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What's Working

What's Working

What's Working 12 Episodes Aug 17, 2026

Real strategies. Real results. What's actually working right now. Hosted by Isaac Medeiros and Zain Ali, this weekly business podcast covers the strategies, tools, and business models that are producing real results for founders and entrepreneurs.

Episodes

The GLP-1 Effect: Why The Beauty Industry is Crashing
The GLP-1 Effect: Why The Beauty Industry is Crashing Aug 17, 2026 00:42:11 Cody Plofker took Jones Road Beauty to $160 million in revenue without a VP of Finance or a VP of Marketing. Now, he’s stepping down as CEO to stop the burnout and build the future of lean, AI-powered e-commerce.In this episode of What's Working, Cody breaks down the reality of running a 9-figure family business, why he stepped down to focus on high-level strategy, and his unapologetic take on why
Going ALL in on TikTok doubled their Sales (Beauty By Earth CEO interview)
Going ALL in on TikTok doubled their Sales (Beauty By Earth CEO interview) Aug 10, 2026 00:38:20 In Episode 14 of the What's Working Pod, we sit down with Prudence Millsap, co-founder of Beauty by Earth, to unpack the exact strategies she used to build one of the most successful bootstrapped beauty brands on the internet.Prudence pulls back the curtain on how taking TikTok Shop in-house catapulted them to $700k/month, and how that external traffic miraculously slashed their Amazon ad spend by
This 9-Figure Founder Replaced His Whole Creative Team with AI | Nik Sharma
This 9-Figure Founder Replaced His Whole Creative Team with AI | Nik Sharma Jul 7, 2026 00:32:53 Nik Sharma sold his agency Sharma Brands for a reason most people miss, and now he's building entire DTC brands using only AI, from ads to assets. In this episode of What's Working Podcast, Nik breaks down the exact move that led him to sell Sharma Brands through a reverse RFP process, why he wanted a blank slate going into January, and how he went from running one of the most recognized DTC agenc
How Apple made him $100m | Roman Khan
How Apple made him $100m | Roman Khan Jun 24, 2026 00:46:44 Roman Khan has spent the last decade building, scaling, and acquiring e-commerce brands, taking his portfolio to nine figures in revenue. From nearly going bankrupt to achieving a 3% OpEx and netting eight figures in EBITDA, Roman has mastered the mechanics of highly profitable DTC businesses. Now, he’s shifting his focus from private equity to the highly inefficient public markets.In Episode 12 o
Chris Meade | Why I Quit a 8-Fig D2C Brand for Brick & Mortar | What's Working Podcast
Chris Meade | Why I Quit a 8-Fig D2C Brand for Brick & Mortar | What's Working Podcast Jun 3, 2026 00:35:56 Chris Meade took the ultimate leap of faith, pulling his $7,000 life savings from a 401k to build Crossnet. By age 27, he had grown the invented sport into a massive $10 million business netting $2 million in EBITDA. Today, he has moved away from the brutal grind of physical products to focus on high-cash-flow brick-and-mortar Pilates studios and the ultra-exclusive Founders Club.In Episode 11 of
How Memes Made Him a Multi Million Founder
How Memes Made Him a Multi Million Founder May 20, 2026 00:37:59 Jason Levin went from ghostwriting for tech founders to going undercover in the meme world, ultimately raising a $3 million seed round from industry giants like Balaji Srinivasan to build Meme Lord an AI-powered SaaS platform combining Google Trends and Canva for marketers.In Episode 10 of What's Working, Jason breaks down why "Memes Make Millions" isn't just a catchy book title, but a billion-dol
How Clean Girl Took Over the Entire Internet
How Clean Girl Took Over the Entire Internet May 14, 2026 00:43:15 Maxwell Maher went from owning a failing moving company to building "Clean Girl" a media juggernaut that racked up 18 billion views and 27 million followers in under two years. Now, his products are sitting on the shelves of 5,000 stores across the country, including Target and Walmart.In this episode of What's Working, Maxwell breaks down his insane entrepreneurial journey: from knocking on doors
Launching Nationwide in Target Destroyed then Saved His Business
Launching Nationwide in Target Destroyed then Saved His Business May 11, 2026 00:28:46 Colin McGuire acquired a dormant Australian hair care brand and scaled it to $7 million in just 18 months. His DTC growth was so explosive that Target's lead retail buyer actually filled out a customer service form on his website begging to stock the product.In this episode of What's Working, Colin breaks down his incredible e-commerce journey, starting from running Facebook's earliest "Dark Post"
$200m a year by just selling wallets?
$200m a year by just selling wallets? Apr 29, 2026 00:51:21 Connor MacDonald helped scale Ridge from a couple million in revenue to over $200 million a year. How? By ditching the traditional agency model, going in-house, and ruthlessly optimizing everything from growth-hacking subreddits to coining brand-new e-commerce metrics.In Episode 7 of What's Working, Connor (CMO of Ridge and host of the Marketing Operators podcast) breaks down his wild origin story
Pastor to Media CEO
Pastor to Media CEO Apr 15, 2026 00:55:44 Aaron Orendorff went from an infantry soldier and pastor to burning his life to the ground, only to rebuild it into becoming the Chief Content Officer for The Operators and former Editor in Chief at Shopify Plus.In Episode 6 of What's Working, dive into his wild journey of faking Wix blogs to land bylines in the NYT, shaping the early days of Shopify Plus enterprise, and building the DTC Index at
The Truth About AI Adoption in 9-Figure Brands
The Truth About AI Adoption in 9-Figure Brands Mar 25, 2026 00:48:20 What if your best employee wasn't human? Meet "Liam", the autonomous Open Claude AI agent fully integrated into Asana and Slack, actively running data analysis, generating action items, and doing meeting prep for an elite agency.In Episode 5 of What's Working, Cherene and Jacob from Growth Capital Co. pull back the curtain on building a truly AI-native growth agency. They share their journey from
AI Won’t Take Your Job
AI Won’t Take Your Job Mar 17, 2026 00:44:15 Jared Orkin went from setting up AOL accounts for seniors at age 15 to building Activate Talent, the offshore staffing empire placing hundreds of employees at massive brands like Hexclad , Fashion Nova , and Comfort.On Episode 4 of What's Working, Jared breaks down his wild entrepreneurial journey, from launching a hyperlocal Groupon competitor in college to dominating Amazon FBA. He reveals why A

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