What does a CTC Profit Engineer actually do all day? Brian Sakansky, Profit Engineer Manager at CTC, breaks down the exact daily, weekly, and monthly cadence behind managing 7, 8, and 9-figure eCommerce brands. From Monday's plan reset to Friday's close-the-loop review, this is the operating system behind the Profit Engine. In this episode: The weekly rhythm: reset, diagnose, align, ship, close the loop How execution and strategy split 50/50 (and when that flexes) Why daily action beats waiting ...
Jun 04, 2026•28 min
Randall Thompson built an ecommerce brand from scratch, scaled it to eight figures, and sold it. Along the way, he learned that the goals he set had almost nothing to do with what his business could actually deliver. In this episode, Randall joins Richard to break down what it means to understand your business's DNA, the non-negotiable metrics (COGS, repeat rate, margins) that determine what's actually possible, and how to align your goals to reality instead of fantasy. They cover the three goal...
Jun 02, 2026•32 min
Growth Mastermind What if you could get weekly strategy sessions with a senior CTC profit engineer, full Statlas access, and a private cohort of brands at your stage, all for $500/month?That's the Next Level Growth Mastermind.Richard breaks down exactly what's inside, who it's built for, and five real insights that came out of our pilot cohort sessions, including why offer-market fit matters more than CRO, the exact launch sequence for marketing moments, and a Post-It note ad tactic that's outpe...
May 28, 2026•16 min
CTC's AppLovin specialist Connaugh is back four months after our first episode on the platform to break down what's actually working. Discovery campaigns are averaging 284% incrementality, 45-60 second video creative is where the spend goes, and the tactical playbook is starting to take shape. If you're running an 8-figure ecommerce brand and haven't tested AppLovin yet, this episode makes the case for why you should. Topics covered: AppLovin's new Discovery campaign type and how it differs from...
May 26, 2026•21 min
In this episode, Steve Rekuc breaks down the latest DTC Index findings showing 14.5% revenue growth year-over-year, even as brands face margin pressure. We dive into Mother's Day performance data and what it signals for Memorial Day and Father's Day spending patterns. Topics Covered: 14.5% revenue increase with only 2% AMER decline Mother's Day performance and Memorial Day predictions Why discounting is down year-over-year Amazon cannibalization testing methodology TikTok Shops incrementality an...
May 21, 2026•18 min
We just got back from the 2026 Meta Performance Marketing Summit, and the biggest takeaway wasn't a single feature or tool. It was the realization that the brands growing the fastest right now are operating in two completely different worlds at the same time. Luke Austin breaks down everything we saw, heard, and learned at this year's summit. From Meta's push to make conversion lift studies the backbone of a broader measurement discipline, to the explosive growth of TikTok shops and the creator-...
May 19, 2026•19 min
In this episode, Richard sits down with Ian Jordan, VP of Private Equity Partnerships at CTC, to unveil our brand new Creative Assessment Quiz. This 6-pillar framework helps 7-9 figure brands move from placing bets to making strategic investments in creative production. Key Topics Covered: The 6 pillars of creative production assessment Why volume and velocity create more shots on goal How Meta's entity ID system impacts creative diversity Moving from cost center to supply chain mindset Producti...
May 14, 2026•28 min
Every satisfied customer creates demand you never see. It spills across Meta, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and your DTC site, and most brands have no system for tracking it, let alone capturing it. In this episode, Luke Austin introduces the ecommerce Demand Cascade: a framework for understanding how demand flows across media channels and sales channels, and why optimizing just one leaves money everywhere else. We cover: The two pillars of the Demand Cascade: media channels vs. sales/distribution channe...
May 12, 2026•26 min
You're spending $20 per ad and it's not working. You think you need more creative volume. But the real problem? You don't have your customer journey figured out. In this episode, Joy Sharma breaks down why 7-figure brands get stuck, and it's almost never a creative problem. He shares the exact formula CTC uses to diagnose and fix growth for emerging brands, and why testing inside marketing moments (not evergreen) changes everything. The Formula: (Landing Pages + Offers + Creative) ^ Customer Jou...
May 07, 2026•32 min
In today's episode Taylor walks through a live Statlas demo showing why AI tools hallucinate when they lack business context. He shows how the same data produces wildly different (and wrong) recommendations without a methodology layer, then demonstrates how CTC's hierarchy of metrics framework transforms AI from unreliable to actionable. This episode also covers why Meta's Advantage+ tools are designed without a point of view, and what that means for brands relying on them. In this episode: Why ...
May 05, 2026•9 min
Taylor sits down with Austin Harrison, founder and CEO of Northbeam, to announce an official partnership between CTC and Northbeam. After years of public debate about attribution, they've found common ground: bringing enterprise-grade measurement to 7-figure DTC brands. In this episode, Taylor and Austin discuss their history, what's evolved in measurement, and how CTC will deliver Northbeam's deterministic attribution data through Statlas. Topics covered: The origin story: from intellectual spa...
Apr 30, 2026•22 min
What happens when a home flipper and an aspiring doctor decide to start selling lights during a pandemic? You get Lighthouse Co a curated lighting and home goods brand with 20,000+ SKUs, serving designers and homeowners across Canada and the US. In this episode, Brian Sakansky sits down with Lighthouse Co co-founders Sarah and Jason at CTC HQ in Southern California. They break down the real story behind building multiple businesses from scratch, from custom cabinetry to curated ecommerce to buil...
Apr 28, 2026•52 min
Steve Rekuc, Director of Data at Common Thread Collective, joins Richard to break down the Q1 2026 vs Q1 2025 year-over-year data from the DTC Index. The headline: Meta spend is up 25% year over year while ROAS only degraded 3%. Google ROAS actually increased 12% despite higher spend. The platforms are getting more elastic. In this episode: Total revenue up 13.6% YoY with more coming from returning customers Meta spend up 25.28% with only 3% ROAS degradation Google ROAS up 12% with 3.65% more sp...
Apr 23, 2026•17 min
The number one pain point brands bring to us: "My current agency gives me execution, not strategy." Luke and Richard, break down why that complaint, while valid, doesn't go far enough. Most brands are stuck in one of two broken relationships: An agency that only executes (you tell them what to do, they do it) A consultant that only strategizes (they give you a plan and leave) Neither owns the outcome. And that's the real problem. In this episode, Luke and Richard walk through the hierarchy of wh...
Apr 21, 2026•23 min
Taylor and Luke, walk through exactly how the Prophit Engine system enables one person to deliver the work and outcome of three. This isn't about replacing people with AI. It's about what happens when you combine 12 years of methodology, a purpose-built data infrastructure, and an operator empowered by enterprise-grade tooling. In this roundtable replay, Taylor demos: How data infrastructure creates the foundation for fast decisions The planning process: marketing calendar → financial forecast →...
Apr 16, 2026•56 min
Tony Chopp, walks through the Hierarchy of Metrics — the framework our Prophit Engineers use to diagnose problems and take action for 170+ ecommerce brands. In this episode, Tony and Richard break down a real brand example in Statlas, showing how you go from a contribution margin miss all the way down to a specific campaign adjustment in Google Ads. The hierarchy: Business-level metrics (revenue, contribution margin, ad spend) Customer-level metrics (new vs. returning, paid vs. organic) Channel-...
Apr 14, 2026•31 min
AI is changing how ecommerce brands produce creative. But most brands are using it wrong. They're generating entire ads with AI and wondering why performance drops. Or they're ignoring it entirely and falling behind on volume. In this episode, we break down how to actually use AI in your creative workflow without sacrificing the authenticity that drives results. The brands winning with AI aren't replacing their creative process. They're using AI to scale what already works. What we cover: Why pu...
Apr 09, 2026•28 min
Common Thread Collective is now an owner in Commerce Roundtable. In this episode, Taylor with Jimmy Kim, founder of Commerce Roundtable, to tell the full story of how this partnership came together and why in-person events matter more than ever. Jimmy shares the origin story of Commerce Roundtable, from a 50-person CBD roundtable in a San Diego office in 2019 to a community-driven ecommerce event with 350+ curated attendees. Taylor talks about why CTC decided to go from attendee to owner, and wh...
Apr 07, 2026•29 min
Every ecommerce growth team spends the majority of their time answering the same five questions. The problem? Most brands answer them with disconnected tools, siloed teams, and spreadsheets that have nothing to do with the actual marketing levers they can pull. In this episode, Luke breaks down the five questions that account for 80% of your marketing team's work - and how the Prophit Engine answers all five inside a single system: What should my forecast be, and what does each channel need to d...
Apr 02, 2026•42 min
CTC has never had a service offering for brands below seven figures. That changes today. Prophit Engine Lite is for any Ecommerce brand with established revenue below $1M annually. If you're past the startup phase, running ads, generating sales, and trying to figure out how to grow profitably, this is built for you. In this episode, Richard walks through exactly what PE Lite includes: Step 1: Connect every data source to Statlas. Marketing data, store data, COGS, shipping costs, fixed expenses, ...
Mar 31, 2026•11 min
Most brands are stuck in a cycle: source UGC creators, send product, hope the content is usable, repeat. The hit rate is low, the management is painful, and the content lacks consistency. Adrianne breaks down a different model: a dedicated in-house creator, fully managed by CTC. What this episode covers: Why one dedicated creator outperforms a rotating roster of 50 UGC creators How CTC matches creators to brands based on lifestyle, aesthetic, and audience fit The three boxes every brand needs ch...
Mar 26, 2026•27 min
Most 7-figure brands are stuck in the same loop. They've outgrown guesswork but can't justify a $15K/month agency retainer. Every dollar has to work, and there's no infrastructure to know if it is. Joy Sharma breaks down how the Prophit Engine system adapts for brands in the 7-figure range. What this episode covers: Why "just use AI" doesn't replace the PE - the difference between general advice and accountability backed by 12 years of data The 3 core services: forecasting, strategy, execution -...
Mar 24, 2026•31 min
Every brand wants more capacity from their growth team. Most try to solve it by adding people or plugging data into ChatGPT. Neither works. In this episode, Luke breaks down the 3-layer infrastructure behind the Prophit Engine that actually creates capacity: Layer 1: The Database Order-level, finance, marketing, and cost data aggregated in one place. Living in the context of your targets and forecast, not just historical performance. Informed by a data set across hundreds of brands and billions ...
Mar 19, 2026•20 min
Most brands have a media buyer, a strategist, and a creative lead. Everyone's doing their job. Everyone has a dashboard. But when you ask "are we on plan this week?" you get three different answers. In the episode Luke breaks down the three pillars of accountability inside the Prophit Engine: We create the forecast AND execute against it. No handoffs between planning and doing. One person owns the entire workflow. Every lever is at their disposal, from media mix to creative strategy to Meta camp...
Mar 17, 2026•18 min
Most ecommerce brands are making slower, worse decisions than they realize, and it's not because of bad people. It's because of a broken structure. In this episode, Richard sits down with Luke and Tony to break down one of the most important benefits of the Prophit Engine: total clarity. From fragmented data and siloed teams to a single operator with a full end-to-end view of the business, they unpack exactly why consolidation leads to better decisions, faster action, and stronger results. They ...
Mar 12, 2026•26 min
What if one person could replace your entire ecommerce growth team, and get better results? In this episode Richard and Luke break down exactly how the Profit Engine works and why it's changing the way DTC brands scale. Luke walks through the four core functions every ecommerce brand needs — forecasting & target setting, creative strategy, media measurement, and Meta media buying — and explains how one person, enabled by the right tools and data models, can own all four. The result? A leaner...
Mar 10, 2026•30 min
Common Thread Collective just launched the Prophit Engine to the public—and in this episode, Richard and Taylor break down what it is, why it exists, and how it helps DTC brands forecast more accurately, grow contribution margin, and simplify their growth stack for less cost. You’ll hear how CTC is combining data + methodology + AI-enabled tooling into a system (and a new “Profit Engineer” role) that replaces complexity with clear expectations and execution. What we cover Why profit + predictabi...
Mar 05, 2026•25 min
In this episode, Richard and Taylor Holiday discuss the rise of the “SEANs” — the Software-Enabled AgeNcy — and why it represents a fundamental shift in how eCommerce brands will build growth teams going forward. Taylor explains how traditional agencies struggle to operationalize institutional knowledge across individuals, leading to inconsistent execution and diffused accountability. The solution? Embedding a clear point of view directly into software, turning ideology into infrastructure. Rath...
Mar 03, 2026•29 min
Incrementality tests are “in”… but the real problem is what you do after the read. In this episode, Taylor sits down with Olivia Kory (Chief Strategy Officer at Haus) and George Davis (CMO at Cozy Earth) to unpack the messiest part of modern measurement: operationalizing incrementality when results swing, channels conflict, and “platform ROAS” can’t be trusted. If you’ve ever asked: “Our holdout came back way lower than Meta… now what?” “Why don’t test results replicate month-to-month?” “How do ...
Feb 26, 2026•1 hr 30 min
Sales tax feels simple—until you hit nexus. In this episode, Ryan Pinkham (VP of Go-to-Market at TaxCloud) breaks down why sales tax gets complex fast for growing ecommerce brands, what happens when you cross nexus thresholds in new states, and how ignoring compliance can turn into a painful (and expensive) distraction. We cover: What sales tax nexus actually means for ecommerce The three “buckets” of brands (doing nothing, unhappy with current tools, or knowingly delaying) Why sales tax is a ye...
Feb 24, 2026•9 min
