or influencers, launching new products. And like, do you have something new for us to talk to on a fairly regular cadence? I would say like at least twice a year at a very bare minimum. Four times a year better, but we have a lot of clients that are like launching something new or doing a new collaboration every couple of weeks. And those are like our highest volume press clients.31:20 The Next Big Marketing Trend 👀Affiliate marketing is still like one of the most efficient channels. I think we had a client last year that they had analyzed like Facebook versus affiliate marketing, and affiliate as a channel was like 15 times more efficient and had 15 times higher ROAS, than paid social. So, I think it is an amazing channel. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokLauren Kleinman - Founder of Dreamday Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, Jasmine joins Blaine to discuss the landscape of PR for consumer brands. They cover topics like incentive structure for editors, how the landscape of editorial has matured over the last decade, where things are headed, how to nail your pitch, how to build relationships with editors, the role of PR in building consumer trust, how positive PR impacts purchase behavior and brand recognition, lessons as a founder, community building, and the future of consumer, community, & commerce.Be sure to check out Female Founders World for more, as well as their recently launched platform Kizmet - a platform for consumer brand collaborations.12:16Want More Sales? Start Here 👇🏼Maybe you did discover it on TikTok, but then you Google it and you want to establish that there's some credibility there and you see that they were mentioned in a Roundup of the best new beauty products. And so you're like, okay, back my mind. Interesting. And then you see it on your friend's Instagram story a few days later, and then maybe that's where you click through to buy. So I do think that even though the process has changed, you can't eliminate how important that press coverage is.13:00The PR Hack For Partnerships 🗞️getting those like really big mastheads in the early days is really integral for lining up bigger brand partnerships down the track. And then also with retailers. So we know that buyers category managers, if you're looking for an omni-channel approach, like they are reading those roundups to try and discover new brands, they listening as well to podcasts like this one and like our podcast to discover new brands. And you really need to have that coverage if you want to be able to get those kinds of like industry ins as well.16:28Save This For Your Next PR Pitch 💰As an editor, I'm still getting pictures because now I have my own media platform. I'm receiving hundreds of pitches every day, like hundreds of emails coming through the one I'll scan through. If I ever received an email that isn't personalized, doesn't have my name, doesn't have either a direct reference to something I've written, or doesn't have a direct reference to a content tentpole that I'm revisiting in my content all the time, I usually disregard it. The emails that I'm always going to read are from a someone that I know. And that's why having a publicist with a really great relationships with press is so important. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJasmine Garnsworthy - Founder of Female Founders WorldRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, Ronak joins Blaine & Ramon to talk about evolving dynamics of the creator economy, how creator brands are typically launched, how Pietra solves for sourcing, fulfillment, and e-commerce, productizing a service for the most time-constrained customers, how their marketplace got started, how they raised their seed and series A from top VCs, brands that have launched on Pietra, what scale can look like in this niche, and much more.6:10The Fastest Way To Drop Your Own Line 🛍️So you, as a business owner, went from having to master the supply chain and understand all these pointless things like warehousing and labor and importing and exporting and whatever. To, I have a website, I have a place to sell my product. I have access to the world's best factories. And now all I have to focus on is design and promotion. Everything else is taken care, taken care of for you, through the platform of PIETRA.9:50How To Outsource The Dirty Work 💸Like you didn't have to go spend six months building a data center. Cause in a couple of clicks, Amazon just set up your data center for you. Right. You don't have to go figure out a commercial lease because in a couple of clicks, we worked gave you office space. And that discrepancy, I think, just like in the tech sector allowed all of these amazing developers to like make apps and start companies like Uber being one of them. there needed to be some sort of huge push on the other side of the spectrum. And that's where we really saw an opportunity. I'm like, it shouldn't be that hard for someone who has a cool idea to start their own sneaker line. Like they shouldn't have to spend three years of their life trying to do this.17:40Send This To A Creator 💎Why do they need to care about labor and importing and warehousing and staffing and sourcing? Like they don't, they want to design candles. They want to show up in a warehouse and they want two day shipping everywhere in the US for a cheap price, but like everything else, take it off their plate, let them go on their vacations, let them be creative.36:51Avoid This Partnership At All Costs 😵‍💫Exactly. Even worse. That's like the worst case, right. Where a creator has no control over their company. And so they're like, because you know how to set up a factory, I guess. And like you have some homeys in Switzerland that knows how to make watches. Like you're taking 75% of my business. we take that and say, you can start your business for 39 bucks a month. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokRonak Trivedi - Founder & CEO of PietraRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, Steven joins Blaine to talk about building one of the most popular jewelry brands from the ground up starting in 2010, before applying those learnings to developing products for Elements of Balance in a CPG adjacent space. They discuss identifying brand mission and purpose, building visual identity, organic product growth, turning customer advocates into major league partnerships, product licensing and royalties, launching a CPG product in a competitive landscape, amazon vs. retail, scaling out teams, and much more.Want to try out Lokai or Elements?Use the Code "Podcast15" at check out for 15% off 25:30Save This Formula For SuccessIt starts with a product high quality product, great price point, something that everyone could afford. And then on the customer service side, being as incredible and supportive as we can be. Our goal is to make every single customer happy. So if you buy a Lokai and it breaks and you email us, we'll just send you another one, no questions asked. We try to really make every interaction we have with our customers as positive as possible.33:52The Secret To Building A $$$$$ CompanyWe've been talking about how it's a marathon and how long it takes to really build an incredible company. And you need to have a founder CEO at the helm that understands that and is able to see the long-term kind of plan that needs to be built and is in it for the long run as well and is not emotional when the tough decisions need to be made. Every business goes through highs and lows, and it's about not being stubborn, not putting your ego first, and doing what's best for the business in the long run. And I believe you can figure it out on the way and build a great company if you do those things.34:48The Best Advice You'll Ever Get 🤓I'm a huge believer in product, right? It doesn't matter how good your marketing and your sales are, your pitches, if the product isn't great customers won't keep coming back. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokSteven Izen - Founder of Lokai and Elements Ramon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel

On this episode of DTC Pod, JT joins Blaine in the LA studio to talk about how brands can unlock massive growth by thinking like creators. They cover topics including building your tiktok strategy, the ins & outs of the tiktok and instagram algorithm, types of content that perform best, how to generate winning content, brands that have done tiktok organic the right way, finding inspiration for meaningful creative, the role of consistency in content performance, finding your brand voice across channels, how to build an organic audience, launching an SMS community, and much much more.Learn more about JT here:https://www.barnettx.com/JT's TikTok Masterclass for Brands:https://www.thetiktokmasterclass.com/ 9:32 Get Your Brand Voice Right On Every ChannelOh, a hundred percent that the companies right now are trying to get one person to speak Chinese English, German, French, all of them at the same time. And what I think they should do is go and find somebody that speaks that specific language that enjoys it, that is like native to that platform and bring them in for only that you'll go, you'll go deeper. It probably will be cost efficient when, because you can just hire them for just that on a project basis. and I think that you'll get way more out of it because the person that you're hiring now knows what they're doing and can go deep into that. 21:50 How Organic Algos Workthe way that it takes off the algorithm works is it is testing your content when you post it, it gets shown to a certain amount of people. I usually just call it. Let's just say it's shown to 10 people and it gets shown to 10 people. And it's testing to see out of those 10 people. Do they engage and interact with that? Th those the metrics that they're actually tracking or like, do they watch the whole thing? Did they share it? Do they favorite it? Do they like it? Do they comment on it? Those kinds of things. If they do, if a certain number of those people engage with it, it gets shown to a bigger set of people. And then that test because it recurs and recurs, so it happens, starts at 10, say a majority of them engage with it. Then it gets shown to a hundred, a majority of them that it goes to a thousand. So on and so forth to where it's on the main for you page, where it's like, what people consider viral. 22:40 Content & Advertising BasicsSo to get people, to actually engage with the content, you need to be doing something that is providing them value. Most people call it like educate, entertain or inspire, but like, you're trying to provide them with some sort of value or something that will get them emotionally engaged. When people talk about advertising, what they're really trying to get as a consumer to buy in with their emotions, because that's what you usually buy with. So what I think about in content is like, you need to be doing something that they will actually like want to watch and want to share with somebody or want to save to their phone and, or like favorite app. 23:15 How To Tell Your StoryAnd, and the thing that works the best that we see is some sort of storytelling. That means that within the content that needs to have some sort of challenge in some sort of resolution. If you look at like a narrative arc, like, you know, everybody that went to English and then in high school, you learn about these narrative arcs. I was a terrible student, but now I'm going back. I'm like, I actually feel like I remember that you're talking about, you know, you have an intro to video and then you have some sort of a rise to it that sets it up. And then there's a challenge. And then there's a resolution. And I think in every single company's story, if you were to just literally like timeline, like the origin, the company to where you are now, everybody has so many of those little challenges, but they don't talk about them because we come from an Instagram culture that is don't show the flaws, just show the wins, just show the wins. This episode is brought to you by OpenStore: Visit https://open.store to get a free, no-obligation offer for your e-commerce business from OpenStore in 24 hours. Have any questions about the show or topics you'd like us to explore further?Shoot us a DM; we'd love to hear from you. Want the weekly TL;DR of tips delivered to your mailbox?Check out our newsletter hereFollow us for content, clips, giveaways, & updates!DTCPod InstagramDTCPod TwitterDTCPod TikTokJT Barnett - Founder of BarnettXRamon Berrios - CEO of Trend.ioBlaine Bolus - COO of OmniPanel