DTC Growth Show

In this episode Kristi Knowles, CEO of Mother Raw, shares how her 25-plus years in food/CPG led to spearheading a successful rebrand and expansion of founder Michelle Kopman’s beloved RawFoodz. Taking the genesis of Kopman’s mission, Knowles strategically evolved RawFoodz to Mother Raw, resulting in a rebrand that resonated with a wider range of consumers and opened up a wealth of expansion opportunities in their category. 

Chris Meade is not only marketing a product, he's creating a new sport!

Through CROSSNET he's brought 'foursquare' to volleyball, soccer and pickleball; and he's done it all without raising venture money.

Chris and his brother, Greg, are the products of a small town in Connecticut. The brothers and a childhood friend were tired of the rat race, so they found something they were passionate about and dumped their savings and 401Ks into it.

Listen to Chris as he speaks to BANKNOTES editor in chief Ian Leslie on how CROSSNET got its start, lessons learned, and what the future holds.

Two new documentaries have cast a fresh light on the history of AND1, which in the late '90s and early 2000s was the hottest basketball brand in the United States.

The rise and fall of AND1 was quick and occurred over less than 10 years.

So what lessons can marketers learn from AND1?

Ian Leslie and Andy Rosenberg took some time to unpack the history of AND1 for the DTC Growth Show, presented by BANKNOTES minted by #PAID.

Jordan Schwarzenberger is a 24-year-old entrepreneur whose passion of tech, talent and socials, has been in hot demand by companies looking to future-proof their own brands.  Jordan has landed roles at a few companies such as VICE Media, LADbible Group and YMU. Now he takes on a new challenge of co-founding Arcade Media where he manages some of the most famous creators on the planet, one of which being the infamous UK group called the Sidemen. Apart from this he also helps build power house brands that will stand the test of time such as Side+, XIX Vodka, and Sides.

Good Food For Good Founder Richa Gupta talks to the DTC Growth team about her experience leading a company that is focussed on clean ingredients and giving back to the world. 

Sam Levinson, co-founder, of DOM talks to the team about what it took to start a hand-sanitizer DTC startup and her journey from tech startup, to recruiter to entrepreneur.

Sam has always felt a calling to start her own business and inspiration for DOM came from her own frustration with the lack of safe, effective and aesthetically pleasing products on the market. Especially during a time when hand sanitizer was and still is becoming such an integral part of our lives. DOM is here to reshape our relationship with routine.

In this interview, we discussed some great copywriting tips for writers and brands and her journey of building a copywriter's community on Twitter, which eventually transitioned into live events across London and other parts of the world. She also recommended a famous artist and a book she ...(Read more).

Robbie is open about his struggles with addiction and has been for a long time. At one point, his addiction got so bad he ended up losing his first company and going bankrupt. Soon after, he had to move into his parent’s basement. 

What saved him, in the end, was moving to Israel and doing a Vipassana meditation retreat that included ten days of meditation for ten hours a day—all conducted in complete silence.

“For the first time in my life, I felt the benefits of meditation everybody had been talking about.”

Robbie became obsessed, eventually flying to Peru to participate in four Ayahuasca ceremonies, which are drug-induced experiences wherein he learned a lot about himself.

Today he’s now been sober for five years, and...(read more)

For Kristen LaFrance, commerce is all about the people. 

Known as the Mayor of DTC Twitter and head of Shopify’s Resilient Retail podcast, Kristen hosts discussions with entrepreneurs on a plethora of topics surrounding commerce, exploring how brands can find success within DTC and retail spaces. 

“I describe the Resilient Retail podcast as this kind of digital property or brand. It’s a space to bring the retail conversations Shopify needs to be having to the merchants we need to be reaching.”–Kristen LaFrance

Human-centered commerce is near and dear to Kristen’s heart, and I spoke to her about why she considers it so important and how to achieve it through community-building, thinking locally, and...  [Read more]