High Stakes Growth

Mariam Naficy is the founder and CEO of Arcade, an AI platform that turns text or image prompts into real products like jewelry, rugs, ceramics, and more. Before Arcade, she founded Minted, a crowdsourced design marketplace that sells stationary, and Eve.com, the first online cosmetics retailer in the U.S. Expect to hear about: – Selling Before the Crash: How Mariam sold Eve.com weeks before the d...

Arin Schultz is the Chief Growth Officer at Naturepedic, the organic, non-toxic mattress and bedding brand built for healthier sleep. Expect to hear about: – The "Hostile Takeover": How he became head of marketing with no marketing experience and tripled revenue in five years. – Inside the Industry: The shift to organic, how rising interest rates dampen demand, and why a COVID-style "stay home" ef...

Meenakshi Lala is the CEO of UrbanStems, a premium DTC flower and gifting brand. She spent 20 years in fashion retail before joining UrbanStems as COO in 2022 and transitioning to CEO in 2023. Expect to hear about: – Fashion to Flowers: Why she left fashion for fresh-flower gifting and the new challenge it brought. – The Perishable Problem: Why delivering fresh flowers on a deadline is one of DTC'...

Lauren Wang is the founder and CEO of The Flex Company, a sustainable period-care brand built around its signature Flex Disc. Expect to hear about: – The Reluctant CEO: How she pitched others to be CEO, before realizing she had to step into the role. – Inside Y Combinator: Interviewing with Sam Altman and the Demo Day investor frenzy. – Surviving the SVB Collapse: How she got through the Silicon V...

Katie Sturino is the founder and CEO of Megababe, the body-care brand behind Thigh Rescue, its signature anti-chafe stick, plus deodorants, sweat powders, cooling products, and more. Expect to hear about: – Launching while Divorcing: Why she decided to launch Megababe during a difficult personal time. – The Today Show Sellout: How a man-on-the-street TV segment sold out 20,000 units in a few weeks...

Shizu Okusa is the founder and CEO of Apothékary, a liquid herbal supplement brand that bridges Eastern medicine with modern Western science. Before then, she launched, scaled, and exited JRINK, a juice brand. Expect to hear about: – Losing a Co-Founder: Why her best friend's exit from JRINK was emotionally difficult and changed how she approaches partnerships. – The Form Factor Bet: Why she built...

Andrei Negrau is the co-founder and CEO of Siena AI, an empathic AI agent that handles customer service for consumer brands. He built luxury apparel Shopify brands out of Romania starting in 2014, exiting his first in 2018, then founded the SMS marketing startup Cartloop before betting everything on AI-native CX. Expect to hear about: – CX as the Edge: Why he texted stuck-at-checkout shoppers inst...

Scott Dancy is the founder and CEO of Azuna, an all-natural odor eliminator built on Australian tea tree oil. Expect to hear about: – The Month the World Changed: How COVID took Azuna from $12K to $105K a month almost overnight. – Betting the Farm on Glass: How a $1M glass jar order became the brand's turning point. – Landing Josh Allen: How the NFL MVP went from a "maybe" to Azuna's official part...

Ari Murray is the Chief Digital Officer at Salt & Stone, the premium personal care brand reinventing the deodorant category. Previously, she was Chief Growth Officer at Sharma Brands, where she led growth across dozens of consumer brands. Expect to hear about: – Law School to Ecom: Why she dropped out of law school, then found her footing at an ecom brand. – Working With Celebrity Brands: What...

Hari Ranganathan is the Chief Digital Officer at KilgourMD, a dermatologist-founded brand tackling hormonal hair loss in women. Previously, he held senior roles at celebrity-backed brands like Haus Labs and The Honest Company. Expect to hear about: – Engineer to Marketer: How a Dartmouth mechanical engineer fell in love with the world of ecommerce and analytics. – Lean and Hybrid: Why 60+ person t...

Jess Hauff is the General Manager of PrettyLitter, a cat litter brand acquired by Mars in 2021 that uses silica crystals that change color to flag early signs of health issues in cats.  Expect to hear about:  – A Decade in Madrid: Why Jess spent 10 years in Spain before returning to the U.S., and the work culture differences she noticed.  – Leading the Merger: How Jess steered PrettyLitter's integ...

Daniel Brady (DB) is the co-founder and co-CEO of Orita, an AI segmentation platform that helps DTC brands target their maximally addressable audience across email, SMS, and direct mail.  Expect to hear about:  – From Neuro to AI: Why DB left a career in neurobiology after graduating Harvard after realizing he enjoyed the faster pace of startup work.  – Consulting to Product: How DB ran Orita as a...

Will Nitze is the founder and CEO of IQBAR, a functional health CPG brand built around protein bars, electrolyte mixes, mushroom coffee, and more. Expect to hear about: – Harvard Connections: Why Will scraped Harvard's red book to send thousands of alumni his first fundraising emails. – Value Over Premium: Why Will optimizes for units sold over revenue, and how value pricing unlocked Walmart, Cost...

Marnie Rabinovitch is the founder and CEO of Thigh Society, a Toronto-based brand making slip shorts that prevent thigh chafing for women. Expect to hear about: – The Baby Powder Moment: How a hot Toronto day in 2008 convinced Marnie to invent her own slip short solution. – Quitting at 40: Why she applied for backup corporate jobs, set a $1M sales goal, and only went all-in with a real safety net....

Shawn LaRowe is the Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Pelican, the 50-year-old brand known for its ultra-durable protective cases. Previously, he spent 17 years at Nike and has also held executive roles at Dakine, KUIU, and Filson.  Expect to hear about:  – 74 Product Launches in 2025: How Pelican is expanding past its protective case core into categories like travel while protecting the valu...

Melissa Mash is the co-founder and CEO of Dagne Dover, a New York-based performance bag brand creating functional bags for work, travel, parenting, and everything in between. Expect to hear about: – A 14-Year Partnership: How three co-founders built a lasting business together by putting their egos to the side and showing up as their full selves. – Product Over Paid: Why Melissa bet on making high...

Isaac Mertens is the co-founder and CEO of Flux Footwear, a minimalist shoe brand that focuses on style and performance doing mid-8-figure annual revenue.  Expect to hear about:  – Etsy to Ecom: How Isaac scaled a furniture brand to 7 figures on Etsy, and why not owning demand pushed him to start Flux.  – Financial Discipline: How his accounting background shaped a zero-debt, no-VC business with a...

Hector Hughes is the co-founder and CEO of Unplugged, a company offering tech-free cabin stays that help people disconnect from their phones and reset in nature.  Expect to hear about: – Origin Moment: How a 10-day silent retreat in the Himalayas in 2019 pushed Hector to quit his job and start Unplugged just weeks later. – The Hard Part: Why it took 5 years to truly figure out the unit economics a...

Lomit Patel is the CMO of Try Your Best (TYB), a commnunity rewards platform that helps brands reward its biggest fans and build community. He previously held senior roles at Tynker, IMVU, Texture, TrustedID, and Roku. Expect to hear about: – From Operator to Leader: How your way of work evolves as you transition from growth operator to strategic leader. – Community as Growth Engine: Why he believ...

Ramon Vela is the host of The Story of a Brand podcast, where he’s interviewed 1,000+ brand founders and operators across the consumer and ecommerce landscape. We break down 5 of the most important brand-building lessons he’s learned from those conversations. Expect to hear about: – The Power of Saying No: Why Chomps focused on one channel to build operational strength before scaling. – Building f...

Josh Suggs and Jesse Eisenberg are co-founders of StreetTalk, a fast-growing agency producing street interview ads for brands like Dr. Squatch, Grüns, and Ridge Wallet. Expect to hear about: – Dropping Out to Go All-In : How Josh left college, moved to NYC, and bet on street interview ads, and why Jesse told his mom to let him drop out. – Corporate to Scrappy : Why Jesse left a large agency to bet...

Michael Fisher is the founder and CEO of Rotten, a sour gummy candy brand launched in 2023 that's a better-for-you product, but also with fun, nostalgic 90s kids-cartoon branding. This episode is part of "The Climb," our series featuring founders in the early stages of building their brands. Expect to hear about: – Candy-First Brand: Why he rejected looking like a “diet candy” and built a weird 90...

Mark Samuel is the founder of Mark’s Snacks, a seed-oil-free kettle chip brand he launched in 2025, and previously the founder of IWON Organics. Expect to hear about: – Scaling IWON to 6,000 Doors: How Mark started IWON and grew the brand to thousands of retail doors. – Knowing When to Walk Away: How Mark knew it was the right time to license the brand out to a manufacturer in 2024. – Building in...

Dinah Chapman is the founder of Little Trouble, an 8-figure kids clothing brand that has a fun and punk-inspired aesthetic. Expect to hear about: – Starting on Maternity Leave: Why Dinah launched Little Trouble in 2022 while pregnant and still working full-time in corporate marketing. – Scaling to $10M: How product expansion, retention, and paid media drove rapid growth. – Building Abroad: How tra...

Allison Taylor is the co-founder of Le Prunier, a plum-powered skincare brand that partners with her family’s plum farm in northern California. Expect to hear about: – Growing Up on the Farm: Allison's childhood memories of the farm and the deep tie to the land that later shaped the brand. – Early Retail Breakthroughs: Meeting Neiman Marcus early on and quickly earning credibility with retailers l...