The Checkout

Book a call with John: ⁠https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440⁠ Casey loaded a real job posting into ChatGPT and told it to act like the CEO interviewing John, without revealing who they were. John had two goals: figure out who he's talking to, and get the job. The company turned out to be Beast Industries. In this episode, John walks through the exact tactics he used: refusin...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Most AI projects in e-commerce are shiny object syndrome. The dream of the one-person, one-billion-dollar company is real, but it probably isn't your company. Meanwhile, 50% of Americans are now more concerned than excited about AI, and customers can spot AI content from a mile away. In this solo episode, John walks...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Most founders dabble in all four marketing channels and wonder why they're stuck under $2M. There are only four channels that get an e-commerce brand from zero to $2M. Pick one and ride it all the way before you think about a second. In this solo episode, John walks through the framework live with Casey, mapping eve...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Most of what you see people doing with AI online doesn't make them money. It just looks cool. In this episode, John and Bart show the AI workflows they actually use across Dad Gang and Solus Bands - the ones that ship emails, build product pages, find collabs, and surface breakthrough ad ideas. Bart designs full Dad...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 You're one banger ad away from changing your business. Under $2M, it's almost always one creative that resets the trajectory of a brand. The problem is the system every DTC brand builds for paid social is built for more, not better. More UGC, more creators, more volume. That works until it doesn't. In this episode,...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Most ecommerce founders try to build a brand by running better ads to a product page. They obsess over conversion metrics while ignoring the thing that actually makes a brand stick: a story consumers connect to and repeat back to each other. In this episode, NJ Falk, managing partner at Athletic Propulsion Labs (APL...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Most ecommerce brands treat email like its own revenue channel. They obsess over campaign metrics while missing the bigger opportunity — using retention to lower acquisition costs, improve customer experience, and increase lifetime value. In this episode, Sammy Tran breaks down what actually drives growth for ecomme...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Wondering why you're more buried in work than you were a year and a million dollars ago? You hired helpers. Not operators. Ryan Deiss founded DigitalMarketer.com, trained 120,000 marketers, and now runs 17 companies doing $250M+ a year. In this episode, he walks through how he'd actually scale any brand from $1M to...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Most of the e-commerce industry has written UGC off in 2026. Here’s why you shouldn’t. In this episode, StreetTalk founder Josh Suggs breaks down the one content format outperforming everything else in e-commerce ad accounts: street interviews. He shares where it fits in your media mix at every budget level, why the...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 Stuck between $2M and $30M and asking yourself, "What are the big brands doing that I'm not?" Nik Sharma worked with $100M brands like True Classic, Jolie and Eight Sleep, and he knows why most brands stall before they ever get close. In this episode, he breaks down exactly what the brands that speed-run to $100M do...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 You're not an influencer. You're not famous. You started a business to sell a product. So how does a personal brand actually help you? In this episode, podcast growth expert Kev Michael breaks down exactly how a personal brand drives sales without turning you into a full-time content creator. You'll learn the #1 mis...

Book a call with John: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/squeeze-page1712742970440 In e-commerce, you're poor until you're rich. This episode is about everything that happens in between. Hosts John and Bart answer the real questions you want answers to: Is e-commerce right if you have a family? Do you need to out-hustle everyone? And what's actually happening when you're burned out, doing $2M in r...

Sorry for the bad audio, we considered not publishing, but ultimately decided the episode was value packed so we went ahead and published it. Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... What would successful founders actually do if they lost everything tomorrow? In this episode, a room full of 7- and...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... You’re not out of ideas — you’re out of creative systems. In this episode, we break down one of the biggest bottlenecks holding brands back: scaling creative when the founder is doing everything themselves. From shooting ads, editing videos, and generating i...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... What do you do when your brand is growing fast… and then suddenly hits a wall? In this episode, we break down a real-time business speed run where a fast-growing consumer brand faces stalled momentum caused by inventory constraints, pricing issues, and misal...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... How to Scale to $100M+ Without Breaking Your Brand What actually changes when a brand moves from early traction to serious scale? In this episode, we break down the exact questions brands start asking on the road from $0 to $100M+—the questions that separate...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... We put 20 minutes on the clock and build a $1M business from scratch for a stranger, live and on the spot. In this episode, the “stranger” is the host, and the product is an all-natural meal bar that combines: • 20g of protein • 100mg of caffeine • Sweetened...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... Meta ads are still working, but most brands are making them way harder than they need to be. In this episode of The Checkout Podcast, we go pure tactical on Meta Ads: what’s working right now, how to test creatives without blowing up your account, and why mo...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... Why Most Founders Fail — And How to Avoid the Same Mistakes In this episode, we break down why the vast majority of founders and small businesses fail—and more importantly, how to avoid becoming another statistic. John Coyle (VP of Marketing at Royo Bread),...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... Growing fast should feel like winning. So why do so many founders end up more stressed, less profitable, and questioning their own decisions as revenue climbs? In this episode, we break down one of the most uncomfortable but critical questions founders face...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... What do you do when you’re doing well… but still feel stuck on the hamster wheel? In this episode of the podcast, we break down one of the most common (and least talked-about) problems among ambitious operators, founders, and marketers: being constantly busy...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/pos... In this episode, we bring together four experienced operators, founders, and marketers to answer one deceptively simple question: What’s the most important marketing advice that actually works today? No fluff. No theory. Just tactical, real-world insights yo...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/post-purchase-checklist Description: In this episode, John Coyle, Nick Shackelford, and Bart Sinofsky play a game: guessing whether an entrepreneur is running a $1 million or $100 million business based solely on the questions they ask. The trio dives deep into the...

Try Attentive: https://www.attentive.com/ Try Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Download Your Free Post Purchase Checklist: https://www.thedivenewsletter.com/post-purchase-checklist If you’ve ever wondered how to sell to rich people, enterprise accounts, or fast-growing 8 and 9-figure brands, this episode is the most tactical deep dive you’ll find anywhere. Today, the guys break down — in brutal honesty —...

Today we talk about ADHD in entrepreneurship and other neurospicyness. We also discuss everything we learned in season one of The Checkout. Zoe and John close out Season 1 with a chaotic, thoughtful, and very human conversation on where eCom is headed, what it takes to build a resonant brand today, and why everyone on the internet is a little bit NeuroSpicy. This Episode: In our final episode of t...