Follow Along on Social DTC Pod on Instagram DTC Pod on LinkedIn DTC Pod on Twitter DTC Pod on TikTok Dont hesitate to reach out to us on socials or directly to Blaine & Ramon if you have a guest youd like to recommend, or specific topics youd like to learn more about in the consumer, creator, and commerce landscape which we can explore with future guests.How did the pod start and where are we going? How Consumer, Creator, & Commerce businesses are built Bring different perspectives that can be a...
Jun 15, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Ep 200•Transcript available on Metacast Mlanie chats with Blaine & Ramon about building Ghia. Some topics include how to create a new beverage category, production considerations for a new beverage type, early-stage funding advice and key supporters along the way, customer-led product iteration, building a culinary first brand, design and branding insight, leveraging restaurants and retail as a distribution strategy, Ghias focus on retail channels, and much more. 2:35 - 7:11 Melanies career before Ghia 9:39 - 11:56 Selling the idea of...
Jun 09, 2022•42 min•Ep 199•Transcript available on Metacast Growing up, Darrin Willingham dreamed of playing in the NFL. But then he discovered his love for creating content. Darrin discusses how he found himself in the world of YouTube, making videos, monetizing his passion for sneakers, and coming full circle by working with pro-athletes off the field. Darrin also gives some tips on building a strong social media foundation and personal brand. 3:59 - 8:14 Discovering ways to make money 8:30 - 10:18 Getting banned from YouTube 10:39 - 11:57 Building a s...
May 31, 2022•1 hr•Ep 198•Transcript available on Metacast Blaine & Ramon are thrilled to have Kevin Wong as a guest on DTC Pod and dive into building the first Asian American craft hard seltzer alcohol brand - Lunar . Kevin talks about the early days of home brewing, perfecting the formula, and learning from failed batches and supply chain. He also gets into the business side and talks about selling to restaurants and becoming one of the most in-demand items at Trader Joe's. 2:14 - 5:42 Life before Lunar 9:56 - 13:52 Creating Lunar 14:56 - 17:57 Early ...
May 24, 2022•55 min•Ep 197•Transcript available on Metacast Terry Lee stopped by the DTC POD studio to talk to Blaine & Ramon about building Rosaluna and specifically how hes established Rosalunas culture and values (ex: moving with intention versus just moving fast). Terry also discusses visiting Oaxaca, Mexico, learning about how mezcal is made, and meeting the multi-generational family of farmers who make it. 2:41 - 6:21 Terrys background 8:42 - 19:13 Working at MeUndies 19:47 - 25:33 Building a team culture & values 25:34 - 34:56 Why build fast and b...
May 17, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep 196•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode of DTC Pod, Blaine & Ramon chat with Chaz Zayed and Emmit Flynn about how they started Awful Cloth in their dorm room and grew it into a viral brand, collaborating with Barstool on a hoodie, why theyve seen so much success with influencers (side note: theyve never paid any influencer to wear their hoodie!), and their plans to grow the brand. 2:06 - 7:59 The Start of Awful Cloth 15:30 - 18:46 Entrepreneurial Mindset from Day 1 19:34 - 23:38 Going Viral 24:32 - 26:19 Influencer Mar...
May 12, 2022•58 min•Ep 195•Transcript available on Metacast Tono Mandly stopped by DTC Pod's Miami studio to discuss the current consumer landscape in Latin America and how Riogrande is filling a gap in the consumer market, the startup scene in LatAm, the challenges of building DTC Brands in Latin America, and the incredible potential for this $100 billion e-commerce market. 3:47 - 10:22 Tono's background 10:36 - 14:22 Ecommerce landscape in LatAm 14:28 - 16:47 Challenges in LatAm Ecommerce 17:03 - 21:18 What is Riogrande 21:21 - 23:46 Consumer landscape...
May 11, 2022•40 min•Ep 194•Transcript available on Metacast Zach Abbott maker of the world's 1st genetically engineered probiotics. Purpose-built to help our bodies handle the diets and environments of modern life joins Ramon & Blaine to discuss the science behind ZBiotics, the challenges of educating consumers on a genetically engineered probiotic, and how to lean it to being genetically engineered registered with customers. 2:02 - 8:24 Idea for ZBiotics 14:57 - 20:09 The science of a hangover 23:37 - 27:19 Genetically engineerings is easier than you th...
May 05, 2022•1 hr•Ep 193•Transcript available on Metacast While Aspen is still in its early days, were excited to have Keta Burke-Williams on the pod to discuss the logistics of building a fragrance company. In this episode of DTC pod, youll hear Blaine & Ramon talk with Keta about creating a scent, finding a manufacturer, finding her voice when pitching to VCs, optimizing for online and offline sales, being smart with your resources, and tapping into your network. 8:20 - 9:20 The inspiration behind Aspen 15:43 - 16:06 Consumer trust is fragile 32:34 -...
May 03, 2022•48 min•Ep 192•Transcript available on Metacast Were thrilled to have Kristin Toth join Blaine & Ramon on DTC Pod where she walks us through her career trajectory and how she narrowed in on supply chain & ops, being an advisor to multiple startups, why building a circular furniture company is challenging, how Fernish strategically launched in two cities to test product-market, and how Fernish has evolved over time. 1:51 - 5:49 What is Fernish? 6:22 - 8:38 The story behind Fernish 12:04 - 18:07 Kristins career trajectory 18:39 - 22:15 Working ...
Apr 28, 2022•54 min•Ep 191•Transcript available on Metacast Paul Voge speaks with Blaine & Ramon about how creating DIY flavors with his soda stream led to a full-fledge sparkling water business. Paul discusses the challenges of building a CPG brand, being on Sharktank during the height of COVID, Aura Boras path into retail stores, why he prefers retail over DTC orders, and more. 4:17- 6:06 Starting a CPG brand 9:08 - 15:34 Co-packers and distributor 15:50 - 17:04 Family & friend investors 17:12 - 23:04 Filming Sharktank in COVID 24:57 - 29:26 Creating n...
Apr 26, 2022•46 min•Ep 190•Transcript available on Metacast Stix makes womens at-home health essentials like fertility, pregnancy, UTI, and yeast infection products. In todays episode, Stix cofounder Cynthia Plotch chats with Ramon & Blaine about building Stix, finding investors, talking to customers about difficult subjects, and how her prior experience at Harmless Harvest gave her the confidence to create Stix. 1:10 - 5:52 Story behind Stix 8:08 - 8:45 Medical Advisory Board 13:19 - 16:56 Raising VC money 17:59 - 20:31 Prior startup experience 22:37 - ...
Apr 21, 2022•49 min•Ep 189•Transcript available on Metacast Emily Elyse Miller talks to Blaine & Ramon about building OffLimits and how her creative background has informed the brand. OffLimits is also one of the early adopters of Web3, and Emily dives into how theyre currently using NFTs, what excites her about Web3, challenges with Web3, and what other brands need to consider before jumping into this. 3:16 - 7:42 Emilys Breakfast Club Series 8:06 - 10:46 Writing a Cookbook 12:48 - 14:25 Idea for OffLimits 15:33 - 17:35 Getting into Web3 21:06 - 21:52 F...
Apr 19, 2022•49 min•Ep 188•Transcript available on Metacast Geoffrey Woo joins Blaine & Ramon on DTC POD to discuss why he started Anti Fund with Jake Paul, what they look for in founders when investing, and where he sees opportunity in Web 3. Geoff also dives into why Anti Fund is not your traditional VC, managing founders expectations when a celebrity investor is involved, and why they prefer investing in infrastructure over pure consumer startups. 1:13 - 8:18 What is Anti Fund 8:59 - 14:29 Where theyre investing 15:23 - 17:38 Anti Funds deals 18:35 - ...
Apr 14, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep 187•Transcript available on Metacast On this episode of DTC Pod, Sam Madani chats with Ramon Berrios & Blaine Bolus to discuss how he built Bomani and the ups-and-downs of the entrepreneurial journey. The road to success for Bomani wasnt easy. They faced a ton of rejection from local brewers, but they persevered and decided to pitch their concept to the biggest brewer in the country, and it worked! But that was just the first step. Sam discusses getting Bomani into customers hands, the process of selling to restaurants and bartende...
Apr 12, 2022•45 min•Ep 186•Transcript available on Metacast Tabs Chocolate is a sexually enhancing dark chocolate founded by two University of Michigan undergrads Jake and Oliver. Blaine and Ramon are excited to have Jake Lewin and Oliver Brocato on DTC Pod to discuss how they designed specifically for TikTok, negotiating and working with influencers, creating viral videos, and making 90K in revenue in just 3.5 weeks after launch. 2:05 - 8:24 Entrepreneur Background 17:58 - 19:27 Getting Started with Tabs 24:05 - 27:33 Finding the Right Channel 28:44 - 3...
Apr 07, 2022•55 min•Ep 185•Transcript available on Metacast Mid-Day Squares is the healthy chocolate bar company thats built a name for itself through its bold content. Today on the pod, Ramon and Blaine are joined by the architect of Mid-Days brand voice & content strategy, Jake Karls , better known as the Rainmaker at MDS. As a Rainmaker, Jake is out there developing critical relationships with multiple stakeholders (i.e., press, investors, customers, etc.), cultivating the brands personality, and getting people excited about MDS. 1:17 - 4:27 Idea for ...
Apr 05, 2022•51 min•Ep 184•Transcript available on Metacast Chris Bernard AKA Bernie joins Blaine and Ramon to discuss Mindright and working with Rob Dyrdek, learning from previous business mistakes of growing too fast, the importance of building your brands community before utilizing celebrity ambassadors, how TikTok is helping Mindright grow, and more. Buff Bake 2:07 -3:03 Story behind Mindright 6:44 - 10:12 Pitching to Rob Dyrdek 11:03 - 14:12 Celebrity investors 16:35 - 17:33 Leveraging celebrity investors 18:19 - 19:42 Getting into retail 22:31 - 24...
Mar 31, 2022•35 min•Ep 183•Transcript available on Metacast Lindsay McCormick , CEO and co-founder of Bite, chats with Blaine and Ramon about her zero-waste company that makes personal care & hygiene products. Lindsay started Bite with $6,000 dollars and originally hand-made and packaged Bite's toothpaste tablet from her living room in L.A. In 2019, Lindsay went on Shark Tank and turned down offers from Mark Cuban and Kevin O'Leary. Bite has experienced tremendous growth and continues to be completely bootstrapped and profitable. 9:18-10:12 Visualizing f...
Mar 29, 2022•51 min•Ep 182•Transcript available on Metacast Better & Better recently raised a $4M seed round, Blaine and Ramon got the chance to talk to Vlad in-depth about his entrepreneurial journey, the difficulty of pitching a DTC product in a trend-driven VC climate (note: many investors are interested in investing crypto, NFTs, traditional SaaS, etc), competing against legacy brands like Colgate, using customer feedback to relaunch SKUs, and more! RocketHub and Meural 3:08 - 7:20 Inspiration behind Better & Better 7:47 - 10:51 Proof of concept 12:0...
Mar 24, 2022•55 min•Ep 181•Transcript available on Metacast Rob Fraser, CEO of Endur, chats with Blaine and Ramon about how his career as an athlete enabled him to succeed as an entrepreneur and taught him the value of persistence, determination, and the ability to overcome failure. As an entrepreneur of a multi-million dollar brand, Rob discusses the power of bootstrapping & being scrappy (i.e., hitting the pavement & selling directly to customers, getting in-person customer feedback and transferring those learning to the online customer experience), cr...
Mar 22, 2022•56 min•Ep 180•Transcript available on Metacast David Gaylord has had a multifaceted career in ecommerce. He started at Shopify in 2015 as a customer success agent, became an Ops Lead in the Office of the COO in 2020, and a Permanent Merchant in Residence in 2021 where he uses his knowledge & experience founding Bushbalm - a natural skincare brand focused solely on the bikini line - to inspire and advise aspiring entrepreneurs. David joins Blaine Bolus and Ramon Berrios at the DTC Pod and tells us what its like navigating the world of ecommer...
Mar 17, 2022•57 min•Ep 179•Transcript available on Metacast Shaun Brandt , co-founder of Oddit, is a designer and brand builder who is an expert at perfecting the customer journey and reducing friction points. His extensive agency experience (Shaun co-founded a product design agency that grew to 80 employees) helping brands grow enabled him to create Oddit. This first-of-its-kind CRO platform helps DTC brands boost conversion & strengthen loyalty. Shaun chats with Blaine Bolus and Ramon Berrios to discuss what makes Oddit unique and common CVR mistakes b...
Mar 15, 2022•51 min•Ep 178•Transcript available on Metacast Matt Mullenax , CEO of Huron , chats with Blaine & Ramon about his men's care brand offering A+ body care products for guys everywhere. This is Matts second time on the DTC Pod. The first time we spoke to Matt was during Hurons launch, and a lot has happened since, including a global pandemic. Matt discusses how Huron evaluates their supply chain on a super granular level and how this informs their content and marketing strategy, selling on Amazon, and keeping a super clean & lean tech stack. Th...
Mar 11, 2022•48 min•Ep 177•Transcript available on Metacast Kal Freese , co-founder of Taika chats with Blaine & Ramon about launching the functional coffee brand & how Taika leverages opportunities in Web3 to power brand, community, & product growth. Kal is a lifelong entrepreneur, YC alum, and multiple time VC backed founder who has always had a deep passion & appreciation for coffee. When he was 21, Kal opened a coffee shop in Helsinki and became a champion barista ranked no.9 in the world. Kal wanted to create the perfect coffee that provided people ...
Mar 08, 2022•45 min•Ep 176•Transcript available on Metacast Episode brought to you by Trend & Finaloop . Ariel Vaisbort is the Influencer Coordinator at OLIPOP. After starting off as a part-time employee, Ariel quickly transitioned into running influencer coordination with OLIPOP full-time. Previously Ariel has developed social media for a number of companies including Her Campus Media, BANGS Shoes, and the Heritage School of Interior Design. She is also proficient in working with influencers and selling consumer products via e-commerce. OLIPOP is a beve...
Mar 02, 2022•41 min•Ep 175•Transcript available on Metacast Colton Macaulay (@Coltyy), sits down with Blaine & Ramon to detail how he grew his audience to over 10 Million fans on TikTok , 3 Million+ on Youtube, and the creator's perspective on working with DTC brands. For Coltyy, becoming a TikTok star began with a passion for art, photography, and the outdoors. His wildlife photos were getting good attention on Instagram, but the engagement performed much better when he featured himself in the content. From there it seemed a natural step to start produc...
Feb 24, 2022•1 hr•Ep 174•Transcript available on Metacast Greg entered the tech scene early in his career thanks to a friend who tipped him off on a sales job at a New York startup. He started out by literally sleeping in the office by night and making 150 cold calls per day. Unfortunately, his busy schedule and city lifestyle quickly led to burnout. After buying a one-way ticket to Thailand to decompress, Greg came back to the states and got a job at Twitter as a senior sales associate. Soon, he found himself falling back into his old bad habits, and ...
Feb 22, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep 173•Transcript available on Metacast Sean Frank was working at a local Los Angeles ad shop in his early 20s when he and his friend Connor decided to start an agency of their own. The plan was to focus on a small team and high-touch client relationships. It worked so well that one of their clients, The Ridge Wallet, ended up absorbing their talented team entirely. At the time, Ridge was making a couple million dollars a year off Shopify and had accomplished a successful Kickstarter campaign. Sales were good, but they didn't have dig...
Feb 17, 2022•45 min•Ep 172•Transcript available on Metacast Caroline McCarthy is the Co-Founder at Starday Foods. She started her career at Google in the AdWords arena, worked with clients like ClassPass on marketing strategy, and helped build out the performance marketing function at Slack. She also worked for a data science firm that worked for the Obama campaign, followed by working for the banking app One Finance that has since merged under the umbrella of Walmart. Throughout her tech journey, she has been exposed to strategic branding and design ini...
Feb 15, 2022•43 min•Ep 171•Transcript available on Metacast 
