Operators

“The right person does nothing but print money.”  Sean Frank, Matt Bertulli, Curtis Matsko, and Katy Mimari get into a heated debate on the hardest roles to hire in ecommerce. Nobody agrees. And that’s exactly the point.  The conversation tears through five make-or-break positions: (1) head of product, (2) head of growth, (3) head of Amazon, (4) creative strategist, and (5) head of influencer. Alo...

What happens in ecommerce when obesity is cured? Sean Frank (CEO of Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO of Pela Case x Lomi) dig into one of the biggest health-and-wellness trends they’ve seen in their careers: the GLP-1 wave and how it’s rewiring consumers. They cover who’s about to get crushed and who’s sitting on a gold mine.   From the collapse of plus-size apparel and the slow death of junk food to...

Could one bad supplier decision bring your entire ecommerce brand down? Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) joins hosts Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) to pull back the curtain on one of the most misunderstood decisions in consumer goods: vertical integration. Curtis built North America’s largest leather bag manufacturer in Mexico not by gran...

“Marketing’s job gets a lot easier when they have new products to sell.” Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) and Katy Mimari (CEO, Caden Lane) join Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi) to tackle one of our most requested topics. How to create and launch new ecommerce products. Each host brings a unique perspective. Curtis runs a 280k square-foot production facility and releases fresh pr...

What happens when your bank promises you $20 million, strings you along for a year, and then rips it all away the same week you need it most?   Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) sit down with Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) for a raw conversation about how ecommerce brands fund growth.  Curtis shares one of the most gut-punch founder stories in Opera...

What do you do when you’ve already won, and still can’t stop building?   Sean Frank and Matthew Bertulli sit down with Mike Beckham, (CEO of Simple Modern and Simple Ventures), to unpack what happens after you climb the mountain. Mike shares how Simple Modern grew from a bootstrapped “Yeti knockoff” to nearly $200M in annual revenue, paid off all its debt, and suddenly found itself generating more...

Special episode on what billions in recent ecommerce exits, raises, and M&A mean for your brand.  Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) joins hosts Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) to dig into the wave of consumer deals. They debate whether strategic buyers and PE firms are truly back, why physical consumer brands are suddenly looking like t...

“If you become really good at harnessing that data, AI can let you not only predict the future, but create it.” Jenna Habayeb (President of Posh Peanut) sits down with Jason Panzer (President of HexClad) and honorary Operator’s co-host Cherene Aubert. Together, they unpack what modern ecommerce leadership looks like at every stage. Jenna brings a rare arc — from Ogilvy to Chief Brand Officer at Ip...

“We had no cash, no supply chain, high product market fit, and low CAC. There was this giant button flashing: hyper growth.”   What does it take to build a profitable pet brand from a studio apartment to a nine-figure business with its own factory?   Russell Breuer (Co-Founder and CEO, Spot & Tango) joins hosts Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) to trace the full arc...

Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth   Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators Can you build a beloved consumer brand around the joy of making something wit...

What happens when the founder of a software company admits his own product is a sinking ship — and doubles down anyway? Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) sit down with Amit RG (CEO, RichPanel) for a conversation about AI agents, the death of traditional SaaS, and what it means for ecommerce operators building teams right now. Amit doesn’t sugarcoat it. He’s walk...

“The difference between authentic money and inauthentic money is that it has some kind of inherent meaning to it.”  Sean Frank (CEO of Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO of Pela Case and Lomi) sit down with Matt Orlić — Co-Founder of Qure Skincare and founder of Ecomm Architects. Together, they trace one of the most unconventional paths in ecommerce. From losing 80% of his net worth at 25 to reverse-en...

Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, joins Mike Beckham and Sean Frank for an emergency briefing on the tariff landscape after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling. Specifically, what ecommerce owners need to do right now. They break down how to file for tariff refunds before entries hit liquidation, including the secondary market where brands are selling claims for cents on the dollar. Then the convers...

Operators Titans is brought to you by AppLovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits here: https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators What does it take to create a billion-dollar brand from scratch — homeless at 1...

Are you running your ecommerce brand on gut instinct while your competitors build AI-powered data machines?  Sean Frank (CEO of Ridge) and Jason Panzer (President of HexClad) sit down with Krishna Poda, the CEO of Saras Analytics, to unpack why a clean data foundation isn’t optional. And what you can build on top of it with AI right now.  They cover the rise of agentic workflows and what it means...

“95% of AI pilots fail. I lived that, full stop.” Craig Foldes (Founder of ChatWalrus, fmr. Global Head of AI at Crocs) and Matt Kruer (CIO at Bissell) join host Sean Frank to explore the state of AI within enterprise versus DTC brands.  The conversation covers how to find + celebrate the 10% of employees who are AI power users, what it looks like when adoption works, and why this is “for the rebe...

How did a married couple with $30k in savings and no business plan build one of the biggest beauty and accessories brands in America?  Cassandra Thurswell (Founder & CEO of Kitsch) and Jeremy Thurswell (COO), join hosts Mike Beckham and Matt Bertulli for their first-ever joint podcast interview.  Together, they unpack the full story of building a bootstrapped empire from a living room apartmen...

Brought to you by Applovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits. https://www.9operators.com/paid-growth Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators Matt Bertulli, CEO of Pela Case and Lomi, and Mike Beckham, CEO of Simple Modern, sit down with Kat Cole...

Is your brand built to survive the next five years or just the next quarter? Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, and co-host Katy Mimari, Founder and CEO of Caden Lane, sit down with Taylor Holiday, CEO of Common Thread Collective, to reflect on the wild ride from 2020 to 2025 and what it means for the road ahead. Together, they unpack what worked, what failed, and what they'd do differently as operator...

Leadership isn’t about being liked. It’s about making hard decisions, living with the consequences, and still winning. Mike Beckham, Matt Bertulli, and Jason Panzer sit down to talk honestly about what leadership really costs when the stakes are high. They dig into hiring and firing decisions, culture trade-offs, growth versus profitability, and the personal pressure that comes with running large,...

How does a bootstrapped brand go from $0 to $600 million in three years — without raising a single dollar?  Sean Frank, CEO of Ridge, and Matt Bertulli, CEO of Pela Case, break down the explosive rise of COMFRT, the anti-anxiety travel brand founded by Hudson Leogrande that has shattered every assumption about what’s possible in ecommerce.  They unpack the tactics, the mindset, and the cashflow me...

More than the incredible (true) story of one founder’s journey to turn around the company he created, this is a public coaching session on what it takes to win as a 6–7 figure brand. Sean Frank and Matt Bertulli sit down with Ben Leonard, founder of Beast Gear, a strength and conditioning brand he built from scratch in Scotland, sold to Thrasio in 2019, and bought back after watching it decline fo...

Brought to you by Applovin. Get access to the Operators channel expansion playbook, online masterclass, and up to $5k in ad credits. https://www.9operators.com/applovin Or, skip the waitlist and launch your AppLovin ads today with our Operators-exclusive link: https://applovin.com/9operators What does it take to build a ~$300M apparel brand from scratch? Matt Bertulli and Mike Beckham sit down wit...

What separates billion-dollar celebrity brands from total flops Sean, Matt, and Katy Mimari (CEO of Caden Lane) break down why some partnerships become massive exits like Rhode and Skims, while others like The Honest Company and Kylie Cosmetics struggle to survive. They dive deep into deal structures, red flags to watch for, and the real math behind putting famous names into your brand. The crew d...

What’s the one thing holding your business back? Sean Frank, Jason Panzer, Mike Beckham, and Matt Bertulli reunite for part two of their 2026 predictions to deliver actionable money-making tips for ecommerce brands. The full squad shares why entrepreneurs have more opportunity than ever, then dives into tactics you can implement today: a corporate gifting platform generating thousands in daily pas...