Mini kits and first-order AOV tradeoffs

“The market will tell you your hero — you can’t decide it.”

How do you build a brand after you've seen the inside of 30 others?

Connor Rolain and Cody Plofker sit down with Ari Murray, Chief Digital Officer at Salt & Stone, who spent four and a half years as Chief Growth Officer at Sharma Brands before going in-house. They dig into what it takes to lead growth for a single brand after years of running it for dozens at once.

You’ll learn when to hire an agency versus build in-house, and why the answer changes as a brand matures. Ari shares how Salt & Stone approaches acquisition without discounting, why discovery sets are central to their DTC funnel, and how she thinks about first-order AOV in a scent-driven category where customers can't smell the product before they buy. 

They also discuss session growth as a daily obsession, the real cost of dabbling in new channels without enough commitment, and why the line between brand and performance is too often drawn in the wrong place. 

Powered By

Motion Creative Benchmarks 2026https://motionapp.com/thumbstop-pulse/creative-benchmarks-2026?utm_campaign=marketing-operators&utm_medium=sponsor&utm_content=creative-benchmarks-2026&utm_source=marketing-operators-podcast

Aftersell https://9ops.co/4i3bb5

Rivo

https://www.rivo.io/operators

Prescient AI https://www.prescientai.com/operators

Richpanel https://9ops.co/richpanel

Operators Newsletter https://9operators.com/