Hitting The Mark

SendCutSend: Jim Belosic, Founder & CEO Oct 2, 2026 00:50:27 SendCutSend is a B2B manufacturing company, yet it's become a beloved brand among those familiar with it. The 700-employee company makes custom parts for DIYers in the garage and for innovation giants like Disney, Waymo, and Blue Origin. Jim pivoted from running a software and marketing shop to becoming a Sequoia-funded manufacturing giant. We discuss how both constraints and conviction drive his

Olde Raleigh Distillery: Brandon McCraney, Proprietor, Master Blender Aug 13, 2026 00:34:42 Brandon McCraney is the Founder and Master Blender at Olde Raleigh Distillery, a family-owned and operated craft distillery focused on small-batch and limited-release bourbon and whiskies. Two years into this journey, Olde Raleigh was honored with the prestigious title of Best Micro Distillery in the US. This brand story is as much about persistence as it is about art, and Brandon was so focused o

Le Prunier: Allison Taylor, Co-Founder Jul 17, 2026 00:44:47 Allison Taylor grew up on her family’s plum farm in Northern California, which has been around since 1916 and is one of the world's largest producers of dried plums. In 2018, Allison and her sisters launched Le Prunier, a plum-based skincare brand that reunited them with the farm and created a new family business that is rooted in authenticity and sustainability.

[untitled]: José Chayet & Dan Lilienthal, Co-Founders Jun 19, 2026 00:51:15 Dan Lilienthal and José Chayet co-founded [untitled], a sacred place for work-in-progress music used by hundreds of thousands of artists and producers, including Justin Bieber, Hayley Williams, and Geese. The brand was recently awarded one of Fast Company’s 10 most innovative music companies of 2026.

Air: Tyler Strand, Co-Founder, CTO & COO May 7, 2026 00:48:56 Tyler Strand co-founded the creative operations platform Air, a tech company that could easily be seen as a media agency. Air is empowering Creatives in the age of AI, and the entire brand is built on smart brand marketing. The team is putting out all kinds of crazy campaigns that most Creatives wish their agency would let them run, thereby building a bond and a community that reaches far beyond t

IZIPIZI: Charles Brun, Co-Founder Apr 9, 2026 00:47:33 15 years ago, Charles Brun started C-Concept together with two of his best friends. A B2B2C company that made reading glasses, founded by friends who saw a need for stylish readers for their Parisian moms. Fast forward to today, and the name has changed to IZIPIZI, and the company is selling design-forward eyewear for all occasions in thousands of stores around the world.

Linden Creek: Alisa Sparks, Founder & CEO Jan 29, 2026 00:49:00 Alisa Sparks quit her government finance job to get into interior design without any formal training. She tested her theory, and the market responded. Today, this bold move sees her at the helm of Linden Creek, a home staging and interior design franchise with over 20 locations nationwide and many more planned.

Archer: Eugene Kang, CEO & Founder Dec 4, 2025 00:44:02 Eugene Kang grew up stocking shelves in his parents' gas station convenience stores, then one day took a mesmerizing bite of beef jerky at a small roadside stand, tracked down the maker, and eventually bought the business with his aunt. Fast forward to today, he grew Archer into America’s No. 1 premium jerky brand with 30 SKUs in 30,000 locations nationwide, and on this episode he shares all the

HIRO (TUSHY, THINX, etc): Miki Agrawal , Founder Nov 6, 2025 00:49:56 Miki Agrawal founded the period underwear brand THINX, which everyone listening to this show remembers for its ad campaign running in the NYC subways, featuring grapefruit and eggs to represent menstruation. In 2019, Miki founded TUSHY, where she rebranded the modern bidet. Her latest venture stopped me in my tracks: HIRO Diapers, the world’s first diapers that are digested by Fungi. In this episo

Frank Darling: Kegan Fisher, CEO & Co-Founder Oct 16, 2025 00:47:46 Kegan Fisher, together with her husband, co-founded the Frank Darling brand to revolutionize the fine jewelry industry. One fine piece of copy from the brand’s website reads, “The hardest thing on Earth is now a little easier. We’ll be frank, darling. The diamond industry benefits from confused customers.”What began in a Brooklyn apartment has grown into a nationally recognized brand with nine bri

LYMA: Lucy Goff, Founder Sep 25, 2025 00:43:09 Lucy Goff is the founder of LYMA, the buzzy London-based brand providing 'the world’s most powerful skin longevity system.’ A LYMA Laser runs you $2,700, and the LYMA Laser Pro sets you back $6,000: a significant investment, and a challenging brand positioning to defend in a highly opaque industry. This episode focuses on how Lucy and her team have created a new niche with significant success from

Unleashed Brands: Michael Browning Jr., Founder & CEO Sep 4, 2025 00:43:01 Michael Browning Jr. is the Founder and CEO of Unleashed Brands, the parent company of youth enrichment franchises that serve millions of families annually across 1,400 locations, including Urban Air Adventure Park, The Little Gym, Snapology, Premier Martial Arts, Class 101, XP League, and Water Wings. Michael and I delve into the business of building and expanding magnetic franchise brands: How t

Ritual: Katerina Schneider, Founder & CEO Aug 14, 2025 00:38:13 Katerina Schneider, founder and CEO of Ritual, has redefined the supplement industry through transparent science and sourcing.In this episode, we revisit her launch of Ritual a decade ago—while she was pregnant—driven by her inability to find a supplement brand she could trust. We explore how her company challenged industry norms, treats customers as “Chief Health Officers,” leverages branding to

Fair Harbor: Jake Danehy, Chairman & Co-Founder Jul 17, 2025 00:36:49 Jake Danehy runs the apparel brand Fair Harbor, which has repurposed nearly 40 million plastic bottles into best-selling apparel. He started the company in college with his sister and scaled it into a multi-million-dollar values-led brand.We talk about his childhood beach days in Fair Harbor, which inspired the brand’s name, how you can launch with as good as no funding, that you never own your br

B-SIDES: Yousuf Ahmed, Founder Jun 27, 2025 00:36:28 Yousuf Ahmed made his way from the music industry via Goldman Sachs to upcycling leftover oats (a byproduct of making oat milk) into what he describes as plant-based and protein-packed upcycled crunch puffs that taste like summer camp and save the world.When I prepared for the show, I saw that his company, B-Sides, had just announced that their brand design had fallen a bit flat with consumers and

Une Femme: Jen Pelka, Co-Founder & CEO Jun 5, 2025 00:49:14 5 years ago, Jen Pelka was the founder and CEO of The Riddler, a beloved champagne bar located in San Francisco and NYC, where she offered hundreds of champagnes to a clientele of mainly badass women, quite similar to the team who served them. Then the pandemic hit, and fast-forward to today, where Jen is the Co-founder and CEO of Une Femme, the fastest-growing sparkling wine brand in the US. Jen

Aquaria: Brian Sheng, Co-Founder/CEO May 15, 2025 00:36:05 Brian Sheng is the CEO and Co-Founder of Aquaria, a tech startup that literally makes water out of thin air. The company supplies premium drinking water for homes, businesses, and outdoor spaces and backup water generators that are completely independent of plumbing infrastructure. The brand was named one of TIME magazine’s best inventions of 2024 and has secured 102M in funding for large-scale Aq

Cambium: Ben Christensen, CEO/Founder Apr 24, 2025 00:43:55 Ben Christensen founded Cambium, a company that is building better supply chains, starting with wood, to make it possible to source every material in a regenerative way. This approach creates local jobs and is done just as efficiently, if not more efficiently, than it is today. And Ben and his team put storytelling at the core of their business, so not-surprisingly, their brand design and messagin

Spring & Mulberry: Kathryn Shah, Co-Founder Mar 20, 2025 00:45:05 Before starting chocolate brand Spring & Mulberry, Kathryn Shah was a brand strategy consultant who served as the Vice President of Global Marketing at Pantone and the Brand Manager for Veuve Clicquot Champagne, two brands 99% of us love and look up to.It was a trip to India and a cancer diagnosis that led to her launching her startup Spring & Mulberry, a line of date-sweetened chocolate bars. Aft

Floura: Jeni Britton, Founder Feb 27, 2025 00:53:11 Many of you know Jeni Britton from episode 28, where we did a deep dive into Jeni's Ice Creams, which she started at age 22 and now sells in 80 scoop shops and 12,500 retailers with an annual revenue north of 125 million. Today, we dive into a new chapter of Jeni's entrepreneurial journey with Floura. Floura is a next-generation fiber company that currently offers fiber bars, which she calls Fruit

Hello Genius: Till Janczukowicz, Founder Jan 23, 2025 00:40:59 This is the first time I get to say ‘welcome back’ on Hitting The Mark as I had Till Janczukowicz, the founder of Berlin-based IDAGIO, which is often described as 'the Spotify for classical music,' on episode 21.But this is not a Let’s catch up with Till episode to check in on IDAGIO. Instead, I recently saw that he is preparing for an exciting brand launch that features none other than John Malko

BEZI: Ilay Karateke, Co-Founder Oct 10, 2024 00:54:14 Ilay Karateke is on a mission to bring Labneh to kitchens around the United States, or maybe this is more of a sprint than a mission because her brand, BEZI, is moving fast.Product development started in the kitchen a year ago. Today, they're in stores across New York City with e-commerce starting in December, and I can almost assure you that national distribution will follow shortly.This is one o

Rhone: Ben Checketts, Creative Director & Co-Founder Aug 15, 2024 00:53:26 Together with his brother, Ben Checketts co-founded Rhone, an athleisure wear brand inspired by the quality of Lululemon and the urge to craft a stand-out label for men. The brand is driven by the pursuit of mental fitness and Ben’s philosophy on branding is both refreshing and insightful. We talk about naming, focus groups, how brands are shaped yet set free – a lot like children are being raised

Uncle Matt's Organic: Matt McLean, Founder Jul 26, 2024 00:49:11 Matt McLean ventured into the organic juice business 25 years ago with one goal: to fuel families with uncompromised nutrition. Today, Uncle Matt’s Organic produces the #1 bestselling organic orange juice nationwide. Matt is hustling the same way he did 25 years ago with new product launches and market expansions happening as we speak.We talk about how his initial packaging design was hitting the

Frich: Aleksandra Medina & Katrin Kaurov, Co-Founders Jul 1, 2024 00:40:47 Aleksandra Medina and Katrin Kaurov co-founded Frich (which stands for 'F***ing rich'), a financial literacy app for Gen Z that breaks the money taboo and makes it a social topic. Frich busts into the world of corporate finance backed by a brand that could not be any more differentiated and authentic. With their fists in the air, Aleksandra and Katrin lead with transparency in an opaque space and

Ozlo: Rockwell Shah, CEO & N.B. Patil, Co-Founder + CTO Jun 11, 2024 00:52:35 Episode 109 brings us Rockwell Shah, the CEO, and N.B. Patil, the Co-Founder & CTO of Ozlo, an innovation startup in the sleep technology space.All three of Ozlo’s Co-Founders are former Bose veterans and they acquired and licensed assets from Bose to resurrect the discontinued but beloved Sleepbuds.This episode is a fascinating conversation about building a new brand on existing IP, the fragile t

Bumo: Joan Nguyen, Co-founder & CEO May 17, 2024 00:46:40 Joan Nguyen is the Co-Founder and CEO of bumo, a brand that provides outstanding on-demand childcare for families and employers.Bumo considers itself in the business of 'parent care' and today you can learn all about the TLC she and her Co-Founder put into crafting the bumo brand very hands-on, strategic, and filled with raw authenticity.Trust is bumo’s brand DNA, but with an audience of new paren

Dirty Dough: Bennett Maxwell, Founder & Chairman Apr 26, 2024 00:41:16 Bennett Maxwell is the Founder and Chairman of Dirty Dough, one of the fastest-growing restaurant concepts in the US with 70 locations and another couple hundred in development.In this episode, we get to hear how Bennett’s authentic reaction to a lawsuit that could have taken the business out instead created brand buzz, helped build his tribe, and added to the company's growth. We dive into the id

Squared Away: Michelle Penczak, CEO & Founder Apr 5, 2024 00:39:06 Michelle Penczak was my assistant for 3 years. Today she runs a 400-people strong brand employing military spouses that made #297 on the Inc 5000 last year. Squared Away is rooted in a mutual bond between people and philosophies and is doing what I keep advising most everyone to be doing: The brand is highly niche-focused, was born out of a personal necessity, and came with a tribe in-tow.

Ostroy: Alex Ostroy, Co-Founder & Creative Director Mar 15, 2024 00:39:20 Alex Ostroy successfully combined his passion for cycling and art into a beloved brand that creates eclectic clothing for cyclists who crave self-expression in an industry known for the opposite.Coming from a graphic design and Creative Direction background, Alex’s story and advice will resonate with a lot of you who struggle with blending art and business, who doubt yourself when going with your

Omsom: Kim Pham, Co-Founder Feb 23, 2024 00:41:08 Kim Pham is a first-generation Vietnamese-American, the daughter of refugees, and, together with her sister Vanessa, the Co-Founder of Omsom, the loud and proud Asian food brand of noodles and sauces. This episode already ranks very high on my top favorite HTM interviews ever. When founders start with a why and figure out the how and the what in the process, that’s when you know great brand storie

Thumbtack: Marco Zappacosta, Co-Founder & CEO Feb 2, 2024 00:45:07 Marco Zappacosta built Thumbtack, the marketplace for home services, over the last 15 years. In 2021 Thumbtack had a $3.2 billion valuation and the highest number of professional listings, followed by Yelp. In this episode, we dive into how Marco’s background from having entrepreneurial parents - his father co-founded Logitech nonetheless - and running his startup basically from straight out of co

Norwegian Wool: Michael Berkowitz, Founder & CEO Jan 5, 2024 00:53:09 Michael Berkowitz was a commodities trader who switched to the fashion world after taking on coat-making as a hobby. Yes, you heard that correctly. So he shifted to what in plain sight could be seen as yet another commodity: making coats. But there is more to this story than meets the eye as he solved tangible problems while being credited with making 'quiet luxury' a new movement in the world of

Toneoptic: Fabian Geyrhalter, Founder & CEO Dec 8, 2023 00:44:14 Hitting The Mark is back from its hiatus with guest host Kara Ebel interviewing Fabian Geyrhalter. We wanted to do something special for episode 101, and here we go!You know Fabian Geyrhalter as the host of this show, but today we spin things around and have Fabian in the hot seat talking about his innovative hardware startup for audiophiles and music lovers. Trendhunter calls Toneoptic 'progressi

Hydro Flask: Travis Rosbach, Founder Jul 7, 2023 01:00:02 This is episode 100 of Hitting The Mark and we worked for months to ensure we have the founder of an iconic brand for you. One most probably all of you know and many of you own a piece of the brand. To say we succeeded would be an understatement. Travis Rosbach founded the world’s most used water bottle brand that took the nation, and the globe, by storm: Hydro Flask. From its iconic icon – pun in

Best Day Brewing: Tate Huffard, Founder Jun 16, 2023 00:48:58 Tate Huffard launched Best Day Brewing last year, an alcohol-free range of craft beers for the fun-loving, hard-charging, adventure-seeking thirsty souls for whom good is just not good enough. Packed with relentless optimism, a distinctive brand design, and a powerful ethos, Best Day sees its beer as a comma and not a period in your journey through the day. Tate and I talk about the significance o

Cheddar Up: Nichole Montoya, Co-Founder & CEO May 26, 2023 00:44:10 Nichole Montoya, together with a designer, co-founded Cheddar Up ten years ago. The platform helps over 100,000 groups and organizations collect payments and information to support and grow their communities.Nichole and I talk about how important design was to the success of the brand, how, as a product company, being highly aware of feature creep is a must to ensure the brand does not steer too f

Popup: Matteo Grassi, Co-Founder May 5, 2023 00:47:15 Matteo Grassi went from breakdancing in Italy to traveling with a circus across Australia, then overseeing 7 e-commerce brands and lately launching Popup, a no-code online store-building platform that provides flexibility in customers' journeys. All of this said, Matteo also holds a Masters in Psychology and worked as a brand strategist. What you get when you combine these life experiences and edu

Pattern Brands: Suze Dowling, Co-Founder & Chief Business Officer Apr 14, 2023 00:46:54 Suze Dowling is the Co-Founder of Gin Lane, where she helped launch over 50 D2C challenger brands like Harry’s, Hims, and Sweetgreen. She closed shop and the same founding team started Pattern Brands which now acquires and nourishes brands in the home goods space. Pattern's current portfolio of 7 brands includes Poketo, Onsen, and Letterfolk.So today we talk not only omni-channel, but omni-brand.

Staff: Charlie Weisman, Founder Mar 25, 2023 00:37:17 Charlie Weisman created a company that started by selling plungers, yes, the toilet ones, that are actually desirable. The brand is called Staff and it is quickly growing into a beloved suite of household essentials with bold colors, unique materials, and characters that are eager to help.At Hitting The Mark I pride myself on bringing you as much the well-known, as the unusual upcoming, brands tha

Cadence: Steph Hon, Founder & CEO Mar 3, 2023 00:46:59 Steph Hon is the Founder and CEO of Cadence, the product innovation brand that brought you the modular collection of magnetic, sustainable, TSA-compliant, and leakproof Capsules that lets you store your must-have items from your medicine cabinet, jewelry box, and cosmetics bag so you can move through the world with ease and confidence. I am certain you have seen the distinct and beautiful products

ShopWorn: Larry Birnbaum, Co-Founder & CEO Feb 10, 2023 00:40:10 Larry Birnbaum is the Co-Founder and CEO of ShopWorn, the e-commerce platform for customers who want to be the first to own authentic, unused luxury products while doing good for the environment. This a fascinating proposition, one that challenges luxury brands as well as consumers to do something they used to be reluctant to do: Put trust in a discount reseller. It is also a two-sided marketplace

Noshi (For Kids): Tomo Delaney-Lethbridge, Founder & CEO Jan 21, 2023 00:44:34 Tomo Delaney, despite coming from a family of advertising, decided very early on that he wanted to work for Vogue, which he subsequently did and he spent his entire career in the fashion world in London and NYC. Up until the point where he decided to become a stay-at-home dad. Now he is selling organic food paint for kids. This is a story that is being written as we speak about a brand that will h

Better & Better: Vladimir Vukicevic, Co-Founder & CEO Dec 10, 2022 00:41:11 Vladimir Vukicevic founded Meural and Rockethub, both companies that have been successfully acquired. Now with his third startup, he joined 2,000+ toothpaste brands in the marketplace. To an outsider, it may seem like an overly competitive area to jump into and perhaps a bit random given his software and hardware background, but there is a deeply personal story behind Better & Better and to him, a

Parachute: Ariel Kaye, Founder & CEO Nov 18, 2022 00:43:26 Ariel Kaye founded Parachute in 2014 to disrupt the bedding space by creating a brand people actually remembered and loved. And that is exactly what Parachute has very quickly turned into: a beloved home lifestyle brand with 20+ retail locations.In this episode, we talk about how Ariel’s brand and advertising background was fundamental to her ability to quickly connect with customers, the power of

Dutch (and formerly Hims): Joe Spector, Founder & CEO Oct 28, 2022 00:43:40 Joe Spector wholeheartedly believes in the immense power of branding, if done right and from the get-go. And he would know as he co-founded Hims, the D2C prescription and over-the-counter drugs brand that started off by selling erectile dysfunction and hair loss treatments and has since exploded into a 1.6 Billion Dollar public company together with the Hers brand.Moving into pet telemedicine with

Three Wishes: Margaret & Ian Wishingrad, Co-Founders Oct 7, 2022 00:42:58 Margaret and Ian Wishingrad come from the advertising industry and took a plunge into the food business. Three Wishes is their brand of better-for-you cereal that wants to be liked and purchased by literally everyone from young to old. How they set the brand up to be on its way of accomplishing that, what works and what hasn’t, and why the proof is in the cereal is what we talk about in this insig

East Fork: Alex Matisse, Founder Sep 16, 2022 00:47:13 Alex Matisse, who made it a strategic point not to name his brand after his famous last name (yes, he is the great-grandson of one of the most influential artists to ever live, Henri Matisse), co-founded East Fork, a pottery brand I cherish and study from the outside for a lot of reasons, all of which you will learn more about during this very sincere and insightful conversation. Alex and I talk a

Terra Kaffe: Sahand Dilmaghani, Founder & CEO Aug 27, 2022 00:51:21 Sahand Dilmaghani founded Terra Kaffe, an innovative at-home espresso-brewing machine that seeks to upend the environmentally disastrous use of 'pods.' Inspired by European coffee culture and the Bauhaus design movement the TK-01 machine is a beautiful piece of design simplicity and Sahand and I dive deep into the topic of sustainability, the perhaps misunderstood 'Made in China' brand, rituals as

Eat Just: Josh Tetrick, Co-Founder & CEO Aug 5, 2022 00:38:02 Josh Tetrick is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Eat Just company, a 1.2 billion dollar food startup founded 10 years ago, which is, according to Forbes, "providing justice for animals while addressing food scarcity and the climate crisis."If you enjoy a tough branding challenge, if you appreciate an improbable success story, if care about the environment and animals, if you eat eggs or enjoy the tas

BackMarket: Vianney Vaute, Co-Founder & CCO Jul 15, 2022 00:50:04 Vianney Vaute is the Co-Founder and CCO of Paris-based BackMarket, a marketplace that fights against planned obsolescence.6 months ago the startup was evaluated at 5.7 billion and driven by their brand DNA of 'sabotage' the company keeps old tech devices around for longer hence positively impacting the environment. And yet they found a way to attract the large tech giants like Samsung to not fear

Schiit Audio: Jason Stoddard, Founder Jun 24, 2022 00:47:25 Jason Stoddard founded an improbable made-in-the-US product company in the HI-FI space that is putting out high-quality, inexpensive units while innovating on many fronts. Fueled by the name Schiit his company has become a beloved brand. Schiit is only 12 years old yet 7 years ago Jason already published a book detailing the eventful journey of the garage startup. Many of you know that I am now al

Foundersuite: Nathan Beckord, Founder & CEO Jun 3, 2022 00:45:31 Nathan Beckord founded Foundersuite, a brand that pretty much every founder heard of, used, or referenced. Nathan and I discuss if infusing brand into early-stage startup pitch decks is of importance, if a catchy or descriptive tagline suits a startup better, the power of community in brand building and we talk about Foundersuite’s Teddy Talks which involves a ginormous teddy bear. Yep, a rather v

LOOP Mission: Julie Poitras-Saulnier & David Côté, Co-Founders May 13, 2022 00:51:48 David Coté and Julie Poitras-Saulnier run LOOP Mission which collaborates with major food industry actors to save perfectly good, but rejected products discarded before reaching grocery stores and transform them into products such as juices, smoothies, sodas, beer, gin, soaps, and dog treats.I have to be frank and I can cut this intro very short: I have a complete brand crush and to me, LOOP is in

Thrive Market: Nick Green, Co-Founder & CEO Apr 22, 2022 00:54:23 Nick Green is the Co-Founder & CEO of Thrive Market, a membership-based online platform that makes healthy living easy and accessible to all. Since launching in 2014, Thrive Market has grown to more than 1 million paying members and become a touchstone example of a mission-driven company at scale. In addition to offering great natural and organic products at affordable prices to its members, the c

Shit That I Knit: Christina (Fagan) Pardy, Founder & CEO Apr 1, 2022 00:32:05 Christina (Fagan) Pardy founded Shit That I Knit, a brand of sustainable high-quality knit-wear that one would say besides its name– although the contrary is true – has become known around the world. Christina was recently on the TODAY show and Shit That I Kit was the official Team USA brand partner for beanies and mittens this past Winter Olympics, which is rather spectacular.Here is an entrepren

Good Good: Gardar Stefansson, CEO & Co-Founder Mar 11, 2022 00:43:47 Gardar Stefansson co-founded Good Good, a company from Iceland that makes waves around the globe with its no-sugar-added breakfast and brunch products.To me, startups like Good Good are extremely exciting since they have to embody all the components of great brand strategy: From starting with a niche product for a niche audience - while allowing the brand name and design to survive any pivots - to

Bookshop.org: Andy Hunter, Founder & CEO Feb 18, 2022 00:46:00 Andy Hunter founded Bookshop.org with a mission to disrupt Amazon’s book sales and put them back into the hands of bookstores. He sees his brand to be the MC and hands the mike over to the people who sell and love books. A mesmerizing uphill battle that you can witness him slowly winning by means of passion, dedication, and shared values between bookshop.org, physical bookstores, and last but not

Satisfy Running: Brice Partouche, Founder, CEO & Creative Director Jan 28, 2022 00:48:45 Brice Partouche founded Satisfy, a performance fashion brand for runners to unlock the high. He wouldn’t say it, but I can: Satisfy is quickly developing into a cult brand and we spent ample time talking about Zeitgeist, culture, and community. Brice and I discuss how NFTs can be used to create access to a brand, the link between running and creativity, and how every product line starts with a sto

Thrillist: Adam Rich, Co-Founder Jan 7, 2022 00:43:35 Adam Rich co-founded Thrillist by sending out an e-mail newsletter to 600 people about things to do in NYC. Well, as they say, the rest is history. I talk with Adam about how a newsletter turned into a trusted brand and a global multi-platform media monster hitting the eyeballs of more than 300 million people a month, how understanding and sticking to your brand’s DNA is key to brand growth, how e

Houseplant: Evan Goldberg & Michael Mohr, Co-Founders Dec 3, 2021 00:47:30 Together with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg and Michael Mohr founded Houseplant, a lifestyle brand rooted in cannabis that creates and curates thoughtful, design-led original products.By unifying the words “house” and “plant,” the brand has created an entirely new cannabis experience through curated, one-of-a-kind expert insights from Rogen and Goldberg that marry perfectly with well-designed, premium

Intelligentsia: Doug Zell, Founder Nov 12, 2021 00:52:30 Doug Zell is the Founder of Intelligentsia Coffee, a beloved brand that established itself as a leader in what came to be known as third-wave coffee.Intelligentsia embodies a quest for superior quality and sophisticated design, but it is furthermore about the overall impeccable brand experience that those of us who have visited one of the 15 US locations have come to expect.Doug is a masterful bra

Savor Beauty: Angela Jia Kim, Founder Oct 22, 2021 00:43:59 Angela Jia Kim founded Savor Beauty with a strong brand ethos inspired by a career as a concert pianist. What caught my eye about Angela's brand was how she checks off all the boxes a brand in her space should, and she does it seemingly with ease: farm-fresh small-batch organic products, cutting-edge technology, 100% non-toxic clean formulas, made locally, supporting various deserving communities

Breeze Airways (JetBlue, and others): David Neeleman, Founder & CEO Oct 1, 2021 00:27:22 David Neeleman is the Founder of 5 airlines and changed the way people experienced surprise and delight by flying JetBlue. During the pandemic, he launched his latest airline brand, Breeze, and I sat down with David to talk about what branding means to him, what makes great company culture, how a book inspired the JetBlue brand, and his preferred airline naming process (in the case of JetBlue the

Drink Monday: Chris Boyd, Co-Founder & CEO Sep 10, 2021 00:50:23 Chris Boyd is the Co-Founder of Monday, a Southern California distillery that crafts non-alcoholic spirits such as gin and whiskey. The brand is only a year old and its impeccable design caught my eye from day one. Chris and I talk about how community and authenticity are key to building his brand. And he is walking that talk as he has 1,366 shareholders to who he is reporting.And of course, we ta

Crossnet: Chris Meade, Co-Founder Aug 20, 2021 00:39:48 Chris Meade, 28 years young, a Forbes 30 under 30 nominee, invented a new sport with his co-founders that mixes Four square with Volleyball. Today you can catch Crossnet on ESPN and the product sells in over 3,000 locations in the US and around the world. Chris and I talk about naming not only a brand, but a sport, how to create not only momentum but a movement, the latest in digital marketing, a

von Holzhausen: Vicki von Holzhausen, Founder Jul 30, 2021 00:41:48 Vicki von Holzhausen utilizes her background as a designer for Audi and Mercedes to innovate on materials that are truly sustainable through her eponymous vegan leather bags and accessory brand. Vicki and I discuss the weight of her brand promise, The Conscious Code, how she bootstrapped a luxury brand, how she showcases accountability by using her last name as the brand name and so much more.

Hint: Kara Goldin, Founder & CEO Jul 9, 2021 00:52:35 Kara Goldin is the Founder and CEO of Hint, Inc, the brand synonymous with the leading unsweetened flavored water in the US, loved by millions. Within minutes of listening to Kara, you will understand why she became as successful as she has and why she is such an influential voice in business. Kara shared an outpour of crucial lessons for both entrepreneurs and marketers alike, and her first book,

Coolhaus: Natasha Case, CEO & Co-Founder Jun 18, 2021 00:49:04 Natasha Case founded Coolhaus with her then-girlfriend – now-wife – in 2009. Inspired by her architectural background and a drive to create the best ice cream sandwich available, the couple bought "a piece of shit postal van masquerading as an ice cream truck’ on Craigslist for $2,500 dollars and towed it to the Coachella Music Festival using AAA." The rest is history. Today Coolhaus is the top wo

Swag.com: Jeremy Parker, Co-Founder & CEO May 28, 2021 00:45:34 Jeremy Parker bought the url swag.com to disrupt the boring and outdated promotional products industry. Swag should stand for something new, and be bought differently, and it should be stuff people actually want to keep. That vision turned into reality as swag.com had 2000% growth over the last three years, made it onto Number 218 on Inc’s Top 500 Fastest Growing Companies list, and counts TikTok,

Awe Inspired: Max Johnson, Co-Founder & CEO May 7, 2021 00:48:58 Max Johnson built a tremendously impactful business over the course of the last 4 years through simple necklaces that celebrate female goddesses and leaders. The brand, Awe Inspired, was born out of Max's mother’s desire to empower fellow cancer survivors. From the journey of blindly walking into brand agencies on Madison Avenue to learning how personalization and shared values are key to the futu

TRUFF: Nick Ajluni & Nick Guillen, Co-Founders Apr 23, 2021 00:52:45 You must have been on a social media diet to not have stumbled upon TRUFF’s masterfully designed array of truffle-infused sauces. But TRUFF is not solely a social media sensation, you can find the brand anywhere from Whole Foods to Neiman Marcus, and from the U.S. to Australia. The two Co-Founders, Nick Ajluni and Nick Guillen, have a knack for brand building and now that I have tried their produc

LegalZoom: Edward Hartman, Co-Founder Apr 9, 2021 00:45:55 Eddie Hartman created LegalZoom 20 years ago with two friends and built it into the best-known legal brand in the United States. LegalZoom has over 4 million customers and more than half of all Americans know the brand. I have been a customer for a mighty long time and having this chat with Eddie was just incredibly stimulating and rewarding. We talk about how celebrity lawyer Robert Shapiro becam

Bonjoro: Matthew Barnett, Papa Bear Mar 26, 2021 00:48:06 In the last episode we were in Iceland, today we are in Australia, and finally, we have a B2B brand on the show again: A tech brand that is in the business of converting, retaining, and growing your customers with delightful personal video messages sent at just the right moment. But Bonjoro is not your typical tech company – it has brand and culture at its heart. It is about creating customer love

Saltverk: Björn Steinar Jónsson, Founder & CEO Mar 12, 2021 00:43:01 Björn Steinar Jónsson runs Saltverk, which produces hand-harvested sustainable sea salt using only energy from geothermal hot springs in the northwestern fjords of Iceland. Saltverk's salt-making method is based on the traditional methods of the 17th-century, which means that during the entire process they leave zero carbon footprint. The salt is used in many of the world's best restaurants (gre

Clare: Nicole Gibbons, Founder & CEO Feb 26, 2021 00:40:22 Interior designer Nicole Gibbons set out to 'take the pain out of paint' through her brand Clare where she has pioneered an easier, faster, and more inspiring way to shop for paint. Fast Company proclaimed “The Warby Parker of paint is here” and Nicole has just been named one of Inc’s 100 Women Building America's Most Innovative and Ambitious Businesses. In a fascinating conversation, we dive into

behno: Shivam Punjya, Founder Feb 12, 2021 00:38:52 Shivam Punjya is the founder of the luxury handbag label behno which is designed in NYC but made in India. behno operates at the intersection of ethical thinking and luxury design, a space I have always been very interested in. Further, behno’s mission is to redefine and bring awareness to the character of “Made in India”, and to set a new standard for Indian factory manufacturing that improves th

Pampa: Emmanuelle Magnan, Founder & Creative Director Jan 30, 2021 00:54:44 Emmanuelle Magnan is the Founder of the Parisian flower studio Pampa. Those of you listening to the show frequently know that I love to talk with founders of internationally known brands like Rotten Tomatoes and Evernote just as much as with smaller brands that are unknown to many of you, but that I feel are doing something unique in their space or with their brand. Pampa is doing both as they dis

Two Blind Brothers: Brad Manning, Co-Brother Jan 15, 2021 00:49:38 Brad Manning is one of the Co-Founders, or Co-Brothers as he puts it, of Two Blind Brothers, a mission-based company whose name is telling at least one important part of this brand’s story. Two Blind Brothers is a NYC-based clothing line that focuses on luxury casual wear. Both founders are affected with a form of macular degeneration and pledge 100% of their profits to medical research to cure bl

Rotten Tomatoes: Patrick Lee, Co-Founder & founding CEO Jan 1, 2021 00:41:56 Patrick Lee was Co-Founder and founding CEO of Rotten Tomatoes, the movie rating system we all came to know so well and that I always saw as a kind of anti-brand. To kick off 2021, we are talking about how Patrick transitioned from running a design firm, like so many of my listeners, to running Rotten Tomatoes 23 years ago. Needless to say, the brand is still going strong and we discuss how the na

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