The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan
The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan is a leading entrepreneurship show featuring in-depth conversations with successful founders and business leaders. Guests have included Mark Cuban, Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins, and many others. Host Nathan Chan shares proven methods, lessons from failure, and inspirational stories to help listeners start, build, or grow their businesses.
Episodes
679: The $20 Jar of Salt Behind Her 9-Figure Jewelry Brand
Jennifer Fisher started with $5,000 and a dog tag she sketched on a
piece of paper for her son - a son she almost never had, after
chemotherapy, failed IVF, and years of surrogacy attempts. She knocked
on doors on 47th Street, got Uma Thurman to wear her piece on a Glamour
cover, and bootstrapped the brand for 20 years without taking a single
dollar from investors. Now Jennifer Fisher Jewelry
678: (Solo) The First Hire Mistake That Trips Up Almost Every Solo Founder
Most founders make their first hire reactively. They're overwhelmed, stretched across every function, and they just want someone to take the pressure off right now. So they bring in a generalist, hand them a list of everything they hate doing, and a few months later they're more frustrated than before.
Here's the problem: hiring to relieve pressure is not the same as hiring strategically. And whe
677: We Built a $250M Cold Plunge Brand - From a Garage | Plunge
Ryan Duey was living in an RV with his float spas closed and no backup
plan when he and Michael Garrett built their first cold plunge from a
retrofitted $100 bathtub in a garage. They turned their Shopify store on
with zero marketing—and got a sale. What followed was one of the most
unlikely scaling stories in DTC history: $30 million to $80 million in a
single year, $250 million in cumulativ
676: Alisha Spent 16 Years In Salons - and Distilled it all Into One $7K/Month Product
Alisha dropped out of year 10 to become a hairdresser, opened her own salon at 20, and ran it for nearly a decade - applying five different products to every client's hair, every single day. By the time she sold the salon, she already knew exactly what was wrong with the industry. What she didn't know was how to start an e-commerce brand. James Jade, her all-in-one leave-in conditioner that replac
675: (Solo) The Money Mistake That's Quietly Killing Your Business
I've wasted so much money over the years running Foundr that I don't even want to know the number. And if I'm honest, it came down to one thing: when it's the business's money, it doesn't always feel like yours. So you spend it like it isn't.
Here's the problem: when your personal and business finances are tangled up together, revenue starts to feel like income, a good month makes you feel like y
674: From $800 to $250M Selling Women's Fashion | Demi Marchese
Demi Marchese started with $800, no investors, and no fashion
background—just a clothing rack in the back of her car and 30 sororities
to pitch in 30 days. She made $40,000 in her first month dressing girls
for Coachella out of her living room, turned $800 into $40K, and never
took a dollar from investors. Ten years later, 12th Tribe does close to
$50 million a year with $250 million in lifet
673: (Solo) Your Next Team Member Might Not Be Human
Most founders are still thinking about AI as a faster way to do their work. But that is not what is happening anymore. AI agents do not help you do the task. They do the task for you. And if you have not started asking which roles in your business actually need a human, you are already behind.
Here is the thing: this is not a big tech problem or a future problem. Small and medium sized businesses
672: From Broke College Student to $20M Brand in 10,000 Stores | ESW Beauty
While every brand was raising prices during inflation, Elina Wang cut hers—and nearly tripled revenue. The co-founder of ESW Beauty turned a juice bar epiphany and a $25,000 bank loan into a $20 million business across 10,000 retail doors, fully bootstrapped and profitable from day one. She did it by making the contrarian bet on retail-first when every founder around her was chasing DTC—then survi
671: Tori Quit The Barber Shop, Built a Brand In Her Spare Room, and Hit $1M In Under 2 Years
Tori Gill was still cutting hair on weekends when she sold her first 20,000 sunscreens. A former hairdresser with two kids, no e-commerce background, and a product that took two years to develop, she launched Sun & Daughter on Boxing Day 2024 and hasn't really stopped since. This is the follow-up episode - and a lot has happened.
In this episode, Tori gets real about what scaling from $100K to a
670: (Solo) Why Great Products Lose to Better Offers - and How to Fix Yours
I see it every single time. Great product. Solid branding. Ads running. And yet it won't scale. Conversions are flat, the economics don't work, and the founder is convinced it's the creative or the funnel or the targeting.
It's never the ads. It's the offer.
Here's the problem: most founders spend 90% of their time perfecting the product and almost no time on the complete package around it. The
669: They Built a Luxury Beauty Brand in Year One — With a Team of Two | Brunel
A Victoria's Secret Angel and a Goldman Sachs investor built one of the
most talked-about luxury body care launches in recent memory without
raising a cent or paying a single influencer. Jasmine Tookes spent two
decades on the world's biggest runways turning down incubator deal after
incubator deal, waiting to build something real. When she finally met
Sabrina Carstensen—who spent years evalu
668: (Solo) The One Marketing Concept Behind the Fastest Growing DTC Brands Right Now
Most founders think their product is different. But if your marketing sounds like everyone else's — better ingredients, better results, better formula — your customer hears nothing. Because when everything sounds the same, nothing stands out.
Here's the problem: customers don't just buy outcomes. They buy belief that your way of getting there is different. And without a unique mechanism, you're l
667: He Built a $300M Men's Grooming Brand in JUST Three Years | MANSCAPED
Paul Tran started Manscaped with $50,000, a bloody problem nobody was talking about, and a category that didn't exist. The company hit $300 million in revenue in just 36 months, eventually turned down a $1 billion SPAC deal, and has become the #3 men's grooming brand in a category dominated by companies over 100 years old—while staying profitable the entire way.
In this interview, the founder and
666: Jess & Victor Started A Jewellery Brand With $2,000 — Now It Brings In $40K A Month
Victor Chan bought a $2,000 engraving machine off Amazon to make his girlfriend Jess a necklace — a hand-engraved star map of the exact moment they met. She thought it was the most thoughtful gift she'd ever received, and two weeks later they had a store. Two years on, By Lumine is doing $30–40K a month and Jess has quit her accounting job to go all in.
A software engineer and a Big Four accounta
665: (Solo) Why Waiting Until You Feel Ready Is the Biggest Mistake You Can Make
I still remember the day I launched Foundr. After all that work, all that effort — I made $5.50. And when I told someone close to me, they laughed. I was embarrassed, jaded, and genuinely questioning whether any of it was worth it.
Here's the truth: that feeling never fully goes away. It just shows up in different forms. And if you're avoiding it, you're avoiding the exact things that grow your
664: He Changed How the World Builds Startups. Now He's Warning You About What Comes Next | Eric Ries
Eric Ries wrote the book that changed how the entire world builds startups. Now he's back with a more urgent argument: the way we're taught to build companies is quietly turning them against everything that made them worth building in the first place. The creator of The Lean Startup has spent years watching mission-driven founders get fired from their own companies, watching the spark that started
663: (Solo) More SKUs, More Problems — The Case for Going Deeper, Not Wider
When I started getting serious about e-commerce, I genuinely believed the more products you had, the more successful you'd be. More SKUs meant scaling. I was completely wrong.
Here's the problem: most founders launch a hero product, get early traction, and then the anxiety kicks in. What if it runs out of steam? What if a competitor copies me? So they launch a second product, then a third — and
662: I Bet Everything On Sugar Free Candy — Now It Brings In $100 Million A Year
Daniel Kitay put everything he had—his savings, his mortgage, and two
months before his first child was born—on a container ship full of
sugar-free gummy lollies from Switzerland. When a $250,000 shipping bill
landed before he'd sold a single product, he had no option but to make
it work. Five years later, Funday Natural Sweets does over $100 million
in retail sales across 8,000 stores in Aus
661: Donna’s Corporate Career Ended Overnight — So She Built A $51K Brand In 2 Months
A 20-year career in high-level finance ended in a single day when Donna Gilbertson was made redundant with one day's notice. No plan B, two kids at home, and a household now running on one income — she could have played it safe and taken the next accounting role that came along. She went to the interviews. Every single time, she didn't want to be there. So instead, she pulled $7,000 from her home
660: (Solo) The New Role Defining Which E-Commerce Brands Win in 2026
Most founders think they're ahead of the curve because they're using AI. But if you're only using it for basic ad copy and product descriptions and wondering why it sounds like everything else on the internet — you're not using AI. You're scratching the surface of it.
Here's the problem: the advantage was never just having access to the tools. It's knowing how to direct them at scale. And right
659: How Molly Sims is Disrupting a $200 Billion Industry
Molly Sims spent nearly six years modeling in Europe, graced the cover
of Sports Illustrated, and starred in Las Vegas and The Carrie
Diaries—then quietly spent three years and over $2 million of her own
money developing a skincare brand nobody asked for. When she launched
YSE Beauty on April 24, 2023, she had no idea if it would work. It did.
The brand hit close to $30 million in revenue, is
658: (Solo) You're Posting Everywhere — But Do You Know What's Actually Driving Revenue?
Most founders can tell you their follower count, their reach, their impressions. But ask them which channel is actually driving revenue — not likes, not email subscribers, actual revenue — and most of them can't answer that confidently.
Here's the problem: we've been told to be everywhere. More platforms, more visibility. But being everywhere without knowing what's working means you're spending
657: They Bet Everything on a Sport Nobody Took Seriously… Now It’s Worth $200M
These two brothers sold a profitable airsoft business to bet everything
on a sport most people had never heard of. In 2014, Rob and Mike Barnes
founded Selkirk Sport in the pickleball space—back when the sport was
small, the products were cheap, and the category felt entirely mom and
pop. Eleven years later, the company is valued at over $200 million with
revenue up 1,900% since 2019, and pic
656: How Chloe Built a $50K/Month Personalised Gifting Brand From Home
Chloe Widera spent 15 years as a freelance makeup artist, ran a hair and makeup agency, worked inside one of the world’s fastest-growing beauty brands, and still felt like something was missing — until she built a gifting brand from her living room that hit $54,000 USD in a single month.
Based in Dubai with two kids, an autoimmune diagnosis, and zero e-commerce experience, Chloe launched Inword
655: (Solo) The Fuel Crisis Is Already Hitting Your Margins. Here Are 4 Moves to Protect Them.
Most e-commerce founders see the fuel crisis in the news and think it's someone else's problem. But if you're shipping products right now, it's already showing up in your bills — and if you're still running last year's shipping model, you're bleeding margin without realising it.
Here's the problem: this isn't one cost squeeze. It's three hitting at the same time — carrier rate hikes, fuel surch
654: The Hoodie That SAVED Their Business ($5M in 2 Years) | Boys Lie
Tori Robinson and Leah O'Malley launched Boys Lie as a cosmetics brand
with 16+ SKUs and generated $250,000 in revenue in year one—against
$250,000 in debt. But they discovered customers only wanted the two
branded hoodies, not the makeup. Sitting on mountains of unsold
inventory and ready to quit, they sent a blind gift to Gigi Hadid. Two
months later, Gigi stepped out in their "Boys Lie Goo
653: (Solo) Why Community Is the Most Undervalued Asset in E-Commerce Right Now
Most e-commerce founders treat influencer marketing and community like two separate strategies — two separate budgets, two separate teams. But that split is exactly why so many brands hit a ceiling they can't explain.
Here's the problem: influencer marketing is a reach play. Every time you want that reach, you pay for it again. Community works differently — when customers feel genuinely connect
652: IM8 Founder: What It REALLY Takes to Build a $200M Supplement Brand
Danny Yeung went from selling baseball cards at age 12 to scaling
Ubuy-Ibuy to nearly a million a month in revenue in just six months
before Groupon acquired it in 2010. Then during Covid, he launched a PCR
testing operation that processed 28 million tests and generated over
$800 million in revenue across three years. He listed the company on the
Nasdaq at a billion-dollar valuation—then watc
651: From 7 Years In Recruitment To $60K In 6 Months Selling Mouth Tape
Michael Forshaw read a book, taped his mouth shut every night for a year, and then built a business out of it — launching Breath Sleep Tape from idea to live store in just ten weeks.
A recruiter by trade with zero experience in e-commerce, digital marketing, or product development, Michael turned a personal obsession with nasal breathing into a brand that hit $60,000 in its first six months. Th
650: The Lie About Social Media Growth (And What Actually Works in 2026)
Most founders are still treating social media as a vanity channel — a place for likes, views, and followers. And here's the tough truth: if your social media isn't converting into customers, subscribers, or owned audience, you're building on rented land. And that's incredibly risky.
I talked to a founder today who's been building his business for a couple of years. He's got Facebook ads running
649: We Had 3 Weeks Left… This Saved My $35M/Year Company
Christina Stembel built Farmgirl Flowers into a $55 million bootstrapped business by 2021, betting on simplicity, direct-to-consumer, and zero VC money. Then as Covid vaccines became widely available, sales crashed 50% overnight. To save the business, she had just 36 hours to test a radical pivot or go bankrupt in three weeks. She took out a $3.5 million loan, white boarded new distribution mo
648: (Solo) Why the Best Brands Create Moments, Not Just Products
The brands that win don't just deliver products. They create moments. And once you see this pattern, you start noticing it everywhere.
I recently came across a concept from one of our course instructors, Camille Moore, called the overflow effect. It's simple but incredibly powerful, and it highlights a key truth about building brands in 2026: most e-commerce founders focus heavily on the produc
647: I Started a Jewelry Brand With $25K and the WRONG Business Model | Noura Sakkijha
Noura Sakkijha is a third generation jeweler who realized the entire fine jewelry industry was fundamentally broken—built on the outdated idea that men buy diamonds for women, not that women buy the diamonds themselves.
In 2013, she launched Mejuri with a radical mission: create fine jewelry for women to buy for themselves. What started as a crowdsourcing platform quickly pivoted after just on
646: How Jesse Built A $450K/Year Brand Whilst Still Working in the Mines
Most people with a full-time job, 14-hour shifts, and zero business experience don't start a brand — Jesse did, and he's closing in on half a million dollars a year to prove it.
After 16 years working in the mining industry, Jesse knew the gear handed to workers on site was genuinely not fit for purpose. So he did something about it, building Wolf Workwear — durable, functional workwear for hea
645: (Solo) Why Your Email List Is Your Most Valuable Asset in 2026
Email marketing doesn't sound flashy. It's not the newest channel, not the trendiest platform, and it definitely doesn't get the same attention as TikTok, Instagram, or Meta ads. But that's exactly why it's so powerful.
Here's the truth: while most founders are chasing reach on social media, the smartest ones are quietly building something much more valuable — an owned audience they can reach d
644: This FBI Negotiation Trick Gets People to Say YES (By Saying NO) | Chris Voss
Chris Voss spent decades as the FBI's lead international kidnapping
negotiator, where a single wrong word could cost someone's life. After
talking down armed bank robbers and negotiating with terrorists, he
discovered something critical: the rational bargaining models taught in
business schools don't just fail—they're dangerous. Compromise is
guaranteed lose-lose. Win-win deals are often code
643: (Solo) Why Profitable Businesses Still Fail (And How to Avoid It)
Most founders think if their company is profitable on paper, they're safe. But here's the truth I learned the hard way: businesses don't fail because they're unprofitable. They fail because they run out of cash.
I had a really good run for about 6-7 years at Foundr before I ever faced a serious cash crunch. And when it hit, it was terrifying — that feeling when you don't know if you're going to
642: I Quit My 15 Year Career To Build a Jewelry Business — and Hit $400,000 in My First Year
Rosie Collins had a Christmas epiphany about baby shower gifts—every present focused on the baby, never the mom. That single observation turned into Deja Marc, a multimillion-dollar personalized jewelry brand that captures fingerprints, handwriting, and meaningful moments in elegant, timeless pieces. Within a year, she hit $400,000 in revenue while working full time. The secret? An engraving fairy
641: How Konnie Built A $60K/Month Swimwear Brand In 18 Months — Without Quitting Her Day Job
Most people spot a gap in the market and do nothing — Konnie Tsimiklis spotted one, had zero fashion experience, and built a brand around it anyway.
A management consultant by trade, Konnie spent decades avoiding swimming pools because no swimwear on the market made her feel like herself. So she created her own — Unity Cove, Australia's first gender-inclusive swimwear brand — and hit $27,000 in s
640: (Solo) Why Community Beats Followers in 2026
Followers are easier to get than ever. But here's what most founders don't realize: genuine community and real relationships are becoming significantly more valuable.
At Foundr, we've built an audience of over 5 million followers across social channels. We started growing that audience when organic reach was strong and content traveled far. But the landscape has completely changed. Content is f
639: From $60K in Debt to ICONIC $100M Fashion Label | Rebecca Minkoff
Rebecca Minkoff arrived in New York City at 18 with no money, no degree,
and a low-paid internship that paid $3 an hour. She lived in a
relative's playroom just to make it work. Twenty-one years later, she's
built a globally recognized fashion empire and become one of the most
influential voices in the fashion and entrepreneurial world.
But the journey from handing out postcards in Union Squ
TRAILER: Little Empires — A Foundr Original Series
You've heard from the best in the business — Mark Cuban, Alex Hormozi, Emma Grede. Their stories are incredible. But sometimes, you need to hear from someone who's exactly where you are right now.
Little Empires is a brand new series from the Foundr team, shining a spotlight on the builders inside our own community. These are Foundr students who are in the trenches — taking action, learning the
638: (Solo) How I'd Launch an Ecom Brand in 2026 with $10K and Zero Followers
If you're just getting started with e-commerce and you're wondering how to actually scale with limited cash and no audience, this episode is for you. I get asked this all the time: "Nathan, how do I get started when I only have a small budget?"
Here's the truth: most founders tattoo their business idea to their arm. They fall in love with the brand, the product, the vision — and they hold on ev
637: How One Decision Separates a $1 Million Business From a $250 Million One | Leila Hormozi
Leila Hormozi went from six arrests in 18 months to building a portfolio
generating over $250 million in annual revenue by age 30. What makes
her story fascinating isn't just the rags-to-riches narrative—it's her
unflinching honesty about the messy middle, her unconventional approach
to leadership, and how she scales companies with ruthless precision
while maintaining her humanity. Alongside
636: (Solo) The Facebook Ads Metrics That Actually Matter When Scaling
Most founders think scaling Facebook ads is about finding one winning ad and spending more behind it. But that's not how it works — especially not anymore.
Here's the truth: the brands that scale obsess over the numbers. Not just ROAS. Not just conversion rate. And definitely not just the data inside Facebook Ads Manager. They understand the full picture — from traffic to creative to business e
635: The Meta Ads System Working in 2026 | Nick Shackelford
Nick Shackelford has spent hundreds of millions of dollars profitably on
Meta ads and grown Structured from zero to $76 million in revenue in
under three years. And he's here to tell you this clearly: Meta isn't
broken. Most founders are just reading the wrong signals.
In this interview, the co-founder of Structured Agency and partner at
BREZ breaks down what actually matters in 2026. From w
634: (Solo) My Current AI Stack (and How It’s Helping Us Move 10x Faster at Foundr)
Most founders are either ignoring AI or drowning in it. But here's what I've learned after 13 years of building Foundr: AI isn't a shortcut to success — it's a tool. And when used right, it's like upgrading from a horse to a car. You make the same journey, but a lot faster.
I've always run Foundr lean. At one point we had 80-90 people and it was a disaster — bloated, slow, misaligned. Now we mo
633: We Built a $42M Business by Reinventing Coffee | Purity Coffee
Amber and Andrew Salisbury turned a marriage argument about coffee into
an eight-figure health food empire. After Andrew couldn't find a single
coffee brand that prioritized health over marketing, the
husband-and-wife founders spent two years in research and development
with leading coffee scientists to create Purity Coffee—the first
specialty-grade coffee engineered specifically for maximum
632: (Solo) Why In-Person Still Wins (Even in a Remote World)
We've glorified remote work — the flexibility, the efficiency, the freedom to work from anywhere. And don't get me wrong, I love it too. But here's what we've lost in translation: humans are wired for connection. And when it comes to deals, creative work, strategic alignment, and building real trust, Zoom just doesn't cut it.
I learned this the hard way while building something with Nick Shacke
631: He Built a $125M Brain Food Brand With Just 10 People | Will Nitze
Will Nitze went from selling Linsanity T-shirts in his college dorm to
building IQ Bar into a $125 million brain food empire—with just a team
of ten people. No bloated headcount. No burning through VC cash. Just
ruthless focus on unit economics and a contrarian approach to funding
that let him scale aggressively while maintaining control.
In this interview, the founder and CEO of IQ Bar break
630: (Solo) How to Find People Who Actually Care About Your Business
Most founders are desperate to hire — but they're asking the wrong question. It's not "How do I find great people?" It's "How do I find people who care as much as I need them to?"
Here's the truth: you can't scale alone. And no one will ever care about your business as much as you do. But after building Foundr and making every hiring mistake in the book (including paying half-million-dollar sal
629: $50K to $300M+: How Two L'Oréal Employees Built Glow Recipe | Sarah Lee
Sarah Lee went from cold-emailing 700 journalists by hand and sleeping two hours a night to building Glow Recipe into a nine-figure global skincare brand inside Sephora. And she did it without raising venture capital.
In this interview, the co-founder of Glow Recipe breaks down how a $50,000 bootstrapped Korean beauty curation site turned into one of the most recognisable modern skincare brands
628: (Solo) The Content Playbook I Wish I Had When I Started
If you’re staring at an empty Instagram feed, TikTok account, or LinkedIn page thinking, “What the hell do I even post?”, this episode is for you. Every early-stage founder hits this wall — and most stay stuck because they don’t have a simple, proven system for figuring out what to post or where to start.
In this episode, I walk you through the exact method I used this year to rebuild my person
627: How Lia Georgantis Built an Iconic Aussie Fashion Brand in Just 5 Years
Lia Georgantis took over a multi-brand fashion boutique with no business experience, lost most of her suppliers overnight, then
rebuilt it into one of Australia’s most recognisable fashion brands by
posting relentlessly on social media.
In this interview, the founder of Girls With Gems breaks down how raw, unfiltered content, six to nine posts per day, and authentic storytelling helped her sc
626: (Solo) Work Life Balance Is an Illusion. Here’s What Works Instead
Most founders won’t say this out loud… work-life balance doesn’t really exist. At least not in the early years. I didn’t want balance — I was obsessed. I worked until 5 a.m., skipped sleep, skipped holidays, ignored my health, and pushed myself until the wheels fell off. And eventually, they did.
In this episode, I share the truth about burnout, why obsession can be a superpower until it become
625: From $70M in Debt to $1B Amazon Deal in 45 Days | Jamie Siminoff
One billion dollars. That’s what today’s guest built — after being
rejected on Shark Tank, nearly going bankrupt multiple times, and
spending millions before making a single sale. In this video, Jamie
Siminoff, founder of Ring, breaks down the real story behind building
one of the most successful hardware startups of all time and selling it
to Amazon for over $1B.
What you’ll learn in this
624: (Solo) How to Create More Than You Consume (Without Burning Out)
Most founders drown in content — YouTube, TikTok, newsletters, podcasts — but they rarely create anything themselves. And here’s the problem: consumption doesn’t build businesses; creation does.
In this episode, I share the practical systems and mindset shifts I’ve used to consistently create content for my personal brand and Foundr, even while running a company. From my “create before you cons
623: $500K in Debt, 5 Maxed Credit Cards — How Jordan Harper Built an 8-Figure Brand in Year One
Jordan Harper built an eight-figure skincare brand in its first year by
maxing out five credit cards while already $500,000 in debt — and never
raised a single dollar from investors.
In this interview, the founder of Barefaced breaks down how years of
treating patients as a nurse practitioner revealed a massive gap in the
skincare market, why simplifying routines unlocked explosive demand, a
622: (Solo) The Truth About Founder-Led Content in 2026
Founder-led branding isn’t dead — but it is evolving fast. Showing your face and posting “day in the life” content is no longer enough to stand out. The bar has risen, audiences have matured, and what worked in 2020 doesn’t cut through in 2026.
In this episode, I break down exactly what’s changing, what’s working now, and how to build a brand presence people actually want to follow. From docu-s
621: We Bet $200K on Bras Before Making a Single Sale — Sold 400,000 in 2 Years | Nala
Nala was built by two founders with no fashion background who invested
$200,000 before making a single sale and went on to sell over 400,000
pieces in just two years.
In this interview, Chloe and Phil de Winter break down how they identified a gap in the intimates market, validated demand with fewer than 300 survey responses, and scaled an Australian lingerie brand into a cult favourite with a
620: (Solo) The Secret to Making Bold Business Moves With Confidence
One of the biggest challenges founders face — especially at the end of the year — is knowing what to do next and feeling confident that the move you're about to make is the right one. Certainty feels elusive, but the truth is: certainty is something you can manufacture.
In this episode, I break down exactly how I’ve built certainty in my own business decisions, from landing interviews with icon
619: Airline Charged Me $65 - So I built a $250M Competitor | Adam Ewart
Adam Ewart turned a £50 excess baggage fee into a global bootstrapped
logistics company operating in 145 countries and staying profitable for 15 straight years.
In this interview, Adam breaks down how he built Send My Bag, the
international luggage shipping service moving more than 250,000 bags
annually with only 32 staff, all through ruthless automation, scrappy
PR, and a customer-first obs
618: (Solo) What 5 World-Class Founders Taught Me This Year
Every year I sit down with some of the world’s most fascinating founders — but this year’s interviews hit me harder than most. Reinvention, resilience, copycats, failure, loneliness after exits, scrappy launches, identity crises… these conversations changed the way I think about leadership and what it means to keep building when things get tough.
In this episode, I break down the five interview
617: How A Failing Skincare Brand Became An 8-Figure Makeup Empire | Aliett Buttelman
Aliett Buttelman spent eight years grinding in the dark before a single
viral moment with Taylor Swift turned Fazit into an overnight
seven-figure brand.
In this interview, Aliett breaks down the exact pivot that saved the
company, how she identified product-market fit after years of plateauing
at $20K per month, and the organic social strategy that now generates
over half a million views e
616: (Solo) 5 Honest Business Lessons I’m Taking Into 2026
2025 has been one of the most eye-opening years of my founder journey — personally, professionally, and strategically. Instead of sharing a highlight reel, I want to share the real lessons that moved the needle for me. Some changed how I think about business. Others changed how I think about myself.
In this episode, I break down the five biggest lessons I learned this year, and how they’re shap
615: Stop Chasing Sexy Businesses - This Boring One Made Me $500M+ | David Royce
David Royce went from a broke college kid in a door-to-door pest control
job to building and selling four service businesses for nine-figure
exits by applying Silicon Valley systems to an unsexy blue-collar
industry.
In this interview, he breaks down exactly how he scaled Aptive
Environmental to over $500M in revenue, created a training engine that
produced top-1% sales performers, and built
614: (Solo) Running on Fumes? Reset Your Mindset Before The Year Ends
If you’re dragging yourself toward the end of the year feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and mentally drained, you’re not alone.
This is one of the toughest stretches for founders — you’re still running the business while everyone else is winding down, and the pressure can quietly compound into burnout.
In this episode, I share the exact reset strategies I use whenever I feel my energy dipping or
613: Why Most Beauty Brands Fail - and How to Beat The Rest | DIBS Beauty Founder
DIBS Beauty went from zero to one of America’s fastest-growing makeup
brands in just four years, with founder Jeff Lee scaling the business
into the mid–8 figures and landing a top spot on the Inc. 5000.
In this interview, Jeff breaks down the strategy behind their explosive
growth, the creator-led launch that built a 20,000-person waitlist, and
how DIBS is winning in one of the most competi
612: (Solo) Funding vs Bootstrapping - The Real Tradeoffs EVERY Founders Needs To Know
Should you raise money or bootstrap your business? It’s one of the biggest questions every founder faces — and the wrong decision can shape the entire future of your company.
In this episode, I share the lessons I’ve learned from speaking with hundreds of founders about funding, and what I’ve personally applied in building Foundr and my ecommerce brand, Healthish.
You’ll learn when it makes s
611: From Homeless to Multi-Billionaire - His Success Habits | John Paul DeJoria
John Paul DeJoria went from being homeless twice to building two global
billion-dollar brands, Paul Mitchell and Patrón Tequila, using nothing
but resilience, sales mastery, and a refusal to quit.
This interview breaks down how he launched Paul Mitchell with just $700
while living in his car, created the ultra-premium tequila category from
scratch, and built companies that now operate in 130
610: (Solo) The Secret to Finding Agencies That Don’t Burn You
When you’re just starting out, the fastest way to grow isn’t automation, ads, or scaling systems — it’s doing things that don’t scale.
In this episode, I share why the most successful founders — from billion-dollar startups to small ecommerce brands — all begin by leaning into the unscalable.
From replying personally to every email, to sending hundreds of Instagram DMs, to handwriting thank
609: From $0 to $20M in 3 Years Selling Suppliments | Damien Fitzpatrick
From professional rugby player to successful entrepreneur, Damien
Fitzpatrick built a sports recovery brand trusted by elite athletes
around the world.
In this interview, Damien shares how he went from the highs and lows of a
professional sports career to creating Pillar Performance, a
multimillion-dollar supplement company now used by Olympians and major
sports teams.
Discover how he turn
608: (Solo) Why Short-Term Wins Can Quietly Kill Your Business
When I first started Foundr, I made a lot of short-term decisions — and most of them hurt us more than they helped. It took years (and a few hard lessons) to understand that sustainable growth only comes when you play the long game.
In this episode, I break down what it means to win deep, not shallow, and why short-term thinking keeps so many founders stuck in a constant cycle of rebuilding.
607: How I Built a $120M/Year Cookie Business From My Appartment | Loren Castle
Loren Castle turned a life-threatening cancer diagnosis at 22 into the spark that built Sweet Loren’s, a $120M-a-year clean food brand now sold in over 5,000 supermarkets nationwide.
In this interview, Loren shares how she bootstrapped her way from baking cookies in a tiny New York apartment to landing Whole Foods without packaging, rebranding her entire product line to be allergen-free, and s
606: (Solo) The Week Before Black Friday: What Smart Ecommerce Founders Are Doing Differently
It’s not too late to win Black Friday. Even if you’re behind, there’s still time to drive serious results—if you focus on the right moves.
In this episode, I share my final Black Friday checklist after 10 years of running campaigns for Foundr and other brands. You’ll learn exactly what the most successful ecommerce stores are doing one week out to build anticipation, maximize conversions, and p
605: He Bought an Airline for $0.30 (and made BILLIONS) | Tony Fernendes (Best of Foundr)
Tony Fernandes turned a failing airline into a billion-dollar business
and built AirAsia into one of the most recognized brands in Asia.
In this interview, Tony explains how he bought AirAsia for just 30 cents
and $10M of debt, scaled it into the fourth largest airline in Asia,
and created a culture that transformed 24,000 employees into a unified
team. From building a brand with global impac
604: (Solo) What Labubu and Apple Can Teach You About Scarcity Marketing
Think scarcity is just a marketing gimmick? Used properly, it’s one of the fastest ways to increase perceived value, build community, and grow sales—without racing to the bottom on discounts.
In this episode, I break down the scarcity and drop-model strategies I’ve seen work at the highest level—from Apple launches and cult collectible brands to Greta Van Riel’s Fifth Watches—and how we’ve used
603: He Built a $1B Beauty Brand Selling $1 Makeup | Joey Shamah
Joey Shamah built e.l.f. Cosmetics into a billion-dollar beauty brand by doing the exact opposite of every competitor in the industry.
In this interview, the e.l.f. co-founder breaks down how he turned a radical $1 makeup idea—laughed at by investors and retailers—into a global powerhouse that went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
From bootstrapping his business out of his father’s wareho
602: (Solo) What I Learned From Alex Hormozi’s $100M Book Launch
Everyone saw the headlines—but the real lessons from Alex Hormozi’s $100M book launch are in the planning, positioning, and pre-launch.
In this episode, I break down the fundamentals you can lift straight into your next product launch or Black Friday promo: how to think like a founder (not an influencer), engineer your unit economics, and turn months of value-led content into a movement people
601: The Couple Who Built a 9-FIGURE Brand While Working Full-Time Jobs | Natalie Holloway
Natalie Holloway turned a $5,000 side hustle into Bala — a globally recognized fitness brand worn by millions and backed by Mark Cuban and Maria Sharapova.
In this interview, the Bala co-founder breaks down how she and her husband Max bootstrapped the brand from their garage to $20M+ in sales, weathered near-bankruptcy after the post-COVID crash, and rebuilt into a nine-figure company with 20+ p
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