How Commerce, Creator, & Consumer Brands Are Built

We’re thrilled to have Kristin Toth join Blaine & Ramon on DTC Pod where she walks us through her career trajectory and how she narrowed in on supply chain & ops, being an advisor to multiple startups, why building a circular furniture company is challenging, how Fernish strategically launched in two cities to test product-market, and how Fernish has evolved over time.

Paul Voge speaks with Blaine & Ramon about how creating DIY flavors with his soda stream led to a full-fledge sparkling water business. Paul discusses the challenges of building a CPG brand, being on Sharktank during the height of COVID, Aura Bora’s path into retail stores, why he prefers retail over DTC orders, and more.

Stix makes women’s at-home health essentials like fertility, pregnancy, UTI, and yeast infection products. In today’s episode, Stix cofounder Cynthia Plotch chats with Ramon & Blaine about building Stix, finding investors, talking to customers about difficult subjects, and how her prior experience at Harmless Harvest gave her the confidence to create Stix.

Emily Elyse Miller talks to Blaine & Ramon about building OffLimits and how her creative background has informed the brand. OffLimits is also one of the early adopters of Web3, and Emily dives into how they’re currently using NFTs, what excites her about Web3, challenges with Web3, and what other brands need to consider before jumping into this.

Geoffrey Woo joins Blaine & Ramon on DTC POD to discuss why he started Anti Fund with Jake Paul, what they look for in founders when investing, and where he sees opportunity in Web 3. Geoff also dives into why Anti Fund is not your traditional VC, managing founders’ expectations when a celebrity investor is involved, and why they prefer investing in infrastructure over pure consumer startups.

On this episode of DTC Pod, Sam Madani chats with Ramon Berrios & Blaine Bolus to discuss how he built Bomani and the ups-and-downs of the entrepreneurial journey.

Tabs Chocolate is a sexually enhancing dark chocolate founded by two University of Michigan undergrads Jake and Oliver. Blaine and Ramon are excited to have Jake Lewin and Oliver Brocato on DTC Pod to discuss how they designed specifically for TikTok, negotiating and working with influencers, creating viral videos, and making 90K in revenue in just 3.5 weeks after launch.

In this episode, Jake dives into the strategy behind MDS’s content and discusses how celebrating the founding team is a competitive advantage, the importance of documenting the ups-and-down of being in a startup, and being unapologetically yourself.

Chris Bernard AKA “Bernie” joins Blaine and Ramon to discuss Mindright and working with Rob Dyrdek, learning from previous business mistakes of growing too fast, the importance of building your brand’s community before utilizing celebrity ambassadors, how TikTok is helping Mindright grow, and more.

Lindsay McCormick started Bite, a zero-waste toothpaste tablet, with $6,000 dollars in 2016. Six years later, Bite is a multi-product zero-waste company that’s redesigned moisturizer, deodorant, teeth whiteners, dental floss, and toothbrushes. Lindsay joins DTC Pod and discusses the early days of Bite and making the tablets in her living room, going to events to get product into the right people’s hands, overcoming nerves when you’re selling and conducting cold outreach, going on Sharktank and turning down an offer, building a bootstrapped business, and tips to improve your pitch.