Nigel Thomas

We help B2B Founders sign 5 high ticket clients in 90 days using our flywheel system (Used by 300+ clients). DM me ‘Scale’ if you are interested

You started building a business because you wanted freedom. 

But right now you’re chained to your desk and barely breaking even. 

It doesn’t feel like freedom. 

- You’re talented
- You’ve got some clients 
- You know how to get results 

But it’s not working. 

Most agency owners I work with want three things: 

1) Consistent pipeline with high quality leads
2) A team to delegate client work
3) Clarity on what to work on when

A business that works for you not owns you. 

Here’s how I make that become a reality:

1) We position you to win premium retainers
2) We install a lead gen system to fill up your calendar
3) We fix your systems and process so you lead like a real CEO

We do it together in a focused 90 day sprint. 

Real support that drive results like these: 

📌 Tanner: From $15K with 1 client → $30K/month, in 4 months
📌 Sam: Doubled his agency and hired a new team in 90 days
📌 Tobi: Went from freelancer to $30K/month with A+ clients
📌 Alex: Scaled from $12k to $70k in 4 months
📌 Stephen: Scaled from $10k to $18k by increasing prices
📌 Sammy: Grew by over 50% in 60 days and hired a team

I’ve also done it all myself. Twice. 

Built two 7-figure agencies from scratch.

Now, I coach high-performing agency founders who want more to do the same. 
Minus the mistakes I made (lol). 

So, if you’re:

- Running an agency 
- Already at $5K+/month 
- Ready to scale without losing your sanity 

→ Hit the ‘Book an Appointment’ button in my featured section. 

Join 75+ other Undeniable members scaling beyond their wildest dreams…

And, let’s build the agency you actually want.

Consultant

3 weeks before my Dominican Republic mastermind, I had only sold 3 tickets. 

I had 4 big-name speakers flying in.
Expecting 35 entrepreneurs.
Absolutely no idea how to fill the room.

So I decided to bet on LinkedIn DMs. 

Sales is a numbers game. 
So I sent hundreds of messages. 

At first it was chaos.

Terrible messages. 
Low response rates.
No idea what I was doing.

But I had no choice.

I tested. Refined. Rebuilt.

3 weeks later:

- 150 calls booked
- Mastermind fully booked
- Happy speakers and guests 

But most importantly, I built a DM system that actually works.

Tomorrow at 1PM EST. 
I'm breaking down exactly what I learned.

The framework.
The psychology.
The mistakes that kill conversations.

If you need to book calls fast you need this masterclass. 

If you want to join sign up here: 
https://lnkd.in/eYMey69u

See you tomorrow. 


BTW. This isn't theory. It's what I built when my back was against the wall and I had no other option.

CEO of Undeniable. The community for ambitious underdog founders who refuse to stay down.

At 30, I scaled an agency to $140k/month. 

6 months later, I was living in my childhood bedroom.

That’s how quickly things can change. 

I’d put everything into that business. 
Worked every hour I was awake. 
Sacrificed relationships. 

And then it was gone. 

No income.
31 years old.
Back in the bedroom I grew up in.

That wasn't the first time I lost everything.
It's happened 3 more times.

Failure doesn't get easier.
But you get stronger.

Every time I lost everything, I learned something:

- How to spot red flags in business partners
- How to protect myself legally
- How to build without losing myself
- How to get back up faster

I've learned these brutal lessons the hard way. 

So now, I'm helping 75+ founders in Undeniable avoid my mistakes.

Watching them scale past $50K/month.
Whilst building businesses they love. 

The setbacks didn't break me.

They built me.

If you're staring at rock bottom right now...

You'll get there.

I promise.


P.S. 3 years later, I'm running the community I wish I had then. The comeback is always bigger than the setback. If you know you know.

I flew to Norway to meet 4 community members in real life. 

It cost $3,000 but the ROI was worth it. 

Victor and Magnus live in Norway. 
Matevz and Tom were also invited. 
Micah and Mark (Undeniable team) joined too. 

We spent 4 days together. 

→ Saw the Northern Lights 
→ Went snowmobiling 
→ Had a professional photoshoot 
→ Ate incredible food 
→ Did a hot sauna and cold plunge

Undeniable covered most of the costs. 

The ROI was through the roof. 

I can’t put it in a spreadsheet. 
I can't show you a graph.

But I can tell you it was worth the investment:

→ 7 founders felt less alone 
→ We built out a referral program with experts 
→ Tom shared advice on LinkedIn DMs
→ We all cried happy tears 
→ We left feeling seen, heard, and backed

You can't measure that.

But you can feel it.

When founders feel supported they perform better. 
They take bigger bets. They’re less likely to quit. 

Most people optimise for metrics they can track.

Leads, revenue, followers.

I'm not saying those don't matter.

But the ROI of community?

It's in the founder who didn't give up.
It's in the sale that was made because someone believed in them.
It's in the room where people actually gave a shit.

That's what Undeniable is.

A room full of people who refuse to let each other fail.

Some things can't be measured.

They can only be felt.


P.S. Undeniable is coming to London this April and we're gonna be bigger and better.

Two 7-figure agencies built. 300+ clients scaled. Your business is next.

Founders, open your LinkedIn DMs right now. 

How many feel like they were written by a human?
How many mention something personal about you?
How many made you laugh?

Probably none. 

Because everyone's automating.
Everyone's blasting the same template to 500 people.
Wondering why no one responds.

Meanwhile, Tom Harman booked 25 calls in February alone for his side business. 

He has a full-time job. 
Only spends one hour a day in the DMs. 

His ICP is $100M CEOs. 
His response rate is 50%. 

Here's his rule for every single DM he sends:
"Could I send this message to anyone else in the world?"

If yes? He doesn't send it.

One of his best openers referenced a founder's frozen pizza brand. 
He asked whether pineapple belongs on pizza.

That CEO replied within the hour.

The fastest way to anyone's heart, regardless of how successful they are, is humour.

Personality. Proof that you actually looked at their profile.

Honestly, it doesn’t require that much work. 

The benchmarks across 10,000 conversations we've run:

→ 200 connection requests/week to ICP 
→ 30% acceptance rate = 240 new connects/month 
→ 30% response rate from personalised DMs = 72 conversations 
→ 25% book a call = 18 qualified calls per month

18 qualified calls a month.

Any agency owner, coach or consultant landing 18 qualified calls a month will scale their business.

And Tom does it in an hour a day. 
Whilst working a full-time job.

Success in the DMs is pretty simple:

Stop automating and start being human.

It's also just more fun.


What’s the best DM you’ve ever received?

Founder - Customers Who Click | CRO for eCom brands - turning traffic into customers using "The U.A.M Method"

Most DTC brands want to scale their paid media. But few focus enough on converting that traffic.  

Customer acquisition costs are rising, and while brands invest heavily in driving traffic, too many are wasting thousands of dollars sending traffic to friction-heavy, confusing websites with poor user experiences.  

The brands that win are not just the ones with the best ads. 

They are the ones that ensure every click leads to a seamless, high-converting customer journey from the first visit through to repeat purchases.  

Yet, many brands still rely on best practices, gut instinct, or copying competitors instead of using real customer insights to optimise their websites and landing pages.  

This is where CRO comes in.  

Through data-driven research, behavioural psychology, and rigorous testing, we help brands remove friction, increase conversion rates, and maximise revenue from their paid traffic.  

Giving them room to scale comfortably, and profitably.

At Customers Who Click, we specialise in turning more visitors into buyers, helping ambitious e-commerce brands scale profitably and sustainably.  

We’ve helped businesses see real improvements, like:

🚀 MOD Lighting added $3,300,000 in additional annual revenue.
🚀 Ozarke saw an increase in Revenue Per User of 37.8%.
🚀 Groove increased conversion by 53% and AOV by 23% in 6 months.
🚀 D.Louise added $372,000 in revenue from their existing traffic.
🚀 neat. Doubled AOV and increased revenue by 102.3% with bespoke landing pages.

If you want to get the most from your paid media and scale efficiently, let’s talk.  

👉 Book a free conversion discovery session at www.customerswhoclick.com/apply

Or, if you’re not quite ready, follow along as I share practical tips and insights on optimising your website’s performance.

Will Laurenson

Customers Who Click is growing.

So I’m hiring a CRO Strategist.

Contract / freelance. Fully remote.

Open to different levels of but you must have real DTC / ecommerce experience.

I’m looking for someone who can:

- Lead client CRO strategy
- Run meaningful A/B tests
- Conduct real customer research
- Use behavioural analytics properly
- Turn insights into structured roadmaps

This isn’t a button-colour role.

You’ll take ownership.

You’ll challenge assumptions.

You’ll think commercially, revenue over vanity metrics.

If you understand ecommerce deeply and enjoy figuring out why customers buy (or don’t), we should talk.

Connect & DM me.

CV, portfolio, case studies, Loom - send whatever shows how you think.

Over 1,000 DTC brands downloaded our last ecommerce playbook.

So we decided to go bigger this year.

If you're running a DTC brand in 2026, this might be the most useful resource you read this year.

Together with some of the smartest operators in ecommerce, we created:

👉 How to Move the Needle in 2026

A collection of 18 real strategies brands are using right now to drive growth.

No theory.
No recycled advice.
Just practical changes that actually impact revenue.

Inside the playbook you'll see how brands are:

- Increasing revenue per visitor by +21% without driving more traffic

- Generating $32,835 in extra monthly profit from a simple shipping test

- Increasing abandoned flow revenue by 40% without changing email templates

- Improving conversion rate by 28% after fixing product discovery

- Cutting ad spend by 50% while maintaining growth

and many more...

Huge thanks to the partners who shared their insights:

Quickfire - Shopify Premier Partner, Rebuy Engine, Intelligems, Soar With Us, Octane AI, Zigpoll, Leaf Signal, Videowise, Nosto, Flare - Scheduled Delivery, Sweet Analytics, KnoCommerce, Order Editing, Littledata, PostPilot, Growthub

If you want the playbook

1. Like this post
2. Comment "PLAYBOOK"
3. Share this post to skip the queue

And I'll DM you the link.

$50m+ Generated for DTC Brands With CRO | Host of Customers Who Click 🎙️ (500,000+ downloads)

If your brand can’t clearly answer what it stands for, you don’t have a growth problem.

You have a trust problem.

This week on the podcast, I sat down with James Connell, CEO of LOULOU LOLLIPOP - a Vancouver-based baby lifestyle brand and certified B Corp - and we unpacked what “brand” actually means when the stakes are high.

And in baby, the stakes are very high.

One line from James stuck with me: “Good product is table stakes.”

That’s it. That’s the shift.

We talked about how brand isn’t colours and fonts. It’s storytelling. It’s trust.

It’s what you stand for when a parent is choosing something for their child.

Some of the parts I found most interesting:

– Why service, packaging, and fulfilment should be treated as part of the product

 – The idea that every touchpoint (including customer service) is something the customer has already paid for

 – Winning the “baby shower moment” and entering a family’s life from day one

 – Why creativity thrives when profitability is the constraint

 – And why execution beats perfection every time

We also got into B Corp values, hiring for lived culture (not brand docs that sit in a drive), distributor governance, and how AI could actually make online shopping feel more human again.

If you’re building a consumer brand and thinking beyond short-term conversion tactics, this conversation is worth your time.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think - link in the comments

Here are 9 CRO tests you can run right now to improve purchase completion.

Most brands try to increase conversion by redesigning pages.

But the easiest revenue wins happen after the shopper already wants to buy.

1. Remind users what’s included at checkout
Why: Shoppers second-guess value right before paying.
How: Surface free shipping, guarantees, or bonuses near the order summary.

2. Add reassurance next to the “Place order” button
Why: Last-second fear stops more purchases than price.
How: Add one short line about security, returns, or cancellation near the CTA.

3. Turn empty carts into discovery moments
Why: An empty cart feels like a dead end, so users leave.
How: Show recently viewed or popular products inside the cart drawer.

4. Switch cart upsells to vertical scrolling
Why: Horizontal carousels get ignored, especially on mobile.
How: Stack relevant add-ons vertically so they’re naturally scrolled.

5. Add reviews and trust signals inside the cart
Why: The cart is the final confidence check, especially for first-time buyers.
How: Show star ratings, short reviews, or trust badges near items.

6. Show returns info before checkout
Why: Unclear returns create silent hesitation.
How: Add a clear, simple returns or guarantee message near checkout.

7. Auto-apply discounts and confirm they’re active
Why: Coupon hunting breaks purchase momentum.
How: Automatically apply eligible offers and clearly confirm them.

8. Resurface carts for returning visitors
Why: High-intent users shouldn’t have to start over.
How: Show their saved cart with a clear “Resume checkout” path.

9. Auto-open the cart drawer for returners with items
Why: Reduces time to purchase by removing browsing friction.
How: Trigger the cart drawer on entry only for returning users with items.

None of these require a redesign.

None rely on clever copy.

All focus on reducing fear, friction, and thinking.

At this stage, users don’t need convincing.

They need help finishing.

P.S. If your CRO roadmap is still homepage-first, you’re probably leaving money on the table.

Newsletter Sign Up

Your CRO team might be making your numbers look better…

While quietly making your business worse.

I see this constantly with 7–9 figure DTC brands.

Conversion rate goes up.
Everyone celebrates.
Board decks look healthy.

Three months later?

Revenue is flat.
Margin is tighter.
Paid media feels “harder” to scale.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:

You can increase conversion rate while reducing revenue quality.

Example:

CVR: 2% → 2.4%
AOV: $120 → $95

That looks like progress.

It isn’t.

Because revenue per session just dropped.

And revenue per session is what actually compounds.

RPS = CVR × AOV

It forces commercial honesty.

If your team pushes heavy discounts to lift conversion, RPS exposes it.

If merchandising shifts focus to lower-priced SKUs, RPS shows it.

If cheaper traffic converts but spends less, RPS makes that trade-off visible.

Conversion rate answers: “Did they buy?”

Revenue per session answers: “Did this meaningfully grow the business?”

At scale, that distinction matters more than almost anything else in CRO.

I’m not anti-CVR.

It’s a useful diagnostic.

But if it’s your north star, your team will optimise for the easiest lever, not the most valuable one.

And what gets measured gets manipulated.

If you’re a founder or CMO, check your dashboards.

What’s headline metric #1?

If it’s conversion rate, you might be celebrating the wrong wins.

—

If you want practical CRO breakdowns like this, join 5,000+ DTC founders and marketers getting my twice-weekly newsletter.

No fluff.

No vanity tactics.

Just commercially grounded strategies that actually move revenue.

Link in the comments to subscribe

Most brands are overcomplicating their conversion rate right now.

The best thing you can do for your ecommerce site?

Walk through it like a customer.

Not like a marketer.
Not like someone staring at heatmaps.
Not like someone looking for the next “uplift tactic”.

Like someone who wants to buy.

Stop asking: “What gimmick would push people along this page?”

Start asking: “If I was buying this for myself (or someone else), what would I actually need right now?”

Then go step by step.

1. Can I actually find what I’m looking for?

Is navigation clear? Does search work properly? Or am I filtering through chaos?

2. Are my real questions answered on the PDP?

Shipping. Sizing. Returns. Materials. Comparisons.
Or am I expected to just trust you?

3. Does this page make me want the product?

Not just “does it tick the boxes?”
Does it create desire?

 Good CRO isn’t just reassurance. It’s motivation.

4, Is anything getting in the way between Add to Cart and Checkout?

Aggressive upsells.
Random cross-sells.
Order protection.
Tips (this is a joke, right?).

Every extra choice = friction. Take it back to basics.

Convert people on the reason they came to your site in the first place.

Then, once the fundamentals are solid, worry about squeezing an extra 1–2% from clever tactics.

Most brands don’t have a conversion problem.
They have a clarity and friction problem.

P.S. If you want, comment “CHECKLIST” and I’ll send over the CRO fundamentals audit we use with 7–9 figure brands.

If you’re obsessing over quizzes, AI tools and shiny CRO tactics…but your FAQ has three questions on it…

This one’s for you.

I sat down with Peter Bollons, Head of E-commerce and Digital Growth at Slick Gorilla, and this was such a refreshingly honest conversation about what actually drives growth in DTC right now.

Peter’s worked across startups and scale-ups, and you can tell. There’s no hype. Just practical, execution-led thinking.

We talked about:

– Why fundamentals still beat fancy features

– How AI shopping tools are forcing brands to write for clarity, not persuasion

– The “80–90% perfect” philosophy – and why shipping slightly imperfect beats months of internal debate

– A 20–30 minute multi-buy setup that drove a 10–15% AOV uplift

– Why their first advent calendar sold out 1,000 units on pre-order before it even hit the warehouse

– The reality of rising ad costs, Amazon margin pressure, TikTok Shop chaos, and running lean teams where “now you’re everything”

One line from Peter really stuck with me:

“It’s better to get something up and running and implemented, just shy of perfect than it is to just keep handing backwards and forwards.”

If you’re leading e-commerce right now, juggling DTC, Amazon, retail, paid media, and trying not to burn your team out…this episode will feel very relatable.

It’s grounded. It’s practical. And it’s full of small, implementable ideas that can move the needle quickly.

If that sounds like your world, I’d genuinely recommend giving this one a listen.

Let me know what you think once you’ve heard it - link in the comments👇

Want to unlock an extra 10% from your website?

Most 7–9 figure brands don’t have a traffic problem.

They have a funnel problem.

Before you brief another test, redesign a PDP, or blame your paid media team…

Look at this:

Sessions → Product Views (~65%)

Product Views → Add to Cart (~12%)

Add to Cart → Start Checkout (~45%)

Start Checkout → Complete Purchase (~55%)

These aren’t perfect benchmarks.

They’re directional sanity checks from working with high-revenue DTC brands.

Now here’s the strategic bit most teams skip:

Don’t optimise everything.

Find your biggest gap vs benchmark.

Start there.

If you’re converting 8% add-to-cart instead of 12%

→ That’s not a checkout issue.
→ That’s positioning, PDP clarity, offer strength, or intent mismatch.

If you’re only getting 30% checkout completion instead of 55%

→ That’s friction.
→ Trust gaps.
→ Payment UX.
→ Delivery anxiety.

Your funnel usually isn’t broken.

One step is.

And that step is where your next 10–20% revenue lift is hiding.

Senior teams scale faster because they prioritise bottlenecks, not ideas.

Go check your numbers before you plan your next test.

Want access to our Looker Studio Funnel Report? 

Comment FUNNEL below and I'll send it over 

(Must be 1st connection)

AOV is a terrible number to set your free shipping threshold with.

Look at the table below.

Most brands anchor their threshold to average order value.

But AOV is usually the mean.

And the mean lies.

Because it gets dragged up by:

- High-value customers
- Bulk purchases
- Seasonal spikes

So you end up setting a £100 threshold...

...based on an £83 mean AOV…

…when the most common order value is £44.

That’s not a lever.

That’s wishful thinking.

The modal value tells you what customers typically spend.

The mean tells you what happens once outliers get involved.

They are not the same thing.

But this doesn’t mean:

“Drop your threshold immediately.”

That’s too simplistic.

The real analysis happens here:

- Of carts below the threshold, how far below are they?
- Of carts above it, how far above are they?
- How many are actually close enough to be influenced?

On a call last week we found:

- Only 8% of abandoned carts were within £10 of the threshold
- Most carts above the threshold were massively above
- Most carts below it were massively below

So lowering it slightly wouldn’t suddenly “give away” shipping to everyone.

But lowering it slightly and improving upsells?

That turns it into a behavioural lever.

Free shipping shouldn’t be set on a whim.

It should be used strategically to change behaviour.

Do you know your modal order value?

Or are you setting thresholds off an average that hides whats really going on?

---
Follow me and hit the 🔔 on my profile for daily CRO tips to help DTC brands grow profitably.

You can also join our newsletter via the link in the comments and get weekly CRO deep dives straight to your inbox.

No alternative text description for this image

Conversion Rate ↑ 20%.
Revenue ↓ 8.8%.

Look at the table below.

Nothing is broken.

Sessions are flat.
Orders are up.
Conversion rate improved.

On paper, this looks like a win.

It isn’t.

and this exact pattern shows up more often than most teams realise.

Here’s what happened:

- Conversion rate increased from 2.0% to 2.4%
- Orders increased by 20%
- AOV dropped from £50 to £38

Revenue fell.

Revenue per session fell.

And that’s the number that actually matters.

This is why we don’t optimise just for conversion rate.

Conversion rate moves because of:

- Traffic mix
- Discounting
- Campaign strategy

You can “improve” it by:

- Pushing heavier discounts
- Reducing prices
- Shifting acquisition channels

None of which guarantee better commercial performance.

Revenue per session forces a better question:

Are we extracting more value from the traffic we already have?

It captures:

- Conversion rate
- Average order value
- Traffic quality

In one number.

If you’re a Head of Ecommerce, ask yourself:

Are you reporting a metric that’s easy to celebrate...

Or one that reflects the P&L?

If you’re a founder:

Would you rather see conversion up...

Or profit up?

They are not the same thing.

---
Follow me and hit the 🔔 on my profile for daily CRO tips to help DTC brands grow profitably.

You can also join our newsletter via the link in the comments and get weekly CRO deep dives straight to your inbox.

The agency matured.

The website hadn’t.

So we rebuilt it.

Over the last few years, our thinking has evolved a lot.

The strategy is deeper.
The testing is sharper.
he conversations with brands are more commercial.

But the old site didn’t reflect that.

It didn’t properly show:

- How we approach Customer Revenue Optimisation
- The strategic depth behind our experiments
- The standard of brands we work with
- Where we’re taking Customers Who Click next

Now it does.

The case studies are clearer.
The positioning is tighter.
The thinking is better represented.

And this is just the foundation.

We’ll be rolling out:

- A proper home for the podcast
- Detailed blog breakdowns
- More long-form insight into how we think about profitable growth

If you’re running a 7–9 figure DTC brand and scaling paid media feels harder than it should…

Start with the website.

It’ll give you a clear sense of how we approach growth.

Link in the comments...

Most Shopify advice is recycled.

Same playbooks. Same screenshots. Same “10x” nonsense.

This won’t be.

On Feb 25th (7pm CET / 1pm EST), 15 DTC experts get 5 minutes each to share one proven DTC hack.

No decks full of theory.
No 45-minute ramble.
Just what’s actually working.

I’ll be breaking down:

- The navigation change that lifted mobile revenue by 41.5%.

Simple fix.
Measurable impact.
No gimmicks.

Joining me:

🎯Phil Rees
Lada Khazanov
Phil Byrne
Jochen Hildebrandt 
Burak Yolga
Ernesto Barrientos 
Erin Watt
Anthony Morgan
Arni Gali "Arnius Galinskas"
AJ Saunders
Dušan Popović
Pasha Knish
Chase Coleman
Geoffrey Hurth

Hosted by Nick Penev.

If you run a DTC brand, manage growth, or care about improving unit economics - this is worth the 75 minutes.

👉 Grab your spot here: https://lnkd.in/eqCr7Kg2

You’re ignoring one of your highest-converting customers.

Not your competitors.
Not a new channel.
Your own customers.

I realised how big this was when I recorded my latest episode with Nick Kennedy, co-founder of Giftnote for Shopify.

Nick shared something that genuinely surprised me:

A gift customer converts 3x higher than a normal customer, and gift orders have ~30% higher AOV.

And yet…most brands have no idea who the recipient even is.

Traditionally, once a gift is sent, that’s it.

No visibility. 
No follow-up. 
No relationship.

As I said in the episode, the default mindset is:

“Well, they’re not our customers.”

But they absolutely could be.

We also dug into:

- Why gifting volume doubles in November…and doubles again in December

- Why around 12% of orders across brands are gifts

- How transactional messaging can stay GDPR-compliant

- Practical ways to make gifting an always-on strategy (not something you hide in January)

The big takeaway?

Gifting isn’t a seasonal UX add-on.

It’s a revenue lever hiding in plain sight.

If you’re running a DTC brand (or advising one), this is worth your time.

Give it a listen and tell me what you think.

Link in the comments 👇

“Most brands don’t hit a TAM ceiling. They hit a creative ceiling.”

That line properly stuck with me after recording this episode.

I sat down with Daniel Temm, CEO of Puresport, and the conversation turned into a really honest unpacking of why DTC growth feels so hard once the early traction is gone.

Daniel’s perspective comes from an unusual place. 

Pure Sport started as a CBD brand, no Shopify, no Meta ads, no mainstream payment providers. 

So they were forced to build brand and awareness first…then learn performance later. That experience clearly shaped how he thinks about growth today.

A few things we got into that I think a lot of founders will recognise:

- Why slowing acquisition is often blamed on “market size” when it’s actually the offer or creative

- How small pricing tweaks (£1–£2) can massively change CAC payback

- Why multi-product brands still need a clear hero SKU for acquisition

- The tension between discount-led subscriptions and higher perceived-value bundles

- And why simplicity becomes an obsession as teams, products, and pressure all grow

We also went beyond tactics, into leadership, hiring, and the slightly uncomfortable question of whether founders need to evolve as the business moves into its next phase.

If you’re scaling a DTC brand and feel like you’ve hit a ceiling, or you’re worried you’re overcomplicating things, this episode is well worth your time.

🎧 Give it a listen and tell me: do you think most brands actually hit TAM… or just stop telling a compelling story?

Episode link in the comments

CEO at Puresport - I’m at War with the Culture of Shortcuts. For the Long Run.

Puresport

“You’re not doing your job unless you’re pissing off some percentage of people.”

That’s what Eric Bandholz said to me on the podcast this week.

And honestly…he’s probably right.

Eric is the founder of Beardbrand - 13+ years in, navigating a category that’s no longer growing

Search demand for beard care? Flat to down.
Competition? Higher than ever.

They’ve had three consecutive years in the red.

So this wasn’t a “how we 10x’d” episode.

It was a real conversation about:

- What happens when your category matures

- Why top-of-funnel gets exponentially harder

- The difference between a hook and clickbait

- Why brands that try to offend no one become completely forgettable

- Repositioning Beardbrand as a fragrance house disguised as a beard care company

- Selling out limited editions while traffic declines

The part that stuck with me most?

The idea that modern marketing almost requires a point of view strong enough to repel some people.

Because if everyone nods politely…no one remembers you.

Give it a listen, link in the comments

They removed 70–80% of their team’s workload.

By answering seven questions.

This week I sat down with Simon Jablon, Creative Director and owner of Linda Farrow - the luxury eyewear brand he rebuilt from zero into a globally distributed business operating in around 100 countries.

What we unpacked wasn’t theory.

It was this:

Most teams are drowning in work that shouldn’t exist.

We talked about:

 – Why being busy isn’t the same as moving the needle
 – How comfortable tasks quietly replace meaningful ones
 – Why B2B customers often get treated like admin
 – And how simplifying just seven recurring questions removed up to 80% of internal workload

One line that stuck with me:

“I employ people to talk to other people, not service the master that is admin.”

If you run a brand, lead a team, or feel like you’re constantly firefighting… this one will probably hit.

🎧 Link’s in the comments.

P.S. What’s one recurring task in your business that probably shouldn’t exist anymore?

You can only optimise one for the next 90 days

- Conversion Rate
- Average Order Value
- Revenue Per Session

Which are you choosing?

Let us know why in the comments

You can only optimise one for the next 90 days:

“You might just be throwing money into a vacuum.”

That’s how Josh Roberts described paid media in 2025.

And honestly…he’s not wrong.

In the latest episode of the podcast, I sat down with Josh Roberts, co-founder of Very Special Games - the team behind Ransom Notes and a range of hugely successful tabletop games.

What makes their story interesting is how they’re scaling across DTC and retail at the same time.

Roughly 75% of their revenue comes from DTC, with the rest coming from retailers like Walmart, Target, and Barnes & Noble.

But once retail enters the picture, the data gets messy fast.

A few things from this conversation that really stuck with me:

- Why Meta ads are still their strongest acquisition channel, even though they’re far less predictable than they used to be

- How selling through retail forces you to build a much more sophisticated data stack just to understand if your marketing works

- Why TikTok performs far better organically than through paid media for their category

- And a fascinating point about the tabletop industry: brand loyalty is surprisingly weak - the logo on the box barely matters

We also got into the economics of licensing big IP (Star Wars, Futurama, etc.), why most tabletop games shouldn’t become apps, and how Josh is thinking about designing games that help kids with autism engage socially without feeling like therapy.

Really thoughtful conversation about the trade-offs between creativity, growth, and data.

If you work in DTC, paid media, or product-led brands, you’ll probably recognise a lot of the challenges Josh talks about.

🎧 Episode 291 is live now.

Give it a listen here: https://lnkd.in/ememaXYT

“Everybody in ecommerce is doing the easy lift.”

Buy Meta ads.
Buy Google ads.
Scale until it gets expensive.

But what happens when that stops working?

That’s what I unpacked this week with Barclay Saul, CEO and co-founder of Kyrgies.

Kyrgies is built around a single product - felt slippers made in Kyrgyzstan - and a very deliberate decision not to chase trends or commoditised categories.


Barclay didn’t even start in ecommerce. He was a music teacher before building the brand. But his background around factories and garment production gave him a deep respect for quality control and long-term thinking .

In this episode we got into:

- Why they’ve significantly dialled back Meta spend
- Why word of mouth has always been their strongest channel
- The decision to pull the plug on Amazon entirely
- How ranked-choice customer surveys shape product decisions
- When customer research works…and when gut instinct matters more

And a fascinating scientific study showing their vegetable-tanned leather soles actively kill bacteria in the home

What I liked most about this conversation is that it wasn’t theory.

It was about making uncomfortable decisions:

- Reducing dependency on paid.
- Building wholesale relationships.
- Running trunk shows.
- Expanding internationally.

Growing in ways that require more effort, but build more resilience.

If you’re feeling the pressure from rising ad costs, or you’re too reliant on one acquisition channel, this one’s worth your time.

Have a listen and let me know your biggest takeaway.

Link in the comments

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The Battle

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