In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG

Building a consumer brand looks very different depending on where you start. Jeremy Evans of Era Ventures joins In The Money to break down how they invest in seed-stage consumer brands across the U.S., Australia, and the UK, and why geography shapes everything from founder psychology to capital strategy. This episode dives into global consumer investing, capital efficiency, omnichannel strategy, a...

Revenue is not product-market fit. Unit economics are. Connor Ryan of Bridge joins In The Money to break down how they underwrite seed-stage consumer brands and why artificially manufactured revenue doesn’t impress them. We cover: Why unit economics are a higher bar for product-market fit than revenue How founders can “manufacture” revenue and why that’s dangerous Consumer as a discrete math probl...

What happens when a national TV weatherman decides most umbrellas are junk and builds a better one? Rick Reichmuth, Chief Meteorologist at FOX and Founder of Weatherman Umbrella, joins In The Money to break down how he turned credibility, distribution, and product obsession into a profitable consumer brand in one of the most overlooked categories in retail. This isn’t a vanity influencer story. It...

Freestyle pivoted twice before it found real velocity. Russ Wallace joins In The Money to break down how his seven-figure brand that wasn’t quite clicking transformed into one of the fastest-growing challenger diaper brands in mass retail, by letting go of a story that mattered to the founders and obsessing over what actually mattered to customers. We cover: The two major pivots that changed Frees...

Chickens are now the third-most popular pet in America and almost no one in tech or venture is paying attention. Sean Warner, Co-Founder of Grubbly Farms, joins In The Money to break down how he built an 8-figure consumer business by leaning into one of the fastest-growing and most overlooked pet categories in the U.S.: backyard chickens. What started as an insect-protein experiment turned into a...

Can premium consumer brands still scale in a K-shaped economy even if they never reach most Americans? In this episode of In The Money , Tyler Morgan of BFG breaks down how seed and Series A consumer investing has changed and why some brands can now reach $100M+ in revenue by serving a smaller, more affluent customer base. We cover: The K-shaped economy and why premium brands can still win How “as...

Branch almost died in March 2020. A $4M B2B pipeline collapsed to $30K in ten days, and the company had to reinvent itself overnight. In this episode, Greg Hayes , co-founder of Branch , walks through one of the most consequential pivots in modern consumer: going from B2B office furniture to DTC at the height of COVID, and then rebuilding the company again into a multi-channel, profitable, capital...

Food is capital-intensive, margin-compressed, and brutally hard, so why do some investors still believe it’s one of the most underfunded opportunities in venture? Nate Cooper, founder of Barrel Ventures, joins In The Money to break down how he underwrites food and beverage businesses, from pre-revenue to Series A, and why velocity, habit, and lifetime value matter more than software-style margins....

Is growth a marketing problem or a market problem? Isaac Mertens, founder of Flux Footwear, joins In The Money for one of the most honest operator conversations of the year. Isaac has trained as a media buyer, worked at a top-tier agency, spent eight figures on paid media, and still says this plainly: great marketing can’t save you from a bad market and no agency is coming to rescue your business....

How do you actually underwrite early-stage consumer when the data is thin, capital is tighter, and durability matters more than hype? Lori Cashman, Founding Partner at Visible Ventures, breaks down how she evaluates founders from Seed to Series A, and why founder-market fit, retention, and demographic tailwinds matter more than vanity metrics. This episode is a masterclass in investor judgment, ca...

How did two non-parents build one of the most design-forward, community-trusted baby brands in America and then blow the doors off retail with a 43-SKU Target launch? Greg Davidson, co-founder & CEO of Lalo , breaks down the entire playbook. This episode goes deep into consumer insight, design taste, category white space, SKU expansion, operational pain, retail rollout strategy, and the fundra...

What actually makes a consumer brand break out and stay durable in a world where attention spans are collapsing and CAC is chaos? Shamin Walsh has spent a decade underwriting early-stage consumer bets at BAM Ventures. She’s backed companies like Honey and Pretty Litter before they became household names and she breaks down exactly what separates the winners from everyone else. This episode goes de...

In this episode of In The Money , we sit down with David Gaylord , Co-Founder & CEO of Bushbalm , one of the fastest-growing skincare brands in North America and a case study in how disciplined, product-led consumer companies scale from zero to tens of millions. David breaks down the real economics behind building a modern beauty brand , from pricing and margins to channel contribution and how...

In this episode of In The Money , we sit down with Andrew Barone at Rosenthal & Rosenthal , one of the leading privately held asset-based lenders. Andrew has financed hundreds of consumer and eCommerce brands through every stage of growth. We dive deep into the real financial mechanics behind consumer brands: inventory cycles, margin truth, receivables risk, retail payment terms, PO financing,...

In this episode, I sit down with Amanda Schutzbank , Co-Founder and General Partner at Willow Growth Partners , one of the most thesis-driven and disciplined early-stage consumer funds in the market. Willow specializes in backing health, wellness, and essential-category brands in the $2m–5m revenue range, often before they’re household names. Their portfolio includes hits like Coterie, Goodles, Bu...

How Wildgrain Built a Profitable, High 8-Figure Food Brand With Just 18 Employees In this episode, I sit down with Ismail Salhi , co-founder & CEO of Wildgrain , one of the most impressive subscription food businesses of the last decade; profitable, high eight figures in revenue, and run by a shockingly lean team. Ismail breaks down how Wildgrain escaped the classic DTC plateaus at $3M, $10M,...

The consumer investing landscape has shifted and few people have a better view of that evolution than Drew Skolnik , Partner at KarpReilly , one of the most respected growth equity investors in consumer, retail, and CPG. In this episode, Drew breaks down how capital discipline, focus, and brand fundamentals have become the new edge in consumer investing. We cover: How investor expectations have ch...

What happens when one of the most iconic brand-building agencies in the world spins out its own venture capital business? In this episode, I sit down with Daniel Faierman , Partner at Habitat Partners , the venture firm incubated out of Red Antler, the brand and creative powerhouse behind breakout names like Allbirds, Hims, and Casper. We talk about how Habitat approaches investing at the intersec...

Kevin Lee, co-founder of Immi , joins In The Money to talk about how he and his co-founder took one of the world’s most iconic comfort foods, instant ramen, and rebuilt it for modern consumers. From tech to CPG , Kevin shares what surprised him about running a food brand, how Immi evolved from “healthy ramen” to a taste-first protein brand , and what he’s learned about navigating product innovatio...

In this episode of In The Money, we sit down with Ben Perkins, Founder of &Collar, the fast-growing direct-to-consumer menswear brand known for reinventing the classic white dress shirt. Ben shares how &Collar went from being overlevered and on the brink, with $10M in revenue and $2M in debt, to becoming a profitable, eight-figure business growing double digits year-over-year. He talks can...

In this episode, I sit down with Alex Yancher, Co-founder and CEO of Passport Global, the logistics platform powering cross-border commerce for some of the world’s fastest-growing brands. Alex breaks down the new rules of international eCommerce as the U.S. ends the de minimis exemption and tariffs rise globally. He explains how brands can turn geopolitical risk into strategic advantage through lo...

In this episode, I sit down with Cam Mehr, Founder of Vital Plus, one of the fastest-scaling wellness hardware brands redefining the cold plunge category. Cam shares how he built an eight-figure eCommerce business with no outside capital and a lean team, proving that focus, efficiency, and operational discipline can beat headcount and hype. We cover:⚙️ How to run an ultra-lean DTC company that pun...

Brian Berger, Founder and CEO of Mack Weldon, joins the podcast to share the story of building one of the most recognized DTC menswear brands. In this episode, Brian dives into:- The early days of Mack Weldon and the insight that sparked its launch.- How the brand evolved from basics into a full men’s lifestyle platform.- The shift from DTC performance marketing arbitrage to brand storytelling and...

In this episode, I sit down with Jay Wright, Founder of Ecommerce Equation, to talk about scaling eCommerce brands in today’s environment. Jay shares insights from managing over half a billion dollars in annual ad spend and coaching thousands of brands. We dive into:- Why Meta’s evolving AI-driven ad platform is still the #1 channel for growth.- How creative and avatar diversification have become...

In this episode, I sit down with Caroline Weintraub of True Beauty Ventures, one of the most respected specialist investors in the beauty and wellness space. Caroline breaks down what she and her team look for when evaluating early-stage brands; from their “Five P’s” framework (Positioning, Product, People, Performance, Partnership) to the importance of strong omni-channel distribution and true di...