In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG

Episodes

• 
  The BFCM Playbook: Spend Now, Launch Early or Late, Never in the Middle 25.10.2026 40m

  Fifty years in business. Zero unprofitable years. Is that still possible for a consumer brand starting today?Andrew Faris, founder of AJF Growth, returns to In The Money for round two, landing right as BFCM season kicks off, with the tactical holiday playbook and a much bigger question about what kind of consumer business is still available to build.Andrew runs one of the most respected growth agencies in eCommerce with a media buying point of view built in public across hundreds of episodes of the Andrew Faris Podcast.We cover:The “economy is cooked” take making the rounds, and why Andrew thinks the data says otherwise heading into the holidaysThe BFCM playbook: spend aggressively now, adjust ROAS targets down, and why October cohorts rebuy 80-100% more often in month oneGifting creative, offer-forward messaging, and why “it’s discounted” is the most compelling ad message of the seasonLaunch your sale very early or very late, never in the middle, and the share-of-wallet problem that punishes the second and third weeks of NovemberDaily and hourly spend forecasts for Black Friday and Cyber MondayThe fifty-year company with zero unprofitable years: what Andrew saw inside the business and the mentality that built itWhy they refuse to fetishize inventory turns and see opportunity cost in not being able to sell, not in holding stockLoyalty to vendors over price shopping, and growth plans chosen for durability over maximum speedThe X plan versus the 2X plan: why the fifty-year operator took the slower one without hesitationIs the steady compounder still available with ten million Shopify stores and flattened Amazon distribution, or was that a golden age?Why almost everyone spending under $50K a month should manage their own ads, and the agency math that guarantees bad service below that lineThe agency carousel: why founders without a first-principles point of view on media buying keep getting burnedTop quartile versus bottom quartile clients: brand tailwinds, unit economics, and the operator problem agencies don’t like namingWhy brand is not the brand book, it’s where the product fits in someone’s life, reinforced by everything you doIf you’re heading into BFCM, evaluating an agency, or asking yourself what kind of business you’re actually trying to build, this episode covers the tactical and the existential in one conversation.
• 
  The Beers-at-the-Bar Test: When to Keep Grinding and When to Walk (or Run) 20.10.2026 40m

  Two kids in Boston built apparel brands at the same time. One sold for a mediocre outcome. One's still going, eight figures, profitable, and still enjoying it.Dave Spandorfer, Co-Founder of Janji, joins In The Money for one of the most personal episodes we've done. Dave is one of my oldest friends in eCommerce. We grew up together in the Boston DTC scene, both running apparel brands, both building under the Bonobos shadow, swapping notes when the playbook was still being written.Janji started thirteen years ago on a bus to a Division III track meet. It has survived every version of the DTC cycle since, the wholesale-first start, the Toms-inspired giving model that turned out not to be why people buy, the growth-at-all-costs era, and the 2022 repositioning around the explorer runner that set up the brand for the running boom.We cover:Starting Janji on a bus to a track meet and the giving model that defined the early yearsThe honest lesson: dropping the mission-first positioning and watching sales go upThe wholesale-first mistake and what the Bonobos era taught a generation of Boston foundersThe beers-at-Bukowski's conversation at year six: keep going or walk away?The framework that decided it: can you reach a market salary in one to two years, and is growth meaningfully above 15%?Why 15% growth for three years straight means no green shoots, and what 20%+ with momentum looks likeThe third test: does it feel unnecessarily hard?The sliding doors question: what happens to Janji if COVID and the running boom never arrive?Repositioning around the explorer runner: trail, ultra, the journey over the finish timeThe K-shaped consumer: $130 running shorts selling out immediately while the middle hollows outWhy freshness beats durability in apparel and what that means for product cadenceChannel mix today: DTC, wholesale, and the retail partnerships that actually matterAthlete partnerships and building credibility in the running communityWhat Dave would tell a founder starting a consumer brand in 2026If you're a founder asking yourself the honest question, keep grinding or change course, this episode gives you the clearest framework we've had on the show, from someone who sat with the decision and got it right.
• 
  Three Years Stuck at $1.4M, Surviving Long Enough to Hit Mid-Eight Figures 12.10.2026 41m

  Three years stuck at $1.4 million in revenue. A warehouse and tech build that cost double the projections. A Stripe loan, a B2B check, and a family bridge loan landing back-to-back just to survive.Michael Robinov, Co-Founder and CEO of Farm to People, joins In The Money to tell one of the most honest bootstrapped stories in food, thirteen years building a Brooklyn-based online farmers market that delivers fresh, seasonal groceries from over 200 farms and producers within 300 miles of New York City to more than 13,000 customers across the tri-state.Today the business is at mid-eight figures, growing nearly 100% year over year and just announced its first outside capital ever, a $5 million round led by New Fare Partners, complete with a full New York Times feature.But this is the opposite of an overnight success story.We cover:Dropping out of NYU at twenty-one and paying himself $20K a year, for yearsThe three years of stagnation at $1.4M and what kept him going through the doldrumsFunding holiday inventory on zero-APR credit cards and the end-of-2019 ultimatum: if 2020 doesn't work, I made a mistakeThe pandemic surge: growing the modern CSA from 500 to 2,500 weekly customers while bidding against hospitals for refrigerated shipping containersGrowing 500% in 2020 with a tiny team and becoming suddenly, unexpectedly profitableThe 2021 over-investment: a new Bushwick warehouse and custom technology, both costing double projectionsThe three checks that had to land back-to-back for the company to survive, Stripe Capital, a B2B deal, and a family bridge loanWhy he went further into the darkness: customers kept reordering, and the retention told him the engine workedThe growth unlock: fundamentals that were quietly there all along, plus a growth marketer and a $10K monthly ad budgetBuilding the supply chain and technology that shortens the distance between regional farms and city kitchensThe mission underneath it all: proving regional food systems can workThe New Fare round, the new warehouse, and what's next down the Eastern SeaboardIf you're a founder sitting in your own version of the $1.4M plateau and wondering whether to keep going, this episode is the most useful framework you'll hear: grit on top of good fundamentals builds a Farm to People. The retention and margins tell you which one you have.
• 
  Vertically Integrated, Barely Any Ad Spend, 8-Figures of Scale: The Anti-Meal-Kit Playbook 24.09.2026 35m

  The meal delivery industry lost $20 billion last year. Feast & Fettle is profitable, growing 40%+, and just launched in Manhattan.Carlos Ventura, CEO of Feast & Fettle, joins In The Money to break down how a $200K personal chef service in Providence, Rhode Island became one of the only profitable players in the most capital-destructive category in consumer, through full vertical integration, patient family office capital, and an obsessive refusal to compromise on product.Carlos came from Goldman Sachs and Deliveroo with no plans to stay in food delivery. Then he tried the product, saw retention curves like nothing he'd ever seen, and joined as professional CEO alongside founder Maggie Mulvena Pearson. Five years later: 25x revenue growth, high single-digit EBITDA margins, and seventy sprinter vans covering the Northeast corridor.We cover:Why Carlos left Wall Street and what sold him on a $200K personal chef serviceThe case for vertical integration: owning the kitchens, the vans, and the custom tech stackWhy the asset-light playbook fails in hospitality, you're not delivering socksRecipe scaling: why going from 100 servings to 1,000 means starting from scratch$8-9M raised with 75% going to CapEx, and why those step-function investments were non-negotiableMarketing at just 5-6% of revenue: how product quality and word of mouth carry acquisitionMembers spending $2,000+ per year with 30-60 day payback, and why that was too conservativeWhat Blue Apron and the meal kit graveyard got wrong: suspect contribution margin math and products nobody lovedThe K-shaped economy: skewing premium and why the middle is the worst place to beThe habit activation rate: why three orders in 30 days predicts 400% higher retentionThe pre-launch playbook: hyper-local Meta down to the zip code level, 720 ad variants, all in-houseThe 70-van flywheel: why branded sprinters in affluent neighborhoods are a statistically significant acquisition channelThe retail experiment they pulled out of, and the grocery partnership thesis that came from itAOV from $120 to $185: bundles, upper-tier plans, and building the ticketIf you're building in food, operationally complex consumer, or any category where the playbook says stay asset light, this episode is the clearest counterargument you'll hear.
• 
  80% New Customers Overnight: The Licensing Playbook Nobody in DTC Is Using 16.09.2026 38m

  What if your next customer acquisition channel isn't a platform, it's a licensing catalog?David Born, brand licensing consultant, joins In The Money to demystify one of the most overlooked growth levers available to consumer brands in the $5M to $30M range: licensing world-famous IP like John Deere, Peanuts, Disney, Batman, and Toy Story.The proof point that anchors the whole conversation: 80% of the customers who bought Everyman Jack's John Deere collection had never bought Everyman Jack before. We cover:How brand licensing actually works: royalty rates, minimum guarantees, marketing commitments, and territory restrictionsThe Everyman Jack x John Deere case study and why 80% net-new customers is the number that should make every DTC founder pay attentionWhy licensing functions as a customer acquisition channel borrowing trust instead of renting attention at rising CACsWhat IP actually costs at the $5-30M brand level — and how the economics pencilWhat makes a brand ready for licensing and the warning signs that a brand isn'tWhy licensing amplifies what's already there: it can make a good business better and a bad business worseHow the big IP houses think, long innovation cycles, brand protection, and what they need to see from a partnerWhy the window for digitally-native brands is wide open right now, and why most founders don't know the door existsHow to approach an IP holder when you're a $10 million brand, not Procter & GambleCategory fit: which IP works for which products, and how to think about audience overlapThe Plum Deluxe example and what smaller brands can realistically accessCommon deal structure mistakes founders make in their first licensing negotiationIf you're building a consumer brand and fighting rising acquisition costs, this episode opens up a channel most of your competitors have never seriously considered.
• 
  Rolling Thunder: How Caraway Makes Sure There's Always Something to Talk About 10.09.2026 35m

  What does it take to hold your ROAS floor for six years, through COVID, rising CACs, and the collapse of most of your 2019 launch cohort?Jordan Nathan, Founder and CEO of Caraway, joins In The Money to break down the discipline behind one of the most successful DTC homeware brands of the last decade, from the fundraise that required sixty checks, to the rolling thunder marketing calendar that keeps the brand impossible to ignore every single month.Caraway launched in November 2019 with non-toxic ceramic cookware and a vision that was always bigger than pans, Caraway Home, a full home ecosystem, planned years before the first product shipped. Today they're running one of the most sophisticated marketing operations in consumer, sending millions of direct mail pieces a month, and planning product launches five years out.We cover:The 2018 fundraise: starting a year and a half before launch, five to eight funded competitors, and sixty checks to close the roundWhy Jordan's pricing rule is to price higher than you think you can and how premium pricing funded everything that followedThe blended ROAS model Caraway has held since day one and why Jordan has never flexed below the floorRolling thunder: the marketing calendar engineered so there's always something to talk about, launches, color drops, partnerships, promotionsWhy most brands go dark between launches and what it costs them in creative fatigue and CACPlanning products five years out: how the pipeline feeds the calendar and the calendar feeds efficiencyThe stainless steel lesson: launching into a completely different customer than the non-stick buyer and what Jordan learned the hard wayDirect mail at scale: why Caraway sends millions of pieces a month and how it performs against paid socialBuilding one of the earliest and most sophisticated affiliate programs in DTCWhat impossible to ignore means as a creative brief, and why most brand creative fails the testRetail expansion, the home ecosystem vision, and what's next for CarawayWhat Jordan would tell founders raising in today's environmentIf you're building a consumer brand, fighting rising acquisition costs, or trying to figure out how to scale without breaking your own discipline, this episode is one of the most operationally dense conversations we've had on the show.
• 
  This Founder is Living My Current DTC Entrepreneurial Dream 01.09.2026 45m

  Joe Welstead, Co-Founder of Oshun, returns to In The Money for a deeper conversation on the systems behind one of the fastest-growing hydration brands, still just two people, still profitable, still cash generative, and now launching a second brand.Since launching in April 2024, Joe and co-founder Jack Atkinson have built Oshun to mid-seven figures with no institutional capital, an unflavored electrolyte concentrate in a pump bottle, positioned closer to skincare than sports nutrition. This episode gets into the decisions most founders never talk about publicly.We cover:The profitability versus growth conversation: how Joe and Jack decide between paying themselves more and funding the next phaseThe stage-based framework: why percentage margin matters early and hard cash margin matters laterSeasonality in hydration: when to push aggressively and when to harvest profitabilityWhy Joe is skeptical of brands that claim they've "chosen" a $300 CAC and what the Meta machine actually controlsRunning 110 ads while competitors run thousands: the case against the AI slop gameThe three content verticals Oshun plays in and why adding a fourth is the biggest growth bottleneckWhy TikTok and Amazon are downstream from Meta and what that means for channel strategyThe whitelisted ad from June 2025 that's still their number one performer and gained the creator nearly 100,000 followersHow Oshun pitches creators without Unilever budgets: build your audience with usIntroducing Dirt: the new premium olive oil brand with 1500mg of polyphenols, nearly 4x Bryan Johnson's Snake OilThe four-part framework for launching any new brand: product differentiation, micro and macro demand signals, competitive advantage, and demand response versus demand generationIf you're an early-stage founder trying to build profitably, think clearly about channels, or launch a second brand without losing focus on the first, this episode is a masterclass in disciplined operating.
• 
  Brand Is Not Branding, And Other Mistakes in Consumer 18.08.2026 40m

  What's the difference between brand and branding and why is confusing the two one of the most expensive mistakes a consumer founder can make?Rick Desai, Managing Partner at Listen Ventures, joins In The Money to break down the investing philosophy behind one of the most concentrated consumer portfolios in venture. Listen manages $130 million across four funds, backs just twelve brands per fund, and has been behind some of the most recognizable outcomes in modern consumer, Calm, now valued at over $2 billion, and Factor, which HelloFresh acquired for $277 million after Listen backed it from inception to exit.Rick also teaches entrepreneurship and digital marketing at Kellogg, and what he's seeing across the portfolio right now is shaping some of the sharpest perspectives on brand, TikTok, AI, and what separates consumer companies that last from ones that just had a great launch.We cover:Brand versus branding: why they're not the same thing and why the confusion is so expensiveWhy brand is internal before it's external and what that actually means in practiceCustomer service as a brand signal, not a cost centerWhy the best founders don't seek risk, they mitigate itScrappiness as the thing you have to protect most aggressively as you scaleWhy TikTok is the new Facebook circa 2014, and what the arbitrage window actually looks likeIf you're not AIing everything right now, you're already behind: what Rick means and where to startInside the Listen Ventures model: twelve brands per fund, up to $5M per check, capital plus creative under one roofThe Factor story: what Listen saw at inception and how the brand was built to a $277M exitWhat Rick looks for at the moment of change: new trends, new frontiers, new channelsLessons from Calm on category creation and staying powerWhat founder psychology reveals about which companies succeed at very close rangeWhat Listen is looking for in new investments heading into the back half of 2026If you're a consumer founder, operator, or investor trying to understand what actually builds durable customer love, this episode is one of the clearest frameworks you'll hear.
• 
  Finding White Space and Scaling to 8-Figures in a Crowded Homewares Category 13.08.2026 34m

  What does it actually cost to hold an uncompromising product standard in premium homeware?Joe Parenteau, Co-Founder and CEO of Fable, joins In The Money to break down how a former accountant with no design background built one of North America's most design-forward homeware brands, and why they've walked away from roughly 30% of supplier relationships mid-development rather than ship a product that didn't meet standard.Fable designs in Vancouver and crafts through family-owned artisan makers in Portugal, Belgium, and Japan. Dinnerware, glassware, flatware, and rugs built around a thesis the rest of the industry ignores: you shouldn't have to choose between beautiful and durable. Full wool rugs that are machine washable. Glassware elegant enough for a dinner party and tough enough for a Tuesday night. B Corp certified, backed by Listen Ventures, True, Sandpiper, and Techstars.We cover:How a Bench Accounting operations director ended up building a premium homeware brandThe founding insight: why buying quality home goods was so frustrating it became a businessDesigning in Vancouver, crafting in Portugal: how the supply chain came togetherSeven manufacturers across seven materials and what it takes to manage that complexityWhy Fable has fired roughly 30% of suppliers mid-development, and why Joe would do it againThe premium-but-durable white space: form and function as the category gap everyone else walked pastBuilding taste into a fully remote, flat organizationThe marketing team of one: how Fable runs leanWhy Joe would think twice before joining Techstars as a DTC company and what accelerators actually offer consumer brandsThe path to profitability: thirty incremental operational improvements, not one big unlockNegotiating shipping rates down and the unglamorous work that actually moves marginBalancing an uncompromising product standard against next quarter's revenue numberRetail expansion, new categories, and what's next for FableIf you're building a premium consumer brand, managing a complex multi-country supply chain, or trying to figure out what quality actually costs, this episode is an honest look at the decisions most founders never talk about publicly.
• 
  Reaching Eight Figures by Doing the Unscalable Things First 31.07.2026 37m

  Sahand Dilmaghani, Founder and CEO of Terra Cafe, joins In The Money to tell one of the more quietly impressive origin stories in consumer hardware, a founder who spent months recording conversations with strangers in retail stores, carried espresso machines door to door across New York City, and built a relationship with a Chinese manufacturer just weeks before the world shut down during COVID.Terra Cafe makes premium automatic bean-to-cup espresso machines, 400-plus moving parts, a hardware-plus-consumables ecosystem, and a customer base where nearly half are converting directly from a pod machine to a $2,000 device. The category had been full of machines nobody could explain, priced anywhere from $1,200 to $6,000, with no brand making the transition from pods feel accessible.Sahand saw the missing link. He spent three years building the product to fill it.We cover:Why Sahand moved to New York, lived on one meal a day, and carried espresso machines door to door before spending a dollar on adsRecording conversations with strangers in retail stores and how that unscalable customer research shaped every marketing message Terra Cafe has ever runBuilding a manufacturer relationship in China just weeks before COVID shut the world down and how he maintained it for three years without a single visitThe bean-to-cup category: why it's been misunderstood, undermarketed, and wide open for a brand that could make it accessibleHardware plus consumables: how the economics of a recurring revenue model change everything about how you think about CAC and LTVWhy nearly half of Terra Cafe customers are converting from pod machines and what that means for category sizingThe $2,000 considered purchase: how to nurture leads, overcome objections, and convert customers who take months to decideScaling to eight figures while staying obsessively close to the customer at every stageThe marketing stack that's working: what channels are driving acquisition and whyIf you're building a hardware brand, a considered-purchase DTC business, or anything where the customer research phase is the most important thing you'll ever do, this episode is one of the most honest accounts of what that actually looks like in practice.
• 
  Engineering Adult Friendships to a Billion Dollar Business 22.07.2026 30m

  What happens when a former consumer brand founder gets tired of the working capital grind, spots a broken format in adult recreational sports leagues, and decides to engineer the conditions for adults to actually make new friends?Tommy Flaim, Founder of Silly Pickles, joins In The Money to break down one of the more unexpected growth stories in the consumer space, a pickleball league that started as a side hustle managed on Microsoft Excel, hit a waitlist of over a thousand players in its first few seasons, and is now in 75 metro areas across the US, Canada, and Australia doing $6 million in run rate on just $750K raised.We cover:Why adult recreational sports leagues have a broken format and the dynamic ladder system Tommy built to fix itHow to engineer a social outcome: skill-based matchups, repeat exposure, happy hours, and the magic of a great local hostWhy 50% of Silly Pickles players have never played in another adult rec league and 30% had never even played pickleball before their first nightThe bottom 90% thesis: why most competitors target washed-up athletes and why Tommy is going after everyone elseHow Silly Pickles went from one Chicago bar to 75 metro areas with a decentralized hub-and-spoke modelBrand partnerships: Waterboy, an alcohol brand, an iced tea brand and why Silly Pickles is becoming one of the most interesting IRL activation platforms in consumerWhat CPG brands get wrong about IRL activations and the two ingredients that make the difference between a great event and a forgettable oneThe non-technical founder's guide to building software: the agency route, the tradeoffs, and why Tommy chose the most expensive option on purposeThe math to a billion: 200 metro areas, 10 sports, $500K per metro area per sportPickleball as the wedge and what comes next as they layer on volleyball and additional sportsLessons from his consumer apparel brand: what he'd do differently and why he's now a little jaded about inventory-based businessesThe holy trinity for consumer founders: brand, community, differentiated product, and catching a wave before incumbents catch upWhy TikTok is still the most important platform for consumer businesses and what to do if you're not good at it yetIf you're building a consumer brand, thinking about IRL community as a channel, or trying to understand what catching a category wave actually looks like from the inside this episode is packed with hard-won lessons from a founder who's done it twice.
• 
  We Thought It Could Be a Modest $10M Business. We Were Very Wrong. 14.07.2026 36m

  What does it look like to send 25 to 30 cold emails to a founder you've never met because you believe in a product so much you're willing to bet your career on it?Kieran Mathew, CEO of Equip Foods, joins In The Money to break down one of the more unconventional origin stories in better-for-you supplements, an operator who joined an existing business, took over day-to-day functions from the founder, and helped scale it from low seven figures to well into eight on a growth model that barely touched Meta spend.Equip makes animal-based protein products built around one standard: real food ingredients, nothing the brand wouldn't stand behind completely. No fillers. No shortcuts. A product built for a customer who reads labels and doesn't forgive compromises.We cover:Why Kieran sent 25-30 emails to founder Anthony Gustin before getting a response and what he said to finally get oneWhat it actually looks like to join a business as an operator-partner rather than a founderHow to take over day-to-day operations from a founder without breaking what's already workingThe affiliate flywheel: how Equip built a roster of thousands of partners who became genuine evangelists for the brandHow affiliate seeding trained the algorithm before a dollar of Meta spend and what that did to ROAS when they finally turned it onWhy beef protein is having its moment and how whey margin compression is accelerating the category shiftThe animal-based consumer: who they are, what they believe, and why they're more loyal than almost any other supplement customerWhat Equip would do differently in paid if they were starting the channel from scratch todayOrg structure evolution: why the team design that worked at $3M doesn't work at $15M and what needs to changeHow Equip thinks about SKU expansion without losing the brand clarity that made themRetention, subscription, and what actually drives LTV in the supplement categoryIf you're building in supplements, better-for-you CPG, or thinking about how to join an existing business as an operator rather than start from scratch, this episode is one of the most useful conversations I've had on the pod this year.
• 
  The LinkedIn Message They Almost Ignored For Target Nationwide 06.07.2026 29m

  What happens when a high-protein, clean-ingredient frozen pizza brand spends two years grinding through cold chain nightmares, supply chain restarts, and a fundraising carousel, and then lands at number one in the frozen pizza category at Target?Michael Rolland, Co-Founder of Yough!, joins In The Money to tell one of the more honest origin stories in better-for-you frozen food, a brand built around a simple thesis that you shouldn't have to choose between eating pizza and feeling good afterward, and the long road it took to get that product in front of the right retailers at the right moment.700 calories. 46 grams of protein. No junk ingredients. An anytime meal that people are eating pre-workout, post-workout, and at 2am after a night out, without the guilt.We cover:Why DTC was the wrong model for frozen and what Yough! learned the expensive wayThe supply chain issues that forced a full relaunch and why it ultimately made the product betterHow Yough! built into boutique specialty retail first before going massThe LinkedIn message they almost ignored and how it turned into a meeting at Target HQWhat it actually looks like when a national retailer offers you a launch before you've pitched themGoing from specialty to Target and Sprouts on organic momentum alone, no broker, no traditional pitchWhat number one in frozen pizza at Target actually means for a brand at this stageThe fundraising reality for better-for-you frozen: what investors want to see and when the timing is rightProtein in frozen as the next major category wave and why the timing is right nowWhat Michael would do differently in the first 12-24 months if he started overWhat's next for Yough! heading into the back half of 2026If you're building in frozen, better-for-you, or any category where the product has to earn its place on a cold shelf, this episode is a candid look at what the grind before the breakthrough actually costs.
• 
  No Formula. No Co-Man. No Branding. Nationwide Whole Foods in Three Months. 30.06.2026 32m

  What does it look like to sell a brand to Kraft Heinz for a reported $200 million, and then build the second one with three kids under seven and no social media on your phone?Morgan Zanotti, Founder and CEO of Waay, joins In The Money to break down what changed and what stayed the same the second time around. Waay is a fizzy, clear sparkling protein water, 10 grams of protein, 45 calories, zero sugar, built for women who are tired of choking down chalky shakes to hit their protein goals.Before Waay, Morgan co-founded Primal Kitchen alongside Mark Sisson, bootstrapped it to $50M in revenue profitably, and led the company through its $200 million acquisition by Kraft Heinz in 2019.We cover:Why Morgan built Waay after watching the protein trend get sold entirely to menThe Primal Kitchen playbook: bootstrapping to $50M before the exitWhat she learned inside Kraft Heinz about scale, GLP-1s, and category timingWhy she pitched Whole Foods with a silver can, no final formula, no co-manufacturer, and no branding, and how they said yes nationwide anyway18 months of formulation: getting real protein, zero sucralose, and a taste that doesn't announce itselfBuilding the entire brand identity in three months and launching by OctoberWhy she went Whole Foods first instead of Target, and how that sequencing shaped everything that followedThe clear protein category: how it's exploding globally and why the US is just catching upBuilding lean the second time: a small remote team built through referrals, no agencyRaising capital on traction versus raising on hopes and dreamsWhat she'd do exactly the same the second time, and what she's doing completely differentlyBalancing three kids under seven with building a fast-scaling consumer brandIf you're building a consumer brand, thinking about a second act after an exit, or trying to figure out how to build with intention instead of urgency, this episode is one of the most grounded founder conversations I've put out this year.
• 
  The Repeat Founder Who Learned to Focus On One Product that Actually Matters 22.06.2026 38m

  What does it look like to build a premium hydration brand in one of the most crowded categories in consumer health, and win by doing almost everything differently?Joe Welstead, Co-Founder of Oshun, joins In The Money to break down how a repeat founder took every assumption about the electrolyte category and threw them out. No sachets. No citrus. No agency. No VC. Just a pump dispenser, an unflavored formula, and a brand positioning that owes more to skincare than sports nutrition.Joe built Motion Nutrition before this. He came out of that experience with one lesson above all others: launch one product, nail it completely, and resist every temptation to expand before you've earned the right to. At Oshun, he's done exactly that, and it's working.We cover:Why Joe looked at LMNT, Liquid IV, Nuun, Hydrant, and Prime and saw an opportunity hiding in plain sightThe pump dispenser decision: why form factor is a marketing strategy, not just a packaging choiceWhy Oshun has no flavor, and how that single decision sidesteps flavor fatigue and the endless SKU trapThe "clear skin, clear mind" moment: how a single conversation with a friend reframed the entire brand positioning overnightBeauty adjacent, not supplement adjacent: why escaping the supplement category unlocks everythingThree months of real-world conversations before running a single ad, and why that made the first Meta campaigns perform from day oneHow Joe learned to run Meta himself without an agency, and why he thinks the learning curve is overstatedThe seeding to Meta funnel: how Oshun uses creator seeding to train the algorithm before spending a dollar on paidTwo co-founders, one product, 75-90% of scope focused entirely on growthWhy Oshun launched a magnesium sleep product, and the surprisingly simple customer reason that accelerated the timelineBuilding in public without sharing revenue: why Joe talks about subscriber count and compound metrics but never top lineProfitable and growing while turning down institutional investors, what that optionality actually feels likeSkio's cancel flow as the single biggest retention unlock of 2026Why a skip or delay beats a discount every time for subscription churnWhat Joe would do differently in the first 12 months of the next brandIf you're building a consumer brand in health, wellness, or any crowded category where the default playbook isn't working — this episode is one of the clearest arguments I've heard for why doing less, better, wins.
• 
  Product, Brand, Community: The Holy Trinity for Consumer Investing at Iris Ventures 12.06.2026 39m

  What does it actually mean to invest in brand before it's measurable?Florian Wojewodzki, Partner at Iris, joins In The Money to break down one of the most distinctive approaches to consumer investing in Europe and the US, a fund that tracks over 5,000 brands, backs founders they've known for years before writing a check, and won't hire anyone who isn't genuinely obsessed with brand.Iris sits at the intersection of health, wellness, and better-for-you consumer, with a portfolio that includes some of the most interesting brands in CPG right now. Their thesis is built around three things every winning consumer brand needs: product, brand, and community. Miss any one of them and the other two can't save you.We cover:Why Iris describes itself as brand junkies, and why that's a hiring requirement, not a marketing lineThe holy trinity: product, brand, and community as the non-negotiable framework for every investment decisionWhy Iris builds a category view before it ever meets a company, and what that looks like in practiceHow to approach a fund like Iris, and why the best time to reach out is years before you're ready to raisePortfolio deep dive: Biomel and the instant feedback loop that removes the biggest barrier to supplement adoptionSuperlativa: clinical credibility in cortisol management and why the stress and recovery category is vastly underservedHealth: the leading online health and wellness retailer in the UK and what international expansion looks like from thereMaurten: endurance nutrition out of Gothenburg and how to build a fanatical community around cyclists, triathletes, and runnersWhat European consumer investing looks like right now versus two to three years agoStage, check size, and what Iris is actively looking for heading into the back half of 2026The categories Iris is most excited about right now, and the ones they're actively avoidingIf you're a founder, a consumer investor, or anyone trying to understand where the next generation of health and wellness brands is being built, this episode is one of the clearest windows into how the best funds in the space actually think.
• 
  COVID Killed 90% of His Accounts. The Pivot That Followed Built an Eight-Figure Wine Brand 03.06.2026 41m

  What happens when a tech founder walks away from a successful exit, spends time drinking wine in Southern Europe, and comes back convinced the American wine industry is getting it completely wrong?Stephen Vlahos, Co-Founder and CEO of Gratsi, joins In The Money to tell the story of building an eight-figure, no-additive, zero-sugar wine brand from scratch, through a pivot that COVID forced on him, a format that nobody thought would work for a premium brand, and a subscriber base of over 30,000 people who keep coming back every month.Before Gratsi, Stephen co-founded Bellhops, a venture-backed two-sided marketplace that scaled to $15 million in revenue before he handed the keys to a team from Uber. What he learned about co-founder dynamics, internal conflict, and what kills companies from the inside shaped everything about how he built Gratsi.We cover:Why Stephen left tech to sell wine, and what time in Southern Europe taught him about how Americans drink wrongThe Bellhops lessons: what happens when a founding team fights more internal battles than external onesHow Gratsi launched in Austin bars and restaurants, and why COVID shutting down 90% of his accounts turned out to be the best thing that happened to the businessThe bag-in-box pivot: why a format associated with cheap wine became Gratsi's biggest competitive advantageHow Gratsi thinks about zero sugar and no additives as a product truth, not just a marketing claimThe DTC-to-retail sequencing playbook: how Gratsi uses ecommerce data to identify which markets to enter before a single case hits a distributor's truckWhy staying at three SKUs while the rest of the industry chases product proliferation has been one of his best decisionsBuilding a subscription wine business: what 30,000 subscribers actually means for capital efficiency and forecastingThe wholesale expansion strategy: how DTC revenue warms up a market before retail arrivesFundraising in beverage alcohol: what investors are looking for and how the category is different from traditional CPGWhat Stephen would do differently in the first 12 months if he started overWhere Gratsi is heading in 2026 and beyondIf you're building in beverage, alcohol, DTC, or any category where the product format itself is the story, this episode is packed with hard-won lessons from a founder who's done it in two very different industries.
• 
  I Pitched Target for Ten Years. Here's What Happened When They Said Yes 27.05.2026 42m

  What does it actually look like to grind for a decade in CPG before the category finally catches up to you?Jason Burke, Founder and CEO of New Primal, joins In The Money to tell one of the most honest origin stories in better-for-you snacking; twelve years of building, a lot of expensive mistakes, and a front-row seat to one of the biggest category inflections in modern grocery.New Primal commercialized the first grass-fed beef jerky for retail. Jason bet on the family lunchbox a decade before mom entered the meat snack category. He's now approaching $100 million in revenue, heading into 1,900 Target stores with six products, and running one of the leanest operations relative to revenue in the space.He pitched Target for ten years before they said yes.We cover:Why the four-to-five year CPG startup-to-exit myth is just that, a mythWhat the decade of grinding actually looked like: too many SKUs, too many retail markets, too many rabbits chasedWhy Jason has never had self-doubt, and how that same quality hurt him in the early yearsThe crawl-walk-run retail playbook: why you should own your backyard before you go nationalWhy he'd start DTC-first if he were launching today, and spend two to three years there before calling a single retailerThe real cost of doing business with large retail partners and why going too wide too fast destroys cashHow long the retail J-curve actually is, and why you can't measure it the same way as DTCThe Whole Foods relationship that started with a workout and turned into 40 products on shelf nationallyWhy every person at New Primal is an equity owner, and what that does to the cultureThe lunchbox bet: how New Primal carved out a category position no other brand can authentically claimThe pantry stocking shift: how consumer behavior changed and why the timing was perfect for New PrimalWhy $20 bags of meat sticks are selling at Kroger, and what that says about the premium snack marketThe rotisserie chicken stick: from ideation to fastest-growing product in company history by 10xSix products going into 1,900 Target stores: what that milestone actually means after a decade of pitchingWhat Jason would do completely differently in the first 24 monthsWhy survival is a skill, and why staying lean is a requirement, not a choice, in CPGIf you're a founder in the grind wondering whether it's still worth it, or an investor trying to understand what category timing actually looks like from the inside, this episode is the most honest answer to both questions I've heard.
• 
  Why Corporate VC Has a Bad Reputation And How Rich Is Different 19.05.2026 40m

  Corporate venture capital has a reputation problem. And according to Brian Bernstein, that reputation is mostly earned.Brian Bernstein, Investor at Rich Products Ventures, joins In The Money to make the case for why corporate VC doesn't have to work the way founders fear and to explain exactly how Rich Products Ventures is structured to be different.Rich's is an 80-year-old privately held food company. Over 95% frozen. Dozens of manufacturing plants, deep cold chain expertise, and food service and retail distribution spanning 110 countries. Their venture arm has been investing for eight years and they're leaning harder into branded CPG than ever before.We cover:Why corporate VC has a mixed reputation and why those concerns are legitimateHow Rich Products Ventures maintains investment autonomy without business unit sign-offThe honest version of the pitch: patient capital, no LP pressure, no exit clockWhy all three members of the investing team are former operators and why that mattersHow the strategic value add actually works in practice: cold chain, food science, R&D, food service channelsWhere the value add fails and what founders get wrong when approaching a corporate partnerThe shift from generalist food fund to branded CPG focus and what drove itPortfolio spotlight: Evergreen (better-for-you waffles) and Delicious (permissible indulgence frozen novelty)Why the freezer aisle is having its most exciting moment in decadesInvestment stage and check size: late seed to Series A, $1-3M checks, minority follow-onTwo new strategies: venture incubation and growth equity for bootstrapped scaled businessesWhat Rich Products Ventures is actively looking for heading into the back half of 2026If you're a founder weighing whether to take strategic capital, or an operator trying to understand how corporate venture actually works when it's done right, this episode is the clearest breakdown of the model I've heard.
• 
  $10M Revenue. Two Employees. No VC. 11.05.2026 45m

  What does it look like to build a hardware brand to eight figures with two employees, no VC, and a rule that every product must be first order profitable from day one?Sam Coxe, Founder and CEO of Flaus, joins In The Money to tell one of the most disciplined founder stories in the DTC space; a Skadden M&A attorney who put her entire life savings into a consumer electronics company, got told no by every professional investor, and built her way to $10M+ in revenue on a foundation of margins, focus, and relentless customer research.Flaus is the world's first electric flosser. Sam didn't just build the product, she built the category. And she did it one deliberate step at a time.We cover:Why Sam left one of the world's most prestigious law firms to build a consumer hardware company The $120K life savings bet: how she funded the first million dollars of product developmentWhy she got told no by every professional investorThe 10x bill of materials rule: how she engineered hardware margins before she had a factoryFirst order profitable from day one, what that actually means and how she's maintained it for seven yearsThe SurveyMonkey moment: 600 strangers, 15 questions, and the data that flipped her entire customer hypothesis on its headAgency first, employees second: how she structured the team to stay lean as the business scaledThe dental conference circuit: 13 shows this year, all booked on credit card points, all ROI positive by end of showOne SKU. One color. One channel. The focus framework she's used since day oneThe tariff crisis: 145% tariffs, a bonded warehouse strategy she pioneered before it went mainstream, and why strong margins were the only real hedgeWhy she moved from air freight to ocean freight and how it offset the tariff impact entirely65% subscription attachment rate: how she thinks about refill cadence, churn, and personalizing the subscription modelIf you're building a hardware brand, a subscription business, or anything in a category that doesn't exist yet, this episode is the clearest blueprint I've seen for how to do it without burning through capital you don't have.