In this episode of Growth Mavericks, Adam Callinan sits down with Russell Breuer, Co-Founder and CEO of Spot & Tango, to break down what it really takes to build and scale a nine-figure direct-to-consumer brand.
Russell shares the unfiltered story of Spot & Tango’s journey—from cooking dog food in a 700-square-foot NYC apartment to navigating hypergrowth during COVID and making the bold decision to vertically integrate by building their own manufacturing facility.
This conversation goes deep into the realities most founders don’t talk about, including:
- Finding real product-market fit (before the metrics look good)
- Why contribution margin matters more than gross margin
- How CAC, LTV, and payback periods actually guide decision-making
- The operational chaos of scaling physical products
- Why vertical integration became a long-term competitive moat
- The mental and emotional toll of entrepreneurship—and how to survive it
- How customer feedback directly shaped product innovation
- What “growth at all costs” got wrong in DTC
If you’re building a subscription business, a physical product brand, or navigating the messy middle between early traction and real scale, this episode is a masterclass in disciplined growth and founder resilience.
Learn more about what we’re building at Pentane: https://www.pentane.com
Learn more about Spot & Tango: https://www.spotandtango.com
