In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG

In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG
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A podcast about the real economics of ecommerce, DTC, and CPG. Hosted by Fan Bi, In The Money features honest convos with the people building, growing, and investing in modern consumer brands.

  1. 3D AGO

    Distribution Is the Moat, How Freestyle Diapers is Winning

    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 Freestyle’s trajectory Why the original bamboo sustainability story wasn’t enough Building SkinShield: a performance-first diaper that outperforms incumbents Letting go of founder ego to chase mass appeal What retailers actually respond to (and why bamboo didn’t scale in mass) The 12–18 month retail sales cycle and surviving missed windows Learning for three years before earning distribution Walmart as a five-year “at bat” that finally hit The J-curve of retail profitability Why over-delivering early matters more than near-term margin Driving velocity without clear attribution Community building IRL: mom walks, coffee pop-ups, authentic storytelling Spreadsheet > dashboard: why manual data entry keeps founders sharp Trade-down dynamics and pricing in a K-shaped economy This episode isn’t about hacks. It’s about endurance, product obsession, and staying alive long enough to win.

    36 min

  2. FEB 9

    From Crickets to Customers: Creating a New Pet Food Market

    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 $4B+ niche market opportunity driven by habit, subscription, and education, not hype. We cover: Why pet chickens are one of the fastest-growing pet categories in the U.S. How Grubbly discovered the category through customer discovery (not a pitch deck) Why insect protein found product-market fit in pet chickens before dogs or cats The economics of niche markets: higher willingness to pay, lower CAC volatility Community as a moat: blending customer service, education, and product development Subscription dynamics and why Grubbly’s 12-month retention (~55%) is well above category averages Product expansion that actually works (and launches that were too early) If you care about real unit economics, category creation, and overlooked consumer opportunities, this episode is worth your time.

    28 min

  3. FEB 1

    The K-Shaped Economy and the New Rules of Consumer Investing

    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 “aspirational consumption” survives downturns Why some categories no longer need mass-market penetration Case studies: Ollipop and underwriting fiber before it was cultural Vacation and world-building as a growth lever Oats Overnight and one of the strongest community flywheels in consumer Seed vs Series A today: Revenue ranges Check sizes Valuation expectations Why founder quality is still the true X-factor Product moats vs brand moats in food & beverage Protein, fiber, and functionality as acceptable price-increase levers Why volume doesn’t fix bad margins Contribution margin by channel (DTC, Amazon, retail, Costco) Where consumer opportunity still exists heading into 2026 Tyler’s advice for founders on fundraising timing and capital planning If you’re a founder, operator, or investor trying to understand where consumer is really headed, this episode will sharpen your mental model.

    38 min

  4. JAN 25

    How Better Forecasting Became Branch's Best Funding Round

    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-efficient business. This is a rare, deeply tactical conversation about what it actually takes to scale an asset-heavy consumer brand without blowing up the balance sheet. We cover: The near-death pivot from B2B to DTC, and why speed mattered more than perfection How COVID supply chain chaos forced real product quality discipline Channel strategy across DTC, B2B, Amazon, and wholesale (West Elm) Why product line expansion + channel expansion unlocked continued growth The hidden economics of furniture: tooling, MOQs, inventory, damage rates How Branch improved gross margins by ~35% in two years Engineering products into margin instead of being a price taker Bundling, AOV expansion, and making furniture an LTV business Why capital efficiency beat raising $30–50M in growth capital How VC expectations for physical product companies have changed since 2021 Why diversification across products and channels reduces existential risk This is not a growth-hack episode. It’s a blueprint for building a real, durable consumer business in a hard category. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor navigating capital-intensive consumer, this episode is required listening.

    38 min

  5. JAN 18

    Velocity Over Vanity: How to Really Evaluate Food Brands

    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. This episode is a clear-eyed look at food as a venture-backable asset class, what most founders misunderstand, and how to think about scale realistically in 2025–2026. We cover: Why food is one of the hardest, and most misunderstood, venture categories Habitual consumption and why LTV can outweigh lower margins Velocity vs door count (and why door count is a vanity metric) What makes a food brand venture-scale vs just a “good business” How Barrel underwrites from pre-revenue through Series A Case studies: Ollipop and filling the soda → better-for-you gap Nowadays and the decline of alcohol consumption LoveCorn and loyal repeat purchase dynamics Trends Nate is watching into 2026: Protein and functional ingredients Alcohol alternatives and THC beverages Future-proofing ingredients (cocoa, fermentation, precision biology) This is not a hype conversation. It’s a grounded discussion about building real food businesses that survive, scale, and compound.

    29 min

  6. JAN 11

    The Hard Truth About Growth When the Wind Isn’t at Your Back

    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. This episode is a deep dive into founder accountability, profit-first thinking, and what actually moves the needle for mid-market DTC brands when growth stalls. We cover: Market vs marketing, and why even elite media buyers still struggle Why founders must deeply understand paid media (even if they outsource it) The myth that switching agencies fixes growth Why “ending flat” can be a win in today’s environment How Flux unlocked profit using cashback instead of discounts (BFCM breakdown) Why 50% off doesn’t always mean 50% margin loss Price testing as an underrated profit lever Why outside capital can quietly destroy revenue quality The hard truth about TAM, niche ceilings, and footwear economics When growth capital actually makes sense, and when it doesn’t How Isaac thinks about wholesale, retail, and the next phase of Flux This is not a hype episode.It’s a real conversation about survival, profit, and building something durable in modern DTC. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor navigating flat growth, rising costs, and tougher markets — this episode will recalibrate your thinking.

    44 min

  7. JAN 4

    Capital, Category Creation & Where Smart Money Is Moving in Consumer

    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, capital allocation, and building consumer businesses that last. We cover: Balancing early data with intuition in consumer investing What founder-market fit really means and how to spot blind spots early Why there’s no single “right” founder profile (and the one archetype Lori avoids) Retention vs acquisition in the earliest innings The demographic shifts shaping the next decade of consumer: Wealth transfer to women and Gen Z Gen Z as the next engine of GDP growth Health, longevity, financial literacy, and upward mobility Case studies from the Visible portfolio (pet, beauty, devices, science-backed consumer) When to lean into growth vs preserve optionality Coaching founders through downturns, fundraising delays, and channel pivots Why P&L fluency and cash-flow discipline are non-negotiable heading into 2026 The compounding power of founder-led storytelling and community If you’re building, backing, or underwriting consumer brands, this episode sharpens your edge.

    31 min

  8. 12/28/2025

    Greg Davidson on Capital Discipline, Channel Strategy & Scaling Smarter

    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 fundraising reality of a modern DTC/CPG brand. Greg is unusually transparent, especially about what worked, what didn’t, and what he’d do differently. We get into: Why Lalo’s original superpower was naivete and why it still matters How two guys with no kids built a category-defining aesthetic Designing baby products using zero baby-product inspiration The “Mastige” positioning strategy: premium feel, mass-market appeal Why Lalo’s mood boards never include competitors; only furniture, art, architecture Building a connected product ecosystem (high chair → play kit → tableware → bathroom → whole home) The real risks of SKU expansion: AOV compression, working capital drag, margin complexity Innovation as marketing: why small functional tweaks can drive massive revenue spikes The truth about retail: why Lalo skipped crawl/walk and went straight to sprint What it takes operationally to land (and survive) a 43-SKU Target rollout Fundraising reality: from $10K checks to major institutional rounds The hidden cost: 25%+ of a founder’s mental bandwidth tied up in fundraising If you want to understand how modern consumer brands scale through product, design, community, and distribution, this is a masterclass.

    40 min
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About

A podcast about the real economics of ecommerce, DTC, and CPG. Hosted by Fan Bi, In The Money features honest convos with the people building, growing, and investing in modern consumer brands.

Information

  • Creator
    In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG
  • Show Website
    In The Money: eCommerce, DTC, and CPG

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