DTC Podcast

Neha Kumar, co-founder and COO of Full Glass Wine Co., scaled a $200M rollup by fixing DTC unit economics and retention. She discusses centralizing ops like shipping and finance while keeping brand identities. Hear why subscriptions hurt many wine brands, how acquisitions hinge on customer type and retention, and why storytelling, segmentation, and shipping scale unlock fast profitability.

Jacob, Head of Socials at Pilothouse, a performance agency expert in paid social. He breaks down Meta’s shift to click-only and incremental attribution. Short takes on holdout tests, why conversion numbers can look off, and how AI agentic ads change ad-to-customer flows. Practical testing and reporting moves for DTC brands spending mid-to-high six figures.

Mike Chiasson, a forecasting and decisioning specialist, and Laura Thompson, co-founder of 8-figure Three Ships Beauty, break down planning vs reacting in DTC. They discuss bottom-up channel forecasting, when scenario planning helps, how distribution shapes media efficiency, KPI ownership and weekly cadence, and why revenue is a lagging indicator.

Haylene Smith, founder and CEO of Roo & You who grew a family brand to 100,000+ customers, shares her rise from mask-lanyard side hustle to the Joey Play Couch. She explains building a growth engine through a private Facebook community and strict moderation. She details cold-outreach wins landing major licensing deals and how tariffs, pricing, and an affiliate program shaped honest scaling without early paid ads.

Tyler Mazur, Head of Amazon at Pilothouse and Amazon strategist, explains how Amazon’s Rufus is changing product discovery. He covers why searches are shifting from keywords to problems. He discusses how Rufus reads images and the need for contextual copy. He outlines quick listing fixes and why optimizing for AI-driven discovery matters now.

Vicki Williams-Grahan, Brand President of Coyuchi with 20+ years in retail and e‑commerce, walks through a bold 6-week Meta blackout test. She discusses measuring platform incrementality, why product choice in ads matters, and how segmentation and daily contribution-profit forecasting shape acquisition for high-AOV, long-consideration brands.

Chris Richards, account strategist at Pilothouse who helps ecommerce brands scale paid media. He unpacks Meta’s March attribution change and why reported ROAS plunged 30–45%. Short takes on rising CPA, the hidden role of social proof, why MER beats ROAS now, and how panicked retargeting can wreck long-term growth.

Yash Chavan, founder and CEO of SATHI & SARAL and specialist in affiliate and influencer marketing tech, measurement, and fraud detection. He explains why affiliate looks great on paper but breaks in practice. Short takes cover last-click attribution problems, real affiliate fraud examples, multi-touch attribution strategies, gamifying creator programs, and how affiliate fits with Meta/TikTok and retargeting.

Lex Evan, founder of Lexington Bakes and maker of clean, refrigerated baked goods, shares the brand’s rise from holiday presale to retail shelves. He talks product format and naming changes, radical ingredient transparency, cold-chain choices, and how a $19 first-taste offer cut CAC dramatically. Practical DTC and retail tactics for making premium value obvious.

Dougie (Pilothouse), Google/YouTube lead and growth marketer for DTC brands. He explains why YouTube behaves like TV for awareness, why brands fail when they expect instant conversions, and the importance of creative and precise targeting. He covers measuring impact with cost per brand search, campaign guardrails, budgets and timelines, and creative rules like the five-second brand hook.