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-you cards for early customers, these strategies create the kind of emotional connection that big brands ca...
Dec 02, 2025•9 min•Ep. 610
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 turned an untapped niche into a global opportunity, scaled distribution in Australia and the U.S., and built a b...
Nov 27, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 609
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. From scaling ads too fast, to chasing promotions instead of strategy, I’ll share how shifting my mindset...
Nov 25, 2025•11 min•Ep. 608
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 scaling a household name—all while staying profitable and purpose-driven. From surviving adversity to ma...
Nov 20, 2025•53 min•Ep. 607
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 protect their margins without relying on panic discounts. Here’s what you’ll take away: • How to build h...
Nov 18, 2025•10 min•Ep. 606
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 impact to navigating failures, scaling fast against competitors, and leading digital transformation, Tony’s st...
Nov 13, 2025•42 min•Ep. 605
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 similar principles at Foundr and with our students. You’ll learn how to create authentic urgency that ...
Nov 11, 2025•13 min•Ep. 604
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 warehouse to selling 192,000 orders overnight after a viral Bloomingdale’s rumor, Joey shares the full story ...
Nov 06, 2025•54 min•Ep. 603
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 want to be part of—before you ever make the ask. Here’s what you’ll take away: • Launch like a founder:...
Nov 04, 2025•14 min•Ep. 602
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+ products and collaborations with brands like Spanx and Pucci. From surviving massive layoffs to masteri...
Oct 30, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 601
AI is the biggest shift since the internet—and if you’re not using it daily as a founder, you’re falling behind. In this episode, I break down exactly how I use AI to think clearer, execute faster, and lead better—without being technical. From treating AI as a true thinking partner to training it like a team member, I’ll show you the practical workflows, tools, and prompts that have meaningfully increased my output and product velocity. Here’s what you’ll take away: • How to use AI as a thinking...
Oct 28, 2025•13 min•Ep. 600
Suneera Madhani built Stax from an idea her employer rejected into a $1B fintech unicorn processing over $25B in payments. In this interview, the Stax co-founder shares how she went from selling credit card terminals out of her car to pioneering the first subscription-based payment processor, raising over $500M in capital, and scaling a company now generating $120M+ in revenue. From turning down a $17.5M acquisition offer to building an omnichannel platform before “fintech” was even a word, Sune...
Oct 23, 2025•42 min•Ep. 599
Think your “brand” is a logo, font, and color palette? That’s polish—not branding. Real ecommerce branding makes customers feel understood, builds instant trust, and increases conversions across your product pages, emails, and social. In this episode, I break down what I’ve learned working with branding expert Camille Moore on our new Ecommerce Branding Blueprint inside Foundr+. You’ll get the principles and system I wish every founder used before launching—so your store stops feeling “nice” and...
Oct 21, 2025•10 min•Ep. 598
Tezza Barton bootstrapped the Tezza app from a two-person passion project into a 25M+ download, $33M/year creative-tech brand—with just 15 employees and zero paid ads for the first four years. In this interview, Tezza breaks down the scrappy path from negative bank balances and collage kits in a 250-sq-ft apartment to building a category-defining editing app and community that creatives actually love. From community-led growth and brand-first product design to pricing pivots, lean teams, and cul...
Oct 16, 2025•53 min•Ep. 597
You might expect my favorite interviews to be with Richard Branson, Tony Robbins, or Barbara Corcoran. But one that surprised me — and stuck with me more than most — was with Scooter Braun. In this episode, I share the lessons Scooter taught me about resilience, humility, and the real human side of entrepreneurship. From his honesty about burnout and blind spots, to Jeff Bezos’ reminder that true success is simply about evolving, this conversation hit me harder than most. Here’s what you’ll take...
Oct 13, 2025•10 min•Ep. 596
The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan is where ambitious founders get real playbooks, not theory. Every week, Nathan sits down with the world’s top entrepreneurs and operators to unpack how they built, scaled, and led category-defining companies. You’ll hear candid stories, hard numbers, and step-by-step tactics you can use right away across product, marketing, hiring, funding, and leadership. Past guests include Mark Cuban, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, and more. If you...
Oct 13, 2025•1 min
Pia Mance started Heaven Mayhem in 2022 with just $900 and scaled it into a $10M accessories brand in under three years. In this interview, Pia breaks down the scrappy steps she took to launch her first collection, the grassroots marketing hacks that made her products go viral, and how celebrity moments like Hailey Bieber wearing her designs gave the brand instant credibility. From handmaking necklaces in her living room to building an accessories empire stocked in global retailers like Selfridg...
Oct 10, 2025•55 min•Ep. 595
Most founders obsess over tactics, hacks, and strategies. But the truth? None of it matters if you don’t have the right mindset. In this episode, I share the mental frameworks I’ve learned after a decade of building Foundr and interviewing 100+ of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs. From why 50% of success comes down to belief, to how to reframe failure as data, these are the mindset shifts that will keep you in the game long enough to win. Here’s what you’ll take away: • Why every founde...
Oct 07, 2025•9 min•Ep. 594
Phoebe Gates went from failed prototypes in her Stanford dorm room to building one of the fastest growing fashion-tech startups in the world. In this interview, the co-founder of AI shopping app Phia shares how she and her co-founder Sophia Kianni scaled from 200 early users to half a million downloads, raised $9M from investors like Kleiner Perkins, Kris Jenner, and Sara Blakely, and turned their vision into a personal AI shopping assistant trusted by a new generation of consumers. From buildin...
Oct 03, 2025•52 min•Ep. 593
Most founders think they need a completely original idea to succeed. The truth? Great businesses are often built by borrowing brilliance — and putting your own spin on what already works. In this episode, I break down the concept of “good artists copy, great artists steal,” and show you how to apply it in your business. From how I grew Foundr’s Instagram to how I built and exited my ecommerce brand, Healthie, this approach has helped me create traction faster without reinventing the wheel. Here’...
Sep 30, 2025•8 min•Ep. 592
David Heath and Randy Goldberg turned Bombas from a scrappy Indiegogo campaign into the most successful Shark Tank investment of all time—now valued at $3.4 billion. In this interview, the Bombas co-founders share how a simple insight about homelessness sparked a mission-driven sock company, how they bootstrapped their way to product-market fit, and the strategies that allowed them to scale profitably in one of the most competitive eras of eCommerce. From bootstrapping and fundraising to Shark T...
Sep 26, 2025•44 min•Ep. 591
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-you cards for early customers, these strategies create the kind of emotional connection that big brands ca...
Sep 23, 2025•8 min•Ep. 590
Brian Littlefield is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Jocko Fuel—one of the fastest-growing supplement brands in America. But his story didn’t start in a boardroom. It started with a life-changing health wake-up call. In this episode, Brian shares how he went from overweight and directionless to building a trusted supplement empire backed by Navy SEAL legend Jocko Willink. You'll hear how they launched Jocko Fuel with a single product, the risky decision to tie the brand to Jocko’s na...
Sep 19, 2025•49 min•Ep. 589
Most ecommerce founders think the only way to grow is to get more traffic — but often, the fastest way to increase sales is by making more from the traffic you already have. In this episode, I share a proven “second sale” strategy you can use to increase your conversion rate, average order value (AOV), and customer lifetime value (CLV) without spending a single extra dollar on ads. This is the exact approach Amazon uses to generate billions in extra revenue — and it works just as well for smalle...
Sep 16, 2025•8 min•Ep. 588
Julie Wainwright, founder of The RealReal, reveals how she built a billion-dollar resale marketplace that transformed luxury fashion. In this exclusive Foundr Podcast interview, Julie shares how she scaled The RealReal to over $1B in revenue, reached 38 million members, and took the company public on the Nasdaq. From her early lessons at Pets.com to reinventing resale as “cool” and breaking into the luxury market, Julie unpacks the strategies, risks, and mindset shifts that fuelled her success. ...
Sep 12, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 587
Every business has one major constraint holding it back from the next stage of growth — and solving it is the fastest way to scale. In this episode, I share the exact formula I use to identify the biggest problem in my business, find the right person who’s already solved it, and get the solution faster than years of trial and error. This is the same approach I’ve seen countless successful founders use to break through roadblocks and grow with speed. Here’s what you’ll take away: • How to identif...
Sep 09, 2025•8 min•Ep. 586
Kian Golzari is one of the world’s leading experts in sourcing and product manufacturing—developing over 2,500 products and visiting 500+ factories. In this episode, he shares how to go from idea to product without getting burned by bad suppliers or poor-quality manufacturing. Whether you're working with Alibaba or building a custom product from scratch—this is your playbook. What you’ll learn: • How to vet suppliers and avoid common sourcing mistakes • His exact 3-step product development syste...
Sep 05, 2025•39 min•Ep. 585
After 12 years building Foundr, I finally committed to something I should have done a decade ago — posting online every single day for 90 days straight to grow my personal brand. In this episode, I share what that commitment taught me about building trust, deepening connections with my audience, and why your personal brand is one of the most powerful assets you can create as a founder. Whether you’re just starting out or scaling fast, these lessons will help you turn consistent posting into real...
Sep 02, 2025•9 min•Ep. 584
In this episode of the Foundr Podcast, Nathan Chan sits down with Camille Moore — widely known as the internet’s favorite creative director and the strategist behind some of today’s most iconic brand transformations. Camille has built a reputation for taking founders from forgettable to unforgettable, crafting brand strategies that don’t just look good but actually drive trust, conversions, and sales. In this branding masterclass, she reveals the difference between a good brand and a great brand...
Aug 29, 2025•57 min•Ep. 583
After interviewing over 100 billionaires and ultra-successful entrepreneurs , I’ve spotted three lessons that come up every single time — no matter the industry, background, or business model. In this episode, I break down exactly what I’ve learned from these conversations so you can model the same habits, mindsets, and strategies that separate the world’s top founders from everyone else. Here’s what you’ll take away: • Why surrounding yourself with the right people will make or break your succe...
Aug 26, 2025•11 min•Ep. 582
