Ecomm Breakthrough

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares a practical decision-making framework for choosing between competing business opportunities. Drawing from his own dilemma of hiring either a Director of E-commerce or a Director of HR, Josh outlines six key questions across two categories: assessing revenue creation, business leverage, and risk protection, then evaluating d...

In this episode, host Josh interviews Ritu Java, CEO of PPC Ninja, about effective Amazon PPC management. Ritu shares insights on healthy PPC-to-organic sales ratios, TACoS benchmarks, and the importance of budgeting based on net margin. She cautions about the complexities of sponsored display ads and stresses the need for regular account audits. Ritu also recommends The Goal by Eli Goldratt, high...

Joining me today is John Li , the co-founder of PickFu , a powerful consumer-feedback platform that helps e-commerce sellers, authors, app developers, and marketers make smarter, data-driven decisions. Before launching PickFu, John spent years at Microsoft as a software engineer and program manager but his entrepreneurial curiosity led him to create a simple tool to test ideas with real people. Th...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough podcast, host Josh Hadley shares his strategic framework for approaching major sales events like Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday. Rather than chasing short-term profits, Josh advocates using these events for customer acquisition through aggressive discounts on front-end products. Using Athletic Greens (AG1) as a prime example, he illustrat...

Matt Greene is the CEO and founder of Happy Innovations - bootstrapped to mid-eight figure revenue, selling personal care products under the Happy Nuts, Happy Curves, and Happy Soles brands. Highlight Bullets > Here’s a glimpse of what you would learn….  Matt Greene's journey in building Happy Innovations and its brands (Happy Nuts, Happy Curves, Happy Souls). The importance of product developm...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares a powerful productivity strategy: conducting a two-week time study. Josh explains how tracking time reveals inefficiencies and misplaced priorities that limit business growth. He introduces a four-bucket framework—Delete, Delegate, Design, and Double Down—to help entrepreneurs categorize their activities and focus on high-l...

In this episode, Josh interviews George Meressa, founder of Clear Ads, about effective Amazon DSP advertising strategies. George explains how to vet DSP agencies, select high-performing products for campaigns, and leverage remarketing, cross-selling, and competitor targeting using Amazon’s data analytics. He emphasizes the importance of choosing certified partners, analyzing product conversion rat...

Back for another round on the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast is Michelle Barnum Smith , the founder of Social Sellers and one of the most trusted voices in the TikTok Shop space. Michelle Barnum Smith is an award-winning marketing strategist with 25+ years of expertise. A recognized Amazon and TikTok Shop expert, she’s launched 100+ brands and trained 1,000+ sellers worldwide. Featured in Forbes, Busi...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley explains why he's intentionally working less in his ecommerce business and aims to "fire himself" within 18 months. Rather than stepping away, Josh is building a self-sustaining business by implementing five key strategies: delegating decisions to capable team members, developing leadership through extreme ownership principles, in...

In this episode, Josh interviews Destaney, CEO of Better AMS, about advanced Amazon advertising strategies. Destaney shares insights on setting ad budgets based on brand goals, structuring campaigns for profitability and growth, and the importance of campaign-level organization. They discuss the challenges of managing large SKU counts and the need for software tools like Pacvue, highlighting that...

Meher Patel is a serial entrepreneur with exits across hospitality, healthcare, and digital media — each in a completely different industry, each built from the ground up. He founded Neon Digital, a performance-first advertising agency, and then built what very few agencies ever achieve: a SaaS platform that outgrew the agency itself.  Hector AI now processes over $350 million in ad spend across A...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares five strategies he would prioritize when launching a new e-commerce brand today. Drawing from over a decade of experience scaling his own brand to eight figures, Josh covers: building recurring revenue models for compounding growth, identifying products with TikTok Shop viral potential, securing favorable manufacturer payme...

In this episode, Josh interviews Norm Lanier, CEO of a long-running Amazon private label business. Norm discusses his journey from side hustles to full-time e-commerce, the challenges of increased competition and inventory management, and insights gained from Josh’s business strategy audit. Key takeaways include focusing on the most profitable products, increasing strategic ad spend, and shifting...

Jason Kutasi is the founder and CEO of SkyHouse, a performance marketing agency that managed $50M in ad spend for 2025 - its first full year of business. He’s driven roughly $500M in advertising over his career and built a children’s book publisher acquired by Scholastic and a digital marketing platform acquired by Capital One.  Jason specializes in copywriting, funnel analytics, and scaling high-...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares seven practical ways his e-commerce business uses AI to optimize operations and scale growth. Drawing from his experience building an eight-figure brand across Amazon, TikTok Shop, and Shopify, Josh covers strategies including building custom GPTs, automating TikTok Shop listing optimization, streamlining hiring processes,...

In this special group panel episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley and fellow podcasters interview Michael E. Gerber, author of "The E-Myth." Gerber shares his foundational principles for business growth, emphasizing the need for entrepreneurs to work on their business, not just in it. He introduces his "eightfold path" for evolving a company from one person to an enterprise,...

Rafael is the Founder and CEO of Share It Studio , a leading creative agency that helps Amazon and Walmart sellers turn data into powerful visual storytelling. Under his leadership, Share It Studio has worked with hundreds of top-performing e-commerce brands, blending creativity with analytics to craft product images, videos, and A+ content that actually convert. Before founding Share It Studio, R...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley, an ecommerce entrepreneur who has scaled his brand to eight figures, shares nine mental frameworks for hiring senior-level managers. Drawing from over a decade of experience, Josh covers key principles including trusting your gut, starting the hiring process early, looking for clear green flags, using contractor trial periods, en...

In this episode, Josh interviews Nathan Hirsch, CEO of Ecom Balance and Outsource School, about hiring overseas talent, especially for senior management roles. Nathan shares strategies for promoting from within, the pros and cons of direct hiring, agencies, and marketplaces, and key legal and tax considerations. He outlines Outsource School’s step-by-step hiring and training process, emphasizing t...

In today’s episode, we’ll dive into a fascinating twist on the e-commerce journey — what happens when you buy back the very brand you once sold . Ben will share the lessons, emotions, and strategic insights behind exiting — and then re-entering — your own business.  Highlight Bullets > Here’s a glimpse of what you would learn….  Ben Leonard's entrepreneurial journey with Beast Gear, from initia...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley shares his "10x AI SOP Method" for scaling businesses by using AI to clone founder judgment. Rather than automating routine tasks, Josh explains how recording real-time work, feeding transcripts into AI models, and rigorously answering hundreds of probing questions creates highly accurate SOPs that capture nuanced decision-making....

In this episode, host Josh interviews entrepreneur Rolando Rosas about his journey from office technology to Amazon selling and founding Global Teck Worldwide. Rolando shares his advanced PPC strategy, using a year’s worth of sales data and heat maps to optimize Amazon ad scheduling for better ROAS. He offers practical tips for sellers: enhance product images, respond to customer questions with vi...

Andri Sadlak is a serial entrepreneur and Founding Head of Product & Strategy at Azoma, building AI-first commerce software for the age of agentic shopping. He's been an Amazon seller since 2017, exited his own brand, and co-founded ProductPinion. Today he's part of the team behind Amazon growth and AI visibility strategies for 8 and 9-figure brands like Mars, L'Oréal, and HP. He's one of the...

In this episode of the Ecomm Breakthrough Podcast, host Josh Hadley tackles a common entrepreneurial frustration: hiring seemingly qualified candidates who underperform within their first few months. Josh introduces his proven 30-60-90 day onboarding framework, broken into three phases: observation, independence, and ownership. Each phase features structured communication, daily reports, and objec...

In this episode, Josh interviews Pat Yates, M&A advisor at Quiet Light and owner of Happy Feet Slippers. Pat shares insights from his Shark Tank experience, discusses the realities of TV deals, and explains the complexities of licensing with major brands like Disney and the NFL. The conversation covers the importance of intellectual property protection, strategies for evaluating and managing l...