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PODCAST

The Orita Podcast

Each week, I"m sitting down with the most interesting people in eCommerce - founders, investors, marketers, and agency leaders who are actually doing the work. We"re skipping past the highlight reels and getting into the real stories that shaped their success.

business marketing

All Episodes

00:25:40

From Jets to Unicorns: The Architect Behind...

The Orita Podcast ·

2026/01/23

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Lolita Petrossov, Founder & CEO of Evestar, to unpack her rare journey from co-founding a high-profile private jet-share startup to building one of ecommerce’s most respected full-service agencies. Lolita shares how her experience scaling JetSmarter shaped her perspective on growth, marketing, and leadership and why she chose a quieter, more customer-obsessed path with Evestar. Along the way, they explore how ecommerce,

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00:47:05

Schlep Happens: How Hulken Rolled Its Way to 8-Figures

The Orita Podcast ·

2026/01/22

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Alex Schinasi (Co-Founder of Hulken) and Lee Rotenberg (CRO of Hulken) for a wide-ranging conversation on building, pivoting, and scaling across both venture-backed SaaS and a wildly successful consumer brand. From startup war stories in the NFX days to turning an “accidental business” into a $50M+ brand with a seven-person team, Alex and Lee share the kind of operator wisdom you only get after doing it multiple times.Together, they

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00:36:12

Off Topic to On Target: Leadership, D2C’s Evolution &...

The Orita Podcast ·

2026/01/22

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Tetsuro Miyatake, CEO of Off Topic, one of Japan’s top tech podcasts, and investor at Harizury, for a global view of what’s next in commerce, content, and consumer tech.Together, they unpack:• Why Japan’s retail landscape may hold the key to DTC’s future and why most U.S. brands fail to break in• The "attention + trust" equation: how AI is flooding the content market, and why effort and intimacy are the new creative

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00:54:00

Swipe, Buy, Ghost: Fixing Post-BFCM Churn Before It...

The Orita Podcast ·

2026/01/11

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz brings together two of the sharpest retention minds in e-commerce, Gabrielle Pitman (Client Strategy Director, eBusinessPros) and Josh Behr (Founder, A&B Interactive), for a no-nonsense deep dive on email, SMS, and what really drives profitable lifecycle marketing in 2025 and beyond.They unpack:• Inbox reality check, how Gmail/Yahoo changes have killed “batch & blast” and why engagement, not volume, now decides whether you inbox or

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00:53:36

Cutting Through the Noise: UX, ROI, and a Straight Razor

The Orita Podcast ·

2026/01/08

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Amanda Vogt Peer (Chief Digital Officer at V’s Barbershop) and Jamie Schreter (Founder & Agency Director at DigitalJAS) break down how a 65-location, franchise barbershop brand is turning a nostalgic in-chair experience into a modern, omnichannel growth engine, without losing its soul.They discuss• Classic chair, modern stack: How V’s uses Shopify, Klaviyo, and booking tools to make an old-school service business feel seamless online• One brand, many paths:

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00:43:24

Bootstrapping a Billion-Dollar CRM: Growth, Guts &...

The Orita Podcast ·

2026/01/06

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Ed Hallen, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Klaviyo, to talk about Ed's incredible journey from bootstrapping Klaviyo in the early days to powering some of the world’s fastest-growing e-commerce companies today. Ed shares rare, inside-the-room insights on scaling, strategy, and customer obsession.Together, they dive into:• Why Ed believes the founder’s mindset never goes away• Klaviyo’s early bet on data, how it shaped

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00:49:20

The Flywheel Strategy: How to Turn AI into ROI for...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/18

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Kate MacCabe and Alexis Hurewitz of Flywheel Strategy for a behind-the-scenes look at how real customer-centric brands operationalize marketing, make AI useful (not scary), and actually get things done. From billion-dollar fashion houses to fast-growing DTC brands, Kate and Alexis break down what separates teams that ship great work on time from the ones drowning in Slack messages, last-minute “quick asks,” and AI buzzwords.They

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00:25:07

Sticky Strategies: Secrets to Customer Retention and...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/15

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Nikki Tooman, co-founder of Sticky Digital and one of the most respected operators in retention marketing, for a candid, tactical masterclass on what it really takes to build a high-performing lifecycle engine in 2025. From RFM models to subscription strategy to messaging discipline, Nikki breaks down why most brands over-message, under-segment, and overwhelm customers and how elite retention teams flip that script.Together, they

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00:58:25

Beyond the Funnel: Building Smarter DTC Brands

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/15

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz goes international with Jason Anderson (COO, Andzen) and David Visser (CEO, Zyber) for an honest look at what it really takes to run a high-performing agency in 2025, from the APAC POV where budgets are tighter, brands move faster, and the bar for strategy is way higher.They break down:• The real reason APAC brands outpace the U.S. on innovation (and why “you can’t phone it in” down under)• How great agencies audit CRM, UX, data, deliverability,

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00:51:27

From Pop-Ups to IPO: Jake Cohen on Klaviyo’s Rise and...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/15

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Jake Cohen, 10-year Klaviyo veteran, Partner at Vinyl.vc, and co-founder of Privy, for a wide-ranging conversation on what really drives durable revenue, great products, and fundable companies in 2025. From pop-ups to a billion dollars in BFCM revenue in a single day, Jake unpacks the patterns he’s seen across thousands of brands and dozens of early-stage startups.Together, they unpack:• The Privy pivot, how an “anti-Groupon” for

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00:50:29

The Agency Whisperer: Rachel Jacobs on Building...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/08

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Rachel Jacobs “the e-commerce agency whisperer” and founder, of Ecommerce Agency Growth & Ecommerce Partnerships, for a brutally honest look at what it really takes to build, scale, and sell an e-commerce agency. From retainers and operations to M&A and partnerships, Rachel pulls back the curtain on how the best agencies run and why most never get there. Together, they unpack: • Retainer-first models, how agencies move from

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00:42:08

The Agency Whisperer: Rachel Jacobs on Building...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/05

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Rachel Jacobs “the e-commerce agency whisperer” and founder, of Ecommerce Agency Growth & Ecommerce Partnerships, for a brutally honest look at what it really takes to build, scale, and sell an e-commerce agency. From retainers and operations to M&A and partnerships, Rachel pulls back the curtain on how the best agencies run and why most never get there.Together, they unpack:• Retainer-first models, how agencies move from

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00:50:08

Retention, Reimagined: Data, AI, and Building Brand...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/04

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Zac Cherin (Partner at Simplistic, Founder at Hiro) and Max Sturtevant (Founder at WellCopy) to dissect what the best retention agencies are really doing and what most brands are still getting wrong.They break down:• Pop-up psychology, mystery discounts, and why most forms kill conversions• Offer-first thinking, and how creative testing beats personalization for 99% of brands• Signal disruption, from plain text emails to refund

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00:29:39

Active Ingredients: How U Beauty Blends Luxury...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/12/03

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, AJ Patel (SVP of Growth) and Shelly Nghiem (Director of E-commerce) from U Beauty peel back the curtain on how a luxury skincare brand scales sustainably without chasing trends, over-discounting, or bloating the tech stack.They discuss:• Luxury in the age of Amazon. Why U Beauty embraces omni-channel while protecting its premium identity• Subscriptions that stick. How segmentation, perks, and cancel-flow insights power retention• Flows, not flukes. Why testing

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00:28:22

Growing Up CPG: Lucas Ballasy on Scaling Brands and...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/11/20

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz talks to Lucas Ballasy, CEO of Barrel, a digital partner helping omnichannel CPG brands build meaningful, connected experiences across every channel. From shaping enterprise CPG ecosystems to elevating fast-growing consumer brands, Lucas brings a rare mix of design roots, human-first leadership, and real-world operator wisdom.They discuss:• AI search (AEO/GEO): the future of discoverability and why CPG brands must shift from keyword hacks to

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00:47:57

Retention Royalty: Two Experts Turning Email and SMS...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/11/17

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Mya Gupta (VP of Client Services, 1r) and Kelsey Carstens (Director of Email & SMS, Bad Marketing) for an unfiltered look at what it really takes to build unified, retention-first commerce in 2025.From agency partnerships to AI hype, they unpack what makes great customer experiences scalable and what still can’t be automated.They discuss:• Retention over reach, why keeping customers is cheaper, smarter, and still misunderstood•

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00:45:42

The Guy Big Brands Call: Rick Watson on What He’s...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/11/11

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Rick Watson, Founder & CEO of RMW Commerce, for a deep dive into the real state of e-commerce, where omnichannel meets reality, and where growth meets gravity.Together, they unpack:• Breaking the legacy mold, how big brands modernize without losing what made them great• The DTC ceiling, why even the best Shopify brands plateau at $100–150 M and what to do next• Amazon vs. Walmart, who’s truly positioned to win the next decade of

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00:44:00

House Slippers to Household Name: Bianca Gates on...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/11/06

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Bianca Gates, Co-Founder & CEO of Birdies, to unpack what it really takes to build a beloved consumer brand, from the early scrappy days to leading a post-acquisition company without losing your spark.They tackle:• The “pick your seat” mindset, the childhood lesson that shaped Bianca’s entire career• Sales as a superpower, why storytelling and persuasion matter more than design degrees• Pivoting with purpose, how Birdies turned

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00:55:50

AI-Driven Retention: The Next Era of Lifecycle Marketing

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/10/29

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Omar Lovert (Polaris Growth; Klaviyo Legend, Co-host, Klaviyo Geeks) and Bogdan Mihalache (Founder, Email Kong; Co-host, Klaviyo Geeks) for a masterclass on email, retention, and the art of sending more without losing your soul.Together, they unpack:• Flow timing myths, why “wait 24 hours” is bad advice and how to capture intent while it’s hot• Segmentation traps, the engagement segments that quietly kill 75 % of your list (and your

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00:35:58

Rescue, Revive & Thrive: How Fan Bi Turns Around...

The Orita Podcast ·

2025/10/29

In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz sits down with Fan Bi, operator, investor, and founder of Blank Label (acquired) and The Hedgehog Company, for an honest look at what happens when growth at all costs collides with the laws of profitability.Together, they unpack:• Zombie brands 101, how to spot when common equity is out of the money (and may never be again)• The real multiple, why sub-$50M brands trade on profit, not fantasy revenue numbers• Platform myths, why shared ops, shared

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55 results

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