The DTC Revenue Rocket

Epizody

• Ep. 12 - The Therapist Turned Retention Marketer: Connor Cohen on Ditching Fear-Based Marketing 21.07.2026 35min

  Before Connor Cohen was running retention marketing for Global Healing, he was a licensed master social worker — sitting across from therapy clients ages five to seventy-five. In this episode, Connor tells Zak how that background reshaped the way he thinks about email, SMS, and loyalty: not as touchpoints to extract a purchase, but as a two-way conversation that helps customers become the hero of their own story.Connor and Zak dig into why fear-based marketing works in the short term but conditions customers (classic Pavlov's-dog stuff) to associate a brand with discomfort — and why empowerment-led messaging builds the kind of loyalty that shows up in lifetime value. They also cover Global Healing's rollout of Klaviyo's Customer Agent and the "D2C CRM" shift, why PostPilot direct mail reaches the customers who've muted every other channel, an upcoming Yotpo integration that extends loyalty points to off-site purchases like Amazon, and the AI workflows — including Claude webhooks for breaking industry news — freeing Connor up to pitch (and ship) his first commercial.Plus: rapid-fire questions on the one retention metric everyone over-indexes on, the habit brands should drop today, and the first thing Connor would build for a brand starting from zero.
• Ep. 11 - The Legal Loophole Hiding in Your Website: ADA, AI Agents & the Future of E-Commerce Risk 14.07.2026 45min

  Michael Bervell, founder and CEO of TestParty, breaks down the ambulance-chasing lawsuit ecosystem targeting e-commerce brands — ADA compliance, CCPA privacy claims, subscription lawsuits — and how his AI-native company fights back. Beyond compliance, Michael shares how accessibility improvements drove a 14.5% average search traffic lift across their first hundred customers, why agent loops are the real future of AI, and how to start using AI effectively even if you feel behind. Plus: the death of hourly billing, Clay as a supercharged outbound tool, and what it actually looks like to build an AI-first team.
• Ep. 10 - Loyalty, AI Agents, and the Future of Agencies with Rob Domagala of SMILE 07.07.2026 48min

  Zak sits down with Rob Domagala of SMILE — the Shopify ecosystem's largest loyalty platform — to talk loyalty mistakes, AI-powered customer agents, and what the agency of the future actually looks like. Zak shares how he used Claude to build a full SMILE + Klaviyo loyalty setup in under 35 minutes, and Rob explains why your agentic tools are only as smart as the loyalty data you feed them. If you're running a D2C brand or an agency and retention is on your radar, this one's for you.
• Ep. 9 - From the Gobi Desert to $100M+: How Matt Scanlan Built Naadam on Radical Fairness 23.06.2026 56min

  Matt Scanlan didn't plan to start a cashmere company. He planned to take a trip around Asia. Instead, he ended up stranded in Mongolia's Gobi Desert for a month with a herder family — no electricity, no running water, no plan — and came back with $2.5M in cash, 60 tons of raw cashmere, and no idea how to turn any of it into a sweater.On this episode, Naadam co-founder Matt Scanlan joins Zak to tell the full story: how a broken supply chain, a life-changing month off the grid, and a willingness to operate on pure naivety built one of DTC's most quietly compelling brands. They also get into AI skepticism from a founder who's looked at the tools and still isn't sold, the real psychology of surviving a decade in consumer, and why Matt says his best business advice is "shut up and listen."If you're building a brand, scaling a DTC business, or just need a reminder that the best founder stories start with someone who had absolutely no idea what they were doing — this one's for you.
• Ep. 8 - The AI Secret Nobody's Talking About: Using Your Own Customers to Sell for You 16.06.2026 56min

  Kendal McMulen, Director of E-Commerce at Global Healing, joins co-hosts Zak and Sam Moorhead (Klaviyo's Director of Customer Growth) for one of the most tactical and honest episodes yet.Kendal built her entire marketing skillset from scratch on a $50/day budget — and now runs one of the most sophisticated AI-driven marketing engines in supplements. She breaks down exactly how her team uses AI across social, dev, and retention (including a tactic where they indexed 28 years of customer reviews to rewrite their product pages using the actual voice of their customers), how to get resistant leadership to buy into AI adoption, and the leadership philosophy — alignment vs. agreement, collaboration vs. communication — that keeps a small team punching well above its weight.Plus: why Zak thinks execution-only agencies have months, not years, before they need to reinvent themselves — and Kendal's take on why AI is there to make you more human, not replace you.Essential listening for DTC operators, retention marketers, and anyone building or leading a high-performance team.
• Ep. 7 - The Email Truth No One Wants to Hear: Why Sending Less Makes You More Money 09.06.2026 52min

  Aaron Schwartz — Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Orita, former President of Loop Returns, and co-founder of Passport Shipping — joins Zak to challenge everything you think you know about email marketing.Most brands are so focused on converting attention that they've completely forgotten how to capture it. The result is over-emailed lists, tanking deliverability, and customers who've quietly tuned you out. Aaron breaks down why rules-based segmentation is failing brands at scale, how Gmail's ML engineers are working against every sender by default, and why Orita's AI-driven approach to stack-ranking your list daily is the thing retention marketers didn't know they needed.They also get into the AI hype — what's real, what's dangerous, and why getting a great first draft fast might actually be limiting your best ideas. Plus: what the best DTC operators have in common, where direct mail and connected TV are headed, and what's next for Orita.A must-listen for e-commerce brands, retention marketers, and anyone building or working in the Klaviyo ecosystem.
• Ep. 6: From Mascot to MarTech: Building a Modern DTC Retention Machine 02.06.2026 39min

  This episode dives deep into retention marketing with Zach Scheimer, Head of MarTech at Criquet Shirts, and one of the sharpest operators in the Klaviyo ecosystem. From advanced segmentation and personalization to omnichannel lifecycle strategy, Zach shares how to drive more revenue while sending less. If you want to turn retention into a true growth engine, this is your playbook.
• Ep. 5: AI, Retention & The Future of Ecommerce with Sam Moorhead from Klaviyo 26.05.2026 1h 2min

  Zak sits down with Sam Moorhead, Director of Customer Growth at Klaviyo, to break down how AI is rapidly transforming ecommerce marketing, retention, and customer experience. From AI-powered flows and customer agents to lifecycle strategy and micro influencers, this episode is packed with actionable insights brands can implement today.If you want to understand where ecommerce is heading — and how winning brands are staying ahead — this is a conversation you don’t want to miss.
• Ep. 4 - Inside a CMO’s Playbook: Scaling DTC Brands from $5M to $50M+ 12.05.2026 42min

  This episode is a DTC growth masterclass with Louis Monoudis, CMO of Artware, breaking down the frameworks behind brands that actually scale. From the “3 C’s” (Cash, Customers, Creative) to emotional storytelling, AI, and team building, Louis shares what separates brands stuck at $10M from those that break through. If you’re a founder, operator, or agency, this is your playbook for smarter growth.
• Ep. 3: Live from ShopTalk: The AI Playbook for eCommerce Growth 28.04.2026 44min

  Podcast DescriptionRecorded live from ShopTalk, this special episode brings together some of the sharpest minds in ecommerce for a real, unfiltered conversation on what’s actually driving growth today.Joining the panel:Gina Potenza, KlayvioSebastian Brown Glad, clearer.ioDwayne Doshier, ShopifyMichael Epstein, Post-Pilot From shifting consumer expectations to the realities of retention, lifecycle marketing, and brand differentiation, this group dives into what’s working right now—and what’s not. This isn’t theory—it’s execution.The conversation covers:How top brands are rethinking retention in a post-iOS, high-CAC worldWhere AI is actually making an impact across marketing and operationsThe disconnect between data, personalization, and real customer experienceWhat separates brands that scale from those that stallIf you're building, scaling, or optimizing a brand in today’s ecommerce landscape, this is one you don’t want to miss.
• Ep. 2: From Product Drop to Revenue Rocket featuring Solgaard 14.04.2026 39min

  How Adrian Solgaard Built a 10-Year DTC Brand That’s Redefining TravelIn Episode 2 of the DTC Revenue Rocket Podcast, Zak sits down with Founder & CEO Adrian Solgaard to break down the growth story behind one of the most innovative travel brands in DTC.From crowdfunding success and premium product design to retention strategy and sustainability at scale, Adrian shares what it really takes to build a brand that lasts.This episode covers product-market fit, channel diversification, lifecycle marketing, and how Solgaard has removed millions of pounds of ocean-bound plastic while scaling a premium eCommerce business.
• Ep. 1: How a DTC Brand Built a Cult Following featuring goodr 31.03.2026 42min

  What happens when one of the boldest brands in DTC pulls back the curtain? On this episode of the DTC Revenue Rocket Podcast, Ron and Jared from goodr join Zak to talk brand building, creative that actually converts, and the systems behind serious eCommerce growth. It’s fast, sharp, and full of real lessons for founders and operators looking to scale without losing their edge.Book your free audit or apply to be a guest on the show!