Operators

01:00:49

Every AI Tool We’re Using & 4 Pillars to Guide You:...

Operators ·

2026/10/05

“They’re the most capable ever, but not trained on your business.” What pillars should every AI-first brand build, and which one comes first? Matt Bertulli (Founder, Pela Case & Lomi) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road Beauty) open up the playbook behind Winks, a brand where AI does the grunt work and humans make the calls. Piece by piece, they break down the four components that make that split work. 1. Company brain: Context, memory, skills 2. Operating system (OS): Human

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00:53:52

How to Create Buying Moments: Give People a Reason to...

Operators ·

2026/09/30

“You’re never gonna make a big impact on Black Friday.” Should you worry if frequent promotions will hurt your brand equity? Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case and Lomi), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) break down how Ridge manufactures demand instead of waiting for it. A slow summer becomes an 8-figure-plus sales season, anchored by a Lamborghini sweepstakes with Tony Hawk. Sean walks through how the campaign evolved from a $100K MVP into a five year, celebrity backed

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01:23:06

Ecommerce Subscription Playbook & Benchmarks:...

Operators ·

2026/09/28

“You almost feel stupid buying the product as a one-time customer.” Why do some subscription brands retain customers and stack LTV while others lose them? Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela & Lomi) and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones Road) sit down with Aidan Thibodeaux (CEO, Skio) and Bernard Meyer (AI Operations Manager, Omnisend) to ask the questions every subscription brand needs answered. Aidan argues that the offer matters more than anything else. He pushes quarterly plans and free gifts

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01:22:52

How First Day’s Founder Alice Li Built a 9-Figure...

Operators ·

2026/09/24

How did First Day raise $1M and then build a 9-figure brand?Alice Li (Founder & CEO, First Day) joins Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Jason Panzer (President, HexClad) to unpack how she has sold over half a billion gummies and built a family wellness empire around kids’ vitamins.After years of turning down retailers, First Day launched nationwide and became the number one kids vitamin in the country.Powered By Podqi https://9ops.co/podqi AppLovin

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00:52:40

30+ Black Friday Tips to Win the Holidays Like a...

Operators ·

2026/09/23

“The best Black Friday offers don’t just increase orders, they increase AOV.”Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (Founder, Pela Case x Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) share the Black Friday & Cyber Monday tips they rely on every year. Every tactic comes from hard-won experience over decades of combined holiday wins and losses.They break down why every Black Friday deal needs a backup, sometimes even a worse one, ready to launch. Mike explains

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01:24:35

Why the Hardest Part Starts After Launch: Operators...

Operators ·

2026/09/21

“The amount of effort that we put in to start does not have any meaningful correlation with the success at the end.” When you get delayed and deprioritized by your co-manufacturer, your timeline slips by almost a year, and you still have zero sales, what do you have to show for 18 months of work? Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela & Lomi), Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Curtis Christopherson (Chief Growth Officer, Ammortal), and Cody Plofker (Advisor & fmr. CEO, Jones

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01:03:41

Learning From Failure: 3 $100M+ Operators & Their...

Operators ·

2026/09/16

“We were not going to make payroll next week.” How did three ecommerce CEOs turn rock bottom into their biggest lesson? Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), and Curtis Matsko (CEO, Portland Leather Goods) each share the darkest moment of their ecommerce careers. What came after built the self-awareness that changed how they lead. Curtis walks through the week Wells Fargo pulled a $20M line of credit after Silicon Valley Bank collapsed. Matt breaks down the

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01:29:14

How to Design Packaging for Ecommerce Brands:...

Operators ·

2026/09/14

“They have just shown how packaging can be so much of a differentiator.” What does a professional DTC packaging design process look like in practice? Chris Ganz (Senior Creative Director, Trevi) sits down with the Winks team to tackle one of packaging’s hardest problems: standing out on a crowded shelf. The group debates naming, mascots, and color palettes before testing real designs on real families. Chris opens with a full competitor audit, sizing up Ollie, Vicks, and Beam. Three distinct concepts

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01:28:03

Honeylove’s Betsie Larkin & Igor Lebovic: Building a...

Operators ·

2026/09/10

What does it take for a married couple to build a $200 million brand together? Betsie Larkin (Founder & CEO, Honeylove) and Igor Lebovic (Co-CEO, Honeylove) sit down with Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) and Jason Panzer (President, HexClad). The conversation traces an accidental idea, the crowdfunding math, and the founder instincts that shaped every expansion. Kickstarter only entered the DTC playbook after Betsie proved product market fit on tour. The brand’s sculpting body shapers

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00:55:56

Ecommerce Therapy: 3 Nine-Figure Operators on Focus &...

Operators ·

2026/09/09

“I’ve always hated it. This year I made the decision to shut it down.”Can three nine-figure CEOs open up about their priorities, passions, and doubts?Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) sit down for an honest conversation about the pressure of scaling ecommerce brands. They cover decision making, staying passionate, and the whiplash of growing fast. Mike explains why organizations drift toward safe tasks instead of high impact

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00:57:59

Starting & Formulating a Supplement Company:...

Operators ·

2026/09/07

What separates a real supplement company from just a good idea? Dr. Todd A. Born (Chief Science Officer, 4POTENTIA) pulls back the curtain on how to enter the supplement industry, showing the Winks team what product development, private label, contract manufacturers, and regulatory compliance (FDA) look like in practice. More than a deep dive into custom formulation, hosts Sean Frank, Matt Bertulli, Mike Beckham, and Curtis Christopherson show you how to apply good manufacturing practices to

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01:00:47

12 Lessons These Ecommerce Founders Wish They’d...

Operators ·

2026/09/02

What are the secrets to winning in ecommerce that nobody talks about? Matthew Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) reveal 12 lessons for anyone building a brand from the ground up. This is what they’d tell their younger selves if they ever got one more shot. Secrets like why it takes a decade for your brand to earn its name and how walking away from weak products makes grit pay off. After that, cash gets a hard look because

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00:46:22

How to Create a Product From Prototype to Launch:...

Operators ·

2026/08/31

What does a real product development process look like when 9-figure operators are betting their own money? Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern), Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), and Curtis Christopherson (Chief Growth Officer, Ammortal) sit down mid-build on Winks, a family sleep supplement, to make product decisions. Go behind the scenes on flavor count, purchase order size, pricing, sourcing, and the supply chain mistake from Trevi that cost hundreds of thousands to fix. This is an actual founder meeting

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01:36:08

eBay Resellers to 14M Pairs of Underwear: Shinesty’s...

Operators ·

2026/08/27

How did two guys flipping “junk” build a brand that’s sold 14M pairs of underwear? Jens Nicolaysen and Chris White (Co-Founders, Shinesty) join Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela & Lomi) and Katy Mimiari (CEO, Caden Lane) to unpack how their eBay account grew into Shinesty. The secret isn’t strategy. It’s personality. They trace the jump from estate sales to beloved online retailer. One midnight email changed everything overnight. Fart blocking underwear and deviled egg prints became fan favorites. It’s

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01:05:54

10 Best AI Use Cases for Ecommerce in 2026: Ranked by...

Operators ·

2026/08/26

Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge), Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi), Jason Panzer (President, HexClad), and Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) rank the ten highest impact ways ecommerce brands are using AI in 2026. The four disagree loudly before landing on a group ranking none of them expected going in. Sean says AI chatbots now handle nearly every routine support ticket. Mike takes it further with a model that predicts each customer’s next purchase and updates hourly.The pattern repeats in content,

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01:18:05

Every Step to Start an Ecommerce Business Revealed:...

Operators ·

2026/08/24

“We’ve done it before. Can we do it again?” Five executives put half a million dollars on the line to start a new ecommerce brand. Operators Build follows every step, in public. You get the math, the disagreements, and the cost of launching an online business in 2026. This is not dropshipping. We bought inventory, formed an LLC, and registered our domain name: https://getwinks.com The plan? Shopify and paid social (Meta) with online marketplaces like Amazon and new channels like TikTok added as the

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01:13:41

Building Solo Past $1M in Only Year One: Help an...

Operators ·

2026/08/19

Help an Operator Out (HAOO) is a series where real business owners join the podcast with live questions. In this episode, Christopher Francis (Founder & CEO, Home Plunge) brings the hardest problem in year one: growing without doing every job himself. He turned a personal need into a $1.4 million business in a year and a half. The conversation covers pricing and offer strategy. It also gets into Amazon, TikTok Shop affiliates, and AI support. Sean pushes for a sale structure built for a

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01:41:59

How Magic Mind Turned a Spreadsheet Into National...

Operators ·

2026/08/13

“Everyone who said I was too early, they got on my investor updates.” Can product market fit be created, or can you only position yourself to catch it? William Hicks (Co-Founder & CEO, Magic Mind) joins Mike Beckham (CEO, Simple Modern) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) to unpack how a Silicon Valley spreadsheet of nootropics became a national retail brand. This episode gets into the real mechanics of product market fit at scale. Raising a seed round took dozens of rejections. Hicks

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00:49:32

Why People Buy: A Practical Guide to Consumer...

Operators ·

2026/08/12

“People buy things to fill gaps in their life.” Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) unpack consumer behavior in ecommerce. They cover the emotional triggers behind buying, the offers that convert, and the buying journeys online shopping takes today. The real driver of your marketing strategies is the offer itself, not the checkout experience. People buy out of convenience, fear of loss, identity, and scarcity … long before logic enters the picture. Ridge’s expansion

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00:49:32

Why People Buy: A Practical Guide to Consumer...

Operators ·

2026/08/11

“People buy things to fill gaps in their life.” Sean Frank (CEO, Ridge) and Matt Bertulli (CEO, Pela Case & Lomi) unpack consumer behavior in ecommerce. They cover the emotional triggers behind buying, the offers that convert, and the buying journeys online shopping takes today. The real driver of your marketing strategies is the offer itself, not the checkout experience. People buy out of convenience, fear of loss, identity, and scarcity … long before logic enters the picture. Ridge’s expansion

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